Moving bathroom and kitchen
We have unknowingly bought a badly done first floor flat Victorian conversion. The problem is that the unique bathroom of the flat has been located in one of what used to be a bedroom and in the absence of a soil pipe, has been fitted with a macerator (the most widely available pumping macerator in the market). We have heard since that this may put buyers off when we decide to sell, in 4 or 5 years' time. The soil pipe is in the kitchen and we have thought of switching the bathroom and the kitchen so that we can use the soil pipe. The kitchen, by being relocated in the room that now is the bathroom, would become much smaller and would loose space for a table and 2 chairs. The bathroom would become much larger and we could fit a tub and a shower in the new location, which could also add value to the flat. Irrespective of the cost of this switch (which could be justified as we are not planning to sell now and the area of London where we bought will see rises in the next few years thanks to the 2012 Olympics), would we be adding value to the flat or on the contrary, lose, as the kitchen becomes small and the bathroom exceedingly large?
That’s a really tough question to answer without knowing the specifics of the flat. In general, I think most people would prefer a larger “eat in” kitchen than bathroom, but it’s tough to say how many would be put off by the macerator. All I can suggest is talking to as many people as you can to find out what their opinion is and see where the balance lies, but my instinct would be to leave things as they are.
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