Buying property - floor plans don't match the reality

tsalaj

Hi everyone, 
I am looking to buy a flat and have viewing one that i am interested in buying. However, I noticed that approved floor plans do not really represent the real sizes of the rooms. There are deviations of 5-13 cm per room which brings the whole sq meter area down by 1 sqm - so instead of 49 sqm as per plans the real size is not even 48 sqm. I was wondering if the estate agency/developer would be obliged to revise the drawings before exchange of purchase contracts. 
Thank you.
Best,
Tijana 

blue_max_3

For what purpose? It's within 2-3%, which seems near enough to me.

LuLuTuTu

I'd go and visit it.... If the plans are materially wrong and you feel you are paying for something you are not getting in terms of size, when you see it,  open price negotiations. Ask them to re draw ...it doesn't change the size of the actual flat,  but does affect the value of the flat if they have reached the value of the flat based on the sqMeters....

eddddy

tsalaj said:

I am looking to buy a flat and have viewing one that i am interested in buying.
...
I was wondering if the estate agency/developer would be obliged to revise the drawings before exchange of purchase 

Why would you like revised floor plan drawings?

Is the flat a new build? It sounds like you've viewed the flat that you intend buying, so the floor plan drawings aren't really of any significance.

You'd be buying the flat you've actually seen, rather than a flat 'described' by a floor plan.



Edit to add...
Although you should be concerned about a the floor plan in the lease, which is used to identify the extent of the flat.

That probably wouldn't show measurements, but it should be an accurate representation of the area of the building that forms the flat - so that there can be no doubt later.

robatwork

In a lot of places abroad (the OP's name suggests somewhere balkan), flats are normally priced and listed by m2, so the floor area is very significant.

Here it's more of an estate agent's guidance and I doubt it forms an actionable part of the contract - there will be small print saying it's just a guide measurement.

AdrianC

tsalaj said:

I am looking to buy a flat and have viewing one that i am interested in buying. However, I noticed that approved floor plans do not really represent the real sizes of the rooms. There are deviations of 5-13 cm per room which brings the whole sq meter area down by 1 sqm - so instead of 49 sqm as per plans the real size is not even 48 sqm. I was wondering if the estate agency/developer would be obliged to revise the drawings before exchange of purchase contracts.

Is this a newbuild that you exchanged contracts on off-plan, before viewing?

If so, then I'll bet that there's wording that the plans are for identification only, and may be subject to revision as the build progresses. There's far bigger differences than a handful of centimetres get slipped through like that.

If you've viewed prior to exchange, whether new-build or not, then the floorplans are irrelevant. You're buying what you've seen.

Just... please tell us that you didn't order carpets or furniture on the dimensions and they don't now fit...?

eidand

tsalaj said:

Hi everyone, 
I am looking to buy a flat and have viewing one that i am interested in buying. However, I noticed that approved floor plans do not really represent the real sizes of the rooms. There are deviations of 5-13 cm per room which brings the whole sq meter area down by 1 sqm - so instead of 49 sqm as per plans the real size is not even 48 sqm. I was wondering if the estate agency/developer would be obliged to revise the drawings before exchange of purchase contracts. 
Thank you.
Best,
Tijana 

Short answer, no. Every plan has a disclaimer to allow for a margin of error. You can go and measure yourself and you really should do that if a few cm here and there means that you don't want to buy. 

Davesnave

It's likely that garden plans (if any) on title documents don't exactly match the reality either.

davidmcn

It's reasonable to expect developers to build in accordance with the plans which have been approved for planning (or building control) purposes (assuming that's what you mean by "approved plans"), but a discrepancy this minor isn't going to be a problem.

Not sure what you mean by amending the plans - what do you expect anybody to do with the amended plans?

AnotherJoe

The only significance in those discrepancies would be when buying flooring or possibly furniture thats a tight fit.

Otherwise its an irrelevance and wont change a thing.

greatcrested

Just to be clear, do you mean

* plan on estate agent's marketing literature?

* plan on developer's marketing literature?

* plan of planning permission consent?

* plan on lease?

* plan on Land Registry Title

or someting else?