OK, we (t'other half, me & baby) currently live in a cottage that's about 150 years old. Before we took it on, it was used as a holiday cottage, which means plush expensive carpets, textured wallpaper and posh flowery curtains. Nice and pretty (if you're 80) but terrible for cats - our 3 are currently tearing up the place (ripping the wallpaper and carpet ) and it's making me VERY uneasy. (The annoying thing is they were never this destructive before we moved to our crappy old flat pre-cottage!)
Add that to the fact that it's single glazed, and freeeeeeeezing cold in the winter. From Oct-Mar it cost us over £900 in gas to heat the bloody place!
Also, the banister thingys on the stairs/landing are the old horizontal style which means when Isabel (7mo) starts crawling properly (which will be VERY soon - she can already get around the room) it wouldn't be hard for her to climb through and fall down the stairs.
So, that sounds negative, but actually it's a nice cottage and it's quiet. VERY quiet normally.
There's a cottage down the road for rent, £20 p/m cheaper, although slightly more expensive council tax so we'd only be about £10 up on that side of things.
We've been to view it, and it's smaller than this place (but we don't use all the space we have). It has gardens though, which would be nice for Izz, and space for me to grow more veg. On the negative side, the gardens are low-walled and so we couldn't let the cats out securely (they're indoor cats although we have a v. small tiled area at the side of this cottage they can go out in).
As well as slightly cheaper rent, it's got a newish combi boiler and heating system, AND double glazing, which I reckon would make a massive impact on the heating bills (going from previous experience).
Another con = parking is not available outside the house, we'd have to park down the road a bit. This means getting shopping in when it's raining would be a bit of a pain in the bum.
It also smelled a bit of damp, but we've had previous problems with damp and couldn't see any of the usual symptoms. The estate agent reckons the previous tenant dried clothes on the radiators. However, that could be total bollocks so we'll be investigating that before we commit to anything.
Hmm.. more pros = no wallpaper and cheap crappy carpet that would not be expensive to replace should the cats keep up their behaviour. (Although this NEEDS to be addressed.)
But then we also have the issue that moving is a total nightmare - paperwork to change, insurance to update, banks to notify etc. Plus the estate agents fees (£230~ last time we moved). Stumping up deposit isn't a big issue.
We genuinely don't know what to do. Thoughts?