Why do people choose tiny houses over huge flats?

[MovingtoParadise]

I don't understand it at all

The flat next door to me is for sale, it's 1200 square feet. All done out, no work needed. Lovely roof terrace with views over London. 10 foot ceilings. Own entrance.

Tiny cottage round corner is £150k more, back patio smaller than roof terrace. No views, on a busy road. Only 600 square feet.
Only 7 feet ceilings.

Cottage is half the size. Why aren't people interested in square feet

We are the freeholder to theirs and they are to us
Dof you mean that you jointly own the freehold?

Persian its two separate leases.

We have a largeish flat and I find living here fine - we barely see/hear the neighbours, there's a lift which never breaks down, everything on one floor is convenient, it's a small block and mail comes to our flat door. Good soundproofing and being surrounded on all sides means a low heating (we only turn on heating a handful of times a year). Pets are allowed although we don't have any. Management company is no bother, they organise cleaners for communal areas and windows and update the interior communal areas. No litter at all. We don't have a garden and it would be nice to have but not a big deal for us. Lots of flats around here have a decent terrace though. Fire escape could be awkward, true - we're on the third floor and nothing to climb on out of the windows. But there are sprinklers and we've never experienced a fire situation in all the time we've lived in flats. Service charges are £1200 a year, which is reasonable for the things they do.

We live in London and with our finances we just couldn't afford a house here - we could afford a house in one of the outer boroughs but location would always win over having a house. Houses are rarely available for sale here and when they do come up, they are 40%+ more expensive. If we ever did have a windfall I'd love to buy a house in this area, the leasehold thing does put me off flats, but for us it's the only real disadvantage. Most houses around here are townhouses as well, and I think I'd find it a faff to be traipsing up and down stairs all day.

Worst noise issues I have had were in a terraced house where the neighbour on one side was awful. Lived in several flats without problems. But after the nightmare neighbour I will only live somewhere that has at least one room with no neighbour and so that rules out flats.

I've lived in flats very happily, but now for DCat I would want direct access to a private garden, which is quite rare. Also yes, the leasehold thing. That flat sounds lovely though, I adore a huge, high-ceilinged flat. So Bertie Wooster.

Before I owned a flat I would have thought the same - but having owned two, one in London and one abroad, I would never buy a leasehold property again.

The management companies were a total PITA, both on a regular basis and when it came to selling. Not worth the hassle.

If it was share of the freehold I might consider it, but then you'd still be in a position where you could be held hostage by the other flat owners.

And actually, on the road where I live, flats like you describe are more expensive than our declassé Victorian cottage

Autonomy

I lived in flats for years and the noise of people bashing around in the hallway with bikes, buggies, and on the stairs etc was a real issue. Their loud talking, music etc did my head in. It wasn't the people below me or above me that was an issue as the sound proofing was great but the noise from the shared entrance/hallway travelled around. And some people don't want to share an entrance with neighbours, all too 'intimate' with strangers. Also, it was a nightmare if the lift broke when I had a buggy. I wouldn't live in a terraced house either tbh. Detached or Semi only now, no neighbours to wake up the baby this time around 😊

Because it's bad enough inflicting my noisy kids on neighbours either side without ds2 jumping and stimming directly under or over other sets of neighbours.

For me there are two key things that put a house above a flat:

1. Freehold vs leasehold. With a house there is no greedy freeholder being a pain in the arse, no pointless charges, endless returns to Companies House, etc.

2. No neighbours. Yes you have people either side, but no-one tip-tapping across the ceiling in clumpy shoes, no-one having a rave a midnight on a Monday night, etc.

Plus the garden issue. Joy, for me, is my little city garden.

Persian its two separate leases
It is probably because it is late but I cannot get my head around how you own the freehold for the lease of the flat upstairs and they have the freehold for your flat.

Wouldn't it make more sense for you each to own your own freehold??

In addition to what pp have put, I actually prefer having my home over more than one floor. I would never choose a flat for the same reason I would never choose a bungalow. I hate all my living space on one floor. I like going upstairs to bed.

Persian it's very sensible! If the building is converted into only 2 flats, then if you owned your own leasehold one party could refuse to do essential repairs to the fabric of the building etc. This way, everyone has a vested interest not to fall out with their neighbours and to act fairly financially. It's like share if freehold, but before that became common I guess.

After a disgruntled tenant 2 floors up left their shower on, hanging out of the bath, and left the property, causing 4 people's flats, including ours to flood on a Sunday leaving us with no electricity and a soggy flat, I will never ever buy a flat and thank our lucky stars we were only renting. You just never know who's above you!

Yep, we essentially share the building, but not exclusively our own floor. Its quite common in this area. I own my flat but am the leaseholder for upstairs. She owns her flat but is the leaseholder for mine. No money changes hands. She is responsible for roofing repairs. I am responsible for pipes under the building.

My parents live in a huge flat. It work for them for various reasons, but it also seems a massive hassle.
It's leasehold, they pay a whopping service charge, they have to have residents meeting every quarter to discuss maintenance, insurances, repairs & not everyone sees eye to eye!! The garden is communal. They've had water flowing through from the flat upstairs on at least 3 occasions (once when their neighbour was away). And they've had leaks which have gone downstairs. DM can't have the flooring she
wants because of noise etc.
You can also hear everything
They all get on ok, but there always seems to be issues to sort that require the co-operation of 5 households.

We lived in a flat for 14 years - I can't think of a single good thing about it apart from being at tree top level. I hated sharing communal areas. I hated noise from the other flats below us - we had no noise from next door flats. I hated sharing a chimney - noise & smoke travelled up & into our flat. Organising/purchasing the freehold was a nightmare & expensive. Getting the (eventual) freeholders to agree & pay up for external & internal maintenance was a huge hassle. Lack of a private garden was the pits. Lack of a private driveway/garage was the pits as well. The icing on the cake was it was a Victorian conversion without a lift & dragging shopping + baby up 65 stairs was hard work. Actually I tell a lie - another good thing about it was the 65 stairs kept me fit!

I'd pick the flat!

The English are obsessed with houses.

It's insane!

In the situation you describe I wouldn't buy the house or the flat.
We relocated to the Midlands and have a 5 bed detached house with huge garden for the price of a London studio apartment!

The English may be obsessed but that's because the flats are just big houses converted so you can hear everything!

When we first moved to London rented a coverted flat and it was fine for us as we were on the top floor but we had wooden floors so it must have been a nightmare for the people below.

When we bought it was always going to be a house, no leasehold and a garden. Just bloody glad dh fell in love with the EOT one now in hindsight.

House preferable for me due to having own driveway, private garden, quieter, no leasehold issues. I like going upstairs for a bath away from everyone else!

You couldn't pay me to live in a flat. Flats are grim.

What everyone else has said - leases (having to buy your lease can cost a lot), lack of private outside space (no fun drying clothes or having a small child in a flat), more neighbours (potentially more problems). Service charge is all very well if you have competent and honest management - I have lived in a flat that did not have such a thing. Management company was ££££ in debt, complete shambles (eg did not know if they were supposed to be collecting the service charge in advance or arrears, confusion across the board), making large and unnecessary purchases without consultation with the residents, etc etc. We ended up selling at a loss just to get rid of it.

I would never ever even consider viewing a leasehold property let alone buying one (with all the potential issues pp have stated, you are always, no matter how slightly, beholden to someone else), especially a flat...mainly beause of neighbours above and/or below and/or to the side...but also because I really don't like living all on one level (so I'd never buy a bungalow either)...bedrooms on the same level as entrance hall/kitchen/living room feel weird to me.

Sorry, that was a bit rambly!