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Original poster

Why is housing in the U.K. so shit?

191 replies

MaryMaryVeryContrary · 14/06/2024 19:16

I don’t even mean your ‘built for another time’ Victorian houses, I mean ones built in the last 20 years (and continue to be built).

Counterintuitive layouts, more toilets than bedrooms, strange angles, no storage whatsoever. We’re house hunting and it’s driving me mental!

OP posts:
AnxiousTwitterati · 15/06/2024 12:29

Years ago I used to babysit for wealthy families who had proper mansion flats in London. Properly designed, maintained, spacious and with well tended outdoor space.

Also stayed with friends in Barcelona and Paris and their flats are similar.

Unfortunately many of the flats in the UK are none of those things and so people just don't want to live in them.

Original poster
MaryMaryVeryContrary · 15/06/2024 12:18

Turefu · 14/06/2024 22:09

As foreign born European I honestly don’t understand why flats are so unpopular here? Building up resolves so many issues. Piece of land, big enough to build two, possibly three houses, could provide the accommodation for twenty families. Nicely designed flats estates are good place to live.

I agree. I would happily live in a well designed 3 bedroom flat if it had ample storage space, parking, communal gardens and a laundry room etc

OP posts:
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 15/06/2024 12:17

Cooper77 · 14/06/2024 22:00

Too many people squeezed onto this little island. That means

a) the demand for housing is really high
b) there’s hardly enough room to build them all
c) developers take advantage of the high demand and lack of space to build ghastly rabbit hutches and jam them on top of one another.

There’s LOADS of room. But it’s kept deliberately scarce.

MooseBreath · 14/06/2024 22:12

I find that layouts in the UK are very odd. There is very minimal living space and too much square-footage in bedrooms/bathrooms (with the exception of closets box rooms). Next to no storage space. Gardens built on rubble so even grass can't survive.

I'm not from the UK and have really struggled adapting to houses here.

Turefu · 14/06/2024 22:09

As foreign born European I honestly don’t understand why flats are so unpopular here? Building up resolves so many issues. Piece of land, big enough to build two, possibly three houses, could provide the accommodation for twenty families. Nicely designed flats estates are good place to live.

StrawberrySquash · 14/06/2024 22:08

Parker Morris standards ditched in the 80s. Lack of supply/housebuilding means there is a shortage so a huge number of people are in a place that's slightly too small for them because that's what they could afford.

Cooper77 · 14/06/2024 22:00

Too many people squeezed onto this little island. That means

a) the demand for housing is really high
b) there’s hardly enough room to build them all
c) developers take advantage of the high demand and lack of space to build ghastly rabbit hutches and jam them on top of one another.

Gettingbysomehow · 14/06/2024 19:53

Maximum profit - that's all you need to know. They don't care about anything else.

Wednesdaysotherchild · 14/06/2024 19:52

The Dutch have less land than the UK but have far better design and construction standards!

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 14/06/2024 19:45

We have a truckload of land but it’s kept deliberately scarce. Same with houses. The problem is capitalism.

Catza · 14/06/2024 19:38

Echobelly · 14/06/2024 19:30

We don't have tonnes of land for the population so land is expensive, also not enough quality control. I agree new housing is rubbish.

One thing that always strikes me is when you see those glass towers of flats that have piles of boxes, toys, various furniture pushed up against the floor-to-ceiling windows because there's obviously nothing like enough storage, especially for families.

I noticed that too. We actually were living in one for a while and there was a little closet with the boiler and the master bedroom had a built in wardrobe. We did have to have a fairly minimalist lifestyle and use a lot of clever storage solutions.

Echobelly · 14/06/2024 19:30

We don't have tonnes of land for the population so land is expensive, also not enough quality control. I agree new housing is rubbish.

One thing that always strikes me is when you see those glass towers of flats that have piles of boxes, toys, various furniture pushed up against the floor-to-ceiling windows because there's obviously nothing like enough storage, especially for families.

PuttingDownRoots · 14/06/2024 19:30

StoneTheCrone · 14/06/2024 19:28

German houses also have proper attics and basements.

Unfortunately German new builds can be as poky and lacking in storage as British ones. But the layout was better.

We also had a German flat a few years ago. It was very well designed. (And had a cellar!)

StoneTheCrone · 14/06/2024 19:28

German houses also have proper attics and basements.

StoneTheCrone · 14/06/2024 19:27

Money.

Margins are on the greedy side so something has to give.

As long as people keep buying them, the house builders will keep making them.

PuttingDownRoots · 14/06/2024 19:19

One of the few things I like about our house on Germany was the two smaller bedrooms (of three) were the same size, rather than two big bedrooms and a tiny one.