to ask people who live in a house in Central London what it's like?

[manicinsomniac]

I mean an actual family 2+ bedroom house, not a flat or an apartment or a divided up house etc.

I'm absolutely fascinated. Living in London is my absolute pipe dream but, even though I'm on a good salary, I am a single mum of 3 and would only be able to afford a tiny shoebox in an area of London that would make it worth moving to (I'm only 35 mins on train now so now worth going to zone 4+). Whereas I can rent a lovely little 2.5 bed house where I am.

I don't see much in the way of full houses when I walk around central London (we go a lot) but was walking down a street of them today and the people looked so normal. Not rich at all. And the houses looked pretty run to be honest. It made me think.

This is pure curiosity but, if you do live in a zone 1/2 house, can I ask:
Which area it's in
What the area is like to live in
Whether you think it's worth any sacrifices you may be making

and, if it's not too personal (sure it is for many and I completely respect that) whether you consider yourself affluent and, if not, how on earth you manage it?

I have to admit I'm so jealous!

The mansion tax was simply inequitable and was to be imposed on people who in many cases simply wouldn't have the cash to pay it, that's why so much bitching Backing, for example for us, DH and I used the (already taxed) money from sale of business to buy our home. We could have bought multiple smaller flats as BTL, could have bought art, jewellery, cars, stocks and shares...or an actual 'mansion' outside London . We would never have been taxed massively every year on the value of those assets. Equally we could have a huge mortgage and been taxed on the value of the property even though we only own 20% of it. Ridiculous. Staged stamp duty and increased council tax is much fairer and not retrospective. Thousands of people in London are in the same position as you with regard to moving house, not so much because of stamp duty but because the rise in values means that an improvement in space/location is such a huge step up price wise that most people's salary increases won't come near to, hence the middle class exodus I mentioned. The only choice when it comes to moving is to move out...the valuable property is something of a gilded cage. Definitely a complaint of the 'diamond shoes being too tight' type but an issue for many nonetheless.

I don't know why there was so much bitching about the mansion tax when this is equally hard to deal with for people who have valuable properties but no other wealth. I'm not moaning, btw, just pointing out the issue.

They go hand-in-hand, but yes there was less kerfuffle about stamp duty.

Schools in London are generally good. I don't really agree you need money on top for school fees.

We couldn't find them longestlurker. Well primary was fine but there was not one secondary in our London Borough I'd have been prepared to put on the application form. We were too far from Graveney for it to be a runner.

We have a house on the zone 1/zone 2 border - a three bed, modern town house. It's very compact for a three bed - just one living room, small hallway, small garden. Because this isn't a super-nice area, more "up and coming" and south of the river, it was affordable for us (on full-time professional salaries) when we bought it four years ago (around 400k), though I think it's gone up substantially in value since.

There are loads of 'normal' people around us - about half of the borough is social housing and the remaining half is a mix of students, young professionals house sharing and owner-occupier families.

I know lots of people are obsessed with gardens but I don't really see why I'd want a big garden - I'd have to look after it and the weather here is not nice enough that you get to enjoy it much either. Our garden is big enough that you can sit outside with a drink in the summer and that's really all I want. I can always go for a walk in the gorgeous park that is down the road from us.

I like the countryside just fine but I don't want to live there - like a lot of posters here with London, I enjoy going to the countryside for a weekend, getting some fresh air, doing some walking, but day to day, I prefer being in a big city where there's a lot to do. Plus, both my DH and I are serious about our careers which are London based and I really don't think it's worth a lengthy commute to live in the country.

Also, OP, to answer the other part of your post, on 'run down' houses. Some of them are social housing. Certainly in our very central borough the Council own a remarkable amount of 'nice' (and very valuable) period property. For example in our streets (no v sought after) the council bought up all the properties which were more or less slums in the 1950s.

they did them up (to a point) and turned them into social housing. We bought our place from the same family that originally bought it from the council (for £40k! we paid nearly 20 time that) under Thatcher's right to buy.

But the flat below us is still council owned and council tenanted. All the ground floor flats on our streets are. Different councils had different approaches (eg all that type of property long since sold off in Kensignton and CHelsea). But it's pretty common in Islington and Camden.

We looked at a three bed house in a little street of 20 houses when we were buying. Smaller than our place, price was over £900k. Turned out only six of the houses were privately owned, all the others were council!

When you looked you could tell, due to upkeep etc. And the same on our streets - where the whole house is private the maintenance is better...

I know lots of people are obsessed with gardens but I don't really see why I'd want a big garden - I'd have to look after it and the weather here is not nice enough that you get to enjoy it much either

i am passinatly in lovewith my garden, it would be hard to live without one for me,

We lived in a 3 bed house with a reasonable size garden on the zone 1/2 border in South East London. We could afford it because of a combination of factors - high earning young-ish professionals, not the most trendy of areas and ex-council house bought back in 2007. It was great - DH could walk to work, 15 mins on the tube into the West End.

We moved because I got a job outside London, and we needed to live closer to my work. Plus we wanted a significantly bigger house, had it not been for my job we probably would have looked in zones 4/5, but as it is we needed to be outside London.

Zone 1, 3 bed maisonette here.
Only thing I would change is that nowhere locally sells kids clothes and shoes. So everything you have to go a bit further, but adult stuff (including toys ) is on my door step. Which is a pain when you need something urgently.

Excellent schools.
Work opportunities for the dc's who are all working (18-22) and above minimum wage so have been able to move out.
Have some fab bars and restaurants on my door step. Shops open really late. Fancy some food at 3am on a Wednesday, not a problem lol.
Cinemas, theatres, museums, parks other stuff for the kids just there.
Want to go to the country side, not too far from several mainline train stations to get places.
Buses every couple of minutes, no waiting for at least 20 minutes and a ridiculously early last bus.
Loads of cabs.

My neighbours vary from the unemployed to the extremely loaded. And no-one gives a shit if you earn £100 a week or a hour.

Bloody - where do you live in zone 1 that you can't buy kids clothes or shoes? You can virtually walk across the whole of zone 1 in 30-45mins which is full of clothing shops

id love to know if people who live there find it easy to make friends, I understand as one pp said it can be transient but then doesnt that also mean pp are more open to making new friends?

Somewhere in zone one, not for from the square mile.
I must be a shit walker. Walked Victoria to Old street and that took about a hour.

Iam

It's been easy to make friends - through work and through child-related stuff.

We used to. Tbh once you close the front door you could be anywhere. It wasn't worth killing ourselves to pay the mortgage. It was v convinient but London is a big place so you're never somewhere that's always in the thick of it. We were just off Hyde Park Corner.

I wouldn't say central London is defined by tube zones though. There are places in zone 1 I don't consider to be central IE elephant and castle. I used to think anything inside the (old) circle line is central if you're doing it on the tube (the tube is mainly for people who don't live in central London)

We live in a 5 bed house in zone 2 with a good sized garden. It's great! So easy to do fun things with the kids - pop to the museums, to events at Olympia, Richmond Park on our doorstep, cycling along the river tow paths, health club 10 mins walk away with outdoor swimming pool, 15 min drive to Westfield for shopping, West End within 40 mins.

I do sometimes look at what we could afford if we moved out and gasp, schools are a nightmare, but I don't think I could find a better place to live overall.

I found London friendlier than many places because essentially it's a collection of villages, each part with its own identity. I went to uni in Brighton and found that vast and soulless in comparison. I know South West London best but: Fulham, Shepherds Bush, WEst Ken, Holland Park, Chiswick, Putney, Clapham, Balham, Battersea, South Ken, Pimlico, Belgravia, etc.

Making friends was easy: Schools, Church, work colleagues, residents' association, friends' friends, book club, nct - same as everywhere else really.

Not me but a friend has a four bed mews in Chelsea. It's absolutely gorgeous, I love staying there, just off the Kings Road.

Lots and lots of their set have family homes around there, most were bought in the 60s and 70s although they were expensive then too.

I would call them loaded, yes. Most also have a country house for weekends where they hunt/shoot and entertain. Their kids live in Fulham/Battersea/Richmond.

How the other half live

And the mansion tax was a silly idea. My parents have over £2m in property but because of how its divided up they wouldn't pay it. However they get slapped with stamp duty/capital gains instead.

There are ways and means of reducing or avoiding (by which I don't mean tax avoidance which is illegal) paying any of these ill conceived populist taxes....

Ok but Victoria to old street is possible the further points to can go to. And walking there you would have passed though loads of cloth shops

Op there are only 3 types of people who live in houses in London

Those who rent from the council
Those who are old brought there house for 50p in 1955
Those who are mega rich

We lived in London in a 3 bed council Home it was grim the council left us in a falling down shit hole it took an age to get anything fixed and there was a floating floor so we had mice

We were offered 100k discount on our home and it still would of cost us 340k we choose to move out of London

You can't actually get in to central London because it takes so long even though you live at the other end of the central line at least 1 and half hours
No were to park ever not even outside your own home and always get ticketed

And the disparity in terms of quality between schools is shocking even ones that have similar in take

Also just to get from say Southall to sheperds bush it could take about 2 hours in rush hour

I've lasted 4 years in the Scottish highlands and I am desperately trying to get back to life with a pulse.

I've very jealous of you Londoners and you culture and excitement

Tampon lady, I live in zone 2 and I am not any of the things that you have stated.

Living here is ace, but then we bought in the 1990s when my area wasn't popular, it has become so.

This is one of the major problems of central London these days, there are very few places left in zones 1-3, North of the river, that haven't had some sort of gentrification and are therefore in high demand.

Tampon, again I think you'll find its easy to get into central London, I was there today and it took me 25 mins from my door to John Lewis Oxford St, it takes me an hour and a bit to get all the way from my zone 2 des res to my outer London workplace on the other side of the city, not bad on public transport.

Finally, there are plenty of places that you can buy that have good links to the city. As stated again and again on threads of this ilk, no you are not going to get a flat in Islington at 1980s prices, but you might get some where further out (that will only increase in value) that is reasonable. Mumsnetters all seem to want big victorian terraces in "naice" areas with lots of amenties and fabulous leisure activities, but at "reasonable prices". Well news flash folks, if something is in high demand (and everyone wants houses like that in those areas) it costs more.

My fiancé, baby son and live-in nanny live in a large house in Pimlico (so SW1, very central). We also own other properties in Pimlico and Chelsea that we had before we met, and have managed to avoid needing to sell as yet. We would categorise ourselves as wealthy, but with large mortgages, no great capital and absolutely no family money (except what we have made ourselves).

I have lived in London for 20 years, since Uni, and have loved ever minute of it. I have loved being minutes from so much edgy life and different people. But having just turned 40 I find myself retreating to our home in the country more and more weekends (having sworn I would never ever do this!).

I love London during the week (it is the best city in the world for me), when DP and I both work very hard - and I knock myself out trying to be home every night for bath and bedtime. But as I get older I find London less interesting on weekends. The little communities of London in the very centre become very quiet as so many foreign investors aren't there, and others leave for the weekend.

But I want to be in the centre as I love walking, and also means I can be home within 15 minutes of finishing work to see my son. If I ever leave London it will be to live properly in the countryside. I would not want to live in the suburbs where I grew up.