Size of House

Hi
Is it just me or has anyone else found that every house they view is overstated in the brochure regarding the square footage. It may sound silly but I'm really getting fed up of it. With one house we went to see a number of months ago, we discovered it was inflated by 400sq feet!! We phoned the estate agent who sounded very surprised and said they would change the details, for us it had meant a wasted trip to view the house in the first place.
Obviously this was an extreme example but it happens over and over again. Do estate agents think buyers are stupid? or don't care?
With some houses it's hard to tell, but most houses are two squares/rectangles, one on top of the other, surely it ain't difficult to get the measurements right!!
Apologies if this seems pedantic but a prime example was a house I went to view last week. Advertised as 2500sq ft. Nice house but didn't feel that size (and you get to know the "feel" after 10mths of searching!). Came home, examined the brochure again and again and did the maths and lo & behold the house is approx 1820sq ft excluding a small attic conversion.
I rang the agent to ask did they have the size of the attic conversion as it wasn't on the brochure, I was told no, they didn't because it wasn't considered to be a room. Now this conversion has a proper full stairs up to it, carpeted, velux windows etc, thus I would have thought it can be counted as a room (but there's no way it's 600sq ft!).
The response to my comment regarding the other 2 floors of the house measuring approx 1820sq ft was met with the "oh well you know there would be hallways/landings etc not included in the room specs etc"
Now please god, grant me some semblance of intelligence. The kitchen runs the full width of the house and the lounge and kitchen together make up the breadth of the house, multiplying one by the other and then by 2 for upstairs gives you the size of the house. If I can figure that out, do other people not care?
Also, the measurements of the attic must have been included to come anywhere close to over 2000 sq ft. If they don't have the measurements,how did they know how much to add on? In other words, how can they say the size of the house at the same time as saying they don't have the measurements for part of it!!! Sorry about ranting but this freaks me out, time and time again the inaccuracies in brochures drive me mad. They had listed granite worktops in the kitchen which were nowhere to be seen and left one entire room off the brochure!! If I was a vendor I'd be annoyed and as a buyer I'm sick of going to look at houses inaccurately advertised.
Ok this wasn't meant to be a full rant and thus I should probably move it to that section but don't know how so apologies if it's posted to the wrong area but I have been wondering if I'm the only person who finds this REALLY frustrating???
Thanks for listening!

Shakespeare said:

I rang the agent to ask did they have the size of the attic conversion as it wasn't on the brochure, I was told no, they didn't because it wasn't considered to be a room. Now this conversion has a proper full stairs up to it, carpeted, velux windows etc, thus I would have thought it can be counted as a room (but there's no way it's 600sq ft!).

Click to expand...

Not sure if it's relevant but unless an attic has been converted such that it complies with the relevant building regulations governing living space in domestic properties (and most are not for various reasons such as ceiling height, minimum area, accessability, door widths etc.) they can only be advertised and sold as storage areas even if they are used as additional bedrooms, studies, offices etc. For example, a three bed with a converted attic space cannot generally be advertised as a four bed.

You're absolutely right, Shakespeare! It is incredibly annoying. Would this be reportable to ASAI (Advertising Standards Association of Ireland) I wonder?

Usually, there's a disclaimer in auctioneers brochures to the effect that "all particulars are guidelines only and not to be relied upon" - WHAT'S THE BLOODY POINT THEN?? If I advertise say a second hand car for sale as a 2004 model, 1800cc, 10000 miles, and it turns out to be 2003 model, 1600cc and 15000 miles, wouldn't that be false advertising? Why doesn't the same apply to property?

I seen a small development of apartments being built locally and had a brochure sent out. Lovely pictures (artists impressions). Problem is that where they have green area drawn in is where there is already houses situated! Somewhere in the brochure is a disclaimer saying that the finished product may not look anything like whats in the brochure. Its a joke!