house or flat????

5monkey

I like your stories and I really would like to be able to have a house....soon,...

tizhimi

I rent a flat, wasn't too keen at first but now I LOVE it.

Its light, spacious (if I had less junk), easy to keep clean, modern build so zero heating bills (I kid you not, honestly - I have never had to use the underfloor heating, I'm debating keeping the windows open all day and night just so I can test the underfloor heating!) Private gated parking, private lovely garden, clean communal area (was shocked to find a windown cleaner at 8am peeping through the window), cannot hear a peep out of the nieghbours - I am shocked at the noise insulation, it is amazing. There was a proper hardcore late party happening last week and the only noise I heard was when the door bell went to invite me round!

Would I buy the place? Not a chance in hell. At the end of the day... its not a house.

rainbow_carnage

We live in central London. Everyone I know lives in a flat which they've either bought or are renting. Sure, there are occasional problems, but all in all, it really isn't bad. I like our flat. The walls are fine. We can't hear the neighbours unless they're outside and we have the windows open. The freeholder requires a bit of prodding now and then, but because we rent, our landlord deals with him.

In the ideal world, we'd love to have a whole house, but the only way we could ever afford one is if we moved somewhere significantly cheaper. We prefer to stay in London, with all it has to offer.

You have to decide what matters to you. If having a house is very important, I'm sure you can find an area where house prices match your budget. If the area matters more, go with a flat. Ignore the horror stories. There are plenty of lovely flats out there where you won't have to deal with annoying kids or noisy neighbours.

BitterAndTwisted

True but unfortunately for some they only find out whether they have lovely responsible nieghbours once they've bought and moved in. When viewing a flat to buy no-one is going to tell you about the lousy, money-grabbing agents or landlord or about the obscene service-charges you'll have to pay with no control over how it's spent/wasted

tizhimi

Couldn't agree more with bitterandtwisted. At least i can move out of my rented flat at the end of my contract without all the sale palava.

Fire_Fox

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

True but unfortunately for some they only find out whether they have lovely responsible nieghbours once they've bought and moved in. When viewing a flat to buy no-one is going to tell you about the lousy, money-grabbing agents or landlord or about the obscene service-charges you'll have to pay with no control over how it's spent/wasted

They will if you ask.

beccad

If you go for a flat in a block, then you take your chances I guess. We live in a flat (Edwardian terraced house conversion) and we can hear the neighbours now and again, but we're masters of our own destiny, so to speak. We own the freehold for the building so we have responsibility for any repairs and there's obviously no charges to pay. The council collects our rubbish from our wheelie bin every week, just as they do the rest of the houses on the street..

Overall, I don't mind living in a flat, but I would choose a house everytime. We just don't have enough space, even though we have a 2-bed place with a garden. We do a lot of camping and other outdoorsy stuff, but we just don't have room for it all. Half of it is stored at the in-laws.

Bufger

Fire_Fox wrote: »

They will if you ask.

'Excuse me Mr EA, is this actually a horrible place to live or is it just perfect for me?'

tizhimi

Bufger wrote: »

'Excuse me Mr EA, is this actually a horrible place to live or is it just perfect for me?'

:rotfl:
LOL, I can someone coming and knocking on my door asking now LOL :rotfl:

Running_Horse

A friend who worked in a solicitor's office said the leashold details were such a nightmare that she would never consider buying a flat. Of course in some areas like London it is most likely to be a flat. But if you have a choice, buy a house.