opinions re: converted flats....

[jessicafrancesca]

So we are considering moving. Just viewed the most gorgeous flat in an old victorian villa. Rooms huge, flagstone floors, high ceilings.....all the stuff we could never afford if buying a house. Considering a flat for the first time but only feel enthused about period flats. As I have never lived in one, anyone got any strong views either way on them? Are they a terrible idea?

Sounds lovely...
But sound-proofing might be an issue - ask questions about this, both in general chat and more formally. Specifically ask if they have had any issues with noise from the neighbours.
You also want to know about the freehold - who owns it, what are the insurance arrangements, how is maintenance of the building dealt with? have there been any issues?

I love living in a flat similar to the one you describe.

Other things to look at are rights of access to shared areas, including the garden; maintenance of shared areas; leasehold details; lay out of the rooms (sometimes there will be something odd in eg the hallway, where the original stairs have been taken out, making one room a weird shape or small size); damp proofing; wall insulation.

I think the main issue in converted flats is sound, or rather lack of adequate soundproofing. Our first flat was a converted basement flat. We loved it, but our bedroom shared a wall with an estate agents who occupied the front of the building. In fact, they were our estate agents and we got on with them well - really nice guys. Anyway, they had a tendency to break into song (!) when the office was quiet. More precisely, to belt out the theme tune to Indiana Jones (random). Not an issue as I was rarely in the bedroom during office hours, and in fact it used to crack me up, but if that had been a shared wall with another flat then it might have been a different matter.

That being said, it was nowhere near as the noise issues we had in our next flat, which was an ex-LA 1950s build with paper thin walls and a psycho neighbour from hell with four children under the age of 5

Yes, soundproofing can be an issue, especially if everyone has stripped the carpets to show off the lovely floorboards.

There's also a good chance that you'll encounter mice or other pests, and it's hard to address an infestation when you're dealing with multiple households.

I think the layout is often better in purpose-built flats. Some small blocks such as single houses converted into flats can have maintenance problems as the freeholder loses interest with little profit to be had or the tenants are shared freeholders and spend their time bickering over what needs to be done.

Thankyou everyone, sorry I havent been back before to this thread. All very good advice, and will be paying lots of attention to noise issues in particular as I am a bit sensitive to noise in general! We will keep looking at flats thouh. Thanks again.