What property features would you never have again?

[AnxiousRose]

What features from your current or previous property would you avoid if you were househunting again?

For me, it is three storeys. I had this in my last house and did not expect to dislike it as much as I did. My bedroom was on the top floor and I hated all the stairs especially with young kids. Three storeys usually means the downstairs space is small for the number of bedrooms.

Why private sewage treatment? I'm moving soon, looked at lovely house but it has this, which did put me off, I must admit. Could you tell me the problem?

I wonder why it varies? We had our bathroom redone 3 years ago and had it fully tiled and I have no issue with the tiles being dripping wet but the mirror steams up. I wish I'd had a heated one.

I don't get it either. A new build should always come with an en-suite and a window. A bad smell is easily dealt with by an open window and a bit of air freshener. By the time you wash your hands, the smell is gone.

I agree about Alexa, she keeps interrupting when I'm talking to my husband. Strangely she doesn't do it when I talk to anyone else. It could be a jealousy thing, he's hers and she isn't sharing.

I don't like a front door opening straight into a living room - seems low on privacy and high on outside dirt getting in to the main living space.

I hate internal kitchens. And internal bathrooms.

I also hate when properties are marketed as having a certain number of bedrooms but the last one is basically a cupboard. If you can't fit a bed, a wardrobe, a seat and an actual living moving human in the room, it's not a bedroom.

Conservatory- cold in winter boiling in summer. House that is directly on the road. Brand new house. Wooden framed house

Can take or leave en suites.

I miss living, and particularly gardening, on a hill, but recognise that as I get older I may have to stick to mainly level gardens.

wouldn't have an east or north facing garden especially if it was small (this house, I hate it). Nor a conservatory, no hall/entry space, open plan, or fully upside-down living, all of which I’ve had before.

Or in older buildings if they are well designed. I think most of the problems listed on this threads come down to poor design/build quality.

I have a 1920s/Arts and Crafts era house which includes a lot of the hate items on this thread and I love all of them.

• decent proportioned, separate rooms and large windows
• en suites (you cannot have too many bathrooms with four teens in the house)
• three floors (see aforesaid teens)
• a large conservatory (or "orangery" as the agent insisted on calling it when valuing)
• large garden and trees
• gravel front drive which I like even more now that I'm alone because I can hear people approaching

I love all of them. Now that all the DC are grown and I'm on my own I've been thinking about downsizing a bit but its unlikely to be financially sensible unless I go in for extreme downsizing which I'm not ready for and may never be.

@HotCrossBunplease

They put a massive strain on wastewater systems and, in reality, people put greasy foods and small bones into them which cause blockages and contribute to methane build up when solids are removed at water treatment plants.

For me, though, it was really just the bad smell and general messiness of the whole system. Far cleaner and better to remove small food waste into the recycling before things go into the dishwasher.

Have you thought of getting a 3in1 in the ceiling of the bathroom? It solves problems with a steaming mirror.

i agree with the decking hatred. When the Celtic tiger was roaring in Ireland and people had loads of money it seemed like everyone got decking put in, including my SIL and BIL. After a few months it was a slippery slimey rat hole. Like most people after a few years they ripped it out again.

As for ensuites, I used to rent a house with a hideous little internal ensuite with no external window and a noisy extractor fan. I hated it. Now my ensuite is a large full bathroom with a large window, I couldn’t live without it.

I also wouldn’t touch an old house or a fixer upper with a barge pole. I know my limitations, I am shit at DIY and I hate being at the mercy of tradies, I love my modern house!

I don't understand this. I have a fully tiled shower room and me and my husband have showers one after the other every morning and only the shower walls are wet, not any of the othere walls.

I have the window open during my shower (I always shower first), but my husband never does but the rest of the showeroom tiles are never wet.

I'd much rather have European-style flats than weird skinny three floor "townhouses". And well-designed towns reduce the need for private parking

Wet room style bathroom
3 stories
Exposed sandstone walls
Only upstairs bathrooms

1930s semi with tiled bay windows. Bay area is such a a cold spot even after insulating. Brick bays only!

I'm confused by your post @ReignOfError you don't like entrance way, hall, but also no open plan? What kind of layout is it that you like?

I agree on the north facing garden. I am fine with east and west though; sun in the morning facing east, in the afternoon facing west. It largely depends on how over looked you are though. We face east, but we have nothing to the back and not much to the side of us meaning we get the sun until about 6/7 in the height of summer. I also like that we have a sunny breakfast kitchen in the morning when we're using it, and nice sunny living room in the afternoon. I would hate a dark kitchen in the morning.

Bedroom in a loft conversion. Boiling hot in summer. Freezing in winter.

Velux windows. Tendency to go moldy in the frames. Also contribute to the boiling hot.

Wooden window frames. Have to paint them. Pain in the arse.

My parents have a conservatory and I'd never get one. Too hot in summer, way too cold in winter. It's basically only useable for about 2 weeks a year. Literally.

Toilets which lead directly into the kitchen 🤢 We've just ripped one out of our new house which was built into the corner of the room. Others on the street have similar kitchen WCs. Why????

I know decking is a bit marmite but I love ours. Obviously if you put it somewhere damp and shady it's not ideal, or if you don't take precautions to prevent rats when you're building it, don't keep it swept etc.

Really surprised to hear the hate for ensuites!

Having a council owned tree outside the house that I have no control over. I’d never do that again, it was a complete nuisance.

Blocking light, tree sap on cars, bird mess on cars, millions of leaves to clear up every autumn, constant worry it might blow over into my sons bedroom in a storm, affecting tv signal etc.

Having a tree outside the house is now a deal breaker for me when viewing houses.

That's great ours is 5.5 ft by 4.5ft so no room for a single bed but it is classed as a bedroom for council tax

South facing is non negotiable.
Our hallway is too small for the size of the house.
Our utility is too small for the size of the house but the last house had none so I didn't notice how annoying a small one would be.
Our bed doesn't actually fit properly in our master bedroom which is beyond ridiculous. It's due to a chimney and bay windows and the placement of the ensuite and walk in wardrobe. It needs a complete re-module but so much else needs doing it may never get done.
Paying for custom storage is the most satisfying money I've spent on the house.
Solar panels & battery have halved our electricity bills over night.
We also have dirty rotting decking but it's the least of my problems, we'll be getting rid of it next year. I think it wasn't laid properly and water pools on it, we inherited it. I spend zero time in the garden anyway as we're in an estate and I feel on display. I want to move but DH doesn't!

We have been pondering on and off whether to move from our 4 bed end of terrace in London. No real reason except we have lived here for a very long time. But thinking about it rationally, the only things we don’t like about our house are:

• No proper utility room where you can hang all laundry and vent a tumble dryer. Condensing ones just aren’t as good! We only have room for a large utility cupboard.

• All our living room spaces are on one floor. It would be nice to have one more area for teens to hang out.
• Narrow front hallway with stairs going straight up. Give me a staircase that meanders side to side with wide landings.

• Like most Victorian houses, the proportions are deep. I’d prefer a wider house.

• We have excellent transport links which attract commuters who park on our quiet road and displace our cars if you nip out for a school run.

• Would love a proper dressing room like Americans have

These downsides are massively outweighed by the negatives I’ve seen in other properties which include:

• Basement kitchens and/or living rooms.
• Gardens on a premium road where certain dodgy celeb used to live. Gorgeous homes but backing onto noisy roads in the midst of an oasis.
• Half the bedrooms on an attic floor. No thanks. Attics are for storage.
• Semis where the front doors are on the outer edges of each side. This means that your bedrooms and living rooms will share a wall. Far better to have front doors and hallways sharing a wall.
• Small courtyard gardens
• Triangular garden - long but met at a narrow point.
• Homes where gardens face east or north.
• Houses next to schools
• Houses facing estates or ugly properties (much better to be in the uglier property looking at the nicer ones!)

Previous poster said avoid north facing living room but surely this means the garden laps up the sun in the south?

You mean a food waste bin? Recycling is strictly for dry items, no food waste allowed in there, not even a pizza box with grease on it.

Ours doesn’t smell at all, you can grind a lemon in it if it does, but I rarely have to if the ground up food is washed away properly.

I don’t get how scraping food off a plate into a small countertop bin with a bag in it is cleaner than scraping the food off the plate into the sink and down the water disposal? Some food will inevitably miss the food waste bin and fall on to the countertop. Then you have a smelly bin on your counter!

I assume that she means medium sized rather than small.

My kitchen is 12ft by 10ft and it is perfect for the 2 of us. There is enough room for table and I never have to walk far for anything.

I remember staying at Centerparcs in a large chalet with an open plan kitchen/living area. The dining table was near the front door on the other side of the long thin island separating the kitchen from the living area. It was such a pain having to go round the island everytime I needed something from the kitchen when we were eating.

We have this at work and it is not as 'smart' as it should be.