Single living - flat vs. house?

[justfindingmyway]

Hi lovely people,

I am after some wisdom and lived experience if possible. Hope this is the right place for it as realise this thread is also about DIY, so might be more of a budgeting question.

Recently called off my engagement to an abusive man and now starting over at 34. Going back to parents from the house we share together for a little respite and time to save more, but now also thinking about the future and my own space (and my poor parents sanity at having me back home again!).

I am unsure whether to go for a flat or a house. I am thinking both about my own happiness and wants/needs, as well as the future i.e. a good investment property that I'll hopefully make a little money on or be able to rent it out easily enough.

If money were no object, I would probably want a house, however, it definitely IS a strong consideration for me. I don't know whether to stretch myself a little more to get a house, or stick with a flat? Flats where I am are very pricey (approx 300-350k for a 2 bed) and houses are out of the question unless I move a little further out (around 20 min drive).

For context, I have a deposit of 130k.

I've never lived alone and am finding it all pretty overwhelming. Any pearls of wisdom/thoughts/ideas would be most appreciated.

Thank you :)

Thank you and yes this is a good idea. I may start some viewings in the new year. I did view a bungalow but it was £450k for a 2 bed. Needed total renno and was very tiny. It’s tough out here

I've only ever bought houses. I like having my own front door. And as a single person, I feel safer, and I can ignore neighbours if I wish (I generally do). I'm not bothered about having a garden, so that cuts out a potential price inflator on purchase. Houses always sell better than flats, and appreciate in value far more reliably. And you're not landed with inflated management fees or leasehold costs.

Yes I can understand that. Where I live is just such a premium for property. I guess it’s the same everywhere but here you get very little for your money. Thanks for your thoughts.

If you aren't sure, I'd start with a flat BUT comes with a massive caveat that you need to double/triple check that it isn't one that is exposed with the ground rent being increased again and again. I'd look for a medium sized block where they have bought the freehold - you want one where there aren't so many that the service charge will be huge as there are 5 lifts servicing 10 floors or so few (dodgy conversion) that there are only 3 or 4 people deciding what to spend on as you'll end up rowing with your neighbours.

The MASSIVE advantage of a flat as a single person is that you can lock up and leave with relative security compared to a house. This is a big advantage of single life - travel, go out spontaenously, go to Paris for the weekend and decide you want to stay for a week. This is much much easier with a flat. Houses left empty are much more vulnerable to burglarly and evidence no one is home. Just take this weekend as an example - bad weather means that stuff blowing over, into the garden, that isn't cleared up is a massive indicator no one is home. With a flat you don't have to worry about it.

Ideally choose one that has some outside space - a balcony you can sit on- and a communcal outdoor spacce - again ++ adv of this is that you don't need to mow the lawn or weed yourself.

It's about finding the right flat - I'd avoid very recent builds as these tend to be more prone to the ground rent up and up abuse problems - but honestly if you get the right place, it's likely to be easier and more secure enabling travel and weekends away without much aggro.

I live in a great flat and the running costs are extremely affordable as it is so compact. The management fee is £280 per quarter. I'd say people are painting a very negative view on here. It's not all wonderful in a house and totally shit in a flat. You still have to pay for repairs and maintenance in a house, you may have awful neighbours, noise, parking problems etc. I can't hear the neighbours, don't have to worry about gardening, roof, sewerage, maintenance or external decorating. Three of us are directors and run the management of the building. We have over 900 years on the lease. I completely get what people are saying about the negatives of leasehold but if you do your research OP, into the position of any flats you're interested in, you may find that it suits you better at the moment.

Thanks so much for your insight there. So if a flat, look for freehold? These are all very good points, and yes, for nervousness about living alone I do think a flat would make me feel more safe. I guess I’d feel like I had the security, and people feel close because they are. I’ve been warned off of buying above a shop, as you never know what the shop could become overtime. A friend of a friend had a shop below turn into a drug rehab centre, which I have to be honest, I wouldn’t want!

these are all great points, thanks again.

Hiya, thanks for your thoughts on this and good to understand from someone living in one. So if it’s leasehold, you look for hundreds of years, is that right?

OP, it’s share of freehold PP are talking about not full freehold. You want at least 100 years left on the lease. Ground rent should never go above £250 or £1000 if you’re in London. Look carefully at the service charge accounts to see how well the block is managed. Don’t buy anything with cladding.

I would never even rent a flat again after a six month experience with as other people say the petty minded management company. And that was without me having to pay the expenses that came with it.

I had the choice of house or flat when I got divorced. Opted for a beautiful ground floor flat, victorian house conversion. There's no compromise on size, unlike a lot of new build flats and houses. Private garden, shared freehold, central. I can walk everywhere, have bars, cafes and shops 5 minutes away. Yes, there's some noise due to shared entry, people upstairs walking around. And yes, we do all have to agree on the work that needs doing but we all pay into a pot for this. But in the nice family neighborhood I used to live in, I had neighbours' kids, people doing diy and using lawnmowers early /late and all of the maintenance was solely my responsibility. Anywhere you live there'll be a compromise, you've just got to work out what's most important for you.

To me it’d depend on the type of flat. Around here (SW London) there are a lot of purpose built Edwardian-ish era maisonettes, just 2 per ‘house’, mostly 2 beds, each with its own front door, and very often a little garden or outside space. Any ground rent/service charges are typically very low - as a pp said, no communal areas.

As regards price, you will usually get considerably more sq m than with a new or
newish build for the same money - and of course none of the extortionate service/maintenance charges.

I think if living alone, I would prioritise location and lifestyle opportunities over the size of the property. From what you’ve said it sounds like a flat will meet your needs more.

Well done on getting away from an abusive relationship ❤

I bought a 2 bed flat (zone 3 london) when single, early 30s. Still living there now 20 years later with partner.

Its handy for tubes and trains. I therefore knew others would buy it in the future. Its also a low level 3 storey block on an estate. And i own share of freehold with 28 others. I am a director of the freehold company and thefore involved in the decisions - but a management company is paid to do day to day stuff and just me and 2 others approve big spends and budgets etc.

A flat feels safe. I can hear my neighbours come home at night so someone trying to break in would be heard. you have 2 doors to get through (communal downstairs plus my front door). I am first floor so can sleep with window open if i want. or leave windows open when i go to the shops. no one seeing me go into the block could really work out my door number from a light appearing later on.

And its warm - people around me, above, below and either side. I got rid of raditors when did a refurb and just stuck to the 2 storage heaters (this is more true of non - conversion flats - conversions of other houses have been COLD!

So yes, a house may have garden but its more expensive, and probably further away from the things i like to do (walk to library, 100+ deliveroo options, the tube, shops, meeting friends in central london - none of us tend to go to others houses, we are all across london).

Now i didn't ever want kids. So that helps. i knew i could live in a flat for ever. And pets are harder (but i had an older house cat for a while).

House. Flats are lease hold and typically have monthly management fees of easily £100. Can also end up with a communal bill costs:

Ours is £1400 per year.

Nothing else to pay.

That covers gardening and building insurance and regular roof and gutter clearance and windows cleaning.

So probably equivalent to what I'd pay in a house if I was outsourcing the jobs (why I probably would)

Obviously if you have concierge or pool or lifts this will cost more.

Ha I wish! Mine is over £200 a month
No lift, concierge, posh communal gardens, pool etc
Bog standard NW block, they sell for about 90-120k

Thanks so much for your insight there. So if a flat, look for freehold? These are all very good points, and yes, for nervousness about living alone I do think a flat would make me feel more safe. I guess I’d feel like I had the security, and people feel close because they are. I’ve been warned off of buying above a shop, as you never know what the shop could become overtime. A friend of a friend had a shop below turn into a drug rehab centre, which I have to be honest, I wouldn’t want!

@justfindingmyway It's a share of the freehold that you are looking for - owned by the leaseholders collectively.

So how it works is:

there are two bits of property in play when you buy a flat:

one is the land on which a block of flats is built is a piece of property that can be owned by someone. This is usually freehold ownership - ie' absolutely owned.

the other is the individual flats are pieces of property which are offered for sale as leasehold for long periods 999 years etc. [also watch out for short leases as the property will be worth less and there are rights of a leaseholder to agree a new longer lease but it can be expensive].

The owner of the land is entitled to charge ground rent to the leaseholders. It used to be a nominal peppercorn rent - which is why older developments are less prone to the modern affliction. Developers (usually the first land owner) realised they could put terms in the lease to allow them to increase the ground rent again and again - and milk the lease holders for all they were worth.

This is identified politically as a bit of a scandal. So the leaseholders collectively have two rights (a) one is to manage the buildings common parts - ie. they can set up a company that deals with things like building insurance, service charge and so on - to avoid an unscrupulous landlord overcharging them; the second is (b) a right to buy the freehold - so all the leaseholders own the land collectively. It's very difficult to organise the latter for very large groups of people as its hard to get a concensus but it does sometimes happen.

So ideally what you want is a set up where when you buy the flat, you are buying the long lease for the flat AND a share of the freehold. (ie. you and all the leaseholders own the land on which it is built).

It's not 100% vital provided you have checked what the lease says about review of the ground rent and capacity of the landlord to upwardly vary it. You want to look at how long the property has been leasehold, what the ground rent has been year on year and so on. Bear in mind also that it's possible to buy a flat with a good landlord (ie. owner of the land) who sells it to an unscrupulous one in future.

I would 100% do your own reasearch on the entity that owns the land. Here are some examples of some of the problems/Complaints you can get but if you search on money saving expert and other sites you'll find tons more:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.fmplc.co.uk
https://www.allagents.co.uk/fmplc.co.uk/

Don't let this put you off though. Honestly there are lots of advantages to a flat if you are single as I put in my previous post. You just need to be careful and find a block of a good size (like I said - I would look for medium sized not too big as the service charge will be huge and not too small because they tend to be bad boom time house conversions) that is well managed where either the leaseholders own the freehold or the ground rent is reasonable, has been stable for years and the lease doesn't permit reviews and raising up and up. Definitely 100% check any cladding issues but this will come out on a survey any way as it will be hard to get a mortgage.

I'd also recommend first or second floor for security - much higher than that you have a problem if the lift breaks and it is a pain in the arse carrying shopping 3 floors+ if there is no lift working (which inevitably happens from time to time) whereas 1st or 2nd floor is fairly manageable,

Thank you so much for your answer, this is really useful and I’ll definitely make use of this when I consider properties. I appreciate the time you took to write this :)