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.

Old properties- so expensive to maintain and always developing damp areas and leaks! Period character is very overrated imo. Three storeys- never again. Decking. Slimy all the time in winter.

Love our conservatory, it's quite shady so is very useable almost all summer and makes an excellent boot room all winter.

Living on four floors with young DC was a pain. Gave me housemaid's knee about once every 18 months.

Sloping garden with concrete steps and young DC. Half the garden was useless to us.

Lack of direct sunlight. Pisses me off when it deigns to shine in the depths of winter, but doesn't get into my house.

Agree with quite a few of these, especially the trees. I've paid a fortune having my neighbours trees trimmed back every year - they refuse to maintain them. I also have to sweep up leaves and all sorts of tree rubbish from early spring to mid winter.

Front door straight on to the street - when we lived in a house like this, people used to leave their rubbish on the doorstep, and I once opened my door and a guy who had been leaning against it nearly fell on top of me!

Anything shared with neighbours (walls, driveways, alleyways etc) would put me right off too.

Just thought of a couple of others I've experienced of homes I've lived in! Not to sound fussy, but:

As another poster said, front door that goes straight into living room, stairs in living room and thirdly, although it can look grand, a larger than necessary hall. Former, 1960's home, had a large square hall (disproportionate to the house) and these 3 things all provided too much draught/wind.

Also found having a chimney another thing to worry about during gales, other than the roof, as our chimney stack needed repointing!

Also wouldn't want to live on a too busy road/shops/schools re traffic or parking problems. And for children to play and cats to roam safely!

Does the perfect house exist?!

House without ceiling fans.
Couldn't regulate temperature and make the most of the fact that hot air rises and cool air falls.

Bathroom with hard tiled floor, soon installed cork.

Front door without adequate weather protection.

Pretty sure she meant stairs leading to the front door on the outside of the house.

For me, a fully glass side return extension roof. The light it lets in is lovely but the windows get so dirty so quickly and don’t clean up very well. My husband is up a ladder with a hose once a month. (It was in place when we bought it).

Also agree avoid slate tiles.

I think I’d also dissuade anyone from getting pale stone front steps, total bugger to keep clean.

Ooh I have a few!

No driveway or shared driveway. On street parking gets to the point where you don't want to go out for fear of losing your parking space, and shared drives are a complete pain even if you have good neighbours. There's always a point you're blocked in or waiting for someone to move.

Houses with poor natural light. This was a nightmare for me, the house was poorly situated and very dark. It affected my mood every day and I ended up hating the house because of it.

Leaseholds. I've not owned one personally but have heard too many horror stories, so that's an absolute no no for me.

A doer upper. Seems like a great idea at the time but the work is ften much more expensive than you expect. I'd have to think long and hard before going down that road again.

Too close to a school. It was fine when my son went there but otherwise the street was a no-go twice a day during term time and regularly the road got gridlocked.

On a main road. Done this twice and I was ok with it at the time, but now I am on a quiet street I really appreciate the quiet patio time.

No hallway. Our front door opens into a tiny entryway just big enough for a mat and small shoe rack. We’d love to have a porch built in the future. The house is a decent size but the lack of hallway is very annoying and not something we’d repeat if we ever move.

Leaseholds

Hmm...it's a funny one, because if it's a leasehold house then buying the lease should be easy. With flats and maisonettes etc, they are almost always going to be leasehold...the issue people have isn't so much about it being leasehold per-se, more the costs and politics associated with it that would happen anyway as a result of living in a flat, leasehold or otherwise. I know people who live in a flat where they own their share of the freehold, as do all the other residents, and it's of little advantage in that situation.

North facing living room. Cold and dark in winter and I find it depressing.

We have a fully tiled bathroom with no major issues and there's not an extractor fan in it either. I suspect it's just a case of inadequate ventilation/extraction if it's dripping wet all over?

I love having 3 storeys (well, 4 including the basement). The kids have plenty of space when they're home and when they're not, we just close the door to the top floor and put that level heat on low and it's great!

This! As it ages it costs a fortune to maintain and eventually becomes lethal in wet weather, all slimy, I had the broken wrist to prove it. I had it removed and then flagged a larger area, far more practical and it brightened the kitchen as I no longer had brown decking outside, an unexpected bonus.
I would never buy a house with the only bathroom downstairs, as I'm old I make too many trips to the loo.

I never have understood why people with young family buy 3 or 4 storey houses, I understand the logic of have a smaller footprint hence less land, ie expense, but can't imagine how hard it must be with small children, especially where the living space is upstairs, above a garage.

> Downstairs loo that opens to the living room. Ugh.
> big gas fire and mantle we’ve not used in 11yrs. We live in Texas, it’s a nonsense and a waste of space. The one time I would have used it I wouldn’t get it started and it looked like the gas had been capped. Would like to rip it out and put in shelves and cabinets - 4k plus demo.
> single drive way. Always moving cars around to get in and out. It’s like The Castle 😂
> worst of them is the master off the living area. It’s not a big house downstairs and the teens come down and make snacks and clatter around, always wake me up, grrr. There is no quiet space to go to

I'm going to sound picky, none of these would stop me buying a house I liked but I'd want it changed ASAP. Most of these are from rented pads.

Conservatory

Old sash windows, they stick so you can't open them properly then the wont stay open on the latch and fall on your head if you lean out

Economy 7 heating & gas fires where you nearly break your thumb on the ignition can't believe people still have these

Concrete driveway and or patio

Decking, dangerously slippy, rotten, and hides rats and mice

Tiny box room bedroom number 3 waste of time and space if no baby

Carpet in the bathroom including anywhere with carpeted bath panels

Mezzanine floor bedroom

Completely paved/gravelled garden

Hot water tank in the bedroom

No window bathroom even with a decent fan

Open plan living room dining room kitchen, pathological need for privacy, I am British after all. Open plan kitchen dining room is fine, but need a room with a door on the lower floor

I would have added chimney breast but having discovered chimney sheep, the draft doesn't come through the chimney anymore

The one I couldn't buy is the one with a small garden, can't add to that so easily

I agree. I think en-suites are put in by people with toilet fetishes. Never understood why you'd want a toilet in your bedroom.

Gravelled over garden. Once the membrane goes you are constantly battling to hold the weeds at bay

A male cohabitor.

White tiles/grouting.

Gets slippy when wet horrible green stuff growing on it and encourages vermin. Especially if you do barbecues on it

No to a windowless bathroom. We had one in a flat we once owned and wouldn't again. I much prefer the natural light and fresh air circulation of a window. An extractor fan is OK, but often noisy and just not the same at all.

Decking! No! Just horrendous. Very slippery when wet. Our current house had decking when we moved in and I found that out the hard way. We ripped it out.

I would never buy a house where one bedroom could only be accessed by going through another. I've not had that but did see it a few times when we were last house hunting. I'm afraid it was an instant no from me.

I'm hoping my next house can be a bungalow. I grew up in one but have had houses with stairs for much of my adult life. I'm now 58 and very ready to ditch stairs in favour of single storey. I want to get back to bungalow living.

Small hallway . Our hall is basically a box absolute nightmare especially the greeting guests or with a pram etc. Rest of the house is quite big but the lack of hall makes it feel smaller.

Open plan. Yes, it looks lovely and spacious, but it's harder to heat and cook anything with a strong smell, and it's everywhere.

Ensuites. I don't want more bathrooms to clean and don't particularly want toilet smells in my bedroom, I would rather have the extra storage space

North-facing living room, dark and depressing in winter.

Decking. encourages vermin and is lethal when it gets slippy

Old house with poor insulation/lack of cavity wall for insulation. expensive to maintain and never feels warm or costs a fortune to keep warm.

Anything that needs building work doing immediately. Its getting harder and harder and way more expensive to get decent trades in.

I inherited a slate floor 3 years ago... what's this about having it sealed?

It depends on the wood and the design with decking. Mine has been down for 17 years. It’s as good as new and not slippery. No rats either.

Skylights

Common in older houses to access one bedroom from another, and I would loathe that too - in fact, I wouldn't buy a house like it unless changes could be made (i.e. a stud wall to make a corridoor / bigger landing.

I once viewed an old 3 bedroomed house that would have had a downstairs (possibly outside) bathroom originally, where the third bedroom had been long since been divided in two so as to make a bathroom upstairs. However, the only access to that bedroom was through the bathroom. I can't imagine being stuck in the bedroom and waiting for the bathroom to become free, in order to leave the room.