Bedroom without a window

[Kico99]

Hello! Does anyone have any advice on purchasing a 1 bed apartment where the bedroom doesn’t have a window? It meets fire regs as there is only the requirement for a room to have either a window or open directly onto a hall leading to an entrance/ exit – it does the latter. I’m ok with sleeping in a bedroom with no window but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to sell it going forward if I bought it ... plus the seller is asking for £50k more than she bought it 6yrs without adding much to it all. I didn’t think 1 bed flats increase in price very much or at all to be honest and especially one with the bedroom not having a window ...

Help! Thanks 🙏🏽

@Plexie it's also 100sq ft smaller though.

@redcandlelight well except for nearly the entire living room ceiling being a giant window?

@Kico99 tbh I think it looks like a fab flat and it's done to a high spec in a very desirable area. I'd try and knock the price down a bit if you could but honestly don't think you'd struggle to sell it because of where it is. You may however struggle to get a mortgage on it potentially!

It looks lovely. I am not sure the lack of window in the bedroom would bother me but I would leave the door open for ventilation. I would be more concerned if there are no other windows in the flat that you can open to ventilate it though...

For me it's always going to be something which could be hard to sell on and I wouldn't want not to have a window in the bedroom.

Also, it looks as though the living room is really overlooked from the windows in the main building.

I wouldn't buy it. Also fire regs can change. What happens they do and bedrooms without windows aren't allowed. You may well end up with an unsaleable (or at least un-mortgageable) flat. Apart from that I wouldn't buy it from a personal safety point of view.

No I wouldn’t, I like the window open at night, and yes you may have issues

As regards the price look at what others in the area are going for

I have seen a number of these in buildings which were previously offices and have been converted to residential. Sometimes they call them pods or something, rather than 1 bed flats.

The once’s I have seen have a large full length, very frosted window, into a room which does have a window, to let some light in. Sometimes they have frosted window onto internal corridor.

Best avoided if possible. Natural light is so important.
It will always be harder to sell on.

If you look at these properties they often don’t have a window to the bathroom either, so actually might only have 1 window or set if patio doors letting in natural light. It’s not great....is this a permitted development property....lower building regulation standards get accepted in them. Normally bedrooms need windows.

There's a reason why every surface is plastered with mirrors in that place! There is no view of the outside at all which is very claustrophobic. You can get something far nicer for the money in Richmond and a better location.

Yes, these are nearly always conversions. They don’t have windows because the walls are internal...otherwise they would put them in.

A property with just one external window or set of patio doors doesn’t have enough light.

It will be cheaper because of this. People will point out that there is a place for such properties as not everyone can afford the standard 1 bed flat with the luxury of windows in the bedroom and bathroom, or a studio with windows in each room. Windows have become a luxury now!

If this is what you can afford, and you can get a mortgage on a property without external windows and the location makes it for you and you value the location more than a window which you could get. In a cheaper area, go for it, as long as you have your eyes wide open to the issues of living in it or possible issues reselling. If it’s Ann pensive area and Richmond clearly is, then there will always be entry level buyers who like you, perhaps cannot afford everything they would like and have to compromise.

If however, you can get a property in a similar area with a window, don’t choose this. New conversions are sold at a premium and this could drop in value before it recovers and if people can buy a property nearby with a window, they will. Only buy this if it is substantially cheaper than properties with windows. Otherwise when you sell, people will know it’s not a good buy if they can get a windowed property for similar price.

I'm not sure it should be classified as a bedroom if it doesn't have a window. Think I remember reading this somewhere

Yes, these are often called things like studio-pods or similar.

bigger 2 bedrooms, balcony and light and IMO in a nicer location
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85453357#/

cheapervdnd with massive windows! but kew rather than richmond!www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85593421#/

some other interesting options up on richmond hill as well if you would be willing to do some work on the property!

@korawick12345

bigger 2 bedrooms, balcony and light and IMO in a nicer location www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85453357#/

cheapervdnd with massive windows! but kew rather than richmond!www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85593421#/

some other interesting options up on richmond hill as well if you would be willing to do some work on the property!

Thanks for this but I just don't see myself in big apartment blocks that look quite dated. This was the other draw to the converted mill house ... but yes all points taken no side windows and no bedroom window is a huge negative

Awww I mean thus nicely as a dweller of a decidedly dated 50s building, but that’s a nice Art Deco building linked!

Fair that you don’t like it though.

I'd hate not being to see out anywhere, but then I'm naturally nosy

I think what would put me off is the living room skylights meaning you are exposed to the people in the flats above you. Total lack of privacy.
Plus I like being able to look out of windows rather than up.
Plus I do think than despite the lovely decor, the bedroom would feel cell-like with no window.
And I would worry about re-sale.

You could change the door to a fully glazed one to let more light through and would be easy to break if your handle ever broke and you got stuck in. And a small portable air con unit in the bedroom would work if it gets a bit stuffy in the summer ?

Looks like a nice place too.

@CattyCactus

I think what would put me off is the living room skylights meaning you are exposed to the people in the flats above you. Total lack of privacy. Plus I like being able to look out of windows rather than up. Plus I do think than despite the lovely decor, the bedroom would feel cell-like with no window. And I would worry about re-sale.

I had noticed that too but they are frosted so they have to climb on a chair or something to peek from the top part of their window to look down.

I think my main concern would be that I would get hot, in the whole apartment. But I am hot a lot, so maybe not the same for you personally.

Oh God no, please don't, it will be so hard to sell.

It is very well presented and noticed the photographer in the pics too 😊.

However, skylights only would make it hot, no bedroom window in the hot summer weather, that room will be an oven. Unless you’re a vampire I wouldn’t go there.

This will be a bit of a pig to sell on I would think. I’d have concerns about not being able to look out of a window, and the temperature in the summer.

If you do view it, check carefully for signs of damp and mould if there is little ventilation and natural light (in the bedroom). Any sign of it being newly decorated would have me running for the hills.

I'd be tempted to take the bedroom door off all together. I'd be quite tempted to buy it. It's a huge studio flat then.

Just imagine how fucking grim a lockdown would be in that flat!

Please don’t do that to yourself.

It has ONE window, a small window and that’s it.

You’d never sell it on - or really struggle

Vendor is having a laugh at £50k increase too.

No, I wouldn't.

It sounds hideous, but having seen it, it looks very nice. But how does it feel? If you imagine it without it's current décor and you alone in it, does it feel like you've been kidnapped and kept in someones homemade cell?