Oh no how sad you are having to consider this :( You have talked so fondly of your house and I can just imagine ho beautiful it is. Hope you find some answers

Thanks Jen. It's only our 2nd purchased house and if we could pick it up and move it we would (with the budget!) but things which were far less important when we bought it are so much more so now

Completely understand. If the location has problems, the house is affected, no matter how much you love it. I guess whether converting to flats would be possible and profitable would depend on your local market. Would you have the basement flat and house set up from the 70s to fall back on if you don't get permissions I wonder?

Thanks all, I'm really just bandying ideas about ATM. There are issues with parking (due to planning consent being given for flats and there isn't enough space for the tenants let alone visitors) ; traffic (which although has always been an issue, a proposed bypass wasn't built to divert traffic and now planning is going ahead for thousands of new homes which although nowhere near the street, they will need to use this as a cut through); a new noisy commercial tenant working long hours. I therefore think it may be hard to sell as a family home unless someone buys with their heart although we're forever getting cards through the door/calls from estate agents as it's supposedly the most desirable road in the area... Valuewise it's hard to tell as I'm not aware of any direct comparisons. Flats tend to be very small and missing architectural details etc. A grand public building was recently converted and they achieved an exceptionally high price imo for the area. Our house clearly isn't on the same scale re architecture (!) although internally the flats would be larger plus has all the architectural details etc although wont obviously command the premium for a "new" home either. I'm not sure we would this go route even if it were financially viable as I think it would be a huge shame to convert the house (even very sympathetically) but I thought it might be worth at least exploring options in case it becomes hard to sell when we make that decision :(

Have you tested it on the market yet? I'm wondering if local agent could give you advice, in the event it did become difficult to sell for the right price (given the issues you raise) on doing work on the basement only - reinstating the old private access (glazed door for added light, light tunnel/s etc). This might be an attractive option for someone looking for a 'granny' flat or extra rental income? Not sure if there is direct access to the garden or whether that would be an issue?

Hi Jonathan. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Not an option we'd considered, would need to think about how to split the garden, garage and parking. Having somewhere to live shouldn't be an issue.

Jules, we haven't tested it no. We had an estate agent round nearly 3 years ago when there was some talk of premises behind being turned into houses. He thought the house would fly off the market regardless of the issues. He loved the house so maybe getting a more sensible opinion would be an idea. We haven't committed to sell yet, there is another option which would prevent the parking issue which is our biggest bug bear. We've tried this route before but perhaps need to try again!

there's a door from the utility and steps up to the garden albeit very steep! The granny flat could be an option as we're quite lucky with the drain positions. I assume the previous owners were looking to add a wc in the basement as they left a brand new loo in a cupboard! I wasn't sure how sun tunnels would work for a basement, just thinking of positioning (and the angle) and potential listed building issues.