Generous 2 bed flat or 3 bed flat (with box room)

[rosetintedmemories2023]

What is a more sensible upgrade?

We would like to stay in flats long term - mortgage crisis has confirmed to us that we don't want to overstretch ourselves and we don't want to leave London for family/career reasons (DH is also a 4th generation Londoner and would prefer to leave the country if he had to leave London; we have other passports so that is an option). However, the housing crisis is global (including the rental crisis) so I think we should be happy with what we have and try to make a small improvement to what we have (if we can). If it doesn't work out, at least we have what we have... Probably would wait for the market to drop to move..

We currently own a small 2 bed flat in z3 north London.(typical 1930s, 60 sq metres with 1 double bedroom and a second 'small double bedroom') but would like more space long term.

My DH says it's not the number of rooms but the square footage and the size of the rooms. He only likes purpose built flats. I think it's better to have a third bedroom but almost all the third bedrooms are very small.

YANBU- Generous 2 bed flat ( 85 square metres or more with large double rooms, generous hallway to put the stuff that people typically put in the box room)

YABU- 3 bed flat even if it means third bedroom is a box room.

It will really help me decide on my search criteria. Thank you.

I think it depends on how you use the space. For example if you wfh and need an office a third albeit small bedroom can be really useful. Or if you have a hobby you want to keep separate from the main rooms.
Otherwise square footage.

DH is hybrid but I am in the office full time. That can change though. During the pandemic, I had my desk in our bedroom for at least half of it even though we had a spare room.

I have pets but they can go in the hallway if it's big enough. I suppose I don't need a whole room to put an exercise bike. Third bedroom could be a guest room but honestly box room is too small and we never have guests anyway.

Bumping

If you don't need the separation extra walls/rooms give I'd go for more space over more rooms. I don't think there's any point having a box room if you're only going to use it for storage, only if you want something like a home office.

I'm with your DH on purpose built flats but I'd be wary of anything too new because of things like cladding.

If it were me, I’d go for 3 bedroom so you can each have a room to work in. But I hated working in my living room during lockdowns and absolutely would never work in my own bedroom.

i have a largish flat - when I bought it there was a tiny box room - had it redesigned, lost the box room and now have a far larger living space (losing the box room also freed up wasted corridor space).
Only time I'd have liked the box room was WFH in lockdown.
If guests stay over there's a sofabed - welcoming but not too comfortable so as to invite long stays.

Maximise the use you make of the floorspace you can afford - why waste money on unused spare bedrooms?

Oh absolutely, for me, in the UK, the only way is period flats!