You want your quote to be right first time.
Why conversions get under-quoted
Because a survey looks at rooms, and a converted Victorian house stores things everywhere that is not a room. The volume is real and it is genuinely easy to forget it exists.
None of this is difficult once it is counted. It is only a problem when the vehicle turns out to be one size too small.
The four that catch everybody
In rough order of how often they are forgotten.
- Eaves storage in a top-floor or loft flat — low doors in the knee walls, holding far more than anyone remembers.
- The vault or cupboard under the front steps of a garden flat — almost always there, almost never mentioned.
- The shed, if the flat came with the garden — plus the garden furniture and whatever is behind it.
- The cellar, in a whole house — usually reached by a narrow flight off the kitchen, and often still holding the previous owner’s things.
The communal ones are worse
Many Ealing conversions have a shared cupboard under the main stair, or a section of the hall that has become informal storage. If some of what is in there is yours, say so — and if you genuinely are not sure, that is worth resolving before moving day rather than during it.
Bicycles in particular have a way of belonging to nobody until somebody tries to move one.
Open everything before the survey
It takes a few minutes and it is the difference between a quote that holds and one that gets corrected on the morning.
If you would rather not open the eaves cupboard yourself, say so and we will look. We are not going to judge what is in it.