ground floor flats

mustBdebt3

Hi

Can anyone give me some advice on renting a ground floor flat?

My initial thoughts are a "no" due to lack of security and noise from above.

The ground floor flat in question has two double doors leading from our front room to the communal gardens of the block which made me feel quite uneasy as people could easily look into our flat and it is inviting burglars to break in.

Matt1977

I'm in a ground floor flat. I thought it was going to be awful but its actually OK to be honest. It is a piece of cake to move furniture into. I have had to invest in some net curtains for purposes of privacy.

Yes you do get noise above but in my past experience living in an upper floor flat you get noise from below. I guess I'm lucky that the flats in the block, owned by the same landlord, are carpeted. The noise issue may be a problem if the upstairs flat has laminate/wooden flooring.

G_M

On the plus side, you have nice access in summer to the garden. Upstairs residents often don't use communal gardens (varies a lot) so you may have virtual exclusive use.
No stairs to carry shopping up!

Noise depends a lot what the floor is like in the flat above (applies equally to middle floor flats). People walking on wooden floors.....

Balance that against security/privacy.

paddedjohn

half of my house is on the ground floor and ive never had a problem with security.

jamie11

Any home is at risk of burglary. Make your concerns known to the landlord, ask for extra bolts on doors and windows. It's to his benefit as well so he might well agree.

J_i_m

For the next few days (moving out very soon) I live in a ground floor flat, I've had no problems with security nor noise.

However if you have a problem with people peering into windows as they pass... then you may not like it.

hazyjo

Whether or not I could sleep in a bedroom with windows closed in summer would probably sway my decision. Especially after a friend of mine got burgled in the night while she slept (ground floor flat). Saying that, my sister and her family got burgled at Christmas while they slept in their beds too, and that was in a house.

Another friend lived in a ground floor flat and I always felt safe when staying, and she didn't have any problems. I loved that flat!

Jx

Raphael

I rented a ground floor flat for 5 years, and hated it. Unless you're disabled, the ease of access really doesn't make up for the rest. Does the flat look onto the street too or just the back garden?

The room where I slept looked onto the street, and I could hear everything, every single conversation happening outside (I guess double-glazed windows might have helped there) and felt I had no privacy and needed to keep the curtains closed all the time. I also was unable to leave the windows open for sufficient amounts of time: couldn't leave them open at night, couldn't leave them open if I was just going out to the shops for half an hour, etc.

Also had flooding issues with the drains getting blocked. Not nice.

Noise isn't an issue for ground floor flats specifically though (other than street noise): as someone pointed out middle floor flats are as likely to be a problem, I guess it depends on what the neighbours are like, and what kind of flooring the flat above has.

CCP

I rent a ground floor flat at the moment and I love living there: I have less trouble with noise than I did when living in a first floor flat and I can't say I have any concerns about security - as long as there are good locks on the doors and windows (which there are in my case) I don't see it as being any more of a security risk than living anywhere else.

I am lucky enough to have a private garden, though, rather than a communal garden - I'm not sure I'd want people looking in to my flat through my patio doors, either.

I'd advise going with your gut instinct - if you don't think you'll be happy there then you're probably right and would be better off finding somewhere else. (I ignored my instinct at my last flat, a basement one, and left after less than two years as I couldn't stand the lack of light and constant damp any more - I will never, ever rent a basement flat again! )

PJD

Not being able to open the windows would definitely be a pain, - and also you have to be careful about curtains as you're always overlooked, - so you'd feel shut in.

However, the main reason I would never buy a ground floor flat, is because of the risk of flooding. It happened to a friend of mine, - was absolutely devastating.

ankspon

My ground floor flat has noise from above but that is down to the c##p build by Wimpeys,we look out onto a park and people do look in but as with everything you get used to it.We do feel safe on the ground even though we look out onto a park.The other residents do not use the communal area so we have it all to ourselves but if they do want to use it we wouldn't have a problem.