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

cattie

I've owned both flats & houses over the years & a few months ago decided to sell my house in favour of a spacious flat on a sought after development that I have always admired. It is SOF with a lease of around 995 yrs, so considered virtual freehold. I have a ground floor with a balcony, but also with direct access to some lovely grounds

The neighbours here are very friendly & there is a real sense of community to living here, which I've certainly never experienced with any of the houses I've lived in over the years. This is the only place I've ever moved into where neighbours actually came and knocked on the door to welcome me into my new home.

With owning a flat I feel very happy in the knowledge that any exterior maintenance will be taken care of by others, rather than being my responsibility as with a house. And the fact that there are gardeners to take care of the lovely grounds rather than me, as somebody who loathes gardening, having to tackle it & get out there with my mower, sheers etc. is sheer bliss! The only thing I miss a garden for is being able to dry washing.

Yes you have to pay service charges, but remember, with a house you have to make sure you have money in the bank to pay for repairs and maintenance that keep cropping up. Perhaps a £2k repair bill for a leaking roof here & another £1k for new guttering there, not to mention needing to have the exterior of the house repainted say every 3yrs to keep it in good condition. Upkeep and maintenance of a house can be an ongoing and costly business to keep it in tip top condition.

With regards to noise I don't hear anymore noise from neighbours here than I did when I lived in a house. In fact, I believe if anything it's actually much quieter as there are no kids living here.

Personally, I'm never going to go back to live in a house. Flat living isn't for everybody, but be aware that a lot of people who have very negative opinions of buying a flat over a house have never actually bought a flat so have no experience with which to base their opinions on.

As long as you are buying in a pretty decent area, then there will always be a market for whatever you buy, be it a flat or a house. Do your homework as others here have advised & you shouldn't go far wrong.

Fire_Fox

My flat is one of the quietest properties I have lived in from a neighbour perspective, my parents block is also very quiet. Both are converted - one from a mill the other from an office and both have solid concrete floors. Mine is also cheaper to heat than a house and both my parents and I feel safer having the extra outside door and being several floors up, break ins are unheard of.

Share of freehold gives you much more control over how the place is managed providing you are willing to get involved. My parents block is virtually immaculate inside and out despite being converted nearly twenty years ago, my father is currently chair of the board and they keep tight control on the costs whilst protecting their investment. They meet monthly in someone's flat with the host supplying some wine and nibbles, it's pretty civilised! They pay a similar amount to what I do for a massively lower standard of service and poorly maintained communal areas. Blocks can become tougher to manage when many flats are BTL because landlords don't see the problems and don't want a pay a decent service charge, that is something I would advise against buying into.

If you have problems with an management company or freeholder charging but not maintaining the place it's possible to raise a dispute under the legislation, I did here and ended up several thousands pounds better off. There is no law saying they can charge for work that is not done, and there is legsialtion and systems to protect leaseholders. All costs much be "reasonable", "reasonably incurred" and work to a "reasonable standard" (one of the Landlord-Tenant Acts). Much of the time the problems we see here are down to leaseholders have no clue about their rights and responsibilities, not querying charges in writing, unilaterally deciding not to pay.

bitsandpieces

Flats can get you types of properties (e.g. warehouse conversions, or flats very high up) you just couldn't get in a house - unless you could afford to buy somewhere huge. You can also get areas where there are loads of flats but very few houses to choose from. Some flats come with shared gardens maintained by management companies - good if you want green space without gardening.

A lot of the cons have already been covered!

Mobeer

I prefer a flat:
+ more indoor space per £
+ no outdoor space to maintain
+ no maintenance work
+ guaranteed parking space rather than on-road
- service charges and ground rent

Your needs and wants can vary though.

knightstyle

A lot of older people prefer flats, they often have lifts, secure parking and no worries about looking after gardens, exterior works etc. You just pay a sum each month and the management company pooks after it.
I also know a couple and the wife has MS so they live in a flat as it is a full time job for him looking after her.
So really it is up to you but whatever you do I would spend time in the evenings outside the property before you buy. People sitting on window ledges with loud music, flat or house will be bad news.