Would you buy a house with an 'annex' in the garden?

[Dailyhandtowelwash]

We have a four bedroom house but one bedroom is really small. We've been looking at options and decided to move, but looking at the market we'll be paying moving costs and stamp duty etc for just a slightly larger fourth bedroom, and probably have to do work to the rest of the house to get it the way we'd like.

We've got a big enough garden to have a garden room at a little distance from the house, and had been thinking of one but we are OK for living space. I've found a company that for less than it would cost us to move does fully liveable garden rooms, including sorting out the planning for you. It would be ideal for us with a child about to go to university so very happy to have a space to chill with their own bathroom.

But would you buy a house with this as a 'fifth bedroom'? Or would it put you off?

If it adds value to your lives, go for it. My friend has a beauty room in her garden. Lots of people would benefit from this.

The only question you need is will it work for you. A potential buyer could just knock it down if they didnt want it.

We built one 11 years ago. By digging down very slightly we managed to get 2 floors in (upstairs in the roof space). Has its own locking french doors onto the garden, a shower room under the stairs , internet and heating. Mezzanine floor kitted out as an office with a sofa bed (could be a bedroom) and downstairs currently a gym but could be a living space. Have had family stay out there very comfortably over the years.

We weren’t allowed to add a kitchen (didn’t want to) but as you can imagine it’s been brilliant through this last year for work/exercise and as DD (10) grows up it offers options for her to have her own private space, depending on where life takes her.

Yes, definitely. We could use it as DH's study and a spare room for guests and free up our current study for the children as it's not always possible for them to use it currently while he's working.

FYI it’s brick built, 5m x 4m and cost us about £45k all in. Some high end heating/plumbing solutions, big electric velux windows etc in there.

Mmm I'm not sure if it would add that much value to your home in a few years, it will be built too your needs and would have had some wear and tear by the time you eventually move. Also depends on how much of the garden it takes up? Do it for yourself if you want too, as you said its cheaper than the moving costs.

Probably not, if you don’t have a use for an annexe, I wouldn’t want to pay an additional council tax for the privilege.

We have a large 6 bedroom house and we build a cabin at the bottom of our garden which is like a little Granny annexe or studio flat. We don't say we live in a 7 bedroomed house but its a massive selling point if and when we chose to move.

Its great as the In-Laws stay in there when they come and please themselves, so I don't have to wait on them hand and foot. I just stock up the kitchen bit and they make their own breakfast and lunch and then we all eat together in the evening. (Pre-Covid, that is).

I know someone who built a 2 story mini house in their back garden, out of brick. It’s tiny, the footprint is the size of my living room. Downstairs is a living area with a kitchenette and then upstairs is a bedroom and bathroom.

We just have. I wouldn't count it as a bedroom though!

Absolutely I buy a house with one!

I'd love this. Where we live some of the houses have separate garages with an upstairs conversion like this.

With an ensuite it could be set up as a gym / play area / work space. I've often thought I'd like this sort of place to allow me to work from home with clients. So while you might use it as a bedroom there are lots of options when selling on to show how it might be a useful space

@notalwaysalondoner

I'd LOVE it as I love any kind of passive income concept (obviously being a landlord isn't passive but it's a lot less time intensive than going to work 40 hours a week) and was actively looking for an annexe in our next place. It didn't work out but I'd love one.

And as others have pointed out, great for lots of other uses as well e.g. work from home office/older teenage child/hobby space/extra living room for summer etc.

It would be therefore most appealing to me as a buyer if it had it's own bathroom and a small kitchenette area with a sink and a hob so you could fully rent it out as self contained if you chose to.

That reminds me, I haven’t checked out Vice’s London Rental Opportunity of the week for a while.

It's multi purpose so yes it would be attractive unless it filled too much of the garden. Ideal as a home office, for an older relative, young adult ... but be aware of any council tax implications if it could be a separate dwelling

Hi all. So many replies, thank you! Lots of enthusiasm for it.

1. Definitely wouldn't label it as a fifth bedroom for sale purposes.
2. The company that makes them leads on all planning permission and building control issues - we've got no intention of trying to slip anything past the rules! They would site survey at the beginning and check on local planning applications to get a sense of whether it's likely to be approved.
3. We have no more extension space - terraced house (no garage), no potential for a roof conversion (had a surveyor's report to confirm) and we have a decent enough garden for the city, but it's terraced, so really difficult to extend more than we already have. It would also mean having to redo lots of work that is recently done, and cost a fortune.
4. The home office space we have is within an open plan living space. It can be sealed off easily to make it a quieter part of the ground floor but would look really bizarre as a bedroom - I'm trying to avoid that HMO 'bedroom in every room' feel.
5. We have children of different sexes sharing rooms so need to add more space - our uni-goer will be back enough of the time to make this tricky. And the fourth bedroom is so tiny that it only really fits a single bed and a chest of drawers.
6. The room can be kitted out with 'basic cooking facilities'. I'd be really keen to make sure that didn't incur council tax obviously, as otherwise a plug for the kettle is enough!

Things to consider from your points:

1. Longevity of the structure
2. Whether we could explore a brick building instead - we don't have a very wide garden so brick may look too big
3. Get some idea of whether it would make a difference to the selling price - we're not doing it to make money from a sale but I was worried it might put people off. I guess it would be interesting to know what effect it might have.

Oh, and yes, not an annex, or annexe. My brain just couldn't think of a better word!

I'd love an annex. My mum is single and will eventually move in with us but, as someone who's lived alone most of her life, will want to retain some independence. A garden annex would be a big plus for us.

It sounds like you've got a good grasp off the pros and cons to look into.

As long as it didn't eat up too much valuable garden space nor end up being some wooden maintenance hungry rotting hulk at the bottom of the garden it wouldn't put me off. It would need the plumbing and heating you've described to be attractive.

HOWEVER, as you have a 3.5 bedroom house, consistent with previous comments, I don't think it will add huge value as it won't be a "proper" bedroom and your house is already bottom heavy. But if it's what you need to live in your home it sounds sensible.

Our house has a brick built building in the garden, the previous owners used it as a holiday let. It's been furnished with built in caravan type fixtures and fittings with bedroom, bathroom, mini kitchen. It's brilliant for guests (pre-covid) because they can be completely independent if they wish.

In all honesty, in your position I'd move house rather than add an annexe or garden room. It sounds as if you want 4/5 decent sized bedrooms in the house, and an annex won't fix that for you - as sleeping accommodation it's only practical for occasional guests IMO. Not for a child at university who is still going to come home for lengthy periods during the holidays and maybe after graduation too. It's worth considering how independent they'll be and how much time they'll want to spend in the annex as opposed to in the main house with the rest of the family. If they are going to be very independent, you could make it big enough to have cooking facilities and living space (as well as sleeping space and a shower room), but of course that will cost more and you'll have to pay council tax on it. If you just want to create a bedroom with ensuite, that'll cost less (and you shouldn't have to pay council tax) but it's not great for someone living there (as opposed to a short stay).

I have an annexe btw, which was here when I bought the house. It works well as a home office (especially during all the lockdowns) and guest room, as we have a shower room in there too. However, I'm not sure whether I would have chosen to build it if it hadn't already been there. We have 3 bedrooms, the third bedroom is small, and we'll do a loft conversion eventually (if we don't move house).

Thanks, @AnotherEmma. Our teen is not remotely sociable and would go days without setting eyes on us, but would want to be fed, so we'd lure them in with crumbs to check they were still alive. The design of these outbuildings is more robust than the average garden room so supposedly more pleasant overnight etc. (although I would very much like to see one in real life properly before going down this route).

Our first thought was to move, but we just can't afford what we need. We live in an expensive part of the world, prices have risen around us, and the gap between what we have and a house big enough to actually meet our needs is beyond us. We need to stay in our area for services we rely on right now.

If your garden is narrow just how large can you have an outbuilding and still meet the criteria for distance from boundary, height, max % of garden space covered etc.

I would definitely see bbq this as a selling point, as long as it’s not taking up too much of your garden?

Not sure how/why bbq snuck in there!

We have a nice barbecue too!

We can fit a building within it - I suppose I was thinking that brick might take up more space with its fabric than the wooden ones do. It's the width of our house so not too narrow!

City terrace? You'll probably be limited to 2.5m height of building, so inside ceiling height 2.1m. BUT the exterior height is measured from the highest ground outside the structure. You mention terracing of your garden so the slope can work to your advantage.

Being a terrace suggests you'll be close to a boundary too so you'll probably need it to be built of non combustable material (I.e brick / block) to pass building regs.
So you are looking at a fairly expensive build. Do you have rear garden access or will it all be gong going through the house?
I think moving might be a better option