How much would no downstairs loo put you off a house?

[firefirefire]

We are selling a really well presented and solid 4 bed semi detached house.
The garden is landscaped, fairly new kitchen etc etc, new bathroom.

The downside is that it doesn't have a downstairs toilet.

Would this put you off massively?

I should say, there is a huge utility room and garage and therefore lots of space for someone to put one in. We would have done this if we were staying

I automatically discount any house that doesn't have a downstairs toilet.

Those saying they’ve only ever had 1 loo - did you live in 4 bed houses?

The point isn’t how many loos can people manage with but the norm expected for different sized houses.

In the past 3 beds often had 1 loo, sometimes 3 if a bigger semi or detached. 4 beds almost always had a downstairs loo. Gear days new builds have multiple loos and people add en-suites etc to older homes - so expectations have always been higher for 4 beds and are increasing for smaller properties too.

Given a 4 bed is a family home, quite likely housing 5, only 1 loo in the entire house (which prob has a decent garden and other larger family home features) would be unusual. Some might not be too bothered esp if there are other bathrooms like en-suites but it’s not going to aid the sale.

Houses do need to proportioned. So living space and no of bathrooms has to broadly fit the overall size of the house to give balance.

I'm 50 with a weak bladder and sore knee so I would only look at houses with a downstairs toilet.

If it was made obvious in the schedule that there was space for downstairs loo, then I would consider and take into account the cost for fitting the toilet if I made an offer.

The point isn’t how many loos can people manage with but the norm expected for different sized houses.

^^ agree with this. We looked around a fair number of 4 bed houses last time we moved, and I can’t remember viewing any that didn’t have a downstairs loo. There was a fair amount that also had an en-suite bathroom off one bedroom as well as a family bathroom.

Wouldn't put me off . But then it's a lifestyle thing. If you had a family full of tweens / young adults or elderly people then yes it would put me off. Otherwise no

Cant say I've ever lived in a house with more than one toilet. My current house is an upgrade from the last as it has it's own separate room so no one has to dance about until someone's out the shower. It's a three bed place where I live with my three children.

I'd rather have the extra bedroom.

How many loos are there in the house? If there were 2 upstairs then it wouldn't bother me. A one loo house is a deal breaker, especially for a 4 bedroom house.

I hate downstairs loos. I find it weird knowing a guest is having a wee across the hall from where we're eating or having a catch up. Prefer them upstairs away from the social areas of the home.

I needed a house with a downstairs loo because my elderly mum can't go upstairs. If there were lots of houses around, same price, same location, same amount going for them I would buy something else.

If yours was a bargain or had a view or something else that gave it an edge I would consider it if I could put one in easily/reasonably enough.

I wouldn't even look at a house without a toilet on the ground floor.

We were happy with no second loo when we were buying a 3 bed semi, but I think with a bit more budget we would probably rule it out.

It depends mainly on what else is out there. If there's a wealth of similar 4 beds in your part of town, with downstairs loos, I probably wouldn't even look at it. If yours is the only house for sale in a perfect village with a great school, or it's a pretty and quirky cottage with bits dating back to the 1600s, people will be queuing up.

We had one put in our tiny tiny understairs, it has a special space saving toilet system where the sink is on top of the cistern. It cost £1000 for the lot including extractor fan and light and completed in two days.
It's the most used room in the house with three little dc!
I would not want to buy a house without one, unless there was room to put one.

Are you getting viewings? I would imagine someone wanting a downstairs bathroom as a non-negotiable and not prepared to do any work wouldn't view.

Does the estate agent have an opinion? When you get feedback from viewings are people raising it?

Is your 4 bed house bigger than the 3 bed or same size?

It would put me off a lot, but less so if there was space for one and I had the money to install one.

It wouldn't have bothered me when I was younger, but I wouldn't consider it now. It's also very useful if you have less able or elderly visitors. I can think of a few family members who would not have wanted to come here if it meant climbing the stairs for a pee.
Have you got 2 loos upstairs? Like others, I think a 4 bed house with one loo is not practical if the house is fully occupied. However, I think doing works simply to sell your house is a bit extreme. You could always get it costed and reduce the sale price by this amount if asked.

I have never even thought about this and will probably be trying to sell my family house in the next 5 years. Only ever lived in houses with one bathroom myself.

It would put me off. If you have people over, having them trek upstairs to the toilet is not great

Thesnobbymiddleclassone I’m guessing you would not like living in a bungalow or flat then!

We've lived for five years with no upstairs bathroom and just about to rent a bigger (three bed) house with the same! Before you think we're minging, although yes I do live with two boys and a man), we've got one family bathroom downstairs. In an ideal world we'd prefer more than one but more loos tend to equal more money (which we haven't got!)

Anyway, as an aside, I personally prefer downstairs bathrooms. I can monitor how long my fiance is actually taking to do a poo and then tell him off if comes out of there with his mobile phone. Same for eldest son!

Also, much nearer to the kitchen so no excuse for fiance not to bring me in a cuppa/vino when I'm having a relaxing bath 😊

Despite telling the estate agent I didn't want to look at houses without a downstairs loo I'm now living in one!

I don't live in a two story house now, but when I did we never used the downstairs toilet. We always ran upstairs.

In the US, the master almost always has an en suite, and usually there is at least a family bathroom and maybe a half bath for guests.

Thanks for all this, it's everso helpful.

We have had some feedback that they would prefer a downstairs loo. We have space either under the stairs, cutting the utility room in half or even making space in a small garage conversion for one. There are literally 3 excellent spaces to make one.

Our house was originally a 3 bedroom by the way. The 4th bedroom is an extension over the garage

Those space saving toilet systems look fantastic! Really thinking we maybe should spend a bit of money and put one in

I would definitely want a downstairs loo, but very prepared to install one myself, given that it would cost in the region of £2000 - which is nothing compared to the purchase price.