Hi there - yes, I'm aware of these restrictions and the solicitor is handing this as part of the negotiation. Yet another obstacle to navigate! The other interesting thing to note is that the contract T&Cs include a mandatory fee payable to the service management company for answering any queries relating to future resale of the property. This is a hefty fixed % of the agreed sale price. I gather that the fees charged by service management companies to leaseholders are currently under review - we should all have our say in this. BTW, Luciana, I agree developers do need to be more flexible and responsive. One would hope that trained architects and builders would be pleased that real people are actually going to live in the buildings they create, and not leave them empty like the dark, uninhabited desolation of large swathes of prime central London. X Gill

If it were me and it is always down to personal preference, I like the three windows all the same size. I think you have the room to make them longer so that you catch the sun at all angles. ie go towards the doors a little . I like windows that are longer than they are wide, so rectangular rather than square. The rectangular ones let you see more of the sky line at different levels, if that makes sense. I would probably have them all electrically opening.

I agree with above - you're going to have a lovely bright utility! The usual way people extend is to put the utility and WC into the darkest bit (turning the utility 90 degrees like suggested above) which then pushes the kitchen/dining/living towards the garden end. But that would have involved more walls coming down - I feel like this is a case of you got what you asked for, but now you're asking for something else. I think the architect has come up with the best layout though for minimal work involved - putting the dining table in the dark space will just make it a corridor and you'll mostly eat at the island in the light room with garden views (other than dark evenings like you say when being in dark dining room will be quite cosy). I know people who have done that and regretted it and wished they'd put the kitchen in the dark bit as you tend to be doing something in there anyway and you'll be looking through the lovely bright space rather than being in it. Getting a decent second living space seems important to you so the current layout achieves that. You could perhaps add some high level transom windows between kitchen and utility to bring more light into kitchen (depending on where tall/wall kitchen cabinets are going to be and how ceiling is). Another option that you haven't mentioned is to put the new lounge into the dark space (then you'd have to call it a snug!). Leaving the new space as kitchen and dining. But perhaps you want the sofas to be looking onto garden, or you don't want it right next to the other sitting room - which is understandable. So it depends on what you'd use that living space for - or would also having a couple of upholstered chairs or a window seat in the extension allow you the flexibility you are looking for? Regarding the loo situation - I don't like having to walk through the utility to get to it (mainly as you're going to have to clean/tidy your utility every time guests come round, no thanks) - alternative is to walk through the WC to get to utility - would result in a bigger WC (you don't want to squeeze between toilet and basin so put them on the same wall) and a more useful utility space - and you'll have one window into WC and one into utility and nobody will be walking through the cat litter tray - could keep the pocket door idea so that it's more like one room normally, but easy to close off the messy utility when guests arrive (if that is ever allowed to happen again!)

Hi! This is a long a complex post! It's hard to know exactly what your question is. If you are looking for help with the layout design then this is something that I can help you with. For the technical questions relating to structural design then yes, as you say, these are best answered by a structural engineer. Getting the layout right for you first and then speaking to the engineer is usually the process that I would go through. I always start off with looking at what it is you want to achieve from the additional space you create. I would also look at upgrading the thermal performance of the roof since you will need to recover the roof anyway. You will need to add in insulation anyway but there are ways of doing it that is much more effective and there are some serious errors that are commonly made that you need to avoid - like cutting holes in the insulation to install inset downlights. You can have a look at how I work and get a copy of my free Design Your Home Vision checklist on my website here: www.i-architect.co.uk best wishes with you project, Jane