Pitfalls and Benefits: House Vs Flat (Help needed!)

Woodyrocks

I can't quite silence the voice that is saying I would be a mug to buy a flat over a house. Are you for houses or flats?

When I started looking at properties last May, I only considered houses but I have now seen a flat (in a converted warehouse) that I like very much. Light, airy, tall ceilings, all the room I could want and generally lots of floor space for the price. 49K has been dropped off the over-optimistic asking price since it came on to the market in January and luckily for me at the price it now is, it falls nicely into my budget.

BUT!!!! I am crazy to even be thinking of a flat when I can just as easily get a house. I have been reading on Leasehold & Shared Freehold and that is where I am most put off. The property I am interested in is SF and I expect that to be with a 980+yrs lease but I still don't like the idea that I would be basically a assured tenant. Also, the idea of ground rent and service charges after paying an awful lot for the property make me :mad:

I am worried about noise too. I have only ever lived in houses (I can hear my neighbour's intimate moments with great clarity...) and one maisonette (which was hellish in terms of noise pollution). It is one thing renting and putting up with noise pollution, but in a new home, it would drive me to the edge

I am so over living in boxy houses and I have no gardening inclination. If I gave up my need for space I could afford a 'cute' (read: tiny) house in a semi-rural area in the North Kent area or I can sacrifice location and get a decent sized flat that needs nothing done to it on the outskirts of London/Kent borders in what is considered a 'desirable' area.

Is it stupid to consider a flat over a house? What are the pitfalls & benefits of living in a flat over a house and vice versa...

michelle2008

Flats - management companies can be a nightmare. I had a dreadful experience of quarterly bills for zero service - grass never cut, comunal areas never cleaned. I felt too much was outside my control. Large proportion tend to be rented - therefore I didn't know the people who turned up at the management comittee meetings and these landlords didn't appreciate or understand most of the issues - therefore it was impossible to get agreement to fix things.

My experience may not be typical - but I sold up, bought a house and I have never regretted it!!

artbaron

Depends on your circumstance and needs. As stated above, management companies are a pain at the best of times. Worst case scenario is that they take all your money, give you no service and leave you with an unsellable property. When I had leasehold the management company was OK and the flats and grounds were kept immaculate, but all this was at a cost, plus I still spent many weeks sorting out related issues - what's communal and what's not, who pays for what and how much and when. It robs you of your control.

The house I'm in now isn't without its problems as you'd expect with a C19 stone-build, but the difference is I'm the outright owner and I have the freedom to fix them or not at my discretion, managing the costs and resources accordingly (with one exception but that's a one-off). And it's quiet! Even in the best built flats you'll get noise from other residents. Here, with the windows shut, I've literally never heard a sound from the neighbours. Bliss.

Woodyrocks

Thanks Michelle for the response. I have had a look at the companies house record for the managment company and I see that it is made up on the whole of owners in sitting. There are 6 flats all in all, all privately owned though I gather one is mainly used as a second home.

I don't like the thought of being told what to do or not do in my own home. I read that in some cases you can't even undertake work in your flat without getting permission from the management company or sub-let as you choose.

London_Town

I would never buy a flat if you have the opportunity of a house instead, as long as the location is still ok.

I sold my flat and bought a house a few years back and it was the best thing I ever did. My flat had a superficial gloss, which hid a dark underbelly of problems.

The management company were awful and the service charge went up every year. The lease allowed them to double the ground rent every ten years. We had lazy, disinterested contractors to do the cleaning and gardening. All my neighbours turned out to be tenants who seemed to change every 6 months. They constantly left the communal door open, dropped endless cigarette ends everywhere. It was horrible to have to share communal space in these circumstances.

Also, don't forget the nightmare of "allocated parking". You'd often come home and find some random visitor in your space. One neighbour ended up calling the police over this issue which was completely over the top but showed how emotive it can be.

Now, I have a driveway, a garden and I control which tradesmen work on my home. Yes, my house is smaller than the flat I had, but I wouldn't go back for anything.

moneyistooshorttomention

When I bought - what I could afford was a one bedroom flat. What I actually struggled like mad to buy was a two bedroom house.

The main reason for struggling is all the above concerns about communal areas/service charges/etc.

I didn't want neighbours either above or below me - as I had experienced neighbour noise from above in the rented flat I had latterly. So I bought a starter terrace house and thought "Might get noise through the walls (I do sometimes:mad:- but at least I know above and below cant disturb me"). Also it's totally under my control as to whether and when I do any work on the house - if I have the money/its worth it then I do it. If I don't have the money - then I don't have to pay towards work just because someone else (ie a management committee) says so.

There's various other minor advantages too. In my rented flat that I moved from I knew there was an ansafone that my visitors needed to buzz to get let in and that is usually what happened. However, there were times when a stranger could/did get into the building (or be in the building already - as they lived there) and would be literally right outside my front door in a dark corridor. I much prefer having a house from that viewpoint - in that I can peer out a window (or just lean out the front bedroom window and talk to an unexpected visitor) - so that I can see who they are before I answer the door to them. If they are a bit :eek:, then they are right out there in a public street where everyone can see them and it feels safer that way.

ACG

I havnt read all of the posts so apologies if these have been covered off, but a 980 year lease is fine... its a pain when it comes to renewal but i cant see you having to do it too many times :P

I would never buy anywhere (unless i had to) that didnt have a garden. I have lived in a pub and then moved to a flat which had a 10ft x 6ft balcony and now to a house.

I missed having a garden in the pub, the balcony was nice but now i have a garden (and a really long winter!!!) i would never go back. Just being able to sit out in the sun and relax is so nice.

Having a flat can be cheaper on the bills... if everyone else has heating on you might not need it on or not as often and theyre usually cheaper in general to buy and maintain - but those are the only 2 pros for a flat in my eyes.

fionajbanana

Pros of a house:
. No ground rent and service charges
. No issues of neighbours above/below you making a noise
. Have a proper outdoor area to the property

Pros of a flat
. Generally cheaper per m2
. Some of the maintenance is done by the management company - but some don't bother
. cheaper to run
. If you live in a 1st floor or above flat, contents insurance is cheaper as its more difficult for burglars to get into your flat

I do live in a flat but on the few hot days we have per year, I do miss having my own personal back garden/yard to sit outside with a drink reading a book. If its on my days off, I normally garden sit for my parents and friends if they are away either for the day or on 1-2 weeks holiday.

Though I did have a flat with a garden and I hated gardening. Love gardens though.

neverdespairgirl

I live in a flat in central London, and when we were buying it (18 months ago now) we only looked at flats. Houses in our area tend to start at £3 million as a minimum, and we couldn't afford that.

I like our flat a lot. It's a converted factory building, which is fairly common in our area, and that means huge windows, lots of light, high ceilings, and nice-sized rooms.

It is also a very solid building, and no noise from our neighbours at all. In addition, it's a 2-floor flat, with the bedrooms downstairs, so even if noise from above were a problem, we wouldn't hear it at night.

We have what an estate agent would call a garden, and anyone else would call a tiny patio, but it is at least outside space, to sit out in the summer and chill.

Flats aren't all bad at all. Heating bills tend to be lower, as you don't have as many outside walls to deal with.

Managing agents for the freeholder can be a problem, but not necessarily. In our block, the freehold is owned by a company owned by the flats, so each flat owns a share of the freehold and the managing agents are instructed by the flats' owners.

Ground rent isn't a big deal, ours if £100 a year, for example. Our service charge, which covers buildings insurance, lift maintance and the common parts is £800 a year, approximately, per flat.

bodmil

michelle2008 wrote: »

Flats - management companies can be a nightmare. I had a dreadful experience of quarterly bills for zero service - grass never cut, comunal areas never cleaned. I felt too much was outside my control. Large proportion tend to be rented - therefore I didn't know the people who turned up at the management comittee meetings and these landlords didn't appreciate or understand most of the issues - therefore it was impossible to get agreement to fix things.

My experience may not be typical - but I sold up, bought a house and I have never regretted it!!

This is the same situation I'm in now. I couldn't afford a house with enough space so went for a flat in a brilliant location and
really under-estimated the influence of the management company. It's a bit of an ongoing nightmare as the experiences above reflect. But the location is great and my mortgage is totally covered by the income from a lodger.

I think living in a flat, especially in a city, is quite an attractive prospect but owning one is a different ball game.

Penny1108

I would disagree with the majority here as it sounds like you really want this flat rather than a house.

Yes, there is more noise in a flat, but you would get that in a terraced house as well. I think that would really depend on how the house is built, as I rarely suffered from noise from the neighbours when I lived in a flat. With regards to the management company - investigate this as much as you can but if this indeed consists of the owners of the other flats, then this would be a good sign for me, as they would have the best of interest for the overall house as well which you don't always get with a management company. When I moved into my flat (which I am now letting) I quickly found out that the leasehold had bought out the freehold. There is a management company, but the management company acted on what the leasehold company (i.e. the owners) decided, so I quickly made the move to get elected as a director of the leasehold company, to get as much impact as I could on the running of the estate. Essentially, we, the directors decide what the budget will be used for, and the overall strategy is decided in an annual AGM. The management company just execute what they are told to do. Of course this would be up to you to decide how involved you would want to be. It would also be a very positive signed for me, if the majority of owners also live there rather than rent out if this is the case. Especially in London you get a lot of renter properties and if there is a large turnover then this does affect how people take care of the place where they live.

We have now moved to a house, and I think the main reason for that is that we wanted a garden. The plan is that this is our family home, and as both me and my partner have grown up in houses with gardens, this is what felt best.

Can you speak to one of the neighbours in the flat development to find out about how the management of the properties is done, and whether it is noisy.