Time for housebuilders to make the right move

While some people browse Twitter or Facebook before they go to bed, I am on Rightmove seeing what bargains are out there - yes I love property. I am officially a property geek! However, I am not a fan of new builds, why? Well, for starters the rooms are small, and usually you can hear everything going on next door – which I guess can be quite disturbing sometimes, if you get what I mean!

With new builds, housebuilders try to cram in as many features as they can including the endless - in my opinion pointless - en-suite bathrooms, which ultimately leaves houses with two average sized bedrooms and then what they call a ‘box’ bedroom – a bedroom?! I’m sorry but my wardrobe content would not fit in one of them, never mind a bed! I’ve also noticed that storage space is very limited, there’s hardly any (if any!) storage cupboards built into the houses. This means that when you go to someone’s house and use their downstairs toilet, there’s a chance that a) you’ll have to maneuver around a hoover b) an iron board could come crashing down on you or c) you’ll knock down a few coats stored in there - not very practical.

As you can tell I have not experienced many spacious new builds and that’s why I love period properties that boast character and lavish spaces. Anyway, you can imagine my delight when I came across this article. Apparently the average British home has shrunk in size by 40% in the last 80 years and a new consultation, to be unveiled by Ministers, will see minimum size requirements imposed on builders. As The Mail put it ‘Housebuilders to be ordered to construct larger homes that have enough space for storage and furniture’ – FINALLY! I’m looking forward to seeing if these new requirements are carried out. You never know, I might end up in a new build one day where I can do cartwheels from one end of the living room to the other.