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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What do you think about this flat?

333 replies

helpmedecideplease · 15/04/2017 14:14

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44509686.html

OP posts:
GinAndTunic · 16/04/2017 14:08

Ah. The 1000th tedious post saying "Wow! London is so expensive! You could buy a 40-room mansion and a yacht for six pence up north. Why would anyone live in London?"

Yeah. I think we Londoners got the point the first 100 times this type of message was posted.

NavyandWhite · 16/04/2017 14:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GreyVelvet · 16/04/2017 14:16

I've actually been to see this flat if you have any questions!

I didn't go for it because of the building it's in, getting up to it felt not very safe or particularly nice.

Also one of the bedrooms was tiny there is a double bed in there and not much other space.

GreyVelvet · 16/04/2017 14:17

Also it has been on the market a long time and reduced.
I'm obviously looking st the same sort of things as you and there are other much nicer properties out there.

GreyVelvet · 16/04/2017 14:19

What's your budget and what areas are you looking in?
I've been looking for a while so have quite a good sense of what's around.
I feel like I'm peddling myself as an estate agent now but I'm not ! I'm just clearly looking for the same thing in the same area!

MiniMaxi · 16/04/2017 14:23

I haven't read the full thread so sorry if I'm repeating anything

Do you know Kentish Town? That road is incredibly busy - great for shops, pubs and restaurants but could be noisy and polluted.

I wonder what you could get up the road in Tufnell Park or Dartmouth Park for that ££

(I'm a Londoner so the price doesn't surprise me at all by the way!)

brightspring · 16/04/2017 14:24

I think it's a good flat for your requirements OP. The price is good for the number of bedrooms/area (I live in London so it's not surprising to me), and I think living above a library would be great (it's a decent library open 6 days a week, Camden is a good council which has been committed to maintaining library services). Being so close to the tube means it will hold its value, and it's also close to some good schools (not relevant for you but possibly for future buyers). Personally I think you'd be able to find a lodger for the box room if you set the price right - people will be willing to put up with the smaller space for the sake of proximity to amenities and public transport.

I live in an ex council flat myself (moved there as a tenant and bought through RTB) so it's not something that would bother me. Service charges do tend to be high and you have to be careful about redevelopment (some councils have knocked down entire estates and refused to pay a decent market price to owner occupiers) - but that only happens rarely. Personally I don't want to stay in my flat for the long term, as I do worry about that so I plan to leave once I've waited for my right to buy restrictions are lifted. I think if you moved into an ex council flat you need to keep aware of any proposals and rumours about anything like that happening.

MiniMaxi · 16/04/2017 14:24

PS always check the length of the lease!

previously1474etc · 16/04/2017 14:25

I have a friend who lived in Kentish Town, couldn't afford to buy elsewhere in London at the time (FTB). Parts of it are OK and pleasant roads but some of it is really not.

I suspect this is one of the areas that is not great, that is not a lot of money for a London flat in a safe area. Is it ex LA, that would keep the price lower? Check the online crime figures for the postcode and road, and compare to other areas maybe?

I live in London and it is not a place I would be happy to live in, sorry.

GreyVelvet · 16/04/2017 14:26

Previously it's on the main high road. There are much worse places in Kentish Town to be.

Having said that it is ex LA and feels it

Pansiesandredrosesandmarigolds · 16/04/2017 19:33

Kentish Town is bloody brilliant and more expensive than about two thirds of London.

limitedperiodonly · 16/04/2017 20:00

I have a garden. Unfortunately today I couldn't sit in it because I had to work. So I walked about 80 minutes to and from my office at Monument. This morning I walked along the Thames on the South Bank and I've just come home on the North Bank.

That route is quicker but I prefer the South Bank even though the tourists get in the way. I don't resent them. It lifts my heart to see people enjoying a place where I get to live all the time. And if they ask me directions, as someone did today, as always, I'm thrilled and proud.

There are other lovely places to live in Britain and all over the world. But I choose to live here.

limitedperiodonly · 16/04/2017 20:13

Seriously? Not so much London bashing as really really not understanding why you want to continue to pay these sort of prices when there are other great places to live

I and lots of others did tell you StarUtopia but you might have missed it in your scurry to find places on RightMove.

My friends and family live in London and Essex. My husband's family is in the southern Home Counties and South West and he doesn't want to leave them either. Our jobs are here and can't easily be transplanted elsewhere, even if we wanted to.

I really like living in London. I don't want to live anywhere else. I'm not the one who's complaining about that and neither are any of the other people who live in London.

You are. Do you understand now, or do I have to do what everyone on parking threads is asked these days and draw you a bleeding diagram?

And what the fuck use do you think you can be on a thread asking for advice on buying a flat in Kentish Town?

TheFirstMrsDV · 16/04/2017 20:43

If someone lived in Liverpool or Buxton with their families and they had jobs and houses and their kids went to school etc would people keep telling them to 'just move' Confused

Why do people think that London is some sort of theme park rather than a permanent home to millions of people.

Handsup · 16/04/2017 20:49

Would you fancy opening your windows in the summer along Kentish Town Road? Pollution would worry me.

DelinquencyMatters · 16/04/2017 20:51

Pollution is bad everywhere in London. Sadly.

Handsup · 16/04/2017 20:51

Priory road flat looks more bright and cheerful with a bit more character.

GreyVelvet · 16/04/2017 21:10

The priory road flat is nicer, but transport links there are really rubbish.

If I only had a choice of those 2 I'd go for the Kentish Town but it depends what you want. If i had a family I might go for the Priory Road one.

I wouldn't say pollution in Kentish Town is worse than other places in London www.londonair.org.uk/london/asp/annualmaps.asp (use the nw5 postcode) it's actually not that bad and has close proximity to the heath which is obviously low pollution

JessieMcJessie · 16/04/2017 22:18

GreyVelvet look at my long post from 21.20 yesterday about transport links from Priory Road, which is near where I live. How do you define "really rubbish"?

mashpot · 16/04/2017 22:48

I think it's time London had its own Property topic on MN. It's boring as fuck scrolling through the comments of a hundred people who don't want to live here and therefore have absolutely nothing of value to add to the conversation. Skerry I'm looking at you. Sure the good people of Edinburgh can't wait to hear your thoughts when they want opinions on property however. Good luck OP

GinAndTunic · 17/04/2017 08:15

What mashpot said.

skerrywind · 17/04/2017 08:25

So people living outside London shouldn't be free to discuss property prices in the city.

Lovely.

How inward looking.

OliviaStabler · 17/04/2017 08:28

I'd be put off by it only having one bathroom / toilet to be honest.

sheepskinshrug · 17/04/2017 08:54

Sorry if it's been mentioned before but only having one loo would put me off, we won't even rent a holiday apt with one loo!! Especially important if you are considering a tenant. And it looks like it might be tricky to install another.

sheepskinshrug · 17/04/2017 08:55

Ha! OliviaStabler I didn't see your post!