Declining townhouse layout?

[notintowoo]

Hello,

I have been on the council register list for about 12 years. It is just DD and I (12). Over the course of those years, we have viewed four properties. I declined two properties due to price and unsuitability and the other two properties I was outbid.

I recently received a call from the council to view a property, which was declined by the first person. I went to view the property and although the location is great (for work and DD travelling to school and not far from my parent's house) and the rent is quite decent. The townhouse layout is what is putting me off. It's a terrace conversion flat. I am on the first floor (a neighbour below but no one above me) but it has a townhouse sort of layout. I have my own entrance door, the hallway/entrance is on the ground floor, the bathroom is on the first floor. The kitchen and living room is on the second floor and the bedrooms are on the third floor.

Also, a friend recently told me that if I was to consider buying the property (which I wouldn't), it would be very difficult to sell as townhouses are unpopular.

I feel a bit disheartened to consider turning this down but I wanted to gather all of your thoughts before I speak to the council. What should I do?

This is bonkers. You won't get everything you want in a house. We bought a house and it still had undesirable bits! You'd be crazy to turn it down.

The town houses on the new build estate I viewed were not selling, they are basically there to fill spaces too small for a “normal” three bed house. The builder took us on the tour (not the salesperson) and pretty much told us none of them had sold and he’d go for the conventional house every time.

Take it. Sounds fine.

Look at it this way - during the times when you'd be up and about using the living room and kitchen the only difference between this layout and a traditional house is that instead of going upstairs to the bathroom and coming downstairs to the living area is that its reversed, down to the bathroom up to the living area. If you are concerned about the nights when you'd need to do 2 flights of stairs think about how often it is that you get up in the night to need the toilet if its every once in a while then its not really that much of an issue, if its every night then whats to stop you sleeping in living room just like you do now in your studio flat?

but to who? do you like it?

I think you need to take it because you will get to a point where you are not offered anything. Failing that you need to stay where you are until you can buy. And even there much of it is a compromise.

I lived for decades with a bathroom on the ground floor so up and downstairs to go to the loo and it was fine.

No. It's difficult to explain. Sort of like a town house, you have stair cases but it leads into a different room. The bathroom is on the first floor, towards the side of the flat and then opposite the bathroom you have a staircase leading to the living room and kitchen

I know someone who lives in something similar. In her case though you go in a communal front door and there's a small corridor to her front door. When you open her door you go directly up one flight of stairs and on the first landing there's a bathroom only. You then turn opposite the bathroom and there's a small flight of stairs (only like 3 stairs not a full flight) to the kitchen and living room. Then there's more stairs up to the bedrooms.
Shes 78 now and has lived there over 50 years with no issues! Obviously the stairs may start becoming more problematic as she gets older but she raised 3 children there quite happily over the years.

I live in a 4 bed town house, it is far larger than a 2 floor house. The kitchen and dining room are on the ground floor though so I don't know if that makes a difference. They certainly have not had issues selling them round here!

@Waffle78

You will never get the perfect house with council housing.

Excellent point! And in fact, we will never get the perfect house with private housing, either. Life is all compromise, but small positive changes can make a big difference over time.

Without knowing the house, I wonder whether you could split one of the top floor bedrooms into two - bathroom and small study/boxroom - and convert the first floor bathroom to a bedroom. Is there loft space? It's a canvas, you would be able to do a lot with this.

But you're renting....

This will have no impact on future buying property...

You could be moving to a cottage, townhouse, a flat?

The location is good (big huge tick)

The rent is affordable (big huge tick)

It has enough bedrooms and living spaces for a teenager and you (big huge tick)

It has more stairs than you’re used to (small cross)

Why oh why are you worrying about resale value or whether other people find that layout undesirable? It ticks most of the boxes. Snap it up!

You sound too fussy.

There are people who would give their right arm for any council house.

We live in a terraced townhouse and live it, but we own it. Ground floor is garage and kitchen/diner, 1st floor is living room and main bedroom (until recently used as playroom/teens room), 2nd floor is 3 bedrooms.

However, we have a toilet on each floor. I absolutely wouldn't walk down 2 flights of stairs to go to the toilet in the night. If everything else is good I would consider a portapotty each in your bedrooms for nighttime toilet visits. If you use Elsan green toilet fluid it doesn't smell at all and they are easy to empty and clean. We have a Thetford toilet in our micro caravan and it's great:
www.thetford-europe.com/gb/portable-solutions/portable-toilets

But for many years we all slept on the top floor and I was a single parent with 2 young kinds when I first moved there and could still hear the front door from the top floor as my bedroom was at the front.

Are the bathroom and living rooms even actually a whole level apart? It sounds like you go up the main entry stairs to a bathroom then there's a couple more steps up to the main living area. This is totally standard in terraced flats and isn't a townhouse layout.

No, I don't understand your concerns either as you're renting it from the council, not buying it so how well it will sale is not an issue. Council housing is of such short supply that if it suits you and is affordable, sorry you're mad to decline it because of a non issue!

ah, I see. "Bidding" usually involves cash so I was confused. Thanks for explaining.

I'm assuming your on a wind up mission

You seem very fussy.

I own and have owned several townhouses. In your position I would not turn it down.

If you're worried about security then install extra locks and get a ring doorbell so you can see and hear what's going on at anytime. If you're worried about cleaning, keep your bathroom cleaning supplies in the bathroom. Get a lightweight vacuum cleaner or cordless one for stairs, but if you have a shoes off policy then stairs won't get dirty in a hurry. If you don't like the place after a year you can always move but I bet you will embrace the freedom once you've moved in.

It’s a maisonette OP. Basically a ‘house’ above another building. Usually shops but in your case a flat.

the layout does sound odd but I can assure you you will get used to it and you’ll be grateful for the extra space!

check the terms of the tenancy as you may be able, at a later date, try swapping with another housing association tenant.

@Newname211

The town houses on the new build estate I viewed were not selling, they are basically there to fill spaces too small for a “normal” three bed house. The builder took us on the tour (not the salesperson) and pretty much told us none of them had sold and he’d go for the conventional house every time.

So, the developer is keeping it up for sale at a higher price than the market clearing price. They can possibly afford to hold out just in case someone pops up, if they have good liquidity and are not in a rush not be in a rush to sell. But if they cut the price by 20% it would go. 'Fill spaces' - that is efficient use of land! They expect it to sell! It's not just filling in a gap for no reason, otherwise they would make the gardens of the adjoining houses bigger, and the houses themselves bigger!!

There is huge housing need and people will buy those houses at a realistic price. The developer may need to give the impression to purchasers of the normal houses that all the houses on the development are worth £395k or whatever. Once the detacheds and semis have gone, they will drop the prices of the townhouses. They want their money, but they will not sell it for less than it's worth, either.

Fair enough. You get two rolls of the dice

That's a good point

And I’m thinking all those stairs are going to be great for the legs working out. I’ve two flights of stairs. One up to my house and one inside. I’m up and downstairs all day but my arse looks fantastic 🤣

It is absolutely beyond me why you aren't massively excited/ desperate to get it - what a massive improvement on what you currently have.

I honestly cannot my head around what you have posted. It's irrational rather than entitled as someone entitled would be trying to beat the door down. Is it that after all this time you are really scared of change or something?