Buying a half house with both a dining room and spacious kitchen - possible?

[overcaffeinated]

Hi there,

My partner and I really like ED and have been looking at properties here for around six months. Our budget won't quite stretch to a terraced house so we're looking for a half house, but we don't seem to find many with the layout we'd like - separate living/dining rooms, or double reception, as well as a good-sized kitchen as we cook a lot. Most of the half houses we've seen either seem to have the right living room and dining room/double reception space, but a small kitchen (a bit like this but smaller, and without the utility room so kitchen doors open to garden at the end: http://www.bushells.com/resources/16/26570/269/04dc7e9763e5bcb36ebb3fd27519fb86.PNG), or a living room and large kitchen/diner (like this: http://www.bushells.com/resources/16/21530/269/74f984638efc981755617228a351e6a6.PNG). We'd be happy to do a side return extension but would want to stay within permitted development, meaning a 3m galley with not much space for kitchen bits and bobs.

It would be really useful to hear from people who have a half house with the kind of layout we're looking for - have we just been unlucky with the places we've seen? If you do, if you'd be willing to share some photos so we can envisage how we could make the space work for us (and if you did an extension yourself, the rough cost), that would be brilliant.

Thank you!

[Jeremy]

The problem is that if you want that amount of space downstairs, you'll probably need to put the bathroom upstairs. Which will really eat into your bedroom space - unless you do a loft conversion.

If you add up the cost of a half house, plus a loft conversion and a side return extension, you're probably not getting good value for the sq ft.

[MSA]

If you know the name of the road(s) where there are half-houses, you can do a search on Southwark Planning Applications (these include Permitted Development schemes) - http://planningonline.southwark.gov.uk/

Just type in the road name in the right hand search box, no need to put house number or postcode.

This should produce a list of planning applications relating to that street. You then just have to scroll through the applications until you find one that is doing an extension/loft conversion etc.

Once found, click on the application number, and then click on 'documents', this usually brings up a list of drawings of existing/proposed plans. It will also tell you which schemes have been approved/rejected.