Why is housing in the U.K. so shit?

[MaryMaryVeryContrary]

I don’t even mean your ‘built for another time’ Victorian houses, I mean ones built in the last 20 years (and continue to be built).

Counterintuitive layouts, more toilets than bedrooms, strange angles, no storage whatsoever. We’re house hunting and it’s driving me mental!

I thought the problem with land was feudalism not capitalism..?

My new build house ( 2 years old) is absolutely glorious. We looked at tonnes of houses of all ages and it’s the best and biggest by miles for the money.

i have no idea why Mn hates new builds, so many people here complaining they are cold in the winter, they can’t afford the refurbs etc. None of that in a new build - something broken in the first two years? Not your problem -‘the developers problem. 10 years structural? Not your problem.

cheap to heat, easy to maintain. It’s a joy.

It’s both. Land “owned” by aristocrats kept useless in order to shoot living creatures on is feudal.

Land purchased and held deliberately to raise its value before carving it into the smallest possible units, building the shittest possible housing on and selling at the maximum possible price is capitalist.

Treating land and housing as an investment rather than a place for people to find sanctuary is a dogshit way to run a country.

Great news, @Arewealljustloosingtheplot . I’m not against new builds. It’s nice to move it to fresh, newly done house.

I don't think people understand how onerous and expensive the planning system is. Councils make it as difficult and as expensive as possible to build houses. Whilst the land building companies hold may be worth £££ the profit per sq ft is actually very low.

I don't agree with cutting corners but any new build will have been inspected and signed off by the council.

Back in 2013 we rented a flat in one of those shiny, brand new developments for the grand price of £1000 pcm (excluding all bills and utilities). It wasn't even on a big city, a medium one I'd say. We needed to move ASAP and this was the best of the worst. The flat had one massive bedroom, with ensuite, another enormous bathroom, a tiny (and I mean tiny) bedroom and an open space kitchen/living room. No balcony and lovely views to... a car park. Very minimal storage, so we ended using the small spare room. The flat was unbearably hot even in winter. We moved out 2 years later.

Now I live in Norway in one the big(ish) cities and we pay the equivalent of £1600 for a house with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a balcony, a woodburner, a big garden, big kitchen, garage for storage and a basement with another bedroom and storage space. And all bills included! All! Walking/cycling distance to everything and plenty, of public transport around. The difference is abysmal.

Everything in the UK is shit.

I hear you 🫡

My best place was an ex council house
Porch with tiled floor for wet feet, with two huge storage cupboards
Storage space under stairs
Kitchen to dining room open plan, separate lounge and downstairs toilet
Upstairs had 2 solid sized bedrooms and a smaller box room, good size bathroom
One huge storage cupboard on the landing and an airing cupboard fitted out with racks and clothing rails. Plus a loft

The estate agent said it was a tardis!

Hear hear.👍

Of course, you are not meant to say that, it goes against the grain.😉

I'm not sure why there needs to be a downstairs toilet, a family bathroom and an ensuite in a tiny 2/3 bed new build. We manage with one bathroom and toilet in our 3 bed council house. I'd much rather have storage or extra space in the rooms.

Also the houses marketed s 'affordable really aren't for those on a single min wage income.

Because so much time and effort is spent just trying to get the bloody houses built that there's no resourcing left to advocate for the people who will live in them to make sure they're the best possible homes.

We looked at newbuilds last year, after years of pouring money into an old house. They were all tiny, squashed in, with outrageous uncapped and unregulated 'service charges' which is a massive scam. Fortunately we found a house in a development of just 7, on the edge of a village, built by a local builder who lives in one of them. The house is spacious and well built, with low energy bills. This is how it should be, not the huge soulless estates with crappy houses and everyone on top of each other. We were lucky. Re flats, agree it makes more sense but for me the noise issue is the problem, would have to have extremely good sound insulation which I guess would eat into scumbag developers' profits.

For a property to be "affordable" someone has to take a hit. None of the parties profiting from the venture are willing to take a hit. They're used to a certain level of profit & they want to hang onto it.

The point is that it shouldn’t need to be a choice. Times have moved on from families sharing bathrooms.

One bathroom for inhabitants of three bedrooms is simply not enough. Unless you are still living in the 40. At the same time, storage is a must.

I would rather have more living/storage space than more bathrooms. Our three bed 1930’s semi has two bedrooms that swallow a king size bed and have plenty of room for other furniture and one has built in cupboards. The third bedroom will easily fit a single bed and a corner wardrobe. In terms of storage there is a large airing cupboard in the bathroom and another huge cupboard on the landing. We also have an under stairs coat and shoe cupboard and another cupboard beside it. Downstairs we have three big rooms - we replaced the manky old conservatory that was there with a proper garden room. I can see that in a larger family home an additional shower room might be handy but I loathe en-suites.

I think perhaps because if you haven't lived in nicely built flats, you expect them to be poky and have no soundproofing. Builders in the UK get away with building them like that because people don't know any better.

I’ve moved in the last two years from a 200 year old villa to a 7 year old new build. Similar square footage. My energy bills have dropped by 80%.

Well, that's cheerful! And positive. 😁

Housing has become to expensive and out of reach for many
council homes sold off with no replacements built
until a massive increase in house building occurs the problem will continue

Cheapness to build I guess .

The belief that all older housing is great and lasts forever is also a myth.

My first house was a 1930's 3-bed semi which to many sounds like a dream but the reality was very different.
Tall ceilings (on the ground floor only, upstairs was really quite low), solid walls (no cavity), poky downstairs bathroom and no storage other than the old pantry or (unused) coal-hole. Then there were age related issues such as the blown plaster on the walls, lath & plaster ceilings like the surface of the moon, suspect damp course, metal windows and (un-felted) slate roof.
It had a recent kitchen, bathroom & wiring and with the aid of my Ddad I honed my decorating skills while he tackled what he could but in reality it needed a complete (i.e. expensive) refurbishment to bring it up to anything like a reasonable standard. Even then it would not be approaching the insulation standard of a more modern house.
Basically it had reached 50+ years and needed a midlife refit.

YANBU it is a missed opportunity. Such a contrast to the lasting well built houses of the past. The lack of housing would have let developers to not care much about spaces and materials and more about as many places as possible.

Why does the uk rarely build cellars?
I mean older Georgian houses or Victorian often have them, so it can’t be an issue which physically putting them there.

I have lived in 4 Mainland European countries the last 15 years. All those places build cellars as standard. Even those which were basically shanty towns and some of the poorest regions in Europe have cellars.

My own house now was built in 1950s. It was built on granite hillside pretty much, still has a cellar at front half of cellar ( back half in in hill). It’s so handy, as means we have space for large heating systems, we used to have oil tanks in ours. No issue with space to add heat pump tanks or solar water storage or pellet room. Bike and winter sport storage. Garden furniture in winter. Small Work shop area to fix stuff or paint stuff in winter. Ours isn’t under whole house due to location, but most are. Many have laundry rooms down there, drying spaces, etc.

Cost and extra time I assume.
They would have to spend time digging down for a proper traditional cellar and there are extra building materials involved.
Something really needs to be done about the square footage currently being allowed to be sold as a family home.