:'( Help Needed - Uninhabitable Kitchen?! That I've lived in for almost a decade

mi-key

From what I can tell from looking into it quickly, to be a habitable kitchen it needs to have its own water supply and drainage and electricity and for the cooker to be in the same room.  It seems by having your cooker moved to the conservatory then this has caused the problem as they seem to count the room with the cooker in as being the kitchen. 

The easiest solution I can see is to get a cheap electric cooker and install this in the brick part of the house as that should the satisfy that as being the 'kitchen' You could even get a freestanding one and put it where the fridge freezer is now and put the fridge freezer in the conservatory. It wouldn't even need to be plugged in to anything as they aren't going to check if it works...

Get the remortgage sorted out, then just get rid of the electric cooker and carry on as you were before. 

dunstonh

. What is weird is that Halifax were fine with it in 2016 and suddenly not now in 2023.

Maybe a desk based survey was down in 2016.
Maybe the valuer back then was happy with it or didnt realise it wasn't compliant.

nickhuge

Thanks. I'm still going to look in to how much a proper extension might cost. You'll see it well and truly has foundations of biblical scale so perhaps not as much as a usual extension "from the ground up"? Although the adjoining wall to the property is only a stud wall itself currently

And then yes, if the lender, or a surveyor, can confirm if moving just the cooker will then make this mortgageable, and if I need a door putting between the utility and the conservatory then I can look at this also as another cheaper option I guess.

It's worth mentioning to those wondering that yes, its freezing in winter in there and boiling in summer. But I still love it.

RedFraggle

nickhuge said:

Thanks. I'm still going to look in to how much a proper extension might cost. You'll see it well and truly has foundations of biblical scale so perhaps not as much as a usual extension "from the ground up"? Although the adjoining wall to the property is only a stud wall itself currently

And then yes, if the lender, or a surveyor, can confirm if moving just the cooker will then make this mortgageable, and if I need a door putting between the utility and the conservatory then I can look at this also as another cheaper option I guess.

It's worth mentioning to those wondering that yes, its freezing in winter in there and boiling in summer. But I still love it.

I'd literally die for that in Muswell Hill. Hope you can resolve it

nickhuge

RedFraggle said:

nickhuge said:

Thanks. I'm still going to look in to how much a proper extension might cost. You'll see it well and truly has foundations of biblical scale so perhaps not as much as a usual extension "from the ground up"? Although the adjoining wall to the property is only a stud wall itself currently

And then yes, if the lender, or a surveyor, can confirm if moving just the cooker will then make this mortgageable, and if I need a door putting between the utility and the conservatory then I can look at this also as another cheaper option I guess.

It's worth mentioning to those wondering that yes, its freezing in winter in there and boiling in summer. But I still love it.

I'd literally die for that in Muswell Hill. Hope you can resolve it

Hahaha thanks, so you don't think I should brick it up then?  

MWT

It is a beautiful addition to your home, but I can see why you are having problems.

You would normally need to have the cooker with the sink in the same room and an external grade door between the conservatory and the house, unless you have raised the insulation/heating etc. of the conservatory to a high enough level to get planning consent to remove the door.

From what you have said about the thermal performance of the current structure it obviously wouldn't qualify.

There are also potentially issues around ventilation for the kitchen...

Did it originally have planning approval or was it a permitted development?

I would suggest getting a professional opinion about what it would take to bring this up to current building regs.

nickhuge

Thanks @MWT , I'm now on the path to find an appropriate professional to do just that. I'm presuming a buildings surveyor should be enough? To be honest, the person who built it is a lovely guy but definitely a bit of a law unto himself (lives next door for many decades and has his own small scale development company). And I actually think it was the previous owner who went ahead and moved the oven/hob anyway. I'm surprised that it passed the 2 previous mortgage surveys now that I am having this issue tbh. 
With everyones help I'm beginning to see what my two options are. 1) remodel the tiny utility area to have the oven and sink in it and move the washer and dishwasher in to the conservatory area as well as have a door fitted (completely ruins the flow of the property) or 2) replace the conservatory with a proper build. Both are disappointing to have to do.

I'm just so surprised the last two surveys went through.

Van_Girl

Yes, you're looking for a Chartered Building Surveyor, not a Chartered Surveyor. 

I've sent you a message with a recommendation for a surveying firm** who should be able to help. And if they can't, then they can probably recommend someone who can

But there are plenty of firms around to be honest

Edit to say it's not my firm, I'm not touting for business

DullGreyGuy

Many years ago I rented a 4th floor flat in a tenement in Scotland and so no lift. Got a knock on the door and a guy was panting there for 2 minutes before he eventually got out... "have you ever thought about adding a conservatory?" Until today I always laughed at him but appears i was wrong! 

theoretica

It looks lovely - but also like it might be a challenge not just now but when you come to sell so worth getting a report with options from someone who really knows the legislation and how it applies to old work.