Outbuildings and conservatories
A granny annex has its own electricity meter and a doorway into the kitchen. Does the second meter make it a separate dwelling in the survey?
No. A second electricity meter, and a doorway from the annex into the kitchen, do not make the granny annex a separate dwelling in the survey. The report describes the buildings that were inspected and the condition they were in. A meter records a supply. It does not create a planning unit, a separate title, or an extra dwelling the survey must declare. Whether the annex counts as its own dwelling for the council, a lender or a sale is a question for those records and for your solicitor, not a status the meter has settled.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Buyers see a kettle, a bed and a locked meter cupboard and assume the annex has already been split off. The inspection cannot make that split. It can say how the annex is built, whether it is heated, and what defects were visible on the day. It can note the doorway into the kitchen. None of that is a decision that the annex is a separate dwelling. Room labels in the particulars are the agent's. The survey does not have to adopt them.
Ask the solicitor what the title, the planning history and any council-tax record actually say about the annex. If you intend to let it, or to sell it apart from the house, that intention needs those papers, not a line in the survey about a meter. Keep the condition of the annex, including damp, roof and services you could see, as a building question. Do not tell the lender the survey has created a second dwelling.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you treat the annex as part of this house, or as a separate structure you walked?
- Which defects in the annex stand on their own, whatever the meter suggests?
- Did the doorway into the kitchen change what you could say about the layout?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the annex notes as condition, not as a decision that it is a dwelling.
- Ask the solicitor how the annex is held, planned and taxed.
- Do not tell a lender the second meter created a second home.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the annex has its own front door, is it a separate dwelling?
Not because of the door. A separate entrance is a layout fact. Whether it is a dwelling is for the planning and title records, not for the meter or the door.
Should the survey ignore the annex because the meter looks official?
No. The annex is still part of what you are buying and it still has a roof, walls and services to describe. Ignoring it because the meter looks official would leave those defects unread.