Please can someone tell me why my flat isn't selling?!

[Puffykins]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84873916.html

Price-wise, it's appropriate - even cheap - for the area. I know that it hasn't got it's own garden, but there is a huge communal garden which, in central-ish London, I'd argue is better than a tiny garden.

Admittedly I don't like the estate agents pictures much. It's really light in real life, but they always seem obsessed with turning on all the lights.

Anyway, any tips would be hugely appreciated. Thank you!

I absolutely love the style of your flat, it's beautiful & cosy, I could spend hours looking at everything there is to see, but you want to sell it so......

I know very little about London and the area you live in, and that being the case I don't know if your home is competitively priced etc, so will just have to go on the basis of the flat itself.

I actually love the contrast of the stark, cold, ugly exterior and the light, airy, stylish interior. That wouldn't put me off at all. It's spacious and very bright. The bedrooms are a good size, as is the lounge. I love the stairs and the layout.

Things that would be a problem for me would be the fact that your lovely stuff could well be covering a multitude of issues, and I wouldn't be able to see it.

The kitchen is a bit pokey for such a spacious flat, and needs work.

So much art/decor on the walls means a million little holes to fill, and as I've spent nearly a day filling little holes in my own walls (with 95% less art!), it would fill me with dread! Plus the plaster might be knackered.

You're on the 5th floor and I have a slight phobia of lifts (although most people wouldn't care).

The door in the kids room. I just don't like doors leading outside from bedrooms.

Everybody has different requirements/dealbreakers though, and apart from my dislike of lifts, everything else could be rectified. It's actually a lovely flat.

I have to say I love it (I like a good pile of books myself) although I live nowhere near London I can appreciate that’s a good price and the convenience of where it is .
I didn’t notice the kitchen tiles or lack of first time I looked , think I might fix that and take away the balcony picture because it does nothing for it.
I would deal with the stuff hanging on the bathroom door.
I would love to see what you do with your new home.
Too many people seem to want to live in sterile boxes.

Too many people seem to want to live in sterile boxes.

I disagree. I think most of us enjoy pictures, books photos etc, but kept on shelves rather than stacked up on the floor, which is sending the message that there is a lack of storage space. My house is tidy and clutter free, but I have 6 bookshelves full of books and DVDs/CDs and it is certainly not sterile.

As I said before I love the OPs style, but there is just too much stuff. And the cushions, why so many? The chairs and settee look like cushion displays rather than somewhere to sit.

I like it, I'd love to be your friend. I'd love to 'compulsively buy art'. I've what seems like acres of unadorned wall because I can never find any art.

I think I'd focus on painting the bathroom cupboards. And then getting the kitchen looking more like a kitchen.

PS Your bathroom is genius. Please don't even consider painting over it!

The clutter is the main problem. The random framed photos placed on the floor. So many colours. The bathroom is very unique.

It's full of clutter, there's no need to have books lying around in this day and age, they can be sent to the charity shops.

Sweet Lord Jesus, what blasphemy 😱 I can’t believe somebody would think this way. How sad.

I think it's lovely as your home, and as pp said I would spend ages looking at all your books and pictures. It's warm and characterful and feels lived in, in a good way. BUT - you're not looking at it being your home any longer. You want to sell it for as much £ as possible so you can move on to your next home, which you will make warm and welcoming and characterful. In the meantime, remove all the books that aren't on shelves, remove the bookcase from the kitchen, take down all pictures except one on each wall, fill the holes, quick repaint in neutral colour, tidy up balcony. All excess stuff into storage for a little while. You said your DH is a set designer - tell him you're designing your home as a set for a minimalist Scandinavian and have at it!

I love it!

But yes - thin the ‘stuff’ out so you can see where the rooms start and end...

It’s just the house selling game...

I have recycled a lot of books to charity shops. I keep the ones I know I want to read again and reference books, but I just don't have room in my house for every book I have ever read

All new ficttion books I buy are now on kindle only.

@ScribblingPixie

PS Your bathroom is genius. Please don't even consider painting over it!

Why not? The likelyhood that the buyer will keep it like that is very low, and painting it now means potential buyers don't see it as another job that would need doing.

Are you sure you’re doing the right thing selling at this juncture? Your love for the flat and everything surrounding it just shouts out of every post of yours. I love it, by the way - I was expecting a hoarder flat from the initial comments but it’s beautiful and stylish and quirky (and not my idea of clutter!). But I can see that it doesn’t fit with the identikit neutral look everything for sale has nowadays.

I just wonder whether you should stay a year or two and reassess. When I read your posts it just sounds as though it might be a decision you regret.

If you have to move for other reasons and I’ve missed it, I’m sorry.

We moved out of central London to Wilts (v happily) and I’m a wannabe minimalist, but seeing your home full of colour and life in the location it is in, makes me so jealous! It looks such a fun, vibrant place. All the best to your son too.

I really like it, apart from the balcony. However, I think the vast majority or people will think its cluttered not that you like stuff. My house would head the same way if I had the money.

Hire a storage place, box up 3/4 of your belongings and decorate the bathroom. It may not feel like your home but as you want a new home that doesn't matter. One the plus side, packing will be so much easier.

I really like it! It looks so cosy. I think most of what I like are your own things though which isn't helpful sorry

@musicposy I don't want to move. DH does. And I am aware that we need more space and I'm genuinely excited about decorating another house and I know I'll be happy once we get there - it's the act of selling that I'm not enjoying, and the house being on the market. Also DH is certain we don't need to make any changes in order to sell. I keep showing him this thread.... (I actually think he's just really reluctant to do any work on a house we're leaving, but he's always been reluctant to do DIY.) Alone, I would contentedly live in this flat and area forever. I am not alone. So I need to consider DH.....

I really like it. I would try and box up the excess books and things that don’t fit on shelves so that you show how much space there really is and doesn’t give the impression that there isn’t enough storage. I wouldn’t bother with the balcony photo and would instead include a couple of the communal garden if that is a feature. I think the front of the building could put people off viewing so I’d remove that too. Fold up the towels in the bathroom or remove altogether.

For me it looks like it needs a lot of work. I hate the plastic doors and windows, so I'd have to change those, and I'd have to redo the bathroom - far too personal to the vendor, so would need to factor in the costs of doing those things. But the thought of a child's bedroom having a door to the outside would worry me constantly so it would be no if I was a parent and I'm sorry but the biggest deal breaker for me would be the awful kerb appeal. You could try painting the bathroom white, doing a huge declutter by taking 75% of it to storage (you'll make it looked bigger and be able to touch up any paint etc that needed it too). Paint the wall outside the door so that it's not grey, and either put something in those pots or get rid of them.

If you sell it you will need to 'make good' any holes in the walls before they move in so doing it now makes sense. So taking down most of the pics now is merely getting ahead of what you have to do.

Also a buyer could worry that all that stuff hides a multitude of sins and removing most of it reassures them that's not the case.

Also someone buying a modernist council flat in W2 isn't likely to have your Interiors taste of you were selling a cottage out of London they might. So your buyer is likely to be a young couple more into clean modern decor.

I think your stuff would look lovely in a different kind of home - one with high ceilings for starters, but doesn't suit the property type and location and likely buyer.

You said your DH is a set designer - tell him you're designing your home as a set for a minimalist Scandinavian and have at it!

Genius.

The last house we sold we completely changed how it looked in order to sell it. It's amazing how people can't imagine how things could look or how rooms could be used. People looked blankly at me when I said the room we used as a study could be a bedroom so we changed it to a nursery with a cot and said it could also be a study which was much more successful.

I love it actually. It looks such a characterful and comfortable family home. Rather than do anything too drastic, I'd just remove the paintings from the floor, the stacks of books, the towels, and thin the cushions a bit from the bed. Retake the photos and replace the balcony shot with a couple of photos of the communal garden.

I feel like you should be living in a big old London Victorian terrace with room for all your books and artwork. If only they were affordable! I'd love to know what type of property your next move will be to. Good luck

I hate the plastic doors and windows, so I'd have to change those

Eh?! You can't just randomly change your windows to something completely different to what the rest of the block has. Thank God.

I absolutely love your sofa btw! You have some lovely things, just leave the best of them there (def move the books and lots of the pictures)

@TheYearOfSmallThings
Ok, well genuinely I didn't know that.

Eh?! You can't just randomly change your windows to something completely different to what the rest of the block has. Thank God.

Is this a local rule? I'm in Scotland and loads of blocks of flats have different windows here.