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.

Facing tiles. Whenever it's very windy they rattle. They are constantly damaged/dislodged in storms, and actually quite dangerous. If one landed on your head you'd probably die.

Bungalow:
Kitchen on the left,
living/dining room on the right,
with the front door and tiny entrance hall right smack in the middle.

It felt disjointed, absolutely hated it. Super annoying having to walk past the front door to/ from the kitchen or living room, many times in a day.

Luckily we were renting!

My husband (the noisy one!) has the bathroom to himself and I have the ensuite. It works a treat but obviously isn't feasible if you have a family and there's only two bathrooms.
I spent 3 months this year recovering from a full replacement knee operation and had all sorts of problems which made me extremely grateful to have a loo and shower a couple of yards away.

No ridiculous amounts of doors and windows. Currently got 5 external doors 17 windows and a 5 window bay.

Front door straight into living room so no hallway / storage for coats and shoes.

Outside flight of stairs up to the front door - it’s a pig with a week’s worth of shopping.

Stairs to upper floor in the kitchen.

Narrow enclosed staircase with turns - really difficult to get furniture up and down.

I always said I wouldn’t buy a house with a bathroom with no natural light, but we have one now and it’s actually fine (good ventilation).

A house on a road junction - cars stopping and then accelerating can be very noisy.

A few people have mentioned underfloor heating. Can someone explain what the problem is? I don’t have it but am thinking of installing it.

I would want a separate kitchen (that’s not open to the living space) next time, which is difficult to find where I live. Everyone builds completely open plan.

Agree with windowless bathrooms. I’ve hated that.

Again, specific to where I live, but I’d never live anywhere with a Homeowner’s Association again. They’re a nightmare.

Depends on if it is cables or water pipes. We had cables for years and it was great but the pipes can burst and ruin the floor. We don't have UFH now it's more expensive than gas but there was no option at the time we had it.

West facing small garden surrounded by trees
There's skylights in the kitchen which is the reason I bought it but didn't realise there wouldn't be light in summer or any other time of year 😭

Having next doors stairs against our living room wall. Add to that a stompy bitch who lives next door and it's bloody awful.

We move today..

Ensuites.... Just the thought of having a dump so close to relaxing zone

Bathroom with toilet .... Prefer toilet in it's own room. Much more hygienic.

Attics.... It's like a conservatory.... A greenhouse in summer and freezing in winter ...not to mention how loud the rain is.

Three floors

A large kitchen ....never ever again.

Combined kitchen/diner....defo not! Everything smells

Combined kitchen/lounge...not cosy. Loud. Can't relax as smells, noises such as microwave, dishwasher and the sound of the fridge.

A large garden ..... Nope.

Stairs leading to a property....if above 5 stairs then seriously avoid. You will suffer when you have kids and again when you are old. Plus so much harder to sell.

Decking... Disgusting. Should be banned.

I hate this new extension roofing where the whole roof is windows. It's noisy, cold, very warm etc.

Blessings

A small kitchen
A downstairs loo (that has a window)
A separate toilet room
Large windows
Built in cabinets
Small garden
Large hallway
Lots of rooms as opposed to open plan

I'm not keen on en-suites either. When we had one it was rarely used because hearing some piss is not nice. It wasn't allowed to be used for anything else unless you were alone in the house.

My fantasy house could possibly have one with a dressing room between it and the bedroom.

North-facing garden – they’re fine in summer and get enough light to grow what you want, but absolute SWAMPS in winter

Period property with the standard outrigger kitchen layout – they only work if you can afford the side return extension, which we can’t. The 1930s layout where you can knock through the kitchen and dining room is more viable.

Steps up to the front door though tbf this only annoys me because of having a pram. By the time we ever move, it’ll be irrelevant.

Fixer-upper. Sick of it!

We have three storeys and I love it: downstairs living spaces, first floor bedrooms and bathroom, top floor studies, spare room of doom that keeps all the Christmas presents/laundry piles/decluttering/DIY projects out of the way of other rooms. Plus it demarcates our work spaces from our home spaces.

I'm coming towards the end of my homeowning life.

I'm in my sixties and bought my first flat over 40 years ago. I'm now in the dream 4 bed, 4 bath detached 'forever' house and beginning to think about future proofing for my older age. I've looked at many, many flats and have worked out what works for me.

Non negotiables for me now would include an outside space. I don't want the hassle and expense of a garden/gardeners anymore but would want a small balcony or terrace to use on summer evenings.

I want a kitchen separate to the living area - I like to cook and don't want my soft furnishings soaking up the smells of fried garlic or seared fish/beef.

At least one en-suite bathroom. I want privacy and convenience. I've found that if you keep them clean, aired and the connecting doors closed there is no problem with lingering smells. Or maybe it's just that my shit don't stink!

On the same note - I've had several windowless bathrooms over the years and never found them overly damp or smelly. Basic hygiene and a good extractor fam seems to sort things out.

I think I'm in the minority but I detest ensuites, why would I want to wee in my bedroom? Showering is a damp fest. Never want to use them, would much rather have a downstairs loo.

I don't detest them, but it's definitely not a priority. I don't necessarily want to be able to hear everything DH is doing in the bathroom (or vice versa), and in our present house (bog standard semi) it's only a few steps from my bed across the landing to the bathroom anyway.

Open plan is a total pain in the neck. Someone is always doing something noisy in the kitchen just at the vital moment of whatever someone else is watching on TV. I also just find it cosier to have smaller rooms, and as we discovered at lockdown, there are times when it's definitely helpful to have some rooms where you can shut yourself away, whether it's to work or just to get time on your own.

Plant some trees 🌳 for shade big garden is my dream ! Lucky you ☺️

I love my second bathroom/shower downstairs, I can come in from sport and jumping in the shower. Then put all sports kit in utility & go upstairs clean.

@may09bump
Super curious why not near hospital? I live next to ours and love it. Parking very strict mon-Fri but we all have drives. It's so much quieter than I imagined it would be.

I would never go back to my new build garden. The drainage was dreadful, we were so exposed and everyone looked right into our open plan living space.

Agree with corner houses, so much more exposed and everyone walks over your grass to cut the corner and cats loved it as a toilet.

Fitted wardrobes with top boxes over the bed. I always worried they were overloaded and spiders used to hang down from them

Woodburner was a pain in the ass to keep clean, dusty and dirty I barely used it in the end. Garden on 2 levels was really hard to maintain when you had to carry lawnmower up and down steps.

Never again to living near a school or train station, parents clogged all the roads making it a nightmare to get to work in the morning and commuters would park their cars on our road disappear off to work and leave their cars on double yellows, parked on bends and blocking access to our parking spaces.

No kitchen door.
This should be the law to have an external door in kitchen. House I saw had no door. You had to walk through the hallway and Into either the bedroom or lounge and through the sliding door.

Removing original features. Loses house charm.

Sharing a wall with neighbours...

Having a back alley....feels very unsafe

I have a one storey house, You've got me flummoxed. What is the problem? Do you like walking upstairs. My last house was 2 storey and I had a bathroom on both levels. I feel I'm missing something as a non UK person ! ( a bathroom downstairs is bad?????????)

This too for me - 23 wooden sash windows, multiple bays, all need painting/maintaining.

Garage that you can't access from the garden.

Ensuite.

Lack of utility/pantry - really miss that space in my current house.

Aga - I've had three and wouldn't want another one - too expensive to run these days.

Open plan - haven't got that here but I really dislike open plan.