Lower ground floor

[ValentinaBB]

Hello there, is anyone living in a lower ground floor/basement? We are considering to buy one but I have some concerns. Is it safe? We have two toddlers
Thanks

Why wouldn’t it be safe? Is this in London? It can be great to have a bit of outdoor space with toddlers. What is above the flat?

It's in Seaford in the town centre but very close to the sea. I don't know I read about floods and dump...yes we'll have a private garden and it's great for kids

Enquire if there have been any drainage issues. Basement flats are usually the lowest point of drainage and can suffer from backing up of drainage due to either operational issues like chokes or blockages, or backing up from the main system in heavy rain. Many many basement flats have no issues, some have issues and then measures to combat them but it’s worth understanding if there’s ever been a problem.

Have you checked the long term flood risk status on Gov.uk? We have recently bought, didn't go and see a single house without checking this first. It's increasingly a good thing to take into account.
https://www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk

You should get it checked for damp during the survey but will tell a lot from how it smells and looks. Flooding is a serious risk to basements. Look at how water might get, how you might prevent it and how you’d clear it out.

Personally I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole, unless you were absolutely desperate for a garden and a flat was the only option.
basement flats are ALWAYS damp. You will have mould, you will be running dehumidifiers constantly. It doesn’t matter how well they’ve been tanked. They were not built for people to live in. In Europe they have car parks in basements not people living in them. Enough said.

We have the ground and basement of a Victorian house with two flats above us. The basement is not damp at all. It has a lot of ventilation space between the outside wall and the inner wall. We are up a steep slope from the sea, so that our basement level is above the level of the ground floor of the property down the hill, so flooding not likely to be a problem. We have had an issue with drains, the people above us were flushing baby wipes (they vehemently denied this but it was them🤥). The basement is dark, even with several windows and french windows (only on one side, the uphill side is completely under ground level). If we didn’t have the ground floor rooms it might be quite gloomy. It is cosy at night though. It stays cool in summer, which is nice.

Not all basement flats are damp but a lot are.

check with the vendor what has been done- has it been tanked etc. ask if there is an existing damp proof course.

also check how the block is managed. It will make a big difference as if you need them to act on damp or water ingress, it will be useful to know what previous work has been done.

check the reserve funds and ask to see the previous year ends and budgets. (Although you may not get these until you instruct a solicitor).