What would you do with this bizarre layout?

[Amethyst24]

Haven't viewed the house yet and the floorplan clearly isn't accurate but it gives one an idea. It's a 1960s-ish ex-LA London house, very overpriced for what and where it is (Foxtons).

From the photos it looks like there used to be a garage at the front and they've converted what used to be the garage door into a sort of glass-doored porch that looks like a security nightmare. What's labelled "garage" is a weird half-converted nothing-space with French windows on to the garden. It apparently has two first floors - presumably the one with the reception room is the actual first floor.

Any thoughts?

It's a standard town house layout, if you don't want the garage as a garage I would look at turning most of the ground floor into a kitchen/ dining /living day area and then have a posher living room on the first floor.

Looks quite odd to me. Is the garage an actual room or just not used as a garage any more? is the entry story a sort of half basement level or something? As it looks like the reception has garden access too?

Based on the FP I'd block off the front doors to the garage, lose the cloakroom and odd space, turn that into the sitting room (bit long and thin but could work), and use the reception upstairs as another bedroom, or a playroom/den.

It really irritates me the way estate agent floor plans label any room that isn't a kitchen or bathroom as a bedroom except for one that is allowed to be a reception room. Bedroom 2 there is clearly a study or dining room for a start. I hate having bedrooms on the same floor as daytime rooms. Not the worst example I've seen - one place I saw when house hunting was being marketed as a 3 bedroom place because they had managed to crowbar a tiny sofa into the kitchen-diner so called it an open plan kitchen-diner-living room and then stuck a bed into the front room.

I would get that garage to make up its mind what it is. If it's living accommodation you could have the entire ground floor as day time rooms and make it a 4 bedroom house. If it isn't then the middle floor is your daytime rooms and you happen to have the kitchen in, effectively, the basement.

If you think it's overpriced why are you bothering to view it anyway?

Looks like no doorway through from garage to other bit, in which case you may wish to check the structural situation; it could be that this would not be feasible which is why they have to keep it as a storage/workshop type area.

You don't want that if you can't knock through.

Interesting, thanks all. Sorry if I wasn't clear - garage is definitely no longer a garage so no idea why they've labelled it as such. It's got normal flooring and it's clear from the pics that there's no access for a car. Re price, it's Foxtons and just come on to the market so depending on how deluded the seller is I imagine the price will be reduced fairly soon.

Yep, standard London town house.

Definitely knock through downstairs to make a big open plan living space.

Porche problems can usually be sorted out easily.

I would question why the converted garage is still labelled as a garage. Does it have building regs and planning permission?

Good question, Tremolo - it looks like the neighbours have done garage conversions too so maybe not entirely dodgy.

That's what I meant; it could be that they are not allowed to do it for some reason, or of course that they just have never bothered to apply.

Mind you our house has a structue at the back which was kind of essential to the property when it was sold to us and we found out just before completion that it had no planning permission and did not meet building regs.

So I don't know that the estate agents would bother themselves with nonsense like that iyswim.

I'd keep the downstairs toilet - otherwise you've got to go up to the second floor.
Could the front part of the 'garage' be divided off into a study or utility room and then the back part knocked through to make a kitchen/diner?