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.

I agree. I love having an ensuite.

Loft conversions/attic rooms. Just can't cope with all the ducking, and problems fitting furniture such as wardrobes around the room edges.

Open plan living/dining/eating areas. I far prefer separate rooms for separate functions. Far too noisy/distracting having everyone in one big room doing different things. As long as there's a good flow from room to room, i.e. kitchen adjacent to dining room and not at opposite ends of a hallway, that's fine for me.

Three story houses. Just no. Double story is enough with all the up and down you have to do. I also prefer the traditional bedrooms on upper floor and all living areas on ground floor. Can't do with a kitchen on the ground floor and living/dining on the middle floor, or even worse, the kitchen on the first/middle floor meaning you have to carry your shopping up the stairs.

Underfloor heating. Just not controllable enough for me. Takes too long to warm up the room and then too long to cool down again once it's too hot. I prefer room heaters, such as a gas fire, with background central heating set to a liveable level coming on a couple of times a day. I like stand alone heating to warm the room we're actually in when we're in it.

North facing living rooms. They’re cold and depressing in winter.
Older houses with poor insultation.

Our current modern detached house is perfect for us. We have a proper brick built sunroom (not conservatory!) that runs along the side of the house with an insulated tiled roof with a central glass section to let extra light in. It’s open plan next to the kitchen/dining room so is well used and the kitchen faces south and also has a glass section in the roof. Across the other side of the hallway is DH’s study, downstairs bathroom and the sitting room that is mostly used by teen DS for homework and music. In the evening, we all spend some time in our own space so we’re not annoying each other. 😂

A laundry chute ....I hate having all the laundry together

I've not had them but I wouldn't go for a house with a conservatory or solar panels, both look hideous IMO.

Unless it was an amazing house and I was in a position to knock the conservatory down and do an extension instead!

Both of these.

Interesting how many people dislike a three story house. We have been in ours for almost 20 years and I like it, and all the bathrooms are windowless.

Our kitchen/dining/laundry is on the ground, master bedroom and livingroom on first with 4 other bedrooms at the top. Before we had kids we barely went to the top. Now my office is up there. We are lucky to have tons of storage and pretty big rooms. As it is fairly new is it well insulated and efficient to run.

I don't mind not having a window in the bathroom, always feels a bit exposed!

I wouldn't want to go back to an old house/flat, much as I think they are gorgeous. The cost of repairs, the leaky windows etc were just too much. Also the cost of factoring for some new flats is crazy, especially if they have a lift.

House on more than two floors - lived in a three storey townhouse for a while and never again!

Downstairs bathroom as only bathroom. Or upstairs bathroom but no downstairs loo.

Decking.

En suite bathroom.

Complicated electronics for light turning on, heating, bathroom settings.

Taps where it isn't obvious how they work.

Fully tiled bathrooms.

Oil-fired central heating.

Lots of flat roof.

I don't think there's anything about my house that I don't really like although there are a few trees around which means a lot of leaves to pick up around this time of year.

I am quite near schools but just far enough away to avoid the worst of the no-brain-cell parking.

The one really stupid thing is that the pump for the heating/hot water is under the floorboards in one of the bedrooms so when it needs attention you need to move a chest of drawers and lift the carpet a bit.

What I would like: another bathroom and a porch. Both doable but am too lazy.

Same! We had a large extension added to our property and the backwards and forwards with both architects and builders about an en-suite was incredibly frustrating. “but are you sure?” and “at this point it’s still easy to do, down the line…”.

10 years on, even with my overactive bladder, I don’t regret a single thing!

Oh and open plan kitchen with living and dining space. Saw so many houses for sale that had been renovated with this and it was really hard to find one that hadn't!

Don't mind a combined kitchen/diner, that works well.

I'd never buy near a river

Even if the area never floods your insurance premiums are £££

I don't like bifold doors and wouldn't have them. I don't want to bring the outside in - that means birds, flies, other insects and generally things that should stay outside! Just open windows for fresh air!

There was an article in the Times at the weekend saying that despite the flooding risks and insurance, people still love buying houses next to rivers!

Shared drive. It's a nightmare.
Obviously it shouldn't be, but when you move in you can't know what your neighbours will be like.

I don't think I'd buy a house without a downstairs loo again. Didn't give it any thought at the time but it's a nuisance. I also mentioned decking earlier without context and agree with PP, it's hideous to keep on top of, requires a huge amount of maintenance, rots so easily and is frankly dangerous when wet. I went over on it when I was seven months pregnant, landed hard on my back, not bump fortunately. I was very lucky to get away with injury. Ripped mine out last year.

I never want a bathroom with no window again. I really hate it, even though the extractor fan is good, and works, I just hate that there is no window. Actually, I never want any rooms with no proper windows again, I also hate the room that only has a roof light.

Large gardens are not expensive to maintain, at least in Australia. Mower, blower, lawn edger are initial expenses but cheap to maintain.

The problem with a large garden is the time it needs to look good. We have a large garden and on average expend 4-5 hours a week. More in summer as the grass needs mowing every couple of weeks and less in winter - only once a month.

A large garden is weekly constant work but also a refuge for times you want to switch off, relax and forget the world.

@ChristmasfoodisOverrated Sorry! Lousy editing in my part. No to fully open plan, yes to a hall.

And I agree, if a garden is large enough or not otherwise shaded, east facing is okay. Mine, sadly, is east-north-east and small, so most of it is in shade for half a year, and some is deep shade year round.

Listed building. Ball ache.

Im glad you said this. We’ve just built a home and obviously put an en-suite in, and panicked at what this poster said. Then I thought why am i worried, we spent £250 on an extractor fan, have a window and a door on it lol we also have 4 kids so anywhere I can hide from them is a bonus!

"...if they're designed properly with a window and plenty of room between the door and bed"

That's quite a big "if" in my experience. I've never seen an ensuite with a window myself.

From my experience, in my childhood home , I would avoid a sloping garden . It was impossible to play in .

Conservatory.

driveway without a wall / fence between neighbour’s driveway.

I have it no issues what so ever to walk bare feet on warm ground is fab. the vats love it too