How do we style our extension?
Q
We’re adding a glass extension – a sitting/dining room – to our house and it’s south facing so will get plenty of sunshine. Which is right for a glass box, and how do I position the furniture to make the best use of the room and make it feel cosy?’
A
Glass extensions can be beautiful, with lots of natural light and views onto nature. Unfortunately, all that glass often means poor insulation, making a consistent temperature difficult to achieve. One possible solution is to increase the insulation by having a solid ceiling with rooflights and keeping glass walls. This ensures the space maintains a more comfortable temperature in both summer and winter – saving you the cost of heating and cooling the space – while retaining high levels of light and views outside.
Predominantly glass extensions can also be noisy, with high levels of reverberation. Within the social hub of the home this isn’t ideal, and soft furnishings such as rugs, curtains and cushions are vital to dampen the noise.
When it comes to the flooring, timber can also help to absorb echoes and make the space feel cosy, but it’s not so helpful with temperature control. Heavier materials, such as stone tiles, will take in heat during the day and release it again at night. Both
options have their advantages, so choose the material depending on how you want the space to feel.
For window coverings, bear in mind that light passing through glass turns to heat, which means that internal blinds simply won’t keep the space cool in summer as the light, and therefore heat, has already entered the space before it hits the blinds. One of the best ways to counter this problem is by planting deciduous shrubs and trees outside your extension. In summer the leaves will provide shade and help to filter the light before it reaches the glass, while in winter the bare branches will allow light to come through.
Views of trees and plants have been scientifically proven to lower levels of physical and psychological stress, so place furniture facing out onto nature. If you’re planning to have a dining table, position it so that when everyone’s seated they can see the garden with only a 90-degree turn of the head.
This will ensure your space has an invigorating, restorative effect.
QWe’ve been looking to buy a new-build house and notice that some developers are only offering them as leasehold. I thought flats were leasehold and houses were freehold?
AIn the past leasehold was generally associated with flats and freehold with houses, but this has changed in recent years. Many developers are now selling houses as leasehold and this has opened up a potential trap for the unwary.
On the surface everything looks fine, as buyers are offered reassuringly long 999-year leases, with a ground rent set at a couple of hundred pounds or so a year. The contract might say that the ground rent will double every 10 years, but most home buyers don’t give this a second thought because it’s usual to move house every seven to 10 years.
Where some homeowners have come unstuck is when developers sell on the leasehold to a third party. These third parties often insist they want tens of thousands of pounds for the right to buy back the freehold. This amount can be as much as one third of the home’s value and can make a home almost unsellable, as few buyers would want to take up the burden. The alternative is to stay put, with the cost of ground rent doubling every decade. By the time a buyer comes to the end of their loan term, the ground rent can be a few thousand pounds a year. If the home owner refuses to pay, they can have their home seized without compensation.
There is another potential hardship too. There have been reports of these third parties requesting extortionate charges just to grant permission for the homeowner to alter the property by, say, adding an extension.
I’d certainly urge caution if you’re considering buying a house in this circumstance and would recommend you take legal advice before agreeing to anything.
This issue is only now beginning to get public scrutiny and is the subject of an all-party parliamentary group debate. The support group Leasehold Knowledge Partnership (leaseholdknowledge.com) is a useful resource if you’d like to find out more about the current situation and get help.