Should I move from a house to a ground floor flat?

[KrystalKrystal]

After an accident I'm now disabled, I currently live in a house with my two teenagers but I'm REALLY struggling with the stairs and have fallen on them quite a few times, so now I stay & sleep downstairs in the livingroom, I don't go upstairs at all. I've already had an occupational therapist assessment but unfortunately my staircase can't be adapted for a stairlift and a through floor lift can't be installed. Ideally I'd like a bungalow but they are extremely hard to find and am considering a ground floor flat but would I be crazy to get one? I've read soo many horror stories of loud neighbours above, I also lived in a 1st floor flat many years ago when the kids were young but luckily my neighbours above I hardly heard a peep from by my gosh we had a horrible neighbour downstairs who eventually got evicted. I don't know if I can go back to sharing a commual hallway (a maisonette would be ideal instead) because sometimes the downstairs neighbours would leave mess there, their friends would ring the other buzzers in the building to get inside, they were junkies and broke into & robbed a few of the flats.

Unfortunately I can't take a top floor flat even with a lift because if it breaks down I'll be trapped, also home deliveries etc are so much easier on ground floor. I used to pay the delivery men to bring our orders upstairs in the flat.

If you were me would you wait out and hope a bungalow (like gold dust) becomes available, a flat or a maisonette as a compromise?

I would struggle to go back to a flat myself, so I would try to hold out for a bungalow, or look for a house that has more space on the ground floor and leave the upstairs completely to your teens?

Due to a house purchase falling through , I needed to move quickly as previous home was sold . Bought a 3 bed ground floor flat with separate dining room , dining kitchen and sitting room in a block of 6 , potentially as a stop- gap until another suitable house could be found . A year later I became very unwell and subsequently disabled. Moving here is the best outcome I could wish for . Easy to keep clean , lower outgoings for utilities and council tax etc , shared maintenance costs for fabric of building with 5 other households . Its also a 5 minute walk from town , theatre , station , everything ,which is wonderful as i had to stop driving due to my conditions. Being less to purchase than a house , I've had plenty of money left to make it beautiful plus a nice sum for a rainy day . Yes I can hear folk coming and going at times but there's something quite comforting about that as an older , not so well single person .

Wishing you well whatever you decide .

Bungalows are like gold dust. Honestly I think you would be hard pushed to find a bungalow which is big enough for you all. That being said, I have got some friends who found a lovely one that had been built as a granny bungalow in the garden of a bigger house and then divided off and sold as a separate property after granny's death.

How old are your teens? Are they going to uni or whatever in a couple of years teens, or like 13/14, likely to be about for 4/5 years or longer? If they are younger teens, might a 3/4 bed house with a living room, dining room, separate kitchen and a downstairs shower room work? You could turn either the dining room or the living room into a bedroom for you, and then turn one of the upstairs rooms into sitting room. Your kids could then have some privacy upstairs while you could live and sleep downstairs?

I have a ground floor flat with a garden
It's solid, I don't hear upstairs and there's only 4 flats in the block so it's pretty peaceful too
No mess, no issues and I rarely see my neighbours

Exactly like mine. The building is so much better made than modern flats. The walls are solid. I honestly never hear my upstairs neighbours. I've never once heard her TV or washing machine & because our front doors lead outside like a house, you don't hear anyone coming & going.

I've got a lovely low maintenance garden with decking. If you can find something like this rather than a modern conventional flat I'd jump at it

Have a reserve fund for sound proofing - just in case you get fairy elephants above you

I would wait for a bungalow. Maybe extend your search area?

Is your own house on the market though? If not I would do that in January so that after you hopefully get an offer, you will be in a good position to make an offer when the right place comes along.

@CatherinedeBourgh that's my issue I waited so long to actually get a house plus my worries that I mentioned above.

@Thebelleofstmarys that was like my old flat, it was HUGE, the livingroom and kitchen especially were a lot bigger than my current house, but there was no private garden. It would be soo much better for me if everything is on one level.

@stichguru , @MarvellousMable & @Twiglets1 My children are 19 and 20, they're currently at university but their friends are within our local area. I'd love to move to a new city, my housing association has a lot of bunglaows listed in one of the cities I'd move to within a heartbeat if the children were younger or agreeded to move there.

@fivebyfivebuffy & @Redglitter your flats sound lovely and oh yeah great soundproof is really needed!

Are you talking about buying, or would this be a council, HA or private rental.

Having owned a leasehold flat I would never ever buy another one. Rip off service charges and ground rent, major works invoices you have no control over and an ever dimishinf lease.

Rental on the other hand wouldn’t have these issues.

@Doris86 I'm a social tenant so a council/housing association property is what i have to bid for.

In your situation i would totally go for the ground floor flat. It sounds like it could be almost dangerous to wait it out. Your reservations are completely understandable but a social housing bungalow big enough for all of you is going to be almost a unicorn.

If you are a social tenant how do flats service charges work?

I like to move from house to flat but the service charge and lease holder aspect puts me off.

But all of those things can be addressed by properly reading the lease. I have lived in two flats. The first had a share of the company that owns the freehold, the second has a legal right for the leaseholders to control the management company (so set the service charges / control the major works done).

Similarly, the amount of the ground rent is in the lease.

While a lease does decrease, again the length is in the lease itself and there is a legal right to extend it.

Round here you wouldn't be approved for a bungalow big enough for all of you - so bear in mind that your adult children may not be considered as in need of housing, you might be told you only need 1 bedroom (maybe 2 if you need an overnight carer).

If you are in an area where there are few bungalows and don't want to move areas then yes your only real option isa ground floor flat or at an absolute push a ground or first floor in a well maintained block with a lift and parking available - yes you do hear people at times but the annoyance of that would be way less to me than not being able to manage stairs - often the layout is a lot more practical too if you are disabled OR just struggle with stairs - -

@SelfCareBear that would be my concern too with social housing- you may well get a 1 bed ground floor but I'm not sure adult children would be part of the equation -

If wouldn’t impact you as a social (or indeed private) tenant. It is only the owners of the property that need to pay any service charges.

My children are 19 and 20, they're currently at university but their friends are within our local area. I'd love to move to a new city, my housing association has a lot of bunglaows listed in one of the cities I'd move to within a heartbeat if the children were younger or agreeded to move there.

At 19 & 20, I wouldn't be letting my DC's friends location dictate my housing in this scenario. Get a bungalow in the city. Your kids can make their own choices about where to live if they don't agree to move with you.

I was going to say that yes, in your situation I definitely would get a flat, assuming selling a house would give you money for a really naice flat with naice neighbours. But I've just seen that you're in social housing which changes things...you don't have the same choice of area or neighbours...and that counts for so much. I'd say of you're happy with the house and the area I'd adapt the space as best you can. Sorry, I didn't see, but do you have a downstairs bathroom? And if the living room is your permanent bedroom, would there be any room in the kitchen to have a seating/TV area?

I moved from a large house to a small apartment. No regrets

@Stonefromthehenge this is housing association/ council - so it's not about choosing- it's what's offered

@CandidHedgehog @Gardendiary @tothelefttotheleft @SelfCareBear @Crikeyalmighty @pinkdelight @Maddy70 @Doris86 @Stonefromthehenge

The bunglaows listed on my housing association choice based letting system are 2 bedrooms, which is what I'm entitled to as both my children are the same gender but I was told once they're 21 they'll be classed as non dependants and my housing association/local council won't have a duty to rehome them with me so as you've said they may end up moving away from home very soon anyway.

Thank you as I do feel alot better because my family (siblings & mum) make me feel terrible for considering moving away, even though it's in my best interest but to be honest my family are never there for me anyway, so moving to another city also has an added bonus of leaving them behind 😆 🤣

I was surprised when you said your stairs are not suitable for a stairlift until I realised you don't own the house and presumably the LA would be financing the stairlift?

My late Dmum required a stairlift but the standard ones (Stannah etc) would cause access issues for people who could use the stairs (Ddad, visitors etc).
We discovered Flo (Flow?🤔) who design & build bespoke solutions which cost only a tiny bit more than the generic makes. The design of the rail means the chair can climb incredible angles (I think it was something like 70-80 degrees) and turn very tight corners. This allowed the chair to be "parked" further away from the stairs themselves therefore retaining full access.
It gave my Dmum another few years in her beloved house.

@Nourishinghandcream yes it's a real shame my current house can't be adapted as I waited soo many years to get a house but I can no longer enjoy it.😥