Buying in TW9

[Flowerbloom9]

Hi all,

Our offer has been accepted at a 2 bed purpose built apartment in TW9 and we are about apply for our mortgage approval. I wanted to find out if there is a real issue of living on the flight path. We live in a rental accommodation in W4 at the moment and cant hear much. The person who will be conducting our Home Buyer's Survey has highlighted that the building our flat is in, fall on the red zone for flight path mainly for international flights landing around 4am. This was a bit worrying so I wanted to get your opinion.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Where is TW9? I'm in TW7 (Isleworth) and yes the planes are loud but you honestly do get used to it. The flight paths change weekly I think - so you either get the morning flights or the evening ones. I really don't hear them anymore, but it's worth being in the area when the planes are going over so you know just what the level of noise is! Most houses are super double glazed so the morning planes should never wake you up

@hollygoflightly - Thank you ao much for the reassuring response! TW9 is close to the Kew Gardens - our apartment building is on one of the parallel roads. The area is lovely and our apartment is in one of the 70's purpose builts - so we'll have to do it up anyway. This means we need to choose very good double/triple glazed windows and that should do the trick?

@Flowerbloom9 I'd say so! Lucky you, that's such a lovely area and those 70s flats look fab. Good luck with the move!

Thank you so much! We are first time buyers and very nervous about the purchase. It really helps when someone reassures.
Can I ask something else please? While updating the flat, we want to add a 2nd bathroom, but none of the older apartments whether in that building or the other ones we have seen, have 2 baths. I was wondering if you know why that is or do people normally just prefer 1 bath?

we are in TW9 and when the planes are landing that way, they are really noisy! But you do get used to it. I honestly barely notice them now and in the house we can hardly hear them (even though we're in a period property so the front of the house is actually not even double glazed).

At the moment, they are not directly over us and when they aren't, you can't hear them. If you look at flight radar and keep an eye on it over the course of a week, you'll see when the planes are landing at Heathrow coming from essentially the east into Heathrow. They have 2 paths when they are coming from the east - one that comes directly over TW9 and another one that comes just slightly north of us. When they come in from the West (via Reading) you don't hear them at all and tbh when they are taking off to the east, we barely hear them at all.

and also, the 2 landing paths in from the east, the one that is directly over TW9 is noisy but the one slightly north is also a lot less noticeable (in fact I don't notice it)

btw it's an amazing area, the restaurants on the Kew Rd are fab and there are so many lovely walks! I hope you enjoy it!

v rarely do flights land at 430am - there is the Hong Kong flight that lands early, that can be around 430/5am followed by Nigeria normally but they are only allowed a certain number of flights before 6am and as mentioned, there are 3 landing paths, they only use one at a time so it is not every day by any means. At the moment, we're not in the zone so it's quiet!
www.heathrow.com/company/local-community/noise/operations/night-flights

when I lived in teddington I found it worse as the planes take off over you - so it was less loud but more frequent!

I don't live there but I remember a day out in Kew Gardens and we felt it was really marred by plane noise, and I worked in Teddington where the Concorde used to make the building shake! Obviously that's not a particular issue anymore and I guess you get used to the plane noise but it has always put me off that area.
When I lived on Wandsworth the planes started after 6am every two minutes. I heard them, but during the day it was not an issue as ambient noise drowned it out.

My daughters live there and say you get used to it. Having said that they have mainly lived there in covid times so fewer flights.
But it is a fabulous area and double/triple glazing is really effective.

Thank you all for your advise! We are planning to go to the aea around 5am one of these days to see if its really that bad in the mornings.

I have asked the question in one of my responses above but asking again: How much updating is possible in a 70's apartment? Is it possible to add an ensuite with the existing bathroom? Its just that I have not seen many 2 baths in the older properties or even with the re-sale ones.
Sorry if it sounds like a daft question.

You get used to it and I think they rotate flight paths every three weeks so it isn’t every week.

@Flowerbloom9 it is better to check flight radar first. I can tell you today they are not over tw9 - they are landing from the west over Reading and taking off to the East which doesn't affect us. So it's quiet. If you want to see what it's like you need to pick a day they are landing in this direction!

re the updating, is it a freehold flat or a leasehold?

@LandOnYourHead - Its a Share of Freehold property.

@Flowerbloom9

Thank you all for your advise! We are planning to go to the aea around 5am one of these days to see if its really that bad in the mornings.

I have asked the question in one of my responses above but asking again: How much updating is possible in a 70's apartment? Is it possible to add an ensuite with the existing bathroom? Its just that I have not seen many 2 baths in the older properties or even with the re-sale ones.
Sorry if it sounds like a daft question.

This will depend on the structure of the building:

• where the waste goes, is it where you'd want to put another toilet? That is a fixed point so you'd need piping to it which can be tricky
• what the floors/walls are made of, if concrete a lot harder to get pipes in

Re the renovations, you need to consider whether adding the second bathroom will impact the value of the property negatively or positively compared to the cost of doing it, and whether it would make it more or less sellable. More bathrooms doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in value or attractiveness to buyers. If it’s mainly couples or singles living in the flats then it won’t be a dealbreaker. If it’s a lot of rentals to two people flatsharing then that might be different.

We lived directly under the flight path in TW9 - was terrible until we got secondary glazing, which almost totally fixed it. Keep an eye out for the Heathrow noise reduction scheme - they will pay for the secondary glazing in all bedrooms (if they restart the scheme, was suspended due to COVID)

Thank you all so much for all the sound advise - cant tell you how grateful I am. I will be taking the a builder to the apartment next week just to find out if 2 baths are even possible. Its a ground floor flat so might be easier to get it done if we get planning permission from the Council and from the Freeholder.

Its a big decision to put all our savings into buying our first property which is why I am asking so many questions 🙂

The flight noise is not a problem anymore as we will use double/triple glazing for the windows. Now all we need to worry about is updating the property and how much we will have to spend on it and if its worth the investment.

You won't need planning permission for internal changes

Or from the freeholder if you're buying the freehold

You may not need planning permission either - might just need building control sign off - if you look at this website, it can guide you

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/commonprojects/34/kitchenssandbathrooms

Also if you go onto the council website, you can search the planning portal to see whether there have been any applications in your building and what they have done and that's sometimes useful when thinking about things you might want to do

www.richmond.gov.uk/planning

Sorry hadn't seen your other post @1990s !

 @Woooooman yours was a lot more helpful

@Woooooman & @1990s - Thank you so much! I will definitely look at the links you have sent and try and understand what we can and cant do. And if taking up a project is even realistic considering the amount of money that will needed and not knowing any builders (thats another minefield) so need to tread carefully. Me and my husband are both extremely grateful for all the information you all have been sharing. Please keep them coming if you think of something that I should know.

Planes are over us today if you were planning a visit!

Oh darn! We are in Stratford-Upon-Avon for the long weekend but will give it a go next week for sure! Thank you for letting me know!