House that's the size of a garden shed is up for sale
A tiny extension, built onto the back of a house in Hotwells, near central Bristol, has become one of the smallest ever to hit the market. It's around the size of a garden shed, and is going to auction with a list price of just £30,000. So do you fancy it?
Incredibly, despite having a floor area of just 18.6 square metres, the 'shed' has been divided into a bathroom, kitchen (which can also be used as a lounge if you're flexible and creative enough) and a bedroom on a mezzanine level - accessible by ladder.
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The estate agent, Hollis Morgan describes it as: "A well designed and smartly presented, self contained studio accessed from Little Caroline Place with bathroom and kitchen." It's planning an open day for people who want to view the property, and somewhat generously suggests it might take 15 minutes to look around.
There is a slight downside: the conversion of the property into a self-contained studio flat was done without planning permission, so if you actually wanted to live in it or rent it out, you'd have to apply for permission yourself. There are absolutely no guarantees that this permission would be granted, so you could end up paying £30,000 for a glorified garden shed.
However, to sweeten the deal, the leasehold of the main property it is attached to is included in the sale - so at least you'd have the leasehold income of £100 a year to cheer you up.
Record breaker?
If you were hoping to buy it in order to lay claim to owning the country's priciest shed, you'll be disappointed, because in this crazy property market there are far more expensive specimens up for sale. We reported last month on the half-collapsed wooden shed in Goudhurst in Kent that was on the market for £1 million. The reason for the outlandish price in this case was that planning permission had been granted for a swanky new home to be built on the plot - designed by a celebrity architect.
Buying this property will enable you to lay claim to the smallest house in Bristol. However, you'll have slightly more space than the owner of the smallest house in the UK. London's smallest house was identified last year, when an Islington property measuring just 188 square feet went on the market for £275,000. At the time we pointed out that you could buy a family tent that was larger, and that the seller had only managed to squeeze a bed into the property by putting it on a shelf over the kitchen. However, that didn't stop it being snapped up shortly after hitting the market.
Even that tiny property cannot claim to be Britain's smallest house. The smallest detached house in the UK is apparently Thimble Hall in Youlgrave in Derbyshire. The property is 11 feet 10 inches by 10 feet 3 inches - and it's only 12 feet 2 inches tall. It's not currently used as a home - for obvious reasons.
But what do you think? Would you consider living in such a small space? Let us know in the comments.
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