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From The Times

November 9, 2007

How to increase the value of your property

Research from Halifax gives us the lowdown on the best ways to extend

KASIA MACIEJOWSKA

IF YOU are looking to increase the value of your home significantly, your best option is to build an extension. Halifax says that a substantial extension can add more to a home’s value than any other home improvement. Creating an extra room should be the objective, although extending a room such as the kitchen may change the use of other rooms, thus having the same effect.

However, Halifax ranks a loft conversion as offering the best value for money because it has the most potential to recoup your outlay through the value it adds. A new kitchen is the second-best for value for money; redecorating is third because of the minimal cost of materials. Building a substantial extension is ranked fourth because it requires the largest financial outlay, despite its potential for the highest return.

Halifax distinguishes between conversions and conservatories on one hand and extensions on the other. A loft conversion is good, particularly if it is a bedroom. A garage conversion, if connected to the house and properly heated and insulated, can offer similar financial benefits to a loft conversion. Conservatories are tricky to get right. They are comparatively cheap to construct and therefore their perceived value is low. However, if the conservatory becomes a primary room of the house, such as a dining room, it can add more. Ideally it should connect two rooms (for example, the back sitting room and an existing kitchen extension).

Financial gains aside, there are other benefits to more space. Creativity, clarity of mind and quality of sleep are all enhanced by organised, well-balanced spaces.

Decluttering is an easy task that you can do yourself in a series of small projects, and it’s fairly cheap. As with all DIY projects, try to finish one before beginning the next. A total of 36 per cent of people interviewed by Halifax consider the sitting room to be a house’s most important room, so it might be a good place to start. Fix sets of individual shelves on to the wall because this looks neater than shelving units in corners; existing wall indentations make the best locations. Measure awkward alcoves and purchase a chest of drawers to fit; small drawers are best for categorising lots of different things.

For bigger things use a series of boxes to go beneath or on top of shelves and use a decorative tray or dish for all the daily bits and bobs always lying on the kitchen counter and the coffee table. Be realistic about where things happen. If coats and shoes don’t always make it past the stairwell, put coat hooks and shoe cupboards there, by the door.

If dust-gathering extension wires are blighting your skirting boards, ask an electrician to install sockets in all the places you need them. Replace bathroom shelves with mounted cabinets or a freestanding cupboard if you have a large bathroom and hide products with ugly packaging in the cupboards, as well as any cleaning products.

Purge your home of things you don’t use or love; keep only things you would want to pass on to your children – well-made clothes, antiques or books. Sell the rest, or even better, recycle it at www.freecycle.org.uk . www.homeimprovementadvice.co.uk

Building a wall does not require planning permission. Well not strictly true, it will require planning permission unless exempted by the General Development Order. This then approves most, but with some exceptions. If you have a listed building, are in a conservation area, have an article 4 direction in place or are planning a wall abutting the highway or more than 2m high you almost certainly will need planning permission. Oh and if it's a bad job or looks bad it may devalue your property by the cost of works to put it right!

RogerC, Herts, UK

Years ago 'Which ' magazine came to the conclusion that the best value for money improvement which would increase value to a house is to build a wall around it. Of course build an extension if you want one, but don't do it just to improve the selling value. Building a wall does not require planning permission and you dont have the hassle of dodgy builders with their mess and mistakes to contend with. They are all outside in the cold where they can do no harm to anyone. If it's a bad job it will look bad and you don't pay.

Diddly Do, Liverpool,

This article just tells us what has always been the case for adding value to your home. Adding square footage to your usable space has always been the way to go. As for the comments from Sarah, I think you are being a bit too general. I have German friends who rent a property outside Berlin .It has a questionable roof, they have condensation running down their interior walls which has ruined the clothes in their wardrobes. And the landlord is dismissive of their concerns.
So nothing new there.
Steve Dorset

Steve, Dorset,

Sarah, a neighbour of mine reluctantly returned to live in Hamburg for family reasons; she is not 100% happy and your letter with its aggressive chauvinism and righteousness ('Germany, we are sooo superior.) tells me why. She loved her solid early C19 London house, by the way. The sort of architectural gem which you would argue should be 'mown down', if that is what you are trying to say.

Dectora, London, UK

Ingrid

Because it is so expensive

David, London,

Sarah - From Hamburg

Your conclusion is interesting, however your country of residence did try and do this nearly 70 years ago. The Allies just did a better job over there, hence you have more newer buildings

The UK market will have so readjustment, however the doom & gloom spreaders are the media, and a lot of sheep that are following.

Historically houses have doubled on average every 7 years, crash or no crash. So the only crash will be if you are forced to sell.

Hang in there home owners (Mortgagee's), it will settle down.

Cornishman Abroad, St Georges, Grenada

It is amazing how expensive houses are in the UK - although the quality of those buildings is so low, in many other countries it would be illegal to rent them out to other people as they do not meet any housing standards.

In Germany for example, nobody would consider living in an average UK house and just know it down and build a new one for a tenth of the price - and at the same time make it more energy efficient, more spacious and in general more pleasant to the eye.

In the UK, cheap building materials are used...the walls are to thin, the heating systems and windows are energy wasters and the ceilings are so low that you get a depressive feeling inside.

The best solution would be to know down all buildings in the UK and start all over again...

Although it is almost impossible to get a planning permission in the UK, if people do get one, they get a permission to build the ugliest buildings in the world.

Sarah, Hamburg, Germany

I wonder why as a nation The Brits are so obsessed with properties buying and selling? I understand that we need to have a roof over our head but I think there are more important things in life to enjoy than brick and walls.I know people who have bought properties they can't afford. Their life is stressful. They do the groceries at the end of the month with their credit cards or use their overdrafts . I think this obsession has made the prices go out of control. I wonder why people are prepared to put so much strain on themselves just to have the status of home owners (which by the way is only true when the mortgage is paid off) ?

Ingrid, Southampton,

If you are looking to increase the value of your property, you best bet is to invent a time machine and set it for last year.

CRASH!

Paddles, London,