British Housing is rubbish

Phirefly

heheh true, nice as the development where I live is, the soundproofing is non-existant. We lived next door to a quiet single man for the first year and didn't hear a peep out of him. It wasn't till a pair of rowdy rugger boys moved in and we can hear their every conversation that I realised what an utter nightmare Mr. Phirefly and I must have been for that poor guy :embarasse

prudryden

http://www.ssb.no/en/bkibol/

Cost of constuction materials soaring.

jay7_2

The 1-bed newbuild flat we lived in for 6 months had a small kitchen and a small lounge. The previous occupier (and the owner of the flat) simply didn't have a dining table. She used to have her dinners on her lap sitting on a sofa. We bought one of those folding tables but they were useless when we had guests.

Last week we saw a nice 4 bed house. Really nice, good size rooms. Only when we got home we realised that there was no room for shoes in the hall (or living room) and no room for coats, no hanger, nothing!

We also need to find some space for a pushchair but this seems to be too much to ask for. I haven't seen a house under £300k in our area that has a hall big enought to leave a pushchair there.

I too find UK houses small. And there are more "abnormalities", such as separate taps for hot & cold water (so that you can either burn your hands or have them freezed), carpets and wallpapers in bathrooms, etc.

PS: You might have guessed, I'm not from the UK originally.

baby_boomer

olly300 wrote: »

The thing I've noticed in lots of properties particularly flats is lack of storage space.

where are you suppose to store stuff?

Haven't you noticed the rise and rise of

Big Yellow?

What else could we do with old warehouses and cinemas?

Alternatively there's the "virtue" of minimalism, which is not for me.

However "family units" have steadily decreased and so new build housing is bound to reflect this modern development.

Phirefly

On the issue of space, I grew up in a spacious family home where I had drawers and cupbords crammed with godknows what. Now I live in a relative shoebox but I've grown to love the fact that it forces me to rationalise my stuff, NOTHING is allowed to enter my house unless it has functionality or beauty. Every item in every last crevice can justify its being there. Now I just need to get the message through to Mr Phirefly's Mum for when she goes on her next clearing-out-her-garage-and-landing-us-with-all-her-first-borns'-teenage-paraphenalia mission.

Messsiah

tbh...its probably better to buy a stretch of land somewhere outside the city, then do a self-build on it.

If you can get the planning permission ( the rules have now been laxed, to make it easier ! ), then this is probably the best way to get a place that you want

A decent 4 bedroom house, with sizeable rooms, and unique styling, can be built for around £150k.

Not bad, when you consider buying the finished product is gonna push the price over £450k.

Obviously, this won't work if you want to live in the city...but then again..we can't have everything in life..unless we're mega-rich :P

~M~

Guy_Montag

Messsiah wrote: »

tbh...its probably better to buy a stretch of land somewhere outside the city, then do a self-build on it.

If you can get the planning permission ( the rules have now been laxed, to make it easier ! ), then this is probably the best way to get a place that you want

A decent 4 bedroom house, with sizeable rooms, and unique styling, can be built for around £150k.

Not bad, when you consider buying the finished product is gonna push the price over £450k.

Obviously, this won't work if you want to live in the city...but then again..we can't have everything in life..unless we're mega-rich :P

~M~

I thought about doing that, only skipping the planning permission; instead building a concrete bunker & stuffing it full of guns, food & wives.

scope

jay7 wrote: »

Last week we saw a nice 4 bed house. Really nice, good size rooms. Only when we got home we realised that there was no room for shoes in the hall (or living room) and no room for coats, no hanger, nothing!

LOL, this is the same problem we noticed when you were viewing the house we currently live in.. It has a massive hall way, but because of all the doors leading off to other rooms there isnt really any space for shoes and coats (other than on the floor).. We decided we can live with that, and we had, only "problem" is when we have visitors around. So this isnt just a space issue, but also a design issue, whoever designed it must be walking around in his slippers everywhere.

jay7_2

Messsiah wrote: »

tbh...its probably better to buy a stretch of land somewhere outside the city, then do a self-build on it.

That's what I'd like to do....

Messsiah wrote: »

If you can get the planning permission ( the rules have now been laxed, to make it easier ! ), then this is probably the best way to get a place that you want

Yeah, if you get a planning permission. That's not so easy as far as know. Moreover it's a bit of a gamble. What if you don't get the planning permission and end up with a farmland plot that nobody will want to buy from you.

Messsiah

Its about knowing, where to buy the plots.

Try to find a place, near ( within sight of )/adjoining/bordering existing homes.

And a quick site visit, or chat with the neighbours, before buying is always a good idea. Guidance issued by the govt since the recent proposals, suggest that the local councils are being ENCOURAGED to allow ppl to build their own homes, thus meaning, more ppl shud get the permission to build on their own plots.

Remember...to increase your chances of getting planning permission, it always helps to have some support from your neighbours.

~M~