Aibu to want to move into an apartment?

[emzeexb]

Hello! Good evening, so I'm going to lay everything out so I'm not drip feeding etc!

Me and my husband currently live in a one bed house in London, we rent and pay £900 pcm and council tax is £135 so it comes up to £1035.
I work from home and my husband works full time.
We have a 16 month old daughter, who shares a room with us, she actually co sleeps with me, and more than not, my husband sleeps downstairs or in the bed, (our cot is attached to the bed so it's like an extension to the bed lol so she's in the cot but next to me and I'm in the bed if that makes sense?)

We have parking but we have no back garden, and as soon as you enter the house you are in the living room.

I really want to move out, but the only properties within distance to dh work and where we want are apartments! But the apartments are huge and way more space than this house we are living in, I am out all day because my toddler has nowhere to play, and gets bored in our tiny living room which is like a square and we would be moving into a 2 bed as well!

My dh doesn't want to move into an apartment, he says we are lucky to have a house, and we can stay here another 2 years until we actually buy a property. (We have deposit etc but our credit is bad and we are just building it up as we have no guarantor)
He is adamant that I would regret it just for an extra room, the apartments are around £1050-1250) and we can afford this but he thinks that it's a waste of money, and I'll probably moan about neighbours on top of us or below..

What do you mumsnetters think?

As you are hopefully buying a house in the near future I would not advise increasing your out goings.

Houses that you think you may be able to afford to buy now may have increased in price more than your salary, so in my opinion you would be wise to save every pound you can.

be aware an apartment often has service charges on top?

An extra room is a godsend with a toddler.

We live in a central London apartment and love it. If you really want to I'd go for it.

I would love it. I love apartments.

But I agree, if you’re planning to buy in the next year or two, hang fire for now.

Moving is expensive. If you have bad credit they might want 6 months rent in advance too.

I love apartment living too, would rather live in a decent apartment then a tiny house! Especially as you have a child.

Follow your heart. Do your homework and check their are no hidden costs. Could you get something that saved on travel ?
Weigh your options, it can't be easy with a young baby in cramped space .

As pp suggests work out if you can pay service charge. I come from a country where apartment living is more common but I found London apartments have very strict rules about doing any internal changes. For example my friends balcony door had a crack and she had to wait for months to get permission to change it and could only go for some approved contractors not the cheapest. Is it possible to extend where you live?

If you're hoping to buy soon I would wait.

The extra space would be useful but your outgoings will increase and that extra you manage to save now may well be useful to have when you move.

What's the difference between an apartment and a flat....or is it just semantics 😶

@catwithnohat tbh I've often thought that myself, but I prefer the way apartment looks haha.. off to google search I go

An apartment is usually a single level rental that is part of a large building of other apartments. If you own it, it is usually called a "condo". If you rent it, it is usually called an apartment. A flat is usually a single family home where each level has been converted to a separate dwelling

Look

In the UK there are no condos. And apartment is a word meaning a fancy flat. Maisonette is another UK word.

I'm not sure about flats - some are fab with great soundproofing but others are horrid. There is a chance of literally hearing everything your neighbours are getting up to.
But I also can't imagine sharing with a toddler and not my husband especially if you were going to keep that set up for another 2 years.
I'd probably look for a bigger property but be very choosy with it.

We sold our house 2 years ago to downsize and pay off the mortgage. All the houses we viewed were a bit meh for our budget, but we found an amazing apartment in a converted mansion. It's huge, only 2 bedrooms but floorspace is 2x the size of the 4 bed detached we sold. We love it here, but in your position I would be wary of increasing your outgoings, particularly as service charges on apartments can be quite high and it would really impact on your ability to save.

Not much to add advice wise but

A flat is what we call it in the uk, the American equivalent is an apartment. think it's only an apartment in the UK if its in a block but is on multiple levels

I think your husband is right. It’s better to pay less rent & save for what you hope to buy than move to a flat (& moving incurs outlay) & have to deal with above/below neighbours.