Would you buy flat above a kebab delivery/takeaway?

[hippodrama]

Much bigger than anything else around and is also close to good friend with DC's.

Realise it might be hard resale but would be planning to buy outright and after few years rent it out. For me and my DS 2.8.

Would kebab, delivery, takeaway put you off?

I think staking it out of a weekend night might be a good idea especially if it is near a pub or a club.

But other than that, off the top of my head I can't think of any objections.

Unless their extractor fan was directly under on of my future "essential to be open" windows.

I wouldn't to be honest. Noisy, smelly. I work in a shop front next to take aways and there are always issues with rubbish and more importantly rodents. Would you be accessing your flat form the back of the shops? If so, it will be dark at night. The Councils we work with will not house anyone in a flat above a take away. Sorry.

Sounds like the kind of place I would have rented in my late teens/early twenties quite happily. Not sure I would want to live in a flat above a take-away on my own with a child though- how safe would you feel on a Saturday night if it was surrounded by drunks looking for a post-pub brawl?

My problem would be smell, rodents and cockroaches.

NO

No no no.

You are statistically more likely to be stabbed/drive by shot at/punched etc at such a food outlet. Other such danger zones are chicken cottages and taxi ranks.

Dont do it.

Depends on how busy it is likely to be at weekends. I used to live in a flat above and along from the kebab shop/ taxi rank, and the "Ner-ner-ner-ners" of not-quite-distinguishable drunken convos used to drive me mad. There were the high-pitched "ner-ner-ner-ner-NER-ner-ner"s from the females, then the muffled "Om-bom-bom-bom-BOM"s from the blokes in reply. Always at 2am- aargh!

And the kebab detritus on the pavement in the morning was also not fun- that salad-sauce-plastic combo is hugely slippery underfoot!

No way in this world - I'd take a miniscule property over one above a take away. I think re-sale would be very very difficult. For me, living above a takeaway would be about as bad as it gets - drunks, litter, smells, rodents and scumminess in general! Oh and also, kebab shops will be full of drunks I imagine, probably more so than a lot of other takeaways, it's the classic beered up food isn't it?!

thanks everyone - there seems to be a general consensus!

Depends on the area though. Is it on a main drag from the pubs? My takeaways are very quiet but constant. Did you see the one in north London on Location last week? It was massive. You will always get young people to rent it. Is it near some open space like a park?

I live above and to one side of a chinese restaurant (shop below me is empty)

Banks have always been reluctant to lend to me because I'm over commercial property - and brokers have told me it would be far harder to find someone willing to take the risk if I were in the flat next door which is directly above the restaurant!

I'm not on a main drag from pub to housing estate but do get shouting/singing at stupid o'clock of a Friday and Saturday night. Luckily I'm about 30 yards from the police station so the noise doesn't last long

I second the poster who suggested you check it out between midnight and 4am at the weekend. Pick the first one of the month when everyone's just been paid to get the full story!

PS Check out the placement of the windows. I have to shut my bedroom and living room ones sometimes because the smell of fag smoke drifting up is vile!

No. Awful.

And your insurance will be much higher.

Smell would be my fear...and late-night drunks being sick on my step.

I once lived above a kebab shop.

Upside - big flat.
Downsides...
The smell of fried food all evening, every evening and into the early morning.
Coming down out of the door in the morning to step into bits of discarded kebab, or (quite frequently) vomit.
The noise, especially on warm days when I wanted my windows open (which also made the smell worse).
The giant bin out the back where rats used to loiter.

I'd never do it again.

We looked at a bargain flat above a Chinese takeaway. It was lovely.
Then we went and stood in the park behind and nearly gagged on the smell of fried fat - and that was in January mid-afternoon. No way could we have opened the windows. And loads of rubbish including food waste and therefore rats out the back.

Two years later still hadn't sold despite reducing the price loads (3 beds, excellent location, not that noisy, under half the cost of the 2-bed we went for)

No way. Because

it could be open very late
cooking smells
hard to resell

No way, for all the reasons others have mentioned like noise, litter and smell but also you'd get people pissing in your doorway/alleyway etc

No def not, esp if you have a young child.

Thanks for all your opinions. I'm crossing that one off the list!.

I'm in a tricky but fortunate position, although getting this far has been a nightmare.

I will have hopefully within the month, enough money to buy a very competitively priced (cheap) flat outright. It's either that or rent. I was made redundant from public sector post in June that I'd had for eight years so can't get mortgage.

Unfortunately area of south-east I'm looking for property in is soooo expensive. Would move but XP won't "allow" me to be too far from where he is living coz he'd like to be able to pick DS from school and it just makes it easier to do back and forth - DS stays with XP 2 consecutive nights.

Had a nightmare year - split, bereavement, redundancy, selling house, XP being an arse, and so ideally want to stay put in new property for next few years. Have a beautiful DS and wanna do what's best for him and me.

Anyone offer any advice? Thanks you marvellous lot!