Basement excavation adds value to house for sale in Bedford Gardens, Kensington W8

Chard London estate agents' Notting Hill & Kensington sales office has just agreed the sale of a substantial house on Bedford Gardens, Kensington W8, asking £12,000,00, after a short marketing period of just a few weeks.

Among the property’s outstanding features are a basement level swimming pool and cinema room which excited the interest of buyers ranging from Middle Eastern investors to a home grown pop star. The property had been extensively refurbished to the specifications of a private owner who then decided not to move in. The basement excavation added approximately 2000 square feet of useable space.

With current values at around £2500 per square foot and the high fixed costs of moving (not least of all stamp duty at 4%) property owners of substantial Kensington houses are increasingly looking to "go underground" to add extra space. This trend has not gone un-noticed by local authorities. Following a fatal accident involving a workman in a house excavation in Wilton Row, Belgravia SW1 and increasing numbers of complaints from residents concerned at the noise and inconvenience caused by basement excavations, both Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster Council are looking at tightening regulations. Kensington & Chelsea has already said its policy is to resist applications for sub-terranean developments beneath listed buildings.

If the rules are to be tightened, now might well be the last chance many owners of property within Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster to take advantage of the capital value increase that such developments add. Houses that have already benefitted from basement excavations can only become more valuable as a consequence.