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

Virtually everyone I know lives in a flat. They brought up children to adulthood in flats. A few live in a terraced house. The richest people I know - multimillionaires - live in flats, because they think a flat in zone 1 Chelsea or Kensington is far better than a house in zone 3, or even 2. That’s just a choice that people make.

OP when you visit, check how all the windows open. We have wooden sashes that we can bolt partially open/open from the top.
It will be quite a drop.

We are in a tall, thin house and the stairs are a lot shallower than some modern houses. DD was very proficient at getting up and down well before 12 months by holding on the uprights of the bannisters. Also think how/where the children would be when you cook. My solution was to put a stair gate on the kitchen door, but you might want a layout where you can keep them in sight.

We live in a flat and have raised our children there. We got more flat for our money than we would house.

I would definitely consider to moving into a flat. Especially once the kids move out.

I'm not even sure anyone is even remotely interested on the update but for my own sake even it's good to write it all down. We saw the flat today. The living space downstairs is amazing (the two top floors are the ones for sale in the building). The seller is the freeholder, we didn't get anymore information on that but have written down all the questions as to what the owner now is planning to do.

I would need a brand new kitchen, and the two bathrooms need updating. I would like to see if we could get the bathroom upstairs to be a separate room (the storage cupboard upstairs would be big enough for a bathroom, question is if it's feasible aka water supply, pipes etc).

There is a cupboard/ shed under the stairs leading to the flat where the pram could be stored. There are two garages to the properly which lead to a private back entrance which also leads to the garden. I heard a baby cry from the flat below, so seems like the children would be close in age. There is one property directly below us, the estate agent couldn't tell us more.

The whole second floor (in our flat) needs new carpets and some of the windows need to be replaced & every room needs to be painted.

We would not offer asking price but we need to really sit down and discuss pros and cons and make a decision if this could be our home for the next 10+ years and how much we would offer given how much money we would have to put in it.

Of that's so good to hear how the viewing went. It did strike me that the place had been upgraded some time ago. November/December is a good time to visit (especially if it is frosty) as you can see how much daylight a place gets in winter.

With young children I would be tempted to save some money and buy large rugs to go on top of the carpets - just hire a carpet/cleaner.

Good luck with the big decisions/life changes ahead.

Thank you so much for coming back to update. It seems such a lovely space and I can see why you’re attracted to it.

Keep us informed.

The British attitude to flats is hilarious! I'm 44 and me and my husband have just moved into our first house, in London.

We've owned flats for years (mainly separately, though lived in husband's together for last few years). To be honest we're still missing living in a flat a bit. We have been lucky as we have had lovely neighbours in our purpose built 60s/70s blocks with loads of space.

You do get noise in a flat but you also do in our terraced house and we like to know there are people nearby in many ways, we don't like to feel too isolated. So it completely depends.

When I lived in my flat outside London I had access to a beautiful shared garden from my private patio too. We had a communal garden at my husband's flat which we couldn't access directly which bothered me more. But it was nice and pleasantly sociable in lockdown. In all our flats we have shared space with families (we have no children ourselves) and everyone has got on fine. Nice and diverse and less segregated.

Depends what you like. For years people have been asking us when we're getting stairs and a 'proper house', it's like some weird status symbol in this country. I've spent a lot of time with quite well-off families in Germany and Italy who raised kids in very nice flats and then bought a house in their 50s+ when they've saved more money, so they can have a sauna and gym or their own orchard etc or something else it would be hard to get with a flat.

In terms of leasehold/freehold, check out the management company as that's key. But if they are responsible and you have a sink fund then it's nice not to have to shell out all the time for works on your property and have certain things looked after. Leasehold is not an automatic nightmare, I can say after 20 years experience across 3 properties. One was more dodgy but two fine and I took a risk with the third.

It looks a gorgeous property with real character and few downsides even with children to think of. Live where you like the look of and that suits you!

Check leasehold and management charges. And what the neighbours are like!!

If the vendor is the freeholder for the building he may want to keep it and earn a bit on ground rents, OR he may want to sell the freehold to you which may not be that much worth asking. He might own a share of freegold though rather than the whole building's freehold, in which case would transfer both leasehold and share of freehold to you - in some houses you do get both.
I think it's great - as you say, huge! especially if you only have neigbours below and not above. It's rare to have two garages, and as I thought there is of course a storage on ground floor for a pram.

Defiitely consider it once you know what the annual charges aer (ground rent and service charge), also ask if they have a sinking fund (good fo any major repairs, it builds up over the years though this means yo upay a bit over your service charges yearly).

Oh and the imoprtant bit also - do they have a management company or do all the flats share the freehold and have an annual meeting to decide on repairs, also in case of urgent repairs meet as needed - that's nice in a way but then make sure all these people are nice to deal with.

Personally I think it's better to have a good management co as it can be stressful if other neighbours can't contribute (or are generally difficult).

cross-posted with Boofy on a few points. And of course I meant some flats have both free- and leasehold, not 'houses'.

It’s beautiful but I just don’t see that type of flat as suitable for a family, it’s the type of place I imagine I would retire to for genteel living, not for 2 young kids rushing around and slides and trampolines in the garden, are the other occupants retirees or families like yourselves?, I would hate to move to a place like that and not fit in, you can’t get away from your neighbours as you literally live on top of each other.

I’d be happy with a double upper as long as it was top two floors.

My advice would be DO NOT do it

I've lived in a flat in a house like that, it's bloody noisy & in turn you feel aware if every noise you make, it's hard to relax when the baby is crying or a toddler is frustrated. You're forever telling the kids to not stomp/run/jump or bang their toys. You have to consider other people SO DO much more than when you have a house.

Having a 3/4/5 yo and a baby/small toddler and no direct access to the garden us a nightmare because you have to take them both back into the house to get anything/go to the toilet/out one down for a nap/get a toy. It's relentless and NOT relaxing.

Leasehold there are ALWATS issues, no matter who owns the freehold.

The garden won't feel like yours. The flat won't feel like yours.

I'd FAR FAR rather have a more 'average' looking & size house than a flat inside a house, like this.

Yes people do bring up kids in flats & they cope, but when you have the choice, why would you?!

@WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants thanks for the input, we did say we give it a week to think about it and I have sent all my questions over BUT we are now thinking it's a no. As much as I love the space, there is a lot of negatives and "the gut" says no which is an important factor to consider haha!

I do want to move but it's not necessary yet, we do have a 3 bedroom, 100m2 town house which I unfortunately do not love but it's home for now and it's ours and I remember moving in and being so bloody proud of us having saved all that money & bought our first home in London (we're in Greenwich council now).

Thanks again everyone. I will keep looking and might ask Mumsnet for their input next time I consider buying.

The flat itself is fine, although kitchen and bathroom look dated. Personally I would never ever chose a flat over a house, been there done that and it was awful. Loud neighbours to the left, right and below, you all hear everything and limited outside space.

I love flats, live in one. You pay less and can live in your favored neighborhood despite having a lower budget.If you have share of fh/the residents manage the building, there is some control over costs. My primary residence is for day to day living, not for investment so I would rather be in a place I love and also pay less so that I have more money for other things. Freehold is good but if it means you pay £8k in commute for 2 people for the rest of your working life, thats a big financial burden!

but DH has a rule- zone 1-3 for flats. He doesn't like any areas in zone 4-6 anyway and the house we can get for our money isn't big enough to tempt us.A flat in the Home Counties is even worse. Flats are meant for dense urban desirable areas where most people would be unable to get anything else for a sensible budget i.e. not a million. Thats when the downsides of flats don't seem so bad compared to a mahoosive mortgage/being priced out of the area altogether.

@frolicmum

I think it's a good decision. You're not in a hurry, so you'll find something you love!

Your first place is always special, but you do learn a lot about what you don't want next time!!

I lived in a town house in London too - 5 floors including the basement. That's a 'never fucking again' one too. Especially these days as my knees are fucked these days!!

Definitely post next time!!