Should I buy a house that needs an extension? Panicking

[Polkadotdash]

Advice needed please.
We’ve had an offer accepted on a house that only works for us if we extend it with a two storey addition at the back of the house. It’s a terrace with a small garden, which will be made 3m smaller by the extension.
We went on a visit with an architect yesterday and they seemed unimpressed with what we were thinking and thought it was unlikely we’d get permission for a two storey extension, despite three other houses having done it in the street. This was because the neighbouring houses are so close to the one we are buying. We also will have no rear access to the garden so the building work will all need to be done through the front of the house. The architect’s eyebrows shot up when we said we were planning to live there whilst the work was done.
I’m now freaking out and have got serious cold feet about going ahead.
My husband won’t talk to me and says it’s up to me to call the purchase off.
We’re currently renting (at extortioniate cost) having sold last year. We’ve been looking at houses for two years. I’m fed up of looking. This house seems to be the best we can afford in a very expensive area.
Will it matter if the garden is tiny? Maybe 4m by 4m. It’s currently horrible, like a paved prison yard with mesh fencing at the top of the wood fencing.
What should I do?

Is that secondary school sorted for all of them?

Certainly at those ages there is no desperate urgent need for each of them to have their own bedrooms!!!

You are right and your husband is wrong.
You need to trust the architect and act on the new information you have.
I would pull out of the purchase and rethink locations or get a roomy 3-bedroom with the possibility of a loft conversion or extension in future (but not essential immediately). And I would get an architect or builder to advise before spending any money on solicitors, surveys etc.

Are you looking at doing the same extension as other houses with the same position and garden size? If so then there is surely already a precedent for PP to be granted? Personally I wouldn’t want a tiny garden with large house, but it’s all very dependent on what else is available in the area. A three storey house may make it seem relatively even smaller?
If you’re happy with the garden size that’s fine, the issue really is PP as presumably if you don’t get that you don’t want it? I would actively look into this as much as you can and double check your budget - are you definitely sure on the costs? What if it increases?
I would go and look at the other house somehow too as at the end of the day it needs to be right.

It's clear you are really stressed about this situation polkadotdash.

Many posters are suggesting you drop out but I don't necessarily agree. I think you need to give it serious thought (as if you haven't already).

For example, if planning permission isn't granted is it still workable for you? Under permitted development I think you could still have a 3m rear extension- presumably this would give the dining extension you require. The kids can share rooms. I did when I was a kid.

Yes it will be a pain as you have no direct garden access. But what building work isn't a pain 🤷 plus your kitchen is upstairs so probably be less stressful than mine which does have direct access as we will have to do without for most the build.

It's clear you are not going to get what you want in the area you want for your budget so this may be your best solution.

If it already has a garage could that be converted to a downstairs bedroom if you can only do a ground floor extension?

Are there parks and playgrounds nearby? Once my DC reached 8+ they need a huge area for Footie etc way beyond most gardens. Personally although I want some outside space I don't want a large garden!

Firstly do not buy a house because you feel bad pulling out.

Secondly you won't lose your solicitor fees if you continue to look.

You'll only have to pay for more searches on a different property and a mortgage valuation.

I would rather a house that needs a new bathroom new kitchen etc than one that is too small and needed an extension personally.

I doubt it has a garage, it's a terraced house

Op says it will have a garage?

Run for the hills!

Oh yes I missed that, my bad. I would imagine the garage is a separate building though? I could be wrong, I've just never seen terraced houses with integrated garages, and can't imagine it.

I would buy a house that needs an extension if it was likely to get planning permission for what we needed and the budget worked compared to a larger house. But most local authorities are very loath to permit two-storey extensions now - it may be the other set on the street are older, or that the gates shut on such extensions after those were built.

Living in a house during work can be more possible than people think - we did while 2/3rds of downstairs was totally stripped for three months (and the other 3rd stored all the stuff from that space) but we had the advantage that a quirk of the house was there was a second kitchen upstairs, so we were able to cook and have a room to sit down and eat in. So although everyone was like 'Oh it'll be a nightmare' or 'You can't live in a house during works like that', it was actually perfectly manageable. But only as we had a working kitchen the whole time.

I would find a different architect.

I bought a ground floor one bed semi-detached terrace several years ago and did an extension two years ago. It was stressful at the time but it has been worth it. I couldn't afford a two bed and waited till the value of the flat appreciated and remortgaged at a lower interest rate too.

Different architects have different ideas/visions. I met with 10 before I found one that was on the same page as I was. From one bed I have three and all plumbing l/electrics redone. I feel that it is now mine.

Do not buy a house just because you don't want to upset someone (that includes your husband).

Tell the agent that you've had professional advice indicating that the required changes to the house may not be possible, and you're not willing to take the chance. Make an appointment to see the newly - listed house. Tell your husband that he's acting like a child, and that you're not going to put up with the silent treatment (get yourself onto the relationships board if he has behaved like this before.)

If something doesn't feel right, don't go throwing hundreds of thousands of pounds at it.

How far along with the same are you? Could you tell a lie to the estate agent and tell them you want to see it to get ideas for your extension?

I don't think it's a good idea to buy a house that needs extending if there's a question mark over planning permission. Architects know their stuff.

If you do get planning permission, having a small garden with a 4 bed house may make it harder to sell in future. Depends how small though.

You could walk away if you are not sure. It happens every day and your EA won’t be surprised.
You need to think carefully about possible issues. Will you be able to add at least small extension? Will small garden work for your family? Will your house have the smallest garden in the area after extension? It might affect its price but probably it doesn’t matter for you if staying in this area is your main priority. Of course it would be more easier to move out for extension, so what?Some people go for it , some don’t, it’s up to you.

Converting a one bed by adding an extension isn’t the same as adding an extension to make the house 4 bed and leaving a tiny back yard! That’s not an attractive proposal and isn’t very saleable.

Where is the garage?

It is spring more properties are coming on the market every day. Walk away from this one. We walked away from one because so much needed doing, we would have to live there and having done that once before I cracked up at the end realistically we decided it would be unwise to do so again. The vendor was a lovely old man and I felt so guilty letting him down. Luckily his house sold again a couple of months later.

I would pull out and wait.

If you went ahead would you be happy with a 2 bed place for the next 20 years because if you don’t get planning and if an architect has indicated you wouldn’t get it then that is what you could end up with.

Could it be that you wouldn’t get PP because the extension would take up too much of the garden and wouldn’t look right or that because of neighbours windows the extension would block light to your neighbours as I suspect is the case if it is a terrace In which case pp is a non starter.

I would pull out, OP. The architect thinking that you're unlikely to get PP would be a massive reg flag for me.

We bought our current home because it had loads of scope for extending on different sides of the house (wide garden) plus virtually every other house in the cul-de-sac had already been extended at one time or another. The house was big enough for us without extending but more space would be nice. Our first choice was to have a two storey side extension, which the architect thought would be fine, but PP was rejected. This was because our next door neighbours had built up to the boundary over 30 years ago, so the planning dept decided that we couldn't extend out towards the boundary. Utter nonsense and I guess we may have had the decision overturned had we appealed, but we decided to do a loft conversion instead, which is now nearly complete.

Precedent doesn't necessarily mean that your application will succeed. If the architect has concerns and the house is definitely too small for you without extending - don't buy it.

You should only go ahead if you are prepared to live in the house without extending it. The architect will have a very good idea of what’s likely to get planning permission and whether it will be possible to live there during building work.

Also, your DH needs to grow up. He’s angry with you because you’re listening to a professional. What will he be like to live with if you buy it and don’t get planning permission?

Do not buy a house on the assumption that you will get PP, you might not.
Also don’t buy one to keep people happy (including your DH)

But wont any house be revalued for council tax once the extension has been done?

The revaluation only applies to the next owner.

Can your architect come up with an alternative plan to get you what you want? Garage conversion? Re-jigging internal layout? Split an existing bedroom into two?

Very good advice here, thanks.
I just pulled out of buying a property that was in very poor condition and really needed an extension to make sense of the ground floor layout. It had similar issues about having to take building materials through the house, complicated boundaries with neighbours etc.
On top of the purchase, thinking about the building extension was making me really anxious.
Sad to let it go though. Oh well, back to watching Ugly House, New House or whatever it's called.

I would never buy a house in that situation. If it's only going to be right for you with an extension then it's wrong. I think you're trying to MAKE it right because you've been looking for so long. And you can't proceed purely to avoid upsetting the vendor! Plus if your DH isn't fully on board it'll be a nightmare. It advise you to pull out op. Quickly.

And that's without the potential lack of planning permission.