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!

And no we are not going to carve up the one thing that makes this country incredible. Seriously!

And we need those thousands of acres to grow food!

Affordable and sustainable.! That's what kills modern housing.

If they built houses right then they would be sustainable.
Many 2 bed new builds have just one living space. With kitchens are too small for a table. The expectation is four people have to share that space regardless of the fact work, eating, relaxing and watching tv , can't all be shared easily in one small room.
Anyone that visits also has to spare that space. I remember friends dropping by unexpectedly when I had family over for lunch. They came straight in the back gate and there we all were. There was no where to seat them, we were halfway through lunch and it was really sad that they just had to leave again. Decent housing and I could taken them into the kitchen for a cup of tea and let the rest finish lunch.
Its pathetic design given the cost of architects.

There's an awful lot of areas which are unsuitable for growing food, but could be adapted to sustain property with a bit of effort.

There are lots of brownfield sites in the city where I live that could be used for lots of housing. I suspect the problem is that it’s more expensive to build on, not always in the locations that are most attractive to buyers. It’s great to see some being used though, and Victorian industrial buildings being converted back into use as places to live.

The trouble is that so many blocks of flats here are just plain awful. They're ugly, cramped and never have enough parking. Moreover, the local amenities are never taken into consideration - are there enough schools, doctors, dentists etc to service all these extra people? Can the road infrastructure cope? It's usually just a mess.

British people care too much about the number of bedrooms rather than the overall square footage.
the amount of times I’ve heard people say they “created” another bedroom by dividing the biggest room, ending up with 2 small to tiny ones…. But thinking their house should be worth more now….

Why don't UK houses have basements? The builder has to dig down 4 or 5 feet for footings and foundations, and then either use poured concrete or breeze blocks up to ground level. Most of the work is already done to create a basement.

It would add so much utility to a house, even if it wasn't full height (our basement is only 6' 8" high) We use it for a furnace/hot water tank, workshop, utility room, and a big "living room" with a TV.

(Note, I am not a builder, maybe I'm missing something.)

Try New Zealand. Minimal insulation, no central heating, double glazing is just two sheets of glass with no thermal break and if you want to live near civilisation you're looking at at least half a million in English money. Oh and add the leaky buildings debacle from the 2000s. 😱 UK buildings look positively robust to us these days.

You need to go a lot deeper for a basement and then it requires tanking, which is expensive. People also worry about damp/mould.

Much cheaper to whack on a third floor like in my townhouse!

@HandsDown84 I find that the damp/mould thing is another one of those weird UK housing issues. Love a basement but I wouldn't trust one in this country to not be wet and a bit shit. In 20 years living in Germany, I had not one flat or house that has damp or mould. Not in the basement, or elsewhere. I have lived in the UK for 15 years now and I haven't had a single house that doesn't have a damp and mould issue. I heat and air out regularly, just like I did in Germany. Houses are just shit quality here.

We bought our first house last year (1950s build). New builds were a big no no for both of us. The builders/property developers are trying to throw up as many houses on a plot of land as possible and as fast as possible. In other countries, they let the foundations settle for a few years before they start the build. Here they just chuck them up and then you get the problems.
When we were looking, I was in a Facebook group and someone had asked peoples opinions on 2 houses, one an older
house and the other was a new build. The amount of builders that work on new builds told her to stay clear of the new build and admitted that they would never buy one.

I'd happily live in a flat if I didn't have to hear other people. I'm autistic and just cannot cope with the noise in most flats.
I lived in a lovely little flat for years with very quiet neighbours. It was perfect for me. (I was lucky that I had use of the loft as I was on the top so storage was good. Plus had a detached garage round the side).
I would happily have lived there forever. But new neighbours moved in who were unbelievable. The kids would scream all hours of the day and night. Bounce balls on their wooden floors for hours. Pound up and down. It felt like my whole flat was vibrating with noise. Obviously I understand this is normal household noise so I never complained. But my autism means I just can't live with it. I was becoming almost suicidal at times. I would have to go out walking alone in the middle of the night when the noise got too much. (And in the area I lived that wasn't particularly safe).
So in the end I had to save and buy a detached house. It's far too big for what I need. And as many people on MN point out would be much more useful for a family. But what can I do? Unless they build flats with amazing soundproofing I just cannot cope in one.
I also now need to use my car much more whereas in my flat I was closer to public transport which I would prefer.
So building more flats would in theory be good. But they need to be decent. Soundproofed. With storage. Throwing up thousands of terribly built tiny flats with no storage and paper thin walls will help no one.

If only the older houses weren't so hideously ugly. I mean the cookie cutter new builds are certainly ugly as well but I have spotted a few here and there that are actually architected well and look nice. Very, very hard to find though.

In most other countries, people live in well designed flats. Here a lot of people believe you NEED a house with a garden.

I live in a flat and I wish I had more storage. It's badly designed

When we lived in Copenhagen they were building a really nice block of 5 flats at end of our street- they dug foundations then left about 5 months and overall it took about 16 months - lovely quality with balconies and parking and landscaped- in very nice established area with lots of trees and detached houses - and they were it turns out 'social housing' and were 115 metres square 2 and 3 bedders. here they would have had them up and sold within 8 months max and about 75sqm max- that's the difference

I actually prefer the look of most older houses. They have character. Newer houses look like a row of monopoly houses where there is absolutely no difference between them. I suppose it all amounts to personal preference.

One thing I learned about Denmark recently - told to dh by a Dane at one of his professional gatherings - foreigners are not allowed to buy property unless they’ve lived there - full time - for 5 years.

This (he added) is because if they were allowed, what with Germany being so close, and especially given their extensive coastline, Germans would have bought up much of Denmark already.

But they couldn’t say ‘no Germans’ so it’s a blanket ‘no foreigners’.

Which is doubtless one reason why housing in Denmark is not ridiculously unaffordable.

I just wish the U.K. had the same policy!

Yeah, I think the Victorian and Georgian houses can be quite nice, if done well, though that is not common anymore, but anything built between those and now just do not appeal. It is all down to preference though, I will always take modern minimalist over "character" BC "character" is usually just too busy, non functional and reminds me of a hobbit house.

Everything mentioned plus a lack of skilled, experienced contractors who take pride in doing a good job. I’m rent a new build flat. As well as zero storage, weird layout, no airflow (windows on one side of flat only), poor insulation, cheap, useless heaters - it’s also been fitted out to a standard, that if it were my own home, I’d not know where to start to try get all the problems and crappy work sorted out. I’ve not come across anything as badly conceived and executed in flats in Europe and Scandinavia. A lot are simple but well built, thoughtfully designed, have storage including communal basements and are really well insulated.

Basements are at risk of flooding as well. Personally they give me the creeps. My DB’shouse has a cellar. I was dog sitting for them once and they keep the dry dog food in the cellar. I had to go and refill the airtight box they keep it in upstairs and the dog wouldn’t come down with me, just stood at the top watching.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I believe that is the policy- which is my most immigrants/expats are in rentals unless they have a Danish partner or have been there a very long time. I think they also have a policy that they get allocated a social housing flat as an adult - it used to be in your mid 20s but I think is a longer wait now- especially in Copenhagen - a lady told me she had one at30 - but it's yours to do whatever with so long as rent is paid.

I can see why people would go for a new build for that reason, but I like quirky. As long as it’s not too small.

‘Little boxes made of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same…’
Who else remembers the song?