Turning two flats back into a house

[AtTheRitz]

We own a ground floor flat in a converted Edwardian house. We have recently inherited some money and coincidentally the flat upstairs has been put up for sale. We’ve had a vague thought that we could use the inheritance to buy the flat and make it back into one good sized house - I think the numbers would just about add up and would almost certainly be a good investment as a big house here would be worth a fair bit more than the 2 individual flats. It would however leave us with precious little money leftover (although no mortgage) and we’re not high earners. Has anyone got any experience of something like this - was it worth it - was it a mistake? We don’t need the extra space but thinking of maximising our money for our kids in the future. Thanks if you got this far!

are there more floors OP?

I’m my local authority you wouldn’t get planning permission as they prefer that there are 2 properties. Check first, before you buy.

What is the rest of the street like OP? Are they mainly complete houses or flats or any HMOs?

A friend sold his flat to someone who did just that with the house. A beautiful town house, the buyer had already bought the top two floors and then bought my friend’s basement. It must be an amazing house now.
I have another friend who bought the house next door to her and joined them into one house.

There are only the 2 flats, the street is a mix of houses and converted flats. Our neighbour (semi detached) has the house as it originally was so we can see the floor plan etc, although they’ve extended over the years etc. Good point about planning permission, will check.

With most local authorities planing permission is not required to convert 2 flats back to a house, so long as the external appearance is unaltered. But yes there are some exceptions where authorities do require PP because they don’t like the number of homes being reduced

Also OP, who owns the freehold? You might end up having a lease on both flats but not actually owning the building itself.

1. who owns the freehold?
2. can you get planning permission? Our area wouldn’t allow it.
3. have you had architect drawings and quotes from builders for the necessary works? You must add at least fifty percent to any quote for contingencies, problems that crop up, if you can’t afford 150 percent of the quote then you can’t afford it (bitter experience here of multiple renovations!)
4. could you live in the house while the works are being done or do you need to budget for rent elsewhere as well?
5. how much will maintaining the extra space cost you? You say you don’t need it, but you’ll still need to decorate it, furnish it, heat it all winter.
6. having done all those sums, do you still think the house would sell for enough to justify the expense and the work?

Far easier to move using your new budget?

Often fantasised about this while doing up Edwardian flats! Good points above about LAs and leases. All being well, though, it should be pretty easy. The stairs are already in the correct position and the hallway's normally intact.

Modern living calls for different room layouts or proportions - particularly concerning bathrooms and kitchens, plus nobody these days wants that 'through' room where the unfeasibly large family's kids used to hang out in the evenings.

You might even choose to keep the bathrooms on both floors, then knock through on the ground floor to create a 21st century-sized kitchen. You're unlikely to need to reposition much, or any, plumbing. There may be one load-bearing wall across the centre of the ground floor flat; this is easy (if a pain in the arse and more expensive than one thinks) to support with an RSJ.

You're fairly certain to have a useable loft, which could be converted in the future.

Are you sure it would be worth more as a single dwelling than as two flats?

Thank you for all your replies - some good points. We have share of freehold with the upstairs flat so that should be ok. The original stairs are still there and in theory could be a reasonably straightforward conversion albeit we’d need to get rid of the upstairs kitchen. Excellent point about maintenance costs however and about spiralling conversion costs as we wouldn’t have much over to play with. Food for thought.

Yes but not sure how much more - again would need to do some proper research before starting anything.

You’d have to apply to the council to make it one dwelling for CT purposes. I don’t know if that’s difficult or not.

If you don’t need the space then you can afford to take your time and DIY a lot of the work. You can then still live in your downstairs flat with minimal disruption.

On a basic level all you need to do is take down a wall to get access to the staircase from the downstairs flat, and rip out the upstairs kitchen. After that it depends how far you want to take it.

We did it 20+ years ago, although our Victorian house had been split into four flats, spread across three floors and a large mezzanine level. We purchased the whole in one go as the owner of the freehold was selling up.

No planning permission was required for us and getting the council tax changed to one property was very straightforward.

As there were several kitchens and the ground floor flat was in the most horrendous state, we camped out in one of the upstairs flats till we'd (DIYed) the main kitchen, living rooms and a large lootility.

Biggest issues were getting all the meters removed/changed back to one and removing all the industrial strength partitions/additional entry points etc. We had to have the beautiful curved staircase rebuilt as it had been straightened to allow for an extra door. Plus the garden was so overgrown (brambles to shoulder height!), you couldn't reach the bottom.

We thought about doing this when we lived in a flat, but decided against it and moved. It would have been a lot of cost and upheaval so instead we just moved to a house that was already a house. I barely even think of the flat. Out of sight out of mind.

I’ve done a few of these Edwardian flat-to-house jobs over the years. With share of freehold you’re in a better place than most, but before you commit to buying upstairs I’d get three things clear on paper:

1. Planning vs building control. As others said, planning often isn’t needed if the outside stays the same — but opening the stair, removing fire separation between flats, and any structural work (RSJs, floor joists that were cut when it was converted) usually need building control. That’s separate from planning and not optional.

1. Services. You’ll almost certainly have two consumer units, two boilers or a shared arrangement, and duplicated pipework. Budget for consolidating that properly — it’s where costs quietly climb.

1. Contingency. Even a “simple” reconnection of the original stair can uncover bodged partitions, missing fire stopping, or floors that aren’t level between flats. If you’ve got precious little left after buying, I’d want a builder (or architectural tech) to walk both flats and give you a realistic range before exchange, not after.

Living downstairs while you strip the upstairs kitchen and reconnect access is very doable and keeps disruption down. Just don’t strip more than you need until you’ve decided the final layout — every wall you open early is money you can’t put back if the numbers don’t stack.

Worth doing if the street values houses properly and you can afford a proper contingency. If not, the inheritance might stretch further buying a house that’s already one dwelling.

I've not done this but I'd consider stamp duty implications. Normally when you buy a second property there's more stamp duty to pay. Have you factored that cost in?

One possibility you could consider is renting the top flat out for a few years until you can afford the renovation works. Maintenance would be relatively easy if you live in the same building, although being a landlord can be a hassle.

Also if the top flat is in good condition, the renovation costs might not be massive (at least in the short term); you could presumably live with an extra kitchen if needed for a few years and just open up access to the top flat/remove the separate entrance way, and use the rooms as bedrooms (excluding the kitchen of course). Also I would have thought you could remove a lot of the kitchen yourself and then just pay professionals to cap gas, remove pipes etc and replaster if needed

Coming at this from the buying side rather than the building side, there are a couple of money things I would ask your solicitor about before going near the builders. The first is stamp duty:: you already own a home, so buying the flat upstairs is likely to count as buying an additional property, with the higher rates that come with it. That can easily eat a chunk of what you have left, so it is worth getting a proper figure early and asking whether anything can be claimed back once the two are merged into one home. The second is the exit. A pair of flats and a single house are bought by different people - flats by first time buyers and investors, a house by families - and on a street with only two flats the family buyer has a lot of competition from proper houses. I would ask a local agent what a similar converted house on your road actually sold for, not the asking price, and compare it with what the two flats are worth separately. If the gap is small once you have paid for stamp duty, legal fees and the works, the numbers stop looking like an investment. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I'd first of all have a look around your area or other areas you like, to see if there is anything similar to what you envisage with the conversion. It might be that an an existing house of similar footprint is either around the same cost or possibly cheaper than yours after the cost of your conversion. And ready to move into!

If you still want to buy the other flat and return the building to one house, I'd consider leaving some kitchen equipment for now. That way you could let out the room(s) to lodgers for a year or two and have a tax free income to build up for when you are ready to do the work.

Just some thoughts!

No mortgage
not high earners
inheritance?

You won’t have the money to do the extensive work required and will be EXTENSIVE!