Estate Agents - Room Size Measurements
Estate Agents - Room Size Measurements
Author
Discussion

rob172

Original Poster:

112 posts

254 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
Hi,

As above, how accurate are these supposed to be?

We saw a number of properties and narrowed it down to two equally good houses on which we had second viewings. Deliberated for a week or so and came down to consideration of room sizes between the two (mainly bedrooms).

When comparing the sizes, like a complete numpty I had forgotten that the 5th (last) bedroom in one of the houses has a significant (floor to ceiling) intrusion making it an L shape. There is no mention of this reduced roomsize on any of the estage agent measurements (rightmove and their own website) which makes it out to be square. Only noticed this morning when I viewed pictures of the house from their own website which shows the 5th bedroom (pic not included on rightmove).

Damned irratated, especially considering the decision we took to proceed with purchase came down to a comparison of room sizes and the effort I put into to compare the houses based of their quoted measurements. I would have gone for the other.....

SimonV8ster

12,850 posts

250 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
They will be a bit hit and miss. They will measure to the widest and deepest point and rarely make mention of any obstruction like you have found.

Even on a new estate the brochures are not always accurate.

I saw an advert for a house nearby that I thought I recognised. I walked past the house one day and realised what they had done.

There was a pedestrian crossing right on their doorstep and they had used a wide angle lens from the kerb so it looked quite spacious from the front and no pedestrian crossing shown anywhere !!

AlexanderV8

1,486 posts

225 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
I wouldn't mind betting there's a disclaimer on the accuracy of the measurements somewhere.
Like all salesmen they just accentuate the positive & eliminate the negative. frown

Simon Brooks

1,527 posts

273 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
always sell the positives and ignore everything else, personally I have actually taken a tape measure and done the job myself, if the buyers dont like it, tough luck

whitechief

4,431 posts

217 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
Under the Property misdescriptions Act all measurements should be as accurate as possible and stated with a reasonable margin of error in the schedule.

rob172

Original Poster:

112 posts

254 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
This is their description with the pics I now have... In the bedroom 5 picture you can clearly see the intrusion into the room space (almost the whole length of the single bed) making it L shape:

From their website:

Bedroom Four 3.0m (9'8") x 2.9m (9'7")
Double glazed window to the front elevation, built in double wardrobe, radiator and light point.

Bedroom five 3.0m (9'8") x 2.9m (9'7")
Double glazed window to front elevation, radiator, light point, built in double wardrobe.

Bedroom 4 Picture


Bedroom 5 Picture


condor

8,837 posts

270 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
It would seem to me that it's a typo with the room sizes as bedroom 4's size is identical to bedroom 5 size...but clearly from the pics they're not similar at all.

whitechief

4,431 posts

217 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
It should really have a maximum and minimum width measurement.

anonymous-user

76 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
You will nearly always find a disclamer stating that the sizes and descriptions may not be accurate! the fact that you visited the house would appear to me that it is you who seem to have made a mistake!

rob172

Original Poster:

112 posts

254 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
MonkeyMatt said:
You will nearly always find a disclamer stating that the sizes and descriptions may not be accurate! the fact that you visited the house would appear to me that it is you who seem to have made a mistake!
Helpful thanks....

I think you'll see in my original post I've already owned up to being a numpty - although when you're seeing multiple houses / rooms it is actually quite tricky to remember the aspects of each individual room from memory. Which is why following viewings it's important the information available for later review is accurate i.e. where THEY have made a mistake by the looks of it!

dxg

10,018 posts

282 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
Looking through the window of the top photo, would I be safe assuming it's a Kier new build?

If so, the stories I could tell... (none good.)

anonymous-user

76 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
rob172 said:
MonkeyMatt said:
You will nearly always find a disclamer stating that the sizes and descriptions may not be accurate! the fact that you visited the house would appear to me that it is you who seem to have made a mistake!
Helpful thanks....

I think you'll see in my original post I've already owned up to being a numpty - although when you're seeing multiple houses / rooms it is actually quite tricky to remember the aspects of each individual room from memory. Which is why following viewings it's important the information available for later review is accurate i.e. where THEY have made a mistake by the looks of it!
Sorry, I was a little blunt! I was meaning that the fact that they have a disclamer for such issues, meaning that you have no comeback regarding the room sizes as in the case of buying houses it is buyer beware!

rob172

Original Poster:

112 posts

254 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
dxg said:
Looking through the window of the top photo, would I be safe assuming it's a Kier new build?

If so, the stories I could tell... (none good.)
David Wilson I believe. Are there actually any new builds built well these days?

Edited by rob172 on Saturday 27th March 18:32

cs02rm0

13,816 posts

213 months

Saturday 27th March 2010
quotequote all
SimonV8ster said:
There was a pedestrian crossing right on their doorstep and they had used a wide angle lens from the kerb so it looked quite spacious from the front and no pedestrian crossing shown anywhere !!
It does irritate me when I drive to see a property and then find out I wouldn't go near it because of something that isn't obvious in the photos because they've done that. Fortunately now that Google street view's a bit more widespread in the UK it should be less of an issue (so long as they don't keep the address too secret).

dxg

10,018 posts

282 months

Sunday 28th March 2010
quotequote all
rob172 said:
dxg said:
Looking through the window of the top photo, would I be safe assuming it's a Kier new build?

If so, the stories I could tell... (none good.)
David Wilson I believe. Are there actually any new builds built well these days?

Edited by rob172 on Saturday 27th March 18:32
The house itself was built about as well I would expect for a new build (i.e. not very). It was the customer service in getting snags fixed that was truly appalling. I just thought it might be Kier as the house out the window looks like it's got a prefabricated/fibreglass roof over the living room bay; just like Kier use.

Anyway, back to the topic.

Don't get caught out by the coombed ceilings! I trust you're watching for the difference between the floor area overall and the floor area you can actually walk on...

Edited by dxg on Sunday 28th March 09:33