What do you think of this studio flat?

[Spring025]

We're going to view this flat with DS at the weekend. It's tiny but in a good spot for him due to being close to a nice town centre and easy to get to work - and all he can afford.
He's currently paying £800 pound a month rent for a room in a house with no access to a proper kitchen (only microwave and fridge) and a shared bathroom so is keen to be putting that money into his own place.
I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on it, thanks!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159386981#/?channel=RES_BUY

Seems reasonable and better than paying rent ... my only worry would be reselling it as studios don't really appeal to many.

This looks like it has been a rental.

I would be wary of lack of maintenance (roof/drains/damp), noise from the flat above and the poor EPC rating. It could be cold in winter, hot in summer and expensive to run.
Why not go for a new build?
Less to go wrong, often a lower service charge and a much better EPC.

Decent size kitchen for a studio. I wonder about the noise as it’s right by the front door. How much would it rent for? Just in case he’d need to rent it out at some stage.

How long is he going to be happy to live & sleep in a small space? Then he's going to have the property hanging over his head. Sell or rent. Renting is very stressful and buying and selling is very expensive.

The energy report is not good. It's electric panel heating ( I can only see one in the studio room) so it's expensive.

I don't know what the answer is but I don't think it's necessarily this flat.

It looks decent for a studio as it has separate rooms and looks spacious enough. I don't know the area. My only concern would be if he outgrows it quickly and wants to sell. I assume there's a market for studios but I don't now.

What's the sound proofing like between the surrounding flats?

It doesn't look like it would be much fun! The shower looks like you need to be incredibly flexible to be able to get into it, you have to do the washing up squashed up next to a cupboard, nowhere to eat other than in the bedroom where you also have to sleep, relax and even socialise, and those electric heaters are awful! For a student it would be fine as you'd move on at the end of the year but to live in for several years that would be a no from me (and my young adult children).

Many people with flats like that would make the kitchen into the bedroom and then have an open plan lounge/kitchen. Seems good value but I don’t know the area.

I'll never get over the differences in property prices in this country. Where I live you'd get an excellent fully renovated modernised 2 bed house or a fairly decent 3 bed house for that money. To think you're getting about a quarter of a house for that amount of money makes me weep

I lived in a studio flat around 8 or 9 years ago that was around 60% of the size of this one.

It didn't have heating, it had a plug in convection radiator.

It barely had any natural light, and even in summer, it was freezing. It was costing £60 a week in electric, all those years ago - that was the summer amount, I can't even remember what winter was.

This is somewhat worse because the kitchen is seperate. Mine was in the same space. How's that kitchen getting heated?

Looking at the proximity of the hedge to the front window, I'd say it'll be balls off cold.

By all means, if you can afford to fit GSH, buy the place - I've seen worse.

If the purchase is to lower costs, assume your electricity bills are going to be absolutely astronomical (idk what that wall heater is or how much it costs to run, but it looks like it would struggle to heat a teabag).

What ended up happening was I (stupidly, naively) kept the window closed all the time, got exposed to a ton of black mould (I knew little about it being a health hazard back then), and I ended up with M.E., which I've been unable to recover from. Imagine having Long Covid forever? That's similar to my world.

So, no. I wouldn't advise anyone buy a studio flat with electric heating unless their purse/wallet for electricity bills was essentially bottomless.

Try this one then:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149376653

I don't know the area, so assuming it's a good area, not bad. Also not knowing the area no idea if he would get a new build for that as PP suggested. Seems like a no brainer vs what he is paying £800.00 for now. Will he/you have any money to improve it though? Because I would be making the kitchen a separate bedroom and the living area in to an open plan living/kitchen. Also upgrading the bathroom. Without money to do that, I'm not sure it would be much fun tbh. And if you could do it, would be more rentable/saleable in future.
Things to look out for:
Sound proofing - has it been done properly?
Heating - that looks like electric which is expensive
EPC - why so bad, can it be improved?
Service charge/ground rent - can he afford the extra per month? Who is it payable to? What does it cover?

ANNUAL SERVICE CHARGE
£5738.88

nice

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/146054867#/?channel=RES_BUY

there are loads of one bedroom flats for half the price in Newbury centre

To be honest, I’d happily live in it and if it’s a foot on the property ladder, why not. We all have to start somewhere. My issue would be the heating and as others have said, just see what the noise is like from the other flats. Space wise, I’ve lived in much smaller and if you design it properly, you can utilise the space.

@hitherzitherThat’s shared ownership.

Well yes makes more sense than paying rent in a house share. Is that the max of his budget as I see in RM there's a 1 bed in the same road up for £130k which obviously offers a bit more space and is likely to meet his needs for longer

shared ownership, you only own 25% of it for that price.

I'll never get over that people keep posting this about differences in property prices dependent on where you are. We all know this. It's not helpful to the OP. It's completely irrelevant.

@Hitherzither shared ownership- that’s 25% -

This looks better for less money and it seems to have a good rental yield (in case he can’t sell it easily.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/152149484#/?channel=RES_BUY

I am slightly suspicious about there being several properties in the building for sale though. Maybe landlords getting rid of BTLs.

It’s a bit smaller but it has a decent size bathroom with a bath and a balcony. The room is a more practical shape for furniture layout though, sometimes less space can be “more” if it is more useable.

Take a tape measure and mark out the shape of a double bed and wardrobe when you view it to get a feel for how much space there really is…

This is RG14, brand new and £5k less?
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159350879#/?channel=RES_NEW

am I missing something?

It is one of the most depressing flats I have ever seen.

Yep, cause the deep joy of living in the south east. Newbury is about a 30 to 40 minutes drive from me and I like it.

The only thing you might be able to buy with that kind of money around here is a garage in a block, if you strike lucky. The studio flats go for way more!

Living and sleeping in the same room is tough. Do you sleep on a sofa, have a sofa bed you have to make up every day, etc. and have a comfy armchair? Where do you store all your stuff etc?

However, maybe preferable to renting.

(don’t know the area)