Extensions

Possibility to reconfigure walls in existing extension or run a mile?

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 3.07 PM

I'm a first time buyer and have seen a property of interest on the market. It's a small Edwardian terrace (SW London). There are a number of houses there all of which seem to follow the same pattern - start as 2 beds, get a 3m single-story extension to fully open out the back and get a loft conversion to 3 bed. This house already has the extension, but the positioning of the walls is strange - in all the other houses the old exterior wall is fully opened up so the house is split front to back 1/3 (living room, hall and stairs) and 2/3 (open-plan kitchen/living area) and there's a bit of wall sticking out on each side where the exterior wall used to be. In this house, where the exterior wall used to be there's a bit sticking out on the right hand side (normal), but then another bit right in the middle of the width which then becomes the end point of a wall from the front that appears to be at a ~5-10 degree angle from centre. This leads to a poor use of space with a wonky L-shape kitchen/living area, and a wasted extra room behind the living room vs the neat rectangle in the other houses. I know the only way to be sure of what's going on is to get a professional round, but does anyone have any experience of why it might have been built this way (I think the extension may be from early 2000s) and if it may be reconfigurable or if we should walk away and look for an unextended version to get right from the start? Thanks for reading and for any advice! Erika