Your help on apartments and agents please

[ynguk 10]

Hello people. I would like some help and advice on two matters. Firstly I would like to hear about your experience of apartment living as me and my wife are looking to purchase one. We have had several houses and we fancy a change but I would like to hear about your ups and downs on this topic. Do you live in an apartment? How are the fees? Do you experience noise or trouble? Hows the parking?

Question two is in relation to Hillsborough estate agents. Can you offer me any advise or recommendations as I'll be having to choose one shortly.

Keep warm, John

[-willow- 10]

We lived in the Willows on Middlewood Road for 12 months before moving out and getting a house again. Although it was lovely with all the mod cons eg fully integral kitchen appliances/open plan/large bedrooms, we found it was very noisy.

Granted you might not be looking at these apartments in particular, but the tram in particular was noisy when passing the blocks right up to midnight and starts again at 6am. Also you could hear your neighbours talking (or clearly hear the full row when they were shouting) or their tv when it was on.

The communal stairwells were a haven for noise and sounded like a herd of elephants were up and down when our neighbours returned in the early hours of the morning.

The parking was an issue as only one parking space was allocated to each apartment which meant anyone with more than one car had to park it out on the main road or risk get a parking notice from the lovely firm Elite.

Also quick point are the fire alarms, one goes off the whole block goes off even if its a false alarm. Getting it turned off is easier said than done.

The plus side to living there was the energy costs were low. Very well insulated meant we hardly had the heating on and it stayed warm for ages.

[ynguk 10]

Thanks for the reply Willow, the noise thing is my major concern really. I have been told by several people that it is a major issue in older apartments but the newer ones built very recently SHOULD be built to higher acoustic regulation. If anyone could enlighten me on this from experience I would be grateful.

I'd rather find out the true pitfalls now than waste 130k or so.

[-willow- 10]

Just to let you know the willows were built around 2008 so not very recent but fairly. I personally wouldn't want to spend £130k and live with that noise. Oh forgot to add we had a lot of noise from the Wednesday training ground too as it was directly behind our block.

[molly44 10]

i have experience of living in a converted apartment that was originally offices, there were seven in the building and seeing that i was going to be on the top floor i insisted that they lay extra soundproofing under my flooring.

i am very glad i did i really cant say i hear the traffic noise (or the tram) but i do still occasionally hear the downstairs neighbour when they have music on.

but i do think that the double glazing works wonders. maybe make sure a property that you look at has these in place.

Oh and of course it all depends on how many neighbours you have, i am lucky i have only seven, but complexes near me ( West street) are pure hell for noise.

[Stuart82 10]

I live in quite a new apartment (built 6yrs ago) with good sound proofing but you still hear some noise but what you find is you get used to certain sounds and becomes white noise. Also our management company is very strict on certain noise so don't get problems from loud noise etc. Like someone already said if neighbour is having an argument which is just one of those things you can hear it if tv isn't on. If you live in a semi or detached property then don't think an apartment/ flat is for you but if you live in a mid-terrace you'll probably find it not that dissimilar.

Stay away from converted properties as I've had friends that have lived in them (still do) and was shocked how much noise they got.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Things to bear in mind when buying a flat:

1. You buy it leasehold. Read the lease or ask your solicitor to explain it thoroughly to you.

2. How long is the lease's unexpired term? If <90yrs., demand that V complete a term extension before (or when) you buy.

3. The lease reserves a service charge. Look at the recent s/c demands. Ask your Chartered Surveyor to view the entire block and advise you if there are likely to be foreseeable large increases in s/c re major works necessitated.

4. Who owns the freehold reversion? It could be:

a. the original developer [medium-good news];

b. an investor who bought from the original developer [not good news at all, usually]; or

c. the block's collective leaseholders [better news, subject to Horrid Neighbour Syndrome!]

[ynguk 10]

I guess what the best answer could be is to maybe rent for 6 months whilst or after I sell my current property. This way I could decide if an apartment is for me and it should give me a strong "no chain" situation.

It is surely cheaper than wasting a lot of money on something we dont like.

Would a 6 month let be an option generally? I really am quite naive about these matters.

[jasd75 10]

With regard to noise, I don't think there is a right or wrong answer as I've lived in an appartment for the last 5 years and don't hear anything from any of the neighbours.

 

Previous to that I lived at the end of a block of 3 town houses and could constantly hear the neighbours doing a variety of things...

[jm79 10]

From experience of living in an apartment for 3 years (renting, thankfully) my advice would be to research what type of people rent there already (if thats possible). We rented in an apartment that was promoted for "young professionals" yet it was full of students...hence LOADS of noise! The management staff were adamant that there were no students there, even though it was blatantly obvious it was over-run by students.

 

Ive nothing against students (I was one myself) but it was frustrating that the marketing of the apartment was misleading. Nevertheless, we stayed there for a while as you sort of got used to the noise and I was young myself at the time so it didnt bother me too much. However, now it would drive me insane!

[molly44 10]

I guess what the best answer could be is to maybe rent for 6 months whilst or after I sell my current property. This way I could decide if an apartment is for me and it should give me a strong "no chain" situation.

It is surely cheaper than wasting a lot of money on something we dont like.

Would a 6 month let be an option generally? I really am quite naive about these matters.

 

the thing with that is if it was a good property then it would be hard for you to even rent it for a short while, it would already be let out.

take myself i had a one bed flat in the city centre, i had let it out for five years, i had no problems with tenants or anything at all.

 

i wanted to sell it i had a number of interested parties around for viewings but i didn't get the offer that i wanted. then someone came back and said could they rent for six months and then maybe after that they would make me an offer.

i said no straight away because i knew the flat would sell and i didn't want a sitting tenant who would maybe make a lower offer because they were already install in the place.

in the end i did sell for slightly less than the asking price to another party but if the first person had expressed a genuine interest in buying rather than renting i may have negotiated a even lower price with them.

i felt there were trying to get one over on me, not a good idea its not just a buyers market!

[Hippogriff 10]

My experience of apartment living is that it can be noisy (I was quite high up but street level noise as well as noise from other apartments was quite bad) and the service charges are high... also, it's not 100% clear why - I could not describe it as value for money. If students form a proportion of the population it will be noisy just 'cos of that. I hate communal bins - bin chutes would be desirable. On the plus side... no need for a taxi out to the suburbs after some jars, easy 'commute' to work and the Concierge takes all my parcels, so no more "Sorry you were out" cards and sad trips to the Royal Mail DO. Finally... no-one ever knocks on your door asking if you're interested in double glazing or wish to complete a survey. Last negative I ran into... there's no space! Swinging a cat in many will not be possible.

 

I'd rent first.