Feedback for London flat

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 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

It’s in a fantastic location though!

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.

I tried a couple of those when I was selling my late mother's house. I wanted it sold quickly. But the prices they offered were risible, and reviews mentioned that at the last minute they'd drop it even further.

I'd only ever approach these people in a dire situation, and when the property has been on the market for a long time.

Your insane. If a "landlord" bought it with a 100k deposit repayment mortgage the repayments are nearly 4.5k a month !!

Plus they will likley loose that 100k deposit over the next year or two as prices bslance out. Please explain how that could possibly be anything other than a disastrous investment ?

She doesn’t need that she just needs a better agent and priced to sell.

One thing she could do OP is ensure she has the LPE1 (lease management pack) ready to go. It can take 3-6 weeks to come.

@YourWildAmberSloth

It's listed as Covent Garden but it's not Covent Garden proper imo. It's the Holborn side of Drury Lane and stupidly quiet. So no, not surrounded by tourists, and surprisingly free from bars/restaurants/shops open until the early hours. It's not like living on Old Compton Street or Neal Street. Every time I walk down Macklin St, I'm usually the only person on it, and I walk down there most days. I live 15 minutes walk away in Barbican which is probably noisier than Macklin St!

I’m currently looking at flats re are several I’ve discounted cos the kitchen leads straight onto the bathroom. Can’t believe people actually design flats with this layout, it’s a complete dealbreaker for me.

"neutralising and decluttering,"

Won"t make it worth 800k, London prices are run by demand and the bond market i.e how much people can borrow, arse is already falling out of the higher end in London as the funny money dries up globally. Location is something but not everything, how much people can spend (borrow) is everything.

Sounds totally bonkers doesn"t it?

Except many buyers looking for a crash pad or similar are actually cash buyers for whom 100k one way or the other isn't the end of the world. Approx 50-70% of zone 1 sales are to cash buyers.

Except many buyers looking for a crash pad or similar are used to be cash buyers for whom 100k one way or the other isnt wasn't the end of the world. Approx 50-70% of zone 1 sales are used to be to cash buyers.

Ftfy

Someone didn't get the memo....

Not quite sure what the answer is because it really isn't a 2 bed. The kitchen/bath should be converted into a bedroom, the bedroom on bottom left should become a bathroom and lounge/other bedroom should be opened out into a kitchen/dinner/lounge.

People searching for 2 beds will not see it as a 2bed and people who really want a one bed/studio will miss it because of the way the rightmove search engine works. It actually has loads of potential for someone with imagination - and a good EA will see that and look for the right buyers (we dealt with Foxtons in London when searching and I’m afraid they were not great.

@onpills4godsake I’d recommend that your friend considers moving to another one and that they are more creative in their marketing?

It’s massively overpriced and not enticing - that’s a huge price tag and just doesn’t seem worth it. Lower the asking price