Flat or house in inner-city London?

[Kif]

I'm about to start hunting for a place to rent in London for me and my brood (Me, dh and three kids under 5),

Up to now we've always rented in blocks of flats, because of the perceived extra security (lots of doors between us and the street, and often you get porterage/underground parking/CCTV).

It's a rough-ish area - although I've never had any trouble and have made some lovely friends.

I can get a 3 bed house for the same money as a 2 bed flat in the developments which have porters/gyms/garages, or the same money as a 3 bed flat in a more basic block.

Does a garden and a bit of extra space outweigh the benefits of extra security and being part of a development?

GARDEN!

I live in zone 2 and would definitely swap any number of the mod cons in my newly built flat for the grottiest house with a garden.

Sadly, round here even the smartest flats are £100k cheaper than the grottiest houses.

I agree with PW - also in zone 2 and would give ANYTHING to move to a house, even a very small and grotty house - even if it was smaller than my 2 bedroom flat - but that's just not an option at the moment.

house and garden = much better than a flat, imo. What's a rough-ish neighbourhood?

It depends whether you personally would feel unsafe in a house. If you are likely to be jumpy and not like being home alone then its not worth it. it also depends on whether the flat is within easy walking distance of a good park or has a nice communcal garden which children would be welcome in.

I've just looked up the crime figures - and I'm pleasantly surprised that they seem to be on a downwards trend over the last few years.

When I first moved here porter/cctv was non-negotiable for me. However, the longer I live here without any trouble, the less jumpy I am. Perhaps it's just a case of perception / reading too many newspapers.

Crime figures:

Burglary (Per 1000 Population per year) 10.7 ( down from 15,6 last year ) - compared to Met average of 12.8

Criminal Damage (Per 1000 Population) 16.8 (down from 17.3 last year) - compared to Met average of 13.9

That's actually quite reassuring...

What area are you moving to?

We live in Central London and moved from a house to a flat. House was pre-dcs but I'm glad I didn't stay there. Depends on age of children but all the up and down stairs and being in separate rooms would get to me. If you get somewhere with a garden, could you leave your dcs unsupervised to play in it? I think these are the sort of questions you need to ask - other things like will you be able to park near the house? Will you feel secure going on holiday and leaving the house, etc? Also availability of decent houses depends a lot on the area. What about a flat with a large terrace? Penthouse for example?

Also check the sq ft of the properties you look at - houses are not necessarily bigger as space gets taken up with landings and stairs.