Price for 1-bed flat made into 2-bed?

Myflat

Hello

I have seen a lovely 2-bed flat (it was originally 1-bed), which I would like to put an offer on. How much would you offer considering the following factors:

1) It is priced at £165k while similar flats (still left as 1-bed) in the same area are currently on the market for £160k.
2) The second bedroom (part of the original living room) does not have windows but gets a lot of light from the adjacent bedroom.
3) It does not have any heating system. The current owners use electric heaters.
4) They are in a chain so are keen to sell.

I am thinking about offering 150k. They can only say no but still I would like to know if that offer is at least a little bit reasonable?

Thank you!

Brallaqueen

Points two and three would put me off & I'm sure a lot more people will feel like me. A bedroom without a window is, in my mind, worthless, and electric storage heating is expensive. I probably wouldn't even offer 150k but if you like it, you like it!

How long has it been on the market? Is it in a particularly good area? What will the second bedroom be used for, I can't imagine it will be a good bedroom for children/guests?

iB1

A serious question - can a "bedroom" without a window legally be called a bedroom???

BitterAndTwisted

A room without a window or any heating to my mind is a cupboard

AbbieCadabra

have you checked actual sold prices for anything similar in your area? you can't base anything on asking prices...

gauly

It's probably worth less than the equivalent 1-bed flat - not many people want a bedroom without a window, plus it costs hardly anything to put up a stud wall and make a bedroom out of part of the lounge.

System

If it is not on the ground floor then every habitable room MUST have a window as a means of escape (must meet the minimum legal egress size).

If it doesn't then it is just a large walk in wardrobe.

scooter_chick

Has the actual size of the flat increased with the addition of a couple of stud walls? No? Then what makes it 'worth' more than the one-bed ones?

Slinky

I would go in with the tactic of how much it's going to cost to put right the change from a 1 bed to a 1 bed plus large cupboard. Are the estate agents marketing this as a 2 bed? I'm fishing back through my memories to when I worked in an estate agents office 16 years ago, I really don't think it's legal to market a room without a window as a bedroom. Would you want to be asleep in there if a fire broke out outside the door?

Running_Horse

Myflat wrote: »

2) The second bedroom (part of the original living room) does not have windows but gets a lot of light from the adjacent bedroom.

Is it divided by a curtain? How can a room get a lot of light from an adjacent room it was never part of?

If I really wanted it I would be asking for £20,000 off to install heating and return the living room to its original condition, or put a window in. Not having heating these days is about as acceptable as an outside toilet.

No one will ever buy it from you in its current condition.

Fire_Fox

Agree with the others, my understanding of a bedroom is that it has a window - does this partitioned space even adhere to fire regs? My flat's second bedroom is a partition off the living area, it has a window and its own door onto the hall so you don't have to go through the kitchen to escape fire. Despite that estate agents will describe it as a 'crash space', 'occasional bedroom, 'one/ two bedroom' etc. as there is not a full wall (heavy fire retardant wood door) between bedroom two and the kitchen-living area.