No floor plans?!

[MsNevermore]

Why oh why is it such a common thing for estate agents not to provide floor plans of the properties on their books?!!!!

Currently trying to find a house for when we come back to the U.K. and whenever I send a RightMove enquiry (including the important point that we are returning from overseas) requesting a floor plan or even just measurements, I’m getting “We don’t do floor plans, but you’re welcome to book a viewing” 🫠

Well considering I’m currently 5 and half thousand miles away, I can’t really pop over and view it!!!
Lack of floor plans is now meaning that houses we really like the look of are a right off because we have no idea of square-footage and no idea of whether our giant American furniture will fit in the rooms!

Is there a valid reason I’m missing for not providing a floor plan?
Or is it just one more job that letting agents can’t be arsed to do? 😭

We have an RAF base in the back of beyond. Beautiful island white sandy beaches but I can imagine finding a home there when you're in the USA a nightmare.

Lakenheath by any chance?

No!
Lakenheath is ENORMOUS!
We’ve previously been at Mildenhall which is Lakenheath’s smaller, sister base, but even that is exponentially bigger than where we are going next.

I’m so looking forward to coming home…..but I’ll admit I’ve become very accustomed to the much larger houses here in the US and some of the slightly bougier feature of those houses 🫣🫣😂
Growing up, I always thought an island in the kitchen was something only super posh people had….but they are pretty standard here. As well as open-plan living/kitchen/dining - I’m looking at UK properties, which I’ve lived in most of my life perfectly fine with few gripes, and find myself saying dumb shit like “There’s too many walls” 🤷🏻‍♀️🫠😂😂😂
Also very upset that I’m going to be kissing my garbage disposal system in the kitchen sink goodbye.
BUT another perk to coming home? Adequate electrical voltage so it doesn’t take 7 minutes to boil an electric kettle like it does here.

If it helps, I promise that things like fuel oil, bottled gas, private sewage and water are all perfectly manageable.

You get service contracts for all of them and they make life straightforward.

I have absolutely no idea about any of this stuff.
Every UK home I’ve ever lived in has been on the main gas and sewage lines, so the idea of oil and a septic tank feels like alien territory to me!

We had oil, septic tank and bottled gas for 20 years, no issues.

While We’ve got mains everything, I live in an area they're really common.

It’s daunting because it’s a mystery.

Assuming you don’t currently do your own boiler servicing, heating on gas tanks or fuel oil is exactly the same day to day as mains gas central heating. Only difference is rather than doing your meter readings every month and paying the utility supplier bill, you check your tank levels and when it drops low enough to refill you order a fuel delivery and they rock up and fill your tank for you. Similar to filling car up when the gauge runs low, except they come to your house and do it for you and the bill is higher. Tends to work out similar ball park has mains supply over the course of the year but it’s fewer, larger payments. Definitely don’t let that put you off something that works in every other way.

If we found the perfect house, it definitely wouldn’t put me off.
I’d just need to learn all of the ins and outs of it - which seems quite daunting just because I’ve never had to before!

It’s more straightforward than working out the ins and outs of the current smart meter mess and weird and wonderful mains supply contracts.

Crucially, Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) which are truly rubbish for anything relating to energy performance, are your friend here. They have energy supply info and total sq m.

I’m off to have a gander at the EPC’s on some of my saved properties on RightMove 👀
Had absolutely no idea the total sq m was on there!!!
Mumsnet to the rescue yet again 🦸🏻‍♀️

Am I being really dim?

One of my saved properties has the EPC on the ad but it’s only showing this?
Nothing about total square footage

That’s the summary. There should be a more detailed full certificate that goes with it.

Aaaa ok….so the whole thing hasn’t been uploaded. I’ll have a look directly on the agent’s website

Mmmmm.

Having had a look at right move they seem to only show the rating and not the certificate. It’s the actual certificate Thats got the useful stuff on it.

If you’re looking in Scotland theyre easy to get once you get an account on the relevant solicitor property co website. If it’s England then might need to ask the agents for them specifically, making it clear you want the certificate not just the rating.

For what you’re after, best bet might be to phone a few agent offices and talk to an actual real life human being (ideally one who works on commission so they’re motivated) and talk through what you’re looking for. Some are rubbish for that these days, some still do the actual looking for properties for clients thing.

I actually had a guy call me off the back of an email enquiry asking for a floor plan and he was really helpful!

Yea rental and rural - it’s quite common not to do a floorplan. Look on Rightmove for sold prices though for the street, you can usually find the house on there and it might have a floor plan.