To think 'character' properties aren't all they're cracked up to be?

[LellyGreen]

We live in a Victorian house. Its cold and drafty, we've had various issues with damp and leaks, the ceiling on the landing collapsed three years ago, we got it fixed for it to happen again last year and we had to have the whole roof replaced. There are weird alcoves in the lounge on every wall that has stopped us from being able to hang the TV on the wall like we wanted to. Solid wood floors in every room that haven't been maintained well by previous owners and dons hard hat I've wanted several times to tear up and chuck carpet down because they're in such bad state. The room sizes are very generous, but they're too big and apart from a few more sensibly sized rooms they feel cold and empty. Our hallway is 5mx5.5m!! Who needs a hallway that big? It just looks like a big empty room. Anyway.. it's just been so much hassle. We go to do one small job and it turns out it's actually a huge job, every time. I've always vowed to never buy a new build because "they have no character" but I've done it. I've gone to the dark side. I have bought a new shiny new build and I couldn't give a toss about the character I'm losing and I can't wait to be in a house that is warm, and doesn't feel empty all the time! I get a lot of it is down to developers, I've heard the persimmon horror stories of paper thin walls and box rooms.. but I'm firmly in the new build camp now. Pick a good developer (ideally a small/local one) with a good build quality and generous room dimensions and don't look back!! Character is a pain in the ass and over hyped. You can add character to your beautiful new house that isn't full of hidden problems.

AIBU? If you're avoiding new builds purely because of these reasons everyone goes on about.. I highly recommend viewing one for yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised

I've lived in both. Current house was built in 1906 and before that we had a new build which we bought off plan.
In our case, there were more issues with the new build than the old house - creaky floors, huge cracks appearing in walls, leaking windows.
Old house has just needed a new boiler. Touch wood!

@0blio

YANBU at all. Old properties are nothing but money pits. I'd have a new build in a heartbeat but they're much more expensive initially. However if I actually counted how much I've spent getting this house up to scratch (and it never will be if I'm honest, I don't have unlimited funds) I probably could be sitting nice and warm in a smart new house that stays clean and doesn't reveal horrors every time a piece of wallpaper is taken off

Oh yeah, wallpaper horrors here too - sometimes go to pull some off only to reveal a crumbling hole lurking beneath. Tend to stick some bits back down and pretend it didn't happen! . I have tried a bit of replastering over lockdown and didn't do a bad job, there's just always another bit that needs attention.

Depends on the new build I think - we used to rent one and it was awful, tiny rooms and really shoddy build quality all round. Though to be fair it was built as part of the affordable housing requirement as shared ownership (then bought outright and rented out to to us privately, though that's another rant) so perhaps it's different for houses the developer actually wanted to build.

Our mill cottage had thick stone walls. Loved it in the winter and during storms, it was warm, solid and enduring. Beautifully cool in the summer.

The last new builds we had:
The gas pipe had been poorly fitted and I came home one day to a living room full of gas.
The kitchen floor had been laid on top of a pile of dust and rubbish that had been swept into a corner.
There was rubble and assorted other crap millimeters below the surface in the garden
The paintwork finish was terrible and had to be redone
The plaster cracked as it dried
The snagging ran into pages.

I live in a village in a georgian terrace, very solid, warm, dry. I did buy it as a wreck though and do all the work. Its like new on the inside just with a few old features.
It all depends on the build quality and they have always built good quality house and poor quality houses.

I am in a shared ownership new build due to financial circumstances (one wage) I could not buy on the open market.

I moved in before anyone else on the development, which was nice.

As a lone parent it is ideal, I don't spend much apart from decorating, it is warm, cheapish to run (£60 a month for gas/elec combined & £32 for water)

I can't hear the neighbours which is good but our garden is absolutely tiny.

We have 2 double bedrooms as I couldn't apply for a 3 bed, due to cost.

I can buy 100% of the property eventually, but at the moment it is costing me £450 a month in rent/mortgage, and we are 5 mins from the nearest beach in Cornwall.

I can't afford to pay more/buy more of a %

But I would absolutely love to have a bigger, older house, I want my DC to remember living in a beautiful house, with a drive, a massive garden and no neighbours nearby, but it won't happen and it makes me feel really sad

We watch property programmes together and dream of these magnificent homes with large entrance halls and quirky features.

I like warm and dry, sure but you list me at complaining about the size of your hallway!!
Our "hallway" is less than a meter of soace roght in front of the stairs, getting ready to go out means kicking the kids out one by one just to have enough space to put shoes on. Don't ever complain that your hallway is too big! I would love to have a big hallway (minus the water leaks, although we have those too in our relatively new build house)
I would know exactly what to do with it!!

*missed the point of the thread i know but hallway is a trigger for me sorry

You lost me!!!

I have a small Victorian 3 bed and it's the warmest house I've ever had - it's lovely! No issues with damp or anything else. I did move from one that was cold because all the back was single glazed and it was a rental so had to put up with it, but otherwise all the Victorian homes I've lived in have been warm and toasty with no issues.

Would never buy a new build, can't stand them. Victorian all the way.

I think might be illegal to hang TV's on a wall in a period property🤔

Why would the choice be between period and new build? I would never buy a new build but while I massively lusted over Victorian villas when we moved recently I knew we could afford to buy it but not to maintain it so went in the end for a 60s house - it's not very pretty but it's so much better built than any new build I've ever been in, but pretty low maintenance. It felt like a good compromise.

But then new builds around me tend to be in out of town estate things where you have to drive to do anything, which is my idea of actual hell - I wouldn't rule out a newly built house in a central location, but they didn't seem to be a thing.

With you 100% OP! This grade 2 listed money pit leaks through the roof in at least three places, has damp patches all over the street facing walls where an eighteenth century jerry builder tacked a false stucco classic looking frontage onto a seventeenth century timber frame, and thanks to more recent buildings changing the water table, we now have a spring in the cellar most winters.

Any house can be shit, people forget that. Neither old or new is bad, it's the individual house. If you had spent an extra hundred grand or so on a different house op, you'd have probably got a better one. But that's the difference, you have to spend more to get better, because someone has already done the fixes for you.

You get old houses that have been fixed correctly, maintained well and are warm. You got old houses that are essentially money pits because no one bothered in the earlier years. The current new houses will be like that in the future. Some will be nice, others shit.

I've lived in new builds that are well made only. Never been in a bad one and I lived in a terrace at one point. Couldn't hear the neighbours.

However your repair companies don't sound the best. The entire roof was replaced and its still leaking? I'd be bringing them back round and making them fix it for free. It should have lasted longer than a year.

Iv had an old house and it was a huge money pit. I lovd it but when I retire I cant afford the bills. I bought a 1990s cottage style house recently. It has new everything, new boiler, fantastic double glazing. The bills are very low. Its easy to maintain and I'm always warm in winter.

I live in a stone farmhouse, cold as fuck.

But I'm going through it and sorting it out room by room.

Weird alcoves are easily sorted with plasterboard.
Cold and drafty is easily sorted by insulation.

With old properties you have to accept you might need to strip them back and start again.

Or get lucky and find one that's already been done.

I don't understand why there needs to be a character (most people mean "old") property vs new builds. There are many properties in between.

We were in an old victorian terrace for 9 years.

Every small job became a massive project once you scratched the surface.

We're now on the hunt for a solid 30's build with cavity walls, proper foundations, walls not made from paper and a damp proof course.

I also think it's people of a certain class who feel the need to buy character properties and have deep shame in admitting they'd quite fancy a new build. This is just anecdotal from conversations at work.

I'm not saying there are no other properties than either really old or brand new. However in my experience people on mumsnet speak so negatively about new builds and how they lack character and are soulless and I found myself holding that opinion too despite never being in one. When we actually did, we found it seemed a pretty perfect fit for us. Hence why in my OP I've said if you're unhappy in an older property don't be put off looking at new builds as I don't believe they all deserve the same bad reputation. I don't think the 'character' mumsnet use against them is always all it's cracked up to be.

I think might be illegal to hang TV's on a wall in a period property🤔

Really? Why?

@CakeRequired agree totally with you. most of the time you have to spend more to get the best.

I've got a 5 bed Victorian semi and I have spent a lot of money in it BUT most of that has been due to modern bodge jobs or previous owners not keeping on top of maintenance and small repairs (such snowballed). These included a bedroom to bathroom conversion where they'd used standard (not waterproof) plasterboard that had gone rotten, a kitchen/laundry room walkthrough that omitted a steel beam (lucky the floor above hadn't fallen through) and cheap crappy replacement drain pipes/gutters that warped and leaked into the eaves. These were all things done in the last few decades. Our builders remarked how sound the original Victorian structure was.

So I don't think old = bad but I suppose the more owners there have been , the more chance for mess ups.

I do have a lot of horror stories about brand new properties (construction lawyer). I wouldn't ever buy one now (admit I am biased by my role)! Most of them are only intended to last 60 years. My house is 150 years old and going strong.