We have discussed houses, moving etc. in many interesting threads, and we (self and wife) continue to browse Rightmove without any particular plans in mind.
One thing we noticed is that more agents are now quoting the area of a house, but without specifying how that area is calculated. Reading online, there does not seem to be any accepted policy, and I wonder how accurate the figures are, and therefore how useful they are for comparison purposes.
More to the point, how would you expect the area of a house to be calculated? Around the exterior, then doubled for upstairs? Around the interior of the exterior walls? Calculate the size of each room to find a total? Which rooms? Reception rooms and bedrooms? Kitchens and bathrooms? en suite rooms? Cupboard under the stairs? Utility room? Cloakroom? Build in cupboards? What about hall, landing and stairs?
The ABI says externally, but that is for insurance. Others say maximum interior measurements. Some say heated areas. What do you think?
Presumably the overall size is just a rough guide maybe for purposes of comparison. (Assuming they're all calculated the same anyway) As nobody would proceed further, I'd hope anyway, without knowing the sizes of the individual rooms there's no harm in contacting three or four agents about specific properties, enquiring as to the size of all the rooms, hall etc maybe along with a plan - which should already be on a web page somewhere, and see how those compare with the overall figure. If the sums are the same in each case then this should settle the matter.
These are estate agents. While there are honest exceptions, expect the stated room sizes to be on the high side, and the total area to include everything - often including any garage.
The best "estate agent exaggeration" that I've seen was for a house that we looked at with a view to buying. It was built on the side of a hill so we suspected that the basement area going backwards into the hillside might have fairly restricted height, but the estate agent *did* say "scope for development into further accommodation if required".
Additional rooms for whom? Hobbits? Access was over a huge concrete sill beam about 18" square, through a door that was about 3' 6" high, and the "rooms" inside were about 5' high near the door, tapering to about 2' at the other end.
It was storage space. Very useful - but they should have been honest. The huge concrete lintel was a show-stopper: even if the floor of the main room and of the storage space was dug out, the sill beam would still have obstructed the bottom of the doorway and the vendor told us that it had been a condition of them getting planning permission.
There was also a room that had once been a single garage but the rear of it had been converted into a downstairs utility room and the remaining space would probably not have taken a Smart car. And yet because the garage door had been retained, the estate agent had called it a garage, both verbally and on the floor plan.
Interestingly, we found an older listing on Rightmove by a different agent and that had been a lot more honest about the storage are and garage. They had also not used an ultra wide-angle lens in their photos to make the rooms look bigger.
I suspect that the house had not attracted much interest so the owners had got desperate and had employed a different agent who was prepared to bend the truth beyond breaking point.
When the agent rang to get our feedback after the viewing I laid into them in no uncertain terms (while remaining perfectly civil) and said that they needed to be a *lot* more honest in their brochure to save people making wasted journeys. The "development into further accommodation" thing was just laughable and I asked them who was expected to live there and asked (when I know the answer) what the rules are about indicating restricted height. They put the phone down on me, which suggests I'd hit a raw nerve.
We still talk about "the hobbit house" and have a chuckle about it.
I notice that it has been put on with yet a third agent before being taken off the market, and that agent has described "large sub floor storage area" and "Store Room - Originally the front section of the garage" so they have been truthful.
They should say - it's a meaningless figure if they don't. The RICS code of measuring practice (googleable) will give details, but I'd guess that in the absence of any explanation, gross internal, and that figure will have been generated by the software they use to produce the plans.
. . . and then quotes the maximum measurements! So if he says a room is 15 x 12, don't expect it to have an area of 180 unless it's totally free of alcoves, L-shaped bits, etc.
The area is required for the (useless) energy certificate. As Photos, floorplans, and energy cert are often all produced by the same company as a package for estate agents the figure is probably taken from that. Some plans do state that the measurements are to RICS standards. That means in effect a measurement of the area enclosed by internal walls. The area consumed by a staircase would be counted twice in most houses (ie Barratt Hutch/Wimpey Hovel) but not if it were double height hall that was more than the space occupied by steps.
Estate agent descriptions alway quote rooms sizes by the largest dimensions at right angles they can find so you need to look at a plan to understand the real room size. I always look at the sq footage, it makes comparisons on price much easier and I wont view a property until I have seen a floorplan.
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