Large communal garden and living centrally vs private garden in the suburbs

[hodgepodge01]

WWYD?
We have toddlers and are weighing up living centrally with a large beautiful communal garden with playground across the road and being close to parks and playgrounds, better transport, museums etc, but being in a large flat with a high service charge, that needs at least some renovating. Or a terrace house in the suburbs with a large private garden. It's been updated but not extended and is in a quiet neighbourhood we don't know so well, but seems family orientated. The commute is equivalent as one is better for either one of us. They are the same price.

Personally I had two very active DSs. And we barely used our tiny garden. We lived next to a park and went there all the time. Unless you have a massive garden, you cant play football or cricket or other ball games or cycle properly so once they are past the toddler stage, for me, proximity to a park and playground was essential.
We use the garden for bbq but the kids basically didn't use it much post toddler years.

Yes I've worried about this too. But looking at previous sales, it seems similar flats have been selling for about 400K more...I think some people are immune to costs (not us!).

House 100% it only takes 1 arsehole in a communal garden to ruin it for everyone

Yes we are wondering this too - is a private garden just more important for these few years? Ours would be 15x5.5 so quite large, but as children get older is neighbourhood more important (assuming there are decent schools in both) for the family as a whole?

Agree! The building has a lift thankfully - double pram territory.

No not even close it will be about £100 ish

My guess is the hosue will have better schools - think ahead to beyond them being toddlers.

We only needed to change neighbourhoods because we couldn’t possibly afford a 3 bed house with garden near good schools, in the same area where we could afford a 2 bed first floor flat on the high street with communal garden, no parking and no idea what the schools were like. We were v sad to leave but with baby 2 on the way it was sensible. And the area we moved to was great for families and it’s lovely. I sort of wish we’d moved a bit sooner as I did all the antenatal groups etc in the old area, and so didn’t know anyone with babies when I first arrived. Would have been nice to meet people during pregnancy in new location.

Actually funnily enough there are better schools around the flat according to ofsted/school guide

Personally yes, neighbourhood is more important IMHO. We have awesome playgrounds and parks in walking distance. Access to tennis courts and football also in walking distance.
Parks where mums and dads can sit and watch kids kicking about a ball or play together for me were fantastic. My kids just had so much energy that I couldn't have just kept them at home

Private all the way. I really appreciate being able to send the kids outside without even having to put shoes on let alone leave the house. Ahhh 😌 PJs in the garden all summer here!

Every time they want to play in the garden you'll need to supervise them for a few years. If you go for a house, they're able to come find you if they need to.

and yes would agree about the service charges for a flat like that.

I’d say a private garden is important up to the point where you can leave your children totally unsupervised outside in a fairly public park - for me that would have been not really earlier than age 10 ish?

Hmm we have all that in walking distance here in the burbs, as well as our own garden. They’re pretty normal neighbourhood things, OP would you not have that with the private garden house??

Yes that would be available aroudn the house to an extent too - just not as many options. Centrally there's so much more going on - excellent public parks in walking distance, cultural stuff etc.
Price wise, the house is probably slightly overpriced for an unextended house, and if extended they tend to sell at cost of the extension. The flat is undervalued because it's not renovated, so more potential for a higher resell value due to it's location. The flat I can imagine keeping for a long time to have access to central. But perhaps we'd feel differenlty about the house over time. Is there anyone that regrets being it the burbs or does it not matter because life is all about the kids anyway?

It would depend where the flat and house were. If it was a flat with a communal garden next to Victoria Park or Hampstead Heath, I’d take that over a house in Chingford or Catford.

is this London? Which suburbs would you like to check out

Fair enough. The friends I have who live in more suburban areas seem to drive a lot to places rather than walk and their local playgrounds seem a lot smaller. But I certainly cant speak for the whole of suburbia.
If you have all of that on your doorstep and a big garden then great !

Need to check the heating cost element of the service charge in the flat. There is something I have read about utility costs in communal supply having higher costs- maybe a VAT issue or charged as a business. Sorry I can’t think of the term but there was quite a lot of publicity about it 2-3 years ago.
Lifts in flats are also a nightmare and can be a money pit. I own a rental in a block with a lift, its running costs are substantial.
Other flats in the area being substantially more makes me wonder if there is a large bill coming for repairs and people are selling up.
I would go for the house any day with kids. Being able to let them play in the garden without worrying about other people or squabbles with other kids is a bonus.
The £400-500 pounds a month is massively overestimating in a terrace even if you have heating on 24/7 at a high temperatures. My 4 bed 3 reception all electric (ASHP) detached on a hill in a rural area with full benefit of North winds occasionally reaches £300 in January in a hard winter . We are at home all day. Ask the vendors what they pay, it’s a valid question.

Adjacent topic - does anyone have experience with how much it costs to do an ground floor extension on a terrace house? A range obviously but just to understand what we should be paying compared to a house that's already been extended...

I agree - the price point / where is quite critical in whether or not the flat is better.

A big flat on one of the Notting Hill communal gardens… would be pretty fabulous.

Yes I think we'll ask the vendors about runnings costs, because otherwise it's basically big chunk of the service charge anyway. The other flats in the buiding sell rarely, but at significantly higher prices. In a way we are getting a deal - but it's just whether it's the right deal for us at this stage...

I had this choice 25 years ago and eventually opted for the house (although we bought the flat first as I loved our central area, so we found out the hard way). There were other factors too though which may not apply, as we had a neighbour noise problem which helped to push us into the (still leafy and well-connected) burbs.

Absolutely not! Terraces are warm since you have warm houses either side. We currently pay £180 a month for all gas and electricity in a terraced house (4 bedrooms) and I would say we like it on the warmer side.

What do you mean by price point?