Buying flat in london

kaymee

I viewed a property in Hoxton, with a psf of about £1000. Seems like the demand is high, and that’s the best rate I’ll be able to negotiate. It’s still undergoing construction but I was able to view the showflat for the finish, and the underconstruction unit itself.

the criteria it meets: 

- Modern Finish and overall like the aesthetics / quality.

- Hoxton is a nice buzzy area. I can cycle to work. It’s not close to a tube, but well connected with buses.

- A very decent sized balcony with pleasant enough view for me. Also has floor to ceiling windows / doors in bedrooms and living room.

- Service charge at £2.3k and ground rent at £300 are quite reasonable. No Conceirge, but I’m ok with that. 

The criteria it doesn’t meet:

- Storage / cupboard space is very very limited, and I think I’ll struggle.

- The sqft at 775sqft is smaller than the mental minimum I had set for myself (820.. maybe 800).

- Leashold is 250yr leasehold. I have a mental block of going below the 999y leasehold that has become standard for new builds. Agents talk about how easy it is to extend the lease, and now cheaper as well, but I’ll have to research more to be ok with it.

Criteria it doesn’t meet but I’m ok with:

-Layout is unideal. The front door opens facing the bedroom doors across the hallway. 

-West facing, but floor to ceiling windows should somewhat compensate the low level of direct sunlight.

I think I’ll pass on it mostly because of the size and lack of cupboards / storage space. But wanted to post my thought process here  to hear if there were any views on the fair psf for that area and / or if I’m making some grave mistakes in how I’m approaching the decision making around buying a flat! 

bouicca21

Another area to consider is Elephant and Castle.  Major regeneration at Elephant Park, Northern Line to Moorgate.  Much more fun than Nine Elms.

I think you will find lack of storage to be a common problem with new builds.  They use every last inch of available space and don’t allow for people to have lots of books and general tat.

Indigo_and_Violet

We bought in N4 last year, having rented in the area for about 9 years beforehand. 

You've had lots of good advice here. Things I'd particularly agree with are:
- Make your commute as easy as possible, particularly if you expect to be the in the same job for a while. For us that means an easy bike ride into Holborn for me and an easy Thameslink into London Bridge for him. I think the Thameslink also goes to Moorgate so might be worth a look - apparently it's much nicer than the Victoria line in the morning. 

- Agree the areas you are talking about are very distinct. Dalston/Hoxton still have a bit of edge and great nightlife, Hampstead and parts of Islington very yummy mummy. Either option is good. I wonder if it's worth staying in an air B&B or even a travelodge in a few areas for a couple of days to get a good feel?

- There are pockets around us where £800k would get you a small 2 bed house in an okay area (maybe a little further from the tube) rather than a flat. Might be worth looking at.

- We've found the area around us really varies from street to street. Funny to hear others say where we live is edgy when we've just been on the gardening society whatspp if there's a date for the annual plant sale yet! That said, we moved 250m from the place we last rented and it means we take a slightly different route home from the tube, along a main road rather than through the residential street one block down. It means walking past the two aggy homeless guys and the temporary accommodation BnB that often has dealers outside rather than past the fantastic container garden and the house with the massive floofy cat. I think if we hadn't lived here before we might have had more concerns about the neighbourhood.

Your home is your home, there are no right/wrong criteria to use. If storage space or whatever is your number 1 then prioritise that. We knew we wanted a garden which meant a converted house rather than a new build. We are lucky that are freeholder is great (this we checked) and that our neighbours are too (this you can do your best but it's really the luck of the draw). One thing I would say is if you love somewhere but it doesn't have the modern finish, if you have spare cash it is quite easy to throw money at it and get a modern finish. A benefit of renting is you can have overlap - we had 6 weeks between completing and fully moving in during whch we fully redecorated while the hired help redid the kitchen and bathroom for us. 

I've now mostly forgotten your questions so will leave it at that. 

Edit: e.g. this is an example of the smallish houses that might be in budget. Doesn't have your high-end finish and I would definitely recommend visiting on match day but is cute and has potential: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118976870#/)

Mimi123456

Kaymee, thank you for your post. So many helpful tips in responses here! I’m in almost identical situation - single, mid thirties, FTB and knew nothing about the house buying process before I started looking 3 months ago. I am currently renting in Hoxton and want to buy a 1 bed around here, or Islington, Highbury. Don’t know other areas that well.

Was great to find all this info in this thread. I’m in the conveyancing process but after reading about PAS 9980 my first thought is to tell them I’m pulling out tomorrow 🙈 the building has an EWS1, rated B1. It was accepted by the lender so I thought that was sorted for the next 5yrs but apparently more inspections are coming on multi-storey buildings in London?

Any thoughts from anyone on the practical application of this new law? Surely they do not want to create even more mess in the housing market? And now if lots of buildings start failing tests again that would be a total mess and more people stuck in their properties. 

tracytown

I used to live in Hoxton, if you are happy with constant noise then it's fine. It is very noisy on the night every day of the week unless you live out the back of blocks and it will be ok. If you live on any front facing apartment prepare for extreme noise, some you couldnt imagine. I lived opposite a guy who liked to do skipping rope in the car park at 3am which reverberated across due to echo. Flats behind me cost millions. I found that old street is quieter in the afternoon than it is at night.

So if you do get a flat in Hoxton live on the BACK of the block it should actually be ok, but on the front it can be awful, especially in summer with all the windows open.

It does have great transport links though with old street tube. IMO all tube services will beat any national rail train for frequency, seating and ease of getting on and off. However the worse the transport the cheaper the area, so you need to compromise.

One overlooked area many londoners never consider is Canary Wharf. Fantastic transport links (air conditioning over ground, spacious tube) very quiet, extremely quiet on weekends, like a deserted city. Very clean and nice river walks. Easy to drive out of london and go to say cambridge etc.

Chris_English

If you work near Bank then what about Wapping, Limehouse, Canary Wharf or Borough / Shad Thames?

The DLR is incredibly reliable, relatively pleasant and runs straight into Bank.

If you were in Wapping or round Shad Thames it’s quite an easy walk, or a very easy cycle ride.