Would you consider moving into a flat rather than a house?

[frolicmum]

We've been looking around for a while and given that we have number 2 on the way, our budget does not stretch further than 650k and I found this flat rather than a house. I adore it. Pictures for our house will be taken next Tuesday and it will then hit the market. The estimate is 475k.

Area: Bromley/ Eltham / Orpington

What do you think about this flat and what are the downsides of buying a large flat rather than a house?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85501792

That flat is nice but the road is a real rat run for traffic. Upside though is catchment for a very good primary.

I wouldn't choose a flat for a family with young kids if I could afford a house with garden and agree re leasehold. For your budget I think you could find a much better house and garden in your search area which gives you more longevity.

I wouldn’t do leasehold for obvious reasons.

I wouldn’t live in a flat unless new built and with amazing soundproofing, but I hate noise.

It’s really grand and gorgeous but I’d rather get a house. I’m sure there will be Victorian/Edwardian ones too. I wouldn’t want to chase the freeholder about repairing that massive roof (£££).

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73670343#/

For example

It's stunning. It's the top two floors so noise wouldn't be a problem. I'd need to know length of lease, who owns the freehold,what the current service charge is and what the balance sheet of the service charge looks like.

It's really lovely though.

I think a split level big flat with private garden can be great.

And it isn’t useful to compare with out-of-London .

But my issues with that flat (given that you have an OK budget) are that it is first and second floor, so up and down stairs with toddler and baby and shopping, and whenever you use the garden, and the fact that the family bathroom with bath is on the living floor, so bath time with both children is decamping with both to the downstairs. No nipping between bathroom and kids bedroom. Nighttime loo trips for 5 - 10 year olds going downstairs.

But countless families live in much smaller flats, or with one downstairs bathroom. It all depends on what is a priority for you.

@HavfrueDenizKisi

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73670343#/

For example

That's beautiful 😍

I live in a flat with 3 kids. It is too small now but I love it and love the community in our block. People are super nice and look at out for each other. Lots of help during covid (sourcing flour, eggs, picking up medication, etc).

It’s a lovely flat and looks a good size. It wouldn’t bother me so much if you had the garden all to yourself.

I’d mostly be worried about leasehold costs and large repair bills.

You should be able to get a house for that budget though.

I would never buy a leasehold property.

Flats usually incur service charges, which can often turn out to be a quite significant regular outgoing. If you're serious about a flat, please factor this cost into your budget.

The flat is over 1800 sq ft and the house around 1100 sq ft. So a huge difference in space for the money.

So access to your garden with the flat, fees and landlord reliability. The landlord is responsible for the roof. Most split houses are leasehold - it’s normal. However we bought our freehold and this might be an option. Leasehold isn’t a massive issue if the lease is long. But I would investigate buying the freehold. I would guess it’s in a great road. I would compare it to houses but there seems to be a huge price differential.

Also it just takes some jobsworth freeholder to say “we haven’t updated the communal areas in 10yrs as per the leasehold” and your lumbered with a 10k bill- happened to my aunt.

[quote OnlyFoolsnMothers]Why would you buy a flat for that budget (I live in Bromley).

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/98309498#/

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73461747#/[/quote]
The flat the OP is looking at is much bigger and a much more attractive period property than either of those houses. PIL live in a similar flat (except they have the top two floors, there are two flats below them. They have their own (very grand) entrance and garden. It feels like a house and if there are issues with the roof they split the cost with the downstairs flats.

Who owns the leasehold? Would it be possible to buy it from the leaseholder? And how accessible from the house is the garden?

And looking at the plan what is the ceiling height in the upstairs 'store', could that be made into a second upstairs bathroom? Or could you put a jack and jill bathroom between two upstairs bedrooms. Sloping ceilings might be an issue though.

We live in a flat with 2 dc without a garden. There are downsides but they're manageable (service charges, no parking, neighbours), and in many ways it's less hassle than looking after a house (no responsibility for the building or communal areas). Location is the most important thing for us, so it was worth compromising with a flat in the city centre rather than get a house further out, but if we could afford a house locally then I'd always choose that over a flat. We're in zone 1 though, so there aren't many houses for sale and they'd be too expensive. I'd also consider a flat over a house if it got us into the catchment of an amazing school. The houses linked might not be as big but you have scope to alter and extend, and in the long term would be a better investment.

Ive lived in flats almost all of my life. My parents bought a house when I was 12 and I lived there til I was 23. Other than that I've lived in flats. Im raising kids in a massive flat (maisonette).

It's lovely and bigger than my 4 bed detached house, but I'd still struggle with sharing walls/ceilings, leasehold, no direct garden access etc. I struggle with the thought of spending £600,000 on a flat but I appreciate it's different in SE.

Wow - so many comments. I just went for midwife appointment, had my coffee and came back to lots of responses.

I see why people would say it's a step back but if you actually look at the flat, it's is not a step back for us. I live in a town house now, 100m2 & I don't ever want to live over 3 floors again, so any loft conversion houses are not for me. I was not aware of this before I moved into this house of course. This flat has 170m2, so it's a lot bigger and it has a private garden (our garden now is a terrace). The average houses around for our budget are 120-140m2 with a box room or a room downstairs which they class as a bedroom - both properties shown by posters on here have a box room.

Some people seem to be more clued on than me as to where it's located in the house, very good point to consider the access to the garden given that my children are young (2 in January, other one due in May). I like that some people brought up the bathroom as you are right, this is a downside. I need to do a lot of homework on the leasehold as I genuinely do not know a lot about this and it seems to be mentioned as the biggest downside everyone tends to mention here and the biggest no factor for everyone.

Thank you for your comments, I appreciate it.

The flats on my road - much smaller two-beds with a joint kitchen-living room and only one bathroom - are on the market at over 700k.

You need to do your research about the leasehold and who owns it. I'd be concerned with a building of that size and age about the possibility of costly maintenance and repairs in the future, which an unscrupulous leaseholder may take advantage of.

Even if you could purchase the freehold, there can be issues with negotiating who is responsible for organising and paying for repair work (one friend had ongoing problems with roof repairs as other householders in the building refused to contribute to the costs).

No way. I'd get a house, OP. It is lovely. I can see why you're tempted. You have number two on the way. Your purchase should be a very good investment. So a house would be much better.

Believe me, there is potential for nightmares galore if you buy this property.

The person who owns this flat is the leaseholder, the lease is 122 years. That's all I got over the phone for now.

I don't even know what questions to ask quite yet and will go through your responses again and note the questions down. We're seeing the flat tomorrow at lunch time.

FuglyHouse has totally spelled out two very likely nightmarish scenarios. I have two friends dealing with both of those same situations, which are intensely stressful.

Deffo leasehold. They can be problematic depending on who owns it!

Is the garden yours? Or can the other flats use it? And if it’s solely yours, there is the potential of jealousy from the other flats & noise complaints etc.. I’ve lived in a small flat block before (renting) & the two downstairs flats had private gardens & the two upstairs didn’t. One upstairs resident was awful. She’s put me off flat living for life. Complained if either of us had a bbq because she could smell it in her flat, complained if we had family or friends in the garden for lunch because she could hear us (neither of us were loud people, just regular sitting round a table nattering & eating) & repeatedly called the local antisocial behaviour line if we sat in the garden past 9pm. Again, we are quiet people. We were literally sat having a drink & quiet conversation when the weather was hot. It was horrible, we upped & left after a year as we felt like we couldn’t use our garden at all. My downstairs neighbour & I stayed in touch and he said she got worse, if he or her next door neighbour had friends or family in their flat, instant noise complaint, even about young babies crying He decided to sell not long after we left, we’ve joked a lot this year about how awful she’d have been with Covid & rule following 🙈

You can get the same thing in a house admittedly but generally, your neighbours are a bit more separate!