Two room flat

[Clive]

Hi,

Just for entertainment purposes, I am on the email list for a couple of the property auction companies. I don't have the money or the nerve to play the properrty development game.

I have just seen a flat in Tottenham, in an Edwardian terrace for =A360k . Sign of the times.

I read a little further and saw the description as "two rooms". That means one toilet and shower room and one other living / bedroom / kitchen area. Now in an Edwardian terrace how are you going to squeeze that in? I'm sure it won't have the floor area of a Manhattan or Clerkenwell loft with "open-living" arrangements. Surely this "flat" must contravene several building regulations ?? And how was such a small box ever mortgageable? My gut feelings tell me that we only need to look at such "property", and people being so desperate to buy it, and the mortgage lenders previously being prepared to lend on it, to understand why we have in London so many sub-standard, unmortgageable properties. A plague on all their (the mortgage lenders) houses to fuel such a situation.

Yours (should leave off the heavy red wine),

Clive

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Normally a two room flat excludes bathroom and kitchen - even where the kitchen is separate. What you're describing is usually called a studio - one living space plus bathroom.

[meow2222]

Mosts houses do. So what?

free market

NT

[Martin Pentreath]

Interesting to see what will happen. The last time the market crashed these "studios" (ie bedsits) became completely unsaleable to owner occupiers. Those who had bought them just before the music stopped were probably the worst suffers of that downturn, some of them stuck for years in a place which wasn't even big enough when they first moved in. My hazy recollection is that many of the flats were bought at knockdown prices by landlords, and I would say that type of housing has a role to play in the market as rented accommodation for those who need somewhere compact and cheap to rent for six to twelve months. The landlords in the mid-90s were funded by commercial mortgages. Maybe the greatest change in the market since then is the rise of the buy-to- let mortgage, and finance generally being easier to obtain for landlords. Even now with a dramatically constrained credit supply landlords who can raise a 25% deposit can borrow fairly easily. So maybe the prices of these studios will be find a floor more readily than they did last time once rental yields offer a sensible return.

Errr, don't ask me the relevance to DIY.

Cheers!

Martin

[EricP]

Around here in a generally low priced area they have been building "Studios" for decades. One large room for everything with a bathroom/toilet in one corner. Advertised as "£20 per weeks get you one". They are ideal for singles or couple with no kids and provided something much better than £40 for someone back room in a semi sharing. They command a decent buy/sell price too. Very popular with old people as they are easy to clean.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They're also popular - and expensive - as a pied a terre close to a station and decent restaurants, etc. Usually in a fully serviced block.

[Ed Sirett]

It would be interesting to know exactly where just to have a better look.

It may well have been illegally converted into a tiny flat, but that's history now. Two rooms may well be a bed/sitting + kitchenette or even bedroom + living/kitchen space. The shower/bathroom may well be there and not counted as part of the two room.

The area is somewhat variable ranging from a bad area up to average.

60k sounds well under the going rate even in these times and in that area. Therefore it's likely to be some other show stopping problem. Nevertheless if the place is essentially habitable albeit cramped and unpleasant it would probably get at least £100 a week rent or more.

[tim.....]

I guess it's this one:

http://62.105.94.133/lond_Current_auction_lot.asp?pos=4Though they have moved it, the postcode is actually in Haringey (I've no idea if that makes a difference to the buyer potential)

I think that the OP has misunderstood the details, I think it means two rooms plus Bathroom/WC, not two rooms, one of which is Bathroom/WC.

250K appears to be the going price for a whole house in this road, so a 60 guide for an unmodernised flat, less than one complete floor, seems right.

The property has been split into three flats and the "ground rear" is in Band B with the other two in Band C. Next door, still a complete house, is in E.

HTH

tim

[Mark]

And it does say

Accommodation: Ground Floor - Two Rooms (One with Kitchen Area off), Bathroom/WC

But I wouldn't touch with a barge pole, thing are set to get a lot worse before it gets better. ;(

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[tim.....]

That's not what the Royal Mail postcode site says.

Yes I know, it was the OP who interpreted it differently

Why is that relevent to this particular property?

tim

[Mark]

So which borough does Tottenham now come under ?

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[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Ed Sirett saying something like:

There was an interesting prog on BBC4 last week...

it was a flat in London - two rooms all right - one of them being the bog and shower. The other room was a combined kitchen/liv rm /bedroom/etc. Total floor area was mentioned as being five square metres or similar. It's just like walking into a big cupboard - I mean, the room I'm in at the moment is bigger than their entire flat, ffs. The couple in it paid through the nose and now can't sell it - who would want it.

People shouldn't have to live like that and it's all down to the greedy bastards who pushed the prices ever upwards.

[tim.....]

I've no idea, but that isn't the point,

If you go to the RM postcode finder and type in that road and "tottenam" it says that they isn't one.

tim

[PCPaul]

Even if you put "Tottenham" it still does. Google says N17 6TH is Haringey, but the map shows it as halfway between 'Tottenham' and 'South Tottenham' with the "Harringay" rail stations well off to the west.

Incidentally, the RM database was sure my old house was in Worcestershire but the council said it was in Herefordshire, so you can't take either as gospel. Boundaries change and post-town boundaries are only approxiamte anyway.

[Mark]

N17 6TH is in Mount pleasant Rd, Bruce Grove ward within spitting distance from the notorious Broadwater farm est. Tottenham. shown by the arrow here

if that doesn't convince you try putting the post code in the interactive map Borough of Haringey, of which Tottenham is part of.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Estate agents have a habit of moving boundaries so a property appears to be in a better area. Chelsea borders for Fulham, etc.

[Roger Morton]

Tottenham, as well as the old village of Harringay, are both now in the London Borough of Haringey; it contains lots of rail stations, and a fair few villages as well...

[PW]

So is it now Haringey Hotspur

the address and post code

[Bob Eager]

Tottenham has been technically part of Haringey for quite a while (so says my wife, who grew up there).

No reason why the club name has to change! At least they're still in the same place - unlike Arsenal, who are a long way from their beginnings.

[PW]

Im well aware of that as I live there It was the N17 Tottenham postcode that was in question.