The recent announcement by our Prime Minister that a relaxation in planning laws will give a massive boost to the economy and in particular, house prices, has met with mixed reviews to say the least. In the past, when the housing market slowed down, people always extended rather than move to the house with the fourth bedroom. In those days, money was cheap, plentiful and you could actually borrow it. Today, unless you are prepared to give up your first-born as security, you may struggle to get the all-important mortgage offer or the further advance from your bank or building society to build your extension. So before geting your spade out this weekend to start digging the footings, check that you can finance the extension and more importantly whether adding a fourth bedroom to a property located within a development of three bedroom properties will ever add value and make it more sellable.
So far, according to various press articles and social media postings, the people who will really take advantage of this are those who already live in a sizeable house, don’t have to borrow the money and their nearest neighbout is 300 yards away behind the tennis court and the swimming pool. Nobody will have to worry about their neighbour’s new bedroom looking straight into the family bathroom or blocking the light coming into the kitchen.
