According to Jeremy Leaf, housing spokesman for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, adding a smart home-entertainment system would definitely increase house saleability. “Cabling your home throughout definitely adds much more value than it would cost to put in,” says Leaf.

When such systems are standard in entire streets, as in a Bryant Homes development in Isleworth, London, where the properties are being marketed as a guarded community, it could make a difference to value. Like the avocado bathroom suite of the 1970s, one day it will be impossible to buy a new home without smart features.

The two biggest arguments for smart homes are convenience and security. The Rowntree Foundation discovered that the most popular features were those that increased safety. You don’t have to go to the lengths of Gwyneth Paltrow, who is reported to enter her new London apartment via fingerprint ID. However, central locking for a house will be a boon for the scatty, while the idea of an electronic butler that remembers to order milk from Sainsbury’s website and opens the door to the delivery man while you’re off playing golf has a certain slothful appeal.

Unnecessary? Maybe slightly immoral? They said that about anaesthetic and the television remote.

Of course, the British male will still prefer to purchase his stereo in half a dozen boxes, and trail wires across the living room carpet. And children will still be the only ones who understand what all the switches are for.

So, when the day of the machine arrives, what are we letting ourselves in for? When, in history, has a machine ever performed exactly as its manufacturers promised? Are we going to witness radiators and DVD players squabbling like teenagers? Worse, what happens if, like Hal in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the fridge goes all Microsoft Windows and locks you out of the house.

Who you gonna call? Forget the locksmith, where is Bill Gates when you need him?

Additional reporting: Katherine Sorrell

Get smart

LiveSmarter, 020 7407 2743, www.live-smarter.co.uk

Imerge, 01954 783 600, www.imerge.co.uk. Internet-connected audio and media products

Crestron, 020 8439 7272, www.crestron.com. Control and automation solutions

Scantronic, 01594 545 400, www.scantronic.co.uk. Security equipment

Intamac Systems, 01604 679 530, www.intamac.com. Internet-accessed home monitoring systems

Techaus, 01844 350 202; www.techaus.co.uk

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