to love living on a flat

[LovelyBath77]

It was hard when the children were really small but now they are bit older I love living in a flat in the city centre. They can walk to good local schools and to the shops and the park. Mostly pedestrianised and well lit. I feel from some relatives they think we should have a 'family house' from hints we get, but I really don't want to. After all, when we're older we'd probably want to downsize back to flat. No urge to be out somewhere in suburbs. AIBU? Any other family flat lovers, or most love to have a house?

Also, looking at my (divorced) parents now in their seventies, I can see how city life is SO much better. My dad lives in a cottage in a rural area with shit facilities, public transport etc. he has become quite isolated since he had to stop driving due to ill health and there is just nothing much going on bar the local pub (he is teetotal!).

My mum lives just off a busy high street in London and is having a whale of time in retirement. She poodles about everywhere on the tube or bus (Freedom pass!) and is out maybe 5 nights a week at the theatre, museums, galleries, meeting friends for cheap eats etc. Hospital, GP etc within 5 10 mins of her house. Much better life.

City centre flats are the best! We're in a 4-bed semi on the outer edge of north London and I mourn our 2-bed top-floor flat within walking distance of the West End. But it was a top-floor flat with no lift and a toddler who was getting heavier by the day so we just couldn't stay. We couldn't have afforded anything so central with a garden so went the whole hog and moved out to zone 93948383. But I secretly vow to return one day!

Me too! I don't understand getting a house somewhere I'd need to drive the children to all their activities and parties etc. I love our flat - we walk everywhere. We have swimming, library, soft play, bmx, cafes etc all within ten minutes. We see friends every time we go out the front door.

Also I love one level living - I can put clothes away in the bedrooms while boiling potatoes and keeping an eye on the toddler in the sitting room.

All my friends moved to new builds when they had DC. Their houses are smaller sqm than our flat. I genuinely don't understand it/

I think there are flats and flats, to be honest. I wouldn't buy a flat because it was a flat, if you follow me.

I had a flat and there's no way we could have had a toddler in it as she would just have been too noisy.

We are super lucky and have a ground floor maisonette with a lovely big garden, which is a the best of all worlds. I love it, even when the people upstairs are somewhat noisy. I like being able to walk to work, I like that it takes hardly any time to tidy, and I really like not having stairs. Being all one floor is awfully convenient in my view. If me ever did suddenly get rich enough to move and still stay in the area we want I would maybe get a bungalow, but never a house.

I think this used to bed two bed but one massive room was made into two. So now have three bed. DH uses one as an office but I guess one of ours will have that as a room once they get older. For now they share.

We live in a 2 bed flat that we are in the process of converting to a 3 bed. It is great. I wouldn't move to a house for anything. We are right in the town centre, less than an hour from London and only 5 minute walk from work. And we will be mortgage free in our late 30's.

If we moved to a house we will be further out and mortgaged til the end of time.

Some friends of ours have just sold a four bedroom house and are moving to a duplex flat in a 60s block - way more space for less money, in a great city location, and all they're really sacrificing is a tiny private garden, as the block has big landscaped grounds.

I live in a flat and I love it. It's a large 2 bed, I'm on the first floor so I love that nobody can see in. Nobody above me and only one neighbour, we even have separate front doors. It feels so private even though it's a flat.

Downsides are not having a garden for DS, but we live right opposite a park and lots of fields so I don't think it's an issue. Only other thing I can think to complain about is nowhere to hang my washing so it's usually a clothes horse. But honestly that's just a small annoyance, I think I'll always prefer a flat.

Yes, the same here. We have seven years left on the mortgage. If we'd moved it would be different. Thinking for the future, it would be easy for uni or college if they go as well. Might save on accommodation.

I loved living in a bungalow for the all on one level thing. I do need a garden though.

yes spacious flats near to public green spaces are great. I've lived in three.

I love my flat. Love that everything is on one level. Love that we have a buffer zone between our front door and the cold outside world. It seems almost primitive now to open the front door and not have a nice carpeted hallway before you're outside. Love that someone puts the bins out for us. Love that our lovely top floor velux windows mean we aren't overlooked by anyone and can see all the firework displays in the city. I do miss having a garden, but we have a gorgeous little balcony that gets the sun for 8 hours a day in the summer and is at least five degrees warmer than everywhere else because it's lined with lead. I'd happily stay here until I'm carried out.

YANBU. Sounds like you live in a fab location. No need to live in a house with a garden when you live in a city with so much to see and do! Lucky you, I'm envious!

Oh yes the bins! We have big rubbish and recycling bins on the street. No wrestling your own. Very civilised.

Me too! I grew up on a farm and never thought I'd settle in a city. Yet here we are, 2 bed flat in the centre of a big European city. We are in a great area, our children go to an excellent school just five minutes walk away. We have an enormous park, with free zoo, botanical garden, boating lake and woods just round the corner. Shops, markets, everything in easy walking distance and fab public transport if we go further afield. We are ground floor so I don't worry about our noise affecting anyone. it takes maybe two hours to clean the whole place. Downsides - lack of storage I guess, and occasional neighbour noise. I don't miss a garden, which amazes me, I'm happy to throw the windows open and sit in the sunshine with my coffee - and never need to mow a lawn!

Wow this is so timely for me. I'm in a city centre flat. Been here 12 years and always dreamt of a house with a garden. We're currently trying to decide whether to upsize and I'm starting to think we might stay..

i think if you had space and storage it would be fine but i lived in a two bed flat with absolutley zero storage very cramped and two kids when it was just me it was great but when i married dh and had two kids not so great.

we have the loft which helps.

Love my rented flat. It is the best place I have ever lived. We do have a garden though as it is ground floor. A big Victorian house converted into three separate flats.

It is annoying having someone live above me but he is a single bloke in his 50s no not majorly bothersome. Would not want a family up there though as you can hear EVERYTHING in this conversion. I think purpose built flats would be better.

When I buy I am looking at flats again, the garden thing is not super important for us (just me and dd -5) as we are out all the time anyway, don't really use the garden we have now, maybe 4 times a year and to dry washing, that is it.

Where I am though the problem seems to be the leases, all really short now so no good. I need to find another version of where I live now which would be a share of the freehold but in a cheaper part of the city!

circumstances have dictated that we have moved from 'that family house' to a flat in a busy town outside london.
i love it.
we have two kids under 5 and space is of course an issue, but tbh we just have less stuff now. we can walk to the park in 5 mins, tesco in 5mins and centre of town in 10mins. i find it easy to clean and have 2, albeit small, balconies, that make it feel more open and breezy in the summer, tho we have no furniture on them atm as the baby is a climber...
oh hates it, there's no tolerance for his hoarding, and he thinks stairs are the be all and end all apparently
i'd move to another, bigger (need 3beds really) flat if it was an option. i don't think oh will stand for it tho!

I hate mine!! I'm in the middle so sandwiched between top and bottom. They aren't party people but my god the noise is horrendous!! Constant foot steps, slamming doors!! I'm stuck here though so trying to be positive

This is really reassuring. I have a 2 bed flat in a small block (1 and 1 box room) and a 15 month old. I've been feeling obsessed with getting a house but love where we live. We have a lift so no buggy issues and we have a shared garden...only thing is he can't go out by himself

I hated living in a flat (in central Bath - all the buildings are listed so you can't have double glazing and you end up with mould everywhere). I'm from an area of Yorkshire where they didn't really exist growing up. Everyone at least had a 2 bed millworker's terrace or a small bungalow because they cost about £25k. We were all a bit bemused when they started building luxury "apartments" for the same as a 3 bed semi!

I prefer flats in winter. We're in the middle of a large block, so we get a degree of insulation round four of the six sides that you don't get in a house.

And I like living above ground floor. No need to worry about the zombie apocalypse staring at me through the kitchen window.

Would prefer a more private garden though. We share ours with 47 other flats. There's no personal space here.