Feedback for London flat

It’s already a doer upper. Developers will already have their eye on it and may have made lowball offers already.

It’s got 2 beds so you market it as 2 beds. Anyone looking for a one bed/studio post renovation will select up to 3 beds on the search engine.

It’s in a fantastic location though!

Just to add - has she spoken to those ‘we buy any house’ type companies? They may buy it seeing the potential and give her a reasonable price that would at least get her into a place that suits her mobility needs sooner? Even if that is less that Foxtons are valuing it at?

In that case I wouldn’t even bother extending the lease herself. The buyer can do it. The 2 year rule was abolished as of Jan 2025.

The black and red decor is very 80s and totally out of keeping with the softer, more homely kitchen decor. There’s no “flow”.

I hate that the bathroom leads off the kitchen. Very unusual now, building regs for new properties (& renovations maybe???) require 2 doors between a kitchen and toilet.

It does look very studenty. Needs neutralising and decluttering, to make it feel worth the money to anyone with that much to spend.

Brilliant location but dated, small , bathroom off kitchen, shared kitchen lounge space. Not clear what the outdoor space is. Should be £100k cheaper.

Plus Foxtons are robbing ba*rds with aggressive sales techniques. I give anything advertised by them a swerve.

That’s quite a drip feed - but the end result is that the EA needs to re-list it as a one bed/studio flat/doer upper. The EA needs to be targeting property developers etc. But marketing it as a 2 bed means that people looking for 2 beds will swerve it and people looking for a studio/one bed will not see it when they make their selections in the search engine.

This is affectively a bedsit and it’s the location you are buying. The bedrooms are barely big enough for a double bed and the kitchen/bathroom arrangement is risable. No one looking for a 2bed in CG would look twice at this, I’m afraid.

Just bought a 3 bed modern/luxury flat in SE1, beautiful quiet residential street in Southwark. 1000sqm, two bathrooms (one ensuite), huge open plan kitchen/dinner/lounge, balcony, 4 years old so still has NHBC warranty, Covent Garden is a 20min walk (we go to the ROH quite often), the new and old Vics are within minutes walk as are bars and nightlife, concierge security… for £1m. The same flat in Cov Garden would market at £2m, if not more.

I can see why anyone looking for 2 bed would give it a swerve. She would be better converting the whole thing into a studio flat with a luxury bathroom in one of those ‘bedrooms’ - in which case she might actually get more than the £600k she is asking for (see link below).

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/168189851#/?channel=RES_BUY

It would be helpful to know how much your friend has to improve the house v lower the price and whether she wants to sell quickly.
I actually love the yellow of the kitchen.
I also wouldn't redo anything drastic as new buyers can always rip out and start again.
Cheap options are declutter and put in storage, change some of the curtains for full length neutrals from ikea. buy a few plants and also loads of big rectangle mirrors - again idea have some of those but ebay freecycle have them too for cheap.
Remove the little rugs on the black carpet.
But also zone the living room a bit better as the picture makes it look to squashed as a sofa looking at a tiny dining table with a tiny desk in the corner without much sense of purpose. This is possible a room where it would be worth paying for a wood laminate from b and q or at least a neutral
Paint the inside black door white.

Then get new photos taken with a new estate agent. And may still need to drop the price a bit.

Amazing someone has owned this for 30 years and been happy with this layout

It’s irrelevant as the flat will be gutted. As I said she just needs to make the price work for work required.

Fully refurbished, it will make an ideal central London pied a tèrre: quiet street, low service charge and outside space - which is gold dust in that part of London.

The main problem is the bathroom in the kitchen. It’s clear there wasn’t an architect involved in the design - or anyone with common sense. I think anyone buying it would want to reconfigure it to address this major issue.

It’s very run down - the ceiling in the second photo looks as though it needs urgent attention - and the students furnishings aren’t doing it any favours. It really needs gutting and the layout working on to get rid of the bizarre kitchen/bathroom mash-up, I’d say it’d need at least £70k spending on it to make it liveable. Nice location though….!

I also think it’s off putting to have your bathroom directly off the kitchen but not a lot she can do about that!

It’s not irrelevant at all. It’s a buyer’s market and you have to market your property to sell

Location is amazing, but a lot of people are struggling to sell flats in London right now, so shes not alone there. I'd say it has a bit of a boho/studenty vibe, which is fine, but possibly not for an £800k price tag? Any chance she could change the carpets to something lighter and more neutral? Will make the rooms look so much larger and airier. Maybe put some of the signs and pictures into storage for now, to also help it look lighter?

The state of the flat is irrelevant as it will get fully renovated. She just needs to make the price make sense for the work required + lease extension.

Well we did when living nearby hence I mentioned it! We only used the car to travel to family/friends outside of London. 3 flats of the 6 in our block owned a car for similar reasons.

FFS. I'm now getting bombarded with Foxtons ads on my FB feed.

Her furniture is awful and her carpets absolutely dire. The kitchen and bathroom also look pretty ropey. I know it’s an expensive area but she needs to make more effort if she’s going to convince someone to spend £800k on a tiny flat.

I just had a look at flats for sale in Covent Garden around that price point. Wow, there are a lot, and mostly beautifully done up. I think a drop to £700k might start getting some viewings in, but even then it would be a push, because of the lease.

Of course it is, London is awash with these sort of sky-boxes at super daft prices that no one wants to buy anymore, the only good thing here is that the owner bought in the 90"s so can afford to do a really big price cut to get rid if they actually need/want to sell.

If it is high up and double glazed you won"t hear anything?