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Original poster

Anyone live in a flat with teen dc?

22 replies

dontstealmymagnolias · 01/09/2021 07:30

A London living thread has me fantasising about living there again even though I can't afford to and realistically we'd have to live in a flat rather than a house. I keep seeing posters saying that once the dc are older you have to move into a house. Does anyone live in a flat with older dc and how do you make it work?

OP posts:

LittleBrenda · 01/09/2021 07:34

keep seeing posters saying that once the dc are older you have to move into a house

This seems like a strange thing to say! Maybe it's because if you have no stairs then they can't storm off up them rolling their eyes.

I was FaceTimeing with a friend this week and we were talking about how much more 'on top of each other' you feel in a one story house but that was related to being in lockdown. And she has three dc so I imagine she wouldn't feel like that if there were only two people.

mynameiscalypso · 01/09/2021 07:39

I lived in a flat as a teen. Main drawback was that it was harder to sneak out at night / sneak back in at 3am. Not really a reason for moving back to a house!

Vyff · 01/09/2021 07:40

I live in a flat with one teenage dc. We have a ground floor flat with a garden so it feels similar to living in a house except there are no stairs and more neighbours around us. We are happy here.

Interested in this thread?

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Families

MareofBeasttown · 01/09/2021 07:45

Yes. I do, in a London flat. I can afford a house but I like flat living, which I realise puts me in the minority.

SnowfallSnowball · 01/09/2021 07:46

I also live in a 2 bed flat with my DD, it’s absolutely fine as it’s just the two of us. I live in London.

onemouseplace · 01/09/2021 07:50

I live in a flat with tween DC. Our problem is space rather than being in a flat per se.

Original poster

dontstealmymagnolias · 01/09/2021 07:50

I suppose if you just have 1 dc or 2dc in a 3 bed it's absolutely fine, and makes little difference to being in a house. I have 3dc, so that might be a bit harder. In saying that though on one of the council house programmes there were families living in London with 5/6 kids in a 2 bed flat, so it must be that unusual.

OP posts:

Original poster

dontstealmymagnolias · 01/09/2021 07:51

onemouse I think that's what I was intending to ask but didn't. How do you manage space wise?

OP posts:

MareofBeasttown · 01/09/2021 07:54

The houses I looked at in Central London were almost as small as my flat and badly designed. I have one teen DC. Also one adult DD who lives elsewhere but visits. We are all v minimalist. I have only 6 pairs of shoes and 2 pairs of jeans , for instance. But then I have been this way all my life. I don't like stuff.

Chilver · 01/09/2021 07:58

My ground floor maisonette in London is the same sq metre size as the houses around us- we havenoff street parking too, so apart from not having a utility room, I don't see the benefit of moving to same size house just with smaller living and sleeping rooms, just for benefit of utility room.

Juniper74 · 01/09/2021 08:01

We lived in a 3 bed garden flat with 4 children for several years. Having outdoor space made a big difference. Storage wasn’t great but main issue for us in the end was ridiculously loud upstairs neighbours. Could equally happen in a house though , although I think the noise was worse coming from above and also from the stairs to the side. Otherwise it worked ok. Was a period conversion with large living room / high ceilings so that helped. At the time we couldn’t afford a house

but wanted to stay in the area for work / school / friends etc so overall felt like right decision.

RoseMartha · 01/09/2021 08:01

I am in a flat with teen dc. We miss having a garden to a certain extent.

But having been in the flat almost a year now I think we have got used to it.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 01/09/2021 08:03

I have seen posts on here suggesting that anything less than a double bedroom, ensuite and a living room per teenager isn't fair on them.

Reality... children live happily in all sorts of homes. Many share bedrooms. Many have boxrooms. Many house have one bathroom. No gardens. Are flats.

MareofBeasttown · 01/09/2021 08:06

I am not British so not into gardening. Never had a garden in my life and very happy without the extra work. London has so many parks anyway; I have one within 5 minutes.

idontlikealdi · 01/09/2021 08:07

I grew up in a flat but it was bigger than my now house. My first flat purchase in London had a bigger living room space and kitchen than my 3 bed terrace house.

As a later teen we lived in a single storey villa.

I can't see the problem with living in a flat at all. If anything it would be easier in a flat with a teen than a flat with small kids.

Westfacing · 01/09/2021 08:09

It all depends on the size of the flat and location.

My ex and I brought up our two boys in a 2nd floor 3-bedroom mansion flat in London; it was reasonably spacious with a kitchen/dinner and large sitting room. It was one minute from the Tube which made all the difference to everyday living.

itsgettingwierd · 01/09/2021 08:18

I live in a flat with teen ds.

We moved here when he was 3 and he's now 17.

Why do we need to switch to a house?

We have a decent sized lounge/diner, 2 double bedrooms and a good sized bathroom.

Kitchen is typical new build cupboard but it's usable. The only thing I wish was different but not enough to take on more financial pressure to change.

We have a good sized shared garden, shed, washing line and car park space.

A house would twice the price for no more space really in actual rooms just spread over 2 floors and a much smaller garden - albeit private.

That extra cost would actually totally lower our quality of life.

grey12 · 01/09/2021 08:27

I've lived in a flat all my life

I would think that having a house would be important for small children but I can't see older teens playing outside much.....

MareofBeasttown · 01/09/2021 08:57

The other reason why I live in a flat is that I found it v hard to find houses with more than one bathroom. My flat now has 2.5 good sized bathrooms. the teen has his own. When I was looking for housing, the estate agent kept trying to get me to look at houses with gardens but only one bathroom, and I could never figure out why.

MooBoom · 01/09/2021 09:04

@Aroundtheworldin80moves absolutely beautifully put, totally agree

Original poster

dontstealmymagnolias · 01/09/2021 16:27

Thanks for the responses. It makes sense to me that older children would need a garden less, so flat living would be more suitable for them rather than younger ones. I'm off to Rightmove to see what I can afford most likely nothing.

OP posts:

sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea · 01/09/2021 16:54

I was talking to my mum about this the other day. She said when she was an oldfashioned nursery nurse in the 1960s part of her training included a thing about minimum space requirement for children under 16. Unsurprisingly, toddlers were the ones who needed the most space, by the time chldren get to teen years you can basically put them in a cupboard with a bed because of how little they move

I'm in 3 bed maisonette with two teens. It's easily bigger than an average 2 bed Victorian terrace, and we have a balcony we can sit out on when the weather's nice. I don't think I could ever go back to living at ground level now because I really, really love this house and the views we have.

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