Increasingly people in the UK are deciding to build a granny annex to solve overcrowding issues
Today, many UK families are struggling with space issues. The building of a granny annex is often a viable solution to this issue, but, sadly, not one that many homeowners seriously consider.
Overcrowding is an increasing problem, in the UK. A recent study by, the housing charity, Shelter, showed that in areas like Leicester, overcrowding affects one in four households.
Across the UK, more than 1.06 million households are suffering from overcrowding. This means that 5% of the UK’s population are living in an overcrowded home, and the problem is growing at an alarming rate.
Dropping incomes combined with rising living costs are the main drivers behind overcrowding. Both are problems, which affect millions in the UK and are unlikely to go away anytime soon. The other factors are a lack of housing stock and difficulty in securing mortgages. Again, issues that look set to be with UK residents for several years, if not decades, to come.
However, in many cases there are answers. A lot of the time, existing space within a property is not being well utilised. Many homeowners and landlords realise this, but automatically assume that the cost of converting that space into habitable space is too high. In some cases, they are right. Converting a garage, loft space or basement into living quarters can work out expensive. Strict building regulations mean that there is quite a lot of hassle and cost involved and that some spaces cannot be converted without increasing the height of the area, which is normally extremely expensive to do.
It is easy to build a granny annex
However, there is actually a ‘third way’ that many are not considering at all, and that is using garden space instead. In a lot of places, a substantial granny annex can be put up in a garden without any planning permission. The cost per square meter is remarkably low and if a company like Swift Org is used, the level of disruption is minimal. They prefabricate all of their garden granny annexes. This means that they go up quickly with the minimum of disruption. Unsurprisingly, they have seen sales of garden buildings soar in the past five years and expect this trend to continue.