Homeowners build up their property wealth

Britain’s building boom is as obvious as it is enormous. Take a walk along any suburban street in the UK and you’ll come across a growing number of scaffold towers, builders’ skips and other signs that homeowners are hell-bent on increasing the size of their properties.

In fact, when walking around the residential streets surrounding his home in south-west London, the writer of this blog post comes across more vehicles belonging to loft conversion, conservatory and other companies connected to the building trade than he does For Sale signs.

And this anecdotal evidence is supported by research that says home owners in the UK have added an estimated £6.5bn to the value of the country’s housing stock in the 12 months to March 2015.

Property group Savills says 220,000 owner-occupiers – or one in 74 home owners – extended or altered their home in past year. And in London that figure drops to one in 44 homeowners, which explains why the author of this post comes across more builders’ vans than removal vehicles in his neighbourhood.

In fact, the number of UK homes for sale in June not only fell to its lowest level since records began 37 years ago but the average price of a residential property has exceeded £200,000 for the first time.

US website Press TV explains this data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors by saying there are several factors behind the drop in the number of homes on the market. Homes in more affluent areas have higher costs of stamp duty and other costs meaning many favour the cheaper option of renovation and building extensions.  

It continues: “Many who want to move home are fearful they will not be able to find an affordable home suited to them and decide against selling.”

A good proportion of residential building work is carried out to accommodate the requirements of growing families, or even because adult children cannot afford to leave the family home and need more space.

But the number of births in England has dropped to its lowest level in seven years, according to the Health & Social Care Information Centre.

The H&SCIC’s data shows 646,904 births took place in NHS hospitals in 2013/14 – the lowest number recorded in the Hospital Episode Statistics since 2006/07.

Many residential building projects are being carried out by homeowners keen to take advantage of ultra-low mortgage rates in order to cash in on the rising value of their properties and improve the quality of their lives.  
And who can blame them? From full-width loft conversions complete with a Juliette balcony to kitchen extensions, garage conversions or even simply turning a front garden into an off-street parking space, the scope for home building projects is limited only by your – or your architect’s – imagination.

The government has even relaxed permitted development rights for extensions to properties. Before 30 May 2013, homeowners were generally allowed to add single-storey extensions of up to 3 metres deep in the case of an attached property, or 4m in the case of a detached property. But until 30 May 2019 these distances have been increased to 6m and 8m respectively – plenty of room for a family-sized kitchen diner.

But before you start looking up architects, building firms or even skip hire companies, it should be noted that home extensions can only get underway after your local council gives any neighbours the opportunity to object to the project.

The neighbour consultation scheme is a form of prior approval that applies to extensions built under the increased permitted development rights. A householder – or the company carrying out the project – must notify the local authority’s planning department, which will then consult the adjoining neighbours in relation to the potential impact on amenity.  

If the neighbours raise any objections, the local planning officers will judge whether the impact on the amenity of adjoining properties is acceptable and, therefore, whether the home of your dreams can begin to take shape.

Image credit: Alan L