Does this house have kerb appeal?

[House7345]

Do you like the look of this house?

If not how could I be improved?

Also does the back garden look small? Its north facing so I'm wary.

What are your thoughts?

I prefer this one personally
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/76034410#/

I'd create a big kitchen diner across the back of the house and block up one of the doorways from the hall. You could have access from the living room into the kitchen or just put a wall across. I'd add a door to the garden at the other end of the new bigger room from the French doors. The current dining room could be an office/snug/TV room.

If its leasehold I would want to read the lease very carefully to make sure that there are no charges for any alterations or increasing ground rent. There are some terrible stories. If it's a case of pay to change paint colour, doors etc or even make internal changes I would run a mile in the opposite direction

Also I would be put off by a utility room that doesn't appear to have access to the outside.

Looks a lovely house from the outside, although I would have to pull up the tree in the front garden. However, there are too many things that would put me off:

• North facing garden
• Leasehold
• Location - right by a train line and the motorway, would need to listen out for noise at viewing

It would also need a lot of work inside to modernise the kitchen and both bathrooms, get rid of the wetherspoons style carpet in the lounge, rip out the bedroom units which look built in (although may not be?), new fencing in the garden. Although these are all cosmetic and might be fine if you're happy to take something that needs work doing.

See if you can buy the freehold? That may be the solution to the leasehold issue.

It looks nice enough. Garden small for an average home but you’ll probably find it’s average for a new build home. Layout needs work. Both the kitchen and utility room don’t have a door off them; usually it’s one or the other that has an external door.

In desperate need of modernising.

Is it probate by any chance?

it looks like it's been squeezed in in what was someone's garden, as it is out of character with surrounding houses, and narrow plot.
maybe the original land owner retains the freehold.
why would you choose to buy a leasehold house.
are you aware of the potential pitfalls.
decor, layout, presentation are small potatoes compared to this.

A significant proportion of not most houses in the north west are leasehold. Some, like ours are on 999yr leases (peppercorn rent, around £5 a year), so it's not really a problem.

I don't think I've ever seen a leasehold house, that must put a lot of people off.

Are leaseholds rare in England? I live in N Ireland and leasehold is really common here. I used to work in mortgages and read thousands of surveyors reports over the years and leasehold was far more common than freehold. It was mostly only really old houses, or individual houses built on a plot of land (as opposed to within a larger development) that were freehold.

This one of the same listings page is much nicer with better outdoor space, planning permission already granted for an extension and only 5k more. Not leasehold by the looks of things either.

We've just bought a house of a similar age, similar size and sadly similar decor (!) though the layout is slightly different.

If it's any help this is our rough project budget:

Kitchen/Diner/Family Room
We're taking a wall down between the kitchen and dining room which is a structural wall and one between the dining and a small living room which isn't. Similar to us the wall you'd need to take down is a supporting wall by the look of it (similar wall above) so you'd need to factor in a structural engineer (we've paid nearly £1k) and building regs which I think are in the region of £260 though we're doing it privately as the council ones in our area are realllllly slow.
The changes we want to make including fitting and painting the kitchen, plastering, flooring, adding the steel, moving a radiator and some additional plumbing is costing us nearly £20k for the building element then £7k for units (Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch), 3k for worktops and £2k and a bit for appliances (we shopped around on the internet).

Have you thought of maybe moving the kitchen into the existing living dining room and keeping the kitchen as a separate study? Costs would depend on where your pipework is but you'd save a lot in structural engineer costs and steel beams, still have open plan but also have the separate room at the back.

Because we're touching the kitchen wiring we need a new fuse board (consumer unit) so the electrics are costing about another £1.5k plus parts so new light fixtures.

Main living room and bedrooms::
Remove coving and reskimming the artex ceilings are between £300-£500 per room depending on the size.
Then about £1000 for decorating each room including paint

Bathrooms:
Main bathroom is going to cost £3k to refit and tile plus costs for tiles and bath, shower etc.
Ensuite is smaller so around £2k plus fittings
Downstairs loo is about £1k plus fittings.

Flooring:
Downstairs flooring is £1800 and fitting costs are included in our kitchen budget. We got a very good deal on some really nice laminate from local flooring people we have used before.
New carpets for upstairs are going to be in the region of £3k including fitting and underlay

Windows and Doors and Rendering:
There is a big chunk needed for the windows and two sets of rear doors at nearly £20k but it's a 1970s style house built in the 1990s so they're big but still the original ones and they're in a bad state.
It will be about another £7k to render the outside. Fortuantely we don't need to do anything to the roof!

Fortunately my husband is the finance person because even writing this down is making me feel a bit sick!

@Longwhiskers14

This one of the same listings page is much nicer with better outdoor space, planning permission already granted for an extension and only 5k more. Not leasehold by the looks of things either.

Just realised it's in the same street as your one, OP!

We have seen that other one sadly although it looks much better the room sizes are tiny especially upstairs!

@SollaSollew thanks so much for your detailed response that is really helpful. Sounds like a big project but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end!! Good luck I would like a older house but struggle in the area for the estates we want

The brick work is nicely done, and I think it is has a lot of potential. Ladnscaping the garden and more foliage and flowers etc would improve it greatly.

I wouldn't touch a leasehold house, either.

@KarlKennedysDurianFruit

I'd do something like this, and either put a wall between the bigger kitchen and lounge or leave it open depending on your preference, I like to close a door, you then have the option to use the 'dining room' as a playroom, office, snug etc if the kitchen is big enough for a table or to have it as a dining room

yes definitely. I like a table in the kitchen or a kitchen diner, really don't like tables in the living room as the only table.

Whole interior needs redoing, so dated, I am not one for rushing to change kitchens and bathrooms, but don't think you could do much with these. (OK, possibly replace doors in kitchen and paint?)

A lot of work, built in horros in bedrooms to rip out etc.

I don’t think it’s that bad. I’d want to take the wall down between kitchen and diner. Dining room would become snug/tv room. I think L shapes work quite well for “open plan” because it’s not totally open sight lines to the kitchen from the family room bit.

The garden would look much bigger if you took down the fence between your garden and driveway - no idea why that’s there considering the drive has a gate anyway.

Rest is cosmetic / decor imo.

I'm not keen on L-shaped rooms, as they always seem too narrow. Quite small rooms anyway. Otherwise I'd say all fine -- as long as the lease is long and not restrictive in any way.

That's the most important thing: check that lease very carefully. Unless houses in the area usually are leasehold, I'd be very wary. It's most unusual in my experience. In fact, that may be why the present owners can't sell. You'd have the same problem when you wanted to sell.

Why do people hate trees and bushes so much I wonder? They are the nicest part about this fugly house tbh. You need more to cover the front up, cheaper than rendering it!

@slipperywhensparticus

I actually like the house itself give it a decent front door and it would look better that huge bush means your driveway looks like it doesn't belong to you

I thought the same. Dark mahogany doors are really ugly imo.

Leaseholds in greater Manchester are not unusual.. They are normally 999 year total and many are an absolutely minimal amount.. Ie my last house was £7.50 a year... Current one is £30 a year.. No rise in either in time lived there.

Really not worth buying freehold in either case as quoted £4.5k.
I think people are incorrectly presuming on this thread that it'll be a lease that goes up dramatically or is expensive. Most locals won't.

@happytoday73

Leaseholds in greater Manchester are not unusual.. They are normally 999 year total and many are an absolutely minimal amount.. Ie my last house was £7.50 a year... Current one is £30 a year.. No rise in either in time lived there.

Really not worth buying freehold in either case as quoted £4.5k.
I think people are incorrectly presuming on this thread that it'll be a lease that goes up dramatically or is expensive. Most locals won't.

My house in the South is the same, with an absent (probably dead) freeholder and a ground rent of £6 a year which we don’t pay, as nobody to pay it to. So we have an indemnity policy but basically treat it the same as a freehold house.

I like trees but a Bush with no redeeming features is pointless. Planting to enhance the front garden is altogether a different matter. A big bush doesn’t enhance anything.

Having seen the internal pictures - it’s horrible! Total refurb. It’s not a redecorate and off you go! It’s seriously yuk. The back garden is totally compromised by the position of the garage and the drive. It eats into the rear garden. Most developers put garages on the side of the house. As I said earlier, the plot is relatively narrow. Putting the inside right is definitely £50,000. Is it worth it? How long is the lease? What are the charges? How much to buy the freehold? If it’s competitively priced it could be worth it but leasehold for a relatively new house puts people off. The inside would make me run a mile - and the odd window Nextdoor! Are these a road of self-builds?