WIBU - to sell and 3 bed house with garden and buy a 3 bed flat?

[blinkineckmum]

Our house is freehold. We were looking for somewhere bigger. I have found somewhere smaller. It's a flat and leasehold. BUT it has shared use of a gym, swimming pool and tennis court. I really want to live there! WIB mad?

I have lived in both and I would choose the flat over a house any day. Why not choose luxury, where everything is done for you and you have luxury facilities, over the daily grind of a boring house? I say this to myself most days but can't move for a while. I think your quality of life would be far greater in the flat.

So who pays for the upkeep of the pool, gym etc.? I think you'd be insane to swop a freehold property for this.

I've lived in several places with the use of gym, pool and tennis courts onsite.

After the initial excitement and frequent use, we never bothered using them despite them being on our doorstep.
It's like kids promising to walk, feed and clean up after a new puppy...

You are looking for somewhere bigger as I assume you need the space as you have 3 young children so why did you even read the details of a smaller flat?
You can’t live in the gym, swimming pool or tennis court. I doubt they will allow you to put a swing, climbing frame or god forbid a trampoline in the comunial gardens. No camping in the gardens overnight, no bbqs, no unsupervised children or allowing your children to dig the flower beds and grow sunflowers.
If your town doesn’t have a community pool and a pool is that important to you join a gym that has one. Something like a David Lloyd will have gym, pool and tennis courts and still be cheaper for the family membership than paying service charges on a small flat.

3 kids in a smaller place than you currently have, no garden and all amenities shared and charged for?

Are you fucking insane?!

That would be a NO from me!

I should add.... have a 3 bed and six kids, perfectly doable because we have a private garden, no upstairs or downstairs neighbours and with a house you get more sq ft than with a flat. We were going to move but realised that bedroom space wasnt the issue, living space was what we needed so extended into the garden with a play/game/study space with a 15' X 12' conservatory. You cant do that with a flat.

OP can you not just get a membership for the pool? Google and ask locals for what other pools are in the town? Hotel pools, school pools open at weekends etc?

Unless there's a massive drip feed coming, yes this idea of moving to the flat is totally insane...

Forgot about the camping. No letting the kids stay in the garden whilst you nip in to make a quick drink. Going to the toilet having to take the kids and anything you took down.
How many lifts are in the property and what floor would you be on? Lifts do break down and if only one you would be stuck indoors or trying to get young children up and down the stairs. Or is there two but only for odd/even floors so effectively one.

Another one I’m not allowed to put up a picture after 12 on a Saturday until 9 am Monday. Noisy diy is Monday to Friday 9-6 and Saturday 9-12. Sounds awesome in theory but at times it’s a pita.

Communal dish. So if u want sky great in theory but you are paying subscription and a charge for the dish.

Pets there can be restrictions.

Parking space maybe yet another additional expense.

Public pool you can meet friends there. Could be a restriction.

Yanbu, I loved the flat I lived in when Ds was a newborn. Dh convinced me to move to a house with garden and its really not worth it. Wish I could go back.

Sometimes when I'm trying to manage my 3 bed house I really miss my flat. Especially when I'm vacuuming and ferrying stuff up and down. I just couldn't give up detached living though, the privacy and noise/space is worth it.

Definitely look into the restrictions and service charges. Some newer developments have some odd rules.

Depends on square footage of flat...

We've lived in flats that are larger than houses we've rented...

Only some of the flats came with any garden... One flat didn't have any outside storage for bins... That was a real pita, esp in summer...

Service charge... Is this a capped expense? Often they're not..

Choosing to have kids in a flat. No way. Horrendous. You will lose far more freedom than you gain. It would be cheaper in the long run to build a heated exercise swimming pool with a safety cover in your garden.

If you have no time to go to the gym and pool at the moment then what's going to give you the time to do it if you buy the flat?

You really need to check if the swimming pool is actually suitable for children to learn to swim in and then use/play in or whether it is just an adult exercise pool.

If the pool is not children friendly I would rule the flat out for that reason alone.

Make sure there are other families with small DCs living there or you might be the most hated people there if yours are ever noisy.

Sounds nice though

I've just moved from a flat to a house. A flat is much easier with very small children as you can always hear what they're doing.

I thought having a garden would be great but I couldn't leave them alone even for a minute in case they get onto the road and the upkeep is a lot of responsibility. It will be years I think before having a house will be worth it for me.

Stupid idea.

Get a house with a garden, you'll get a million times more use out of a garden than you will an onsite pool/gym.

There may be very restrictive times on when three small children can use a swimming pool. If not now they might quickly change the rules!

Someone would have to drag me kicking and screaming from a freehold house to a leasehold flat.

YABU.

I have 3 DCs (7, 4 and nearly 1). I couldn't take them all swimming by myself- only with DH or another adult. The faff of carrying enough towels, floats, snacks etc down to the communal pool, plus the fact you wouldn't be able to take all 3 by yourself anyway, would surely limit how much you used it?
Move to a bigger house in an area with a nice gym/pool complex nearby.

Thanks for all the responses and helpful input. Not meaning to dripfeed but in response to some of the questions, the flat is actually very big (17' x 17' lounge, two bathrooms, big hallway, kitchen with integrated washer/ dryer, dishwasher, 3 double bedrooms. It's also a very old building made of thick stone walls, so we'd probably have less noise than our terraced house. It has a lift and stairs and is on the 2nd floor. I know I couldn't take all the kids swimming at once, but where we are now we have to drive 20mins to any pool. I have researched extensively on where I could swim near here and there is nowhere closer. But of course if the service charge is very high, or the pool has many restrictions, it's a no-go.

I live in a flat in a massive block with my DS, who has lived here nearly all his life. I have discussed moving with him, but he loves it, so we stay here. It's convenient, comfortable, it's very secure and safe, and it's not particularly noisy (with a couple of exceptions - noisy students below who moved out eventually) and both DS and I love it. I especially like living on all one level.

However - not having a garden does come with sacrifices. We'd really love a dog, but of course can't have one. When DS was little, if we wanted outdoor space, we had to go to the park, I couldn't just open the back door and let him run in a garden. The service charge is high, but we get a lot for it.

I really do miss having a garden - I used to be quite a gardener, and it's a loss. You have to decide what is important to you and proceed on that basis.

I wouldn't. It's really not easy to go swimming with all three at once, and if you decide to do it in shifts, will you always have childcare for the non swimming child/children? Also, the children won't be able to play out in the garden while you do things inside, etc.
However, it does sound like a nice flat!