Are British homes sub standard?

[Hagar]

Many people just move into a property and do no maintenance at all. There is no grace period on a new house where maintenance is not required either.
Maintenance includes cleaning, decorative repair and repairs to damage as soon as practicable, maintaining the pipework and heating systems, Improvements like extra insulation, replacement glazing, the list goes on. Being a home owner means that every weekend there is something that needs doing, even if its only mowing the lawn..

 

[martin363]

I'm intrigued to know why no pvc. Is it Something to do with salt water. I don't think places in the UK are built differently on the coast that's all.

Salt water and 300+ days of sun I think. We get ‘high street’ window shops here (so to speak) and uPVC is just not an option with them at all. We also have aluminium shutters which we close most nights. They slide back into the wall cavity to open, the 3rd door seen is a fly screen.

older properties have wood.

The daft thing is despite the appearance of security, we live in a place people leave their keys in their cars so neighbours can move them if they need! It is peace of mind when we lock up for 4 months in the UK though.

Aluminium


Steel - with 10 dead bolts or lock pins

 

[Spook187]

We have been speaking this morning about it. He has his place in Seattle, the pictures are very nice. He took a job in London to see a bit of the world, thinks London is overrated.

He(you) fell into that London Bubble fairly fast lol

 

[Delvis]

We have been speaking this morning about it. He has his place in Seattle, the pictures are very nice. He took a job in London to see a bit of the world, thinks London is overrated.

A lot of London will be a dive, yes, it's a city, most city's are and have their good and bad areas.

Like anything you get what you pay for and London is expensive. If you want cheap so north, further than Northampton

 

[CapitalOne]

Everybody hates London, unless you live there of course. Seattle is no different, just smaller and has some absolute holes in it. 2.5k a month sounds a lot but it's a decent house in Zone 5/6 or a pokey studio in zone 1 (and no, I would not want to live in zone 1 far too noisy).

 

[Angilion]

Possibly a slight exaggeration, I don’t live bang in the centre but I can see Tower Bridge from my bedroom window, some 1500 metres to the west, and Bond Street station is 6 stops from my nearest Jubilee Line station.
I retired 10 years ago after driving a Black Cab for 30 years, and I bobble along without too much trouble, but to be fair I’ve been mortgage free for maybe 22 years.
We’ve had to eschew holidays in exotic places like Tahiti and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but I can still manage a couple of weeks on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and I take my wife out to dinner at least once per week
In the interest of full disclosure it all came down to being in the right place at the right time, and being willing to work my nuts off, if I was starting out now I wouldn’t be living where I am now.

So 40+ years ago (47 years if you had the then-usual 25 year mortgage) the housing situation was less bad than it is today, even in central London. If anyone invents time travel, I'll rethink my post. Until then, I think it's not an exaggeration.

 

[Tephnos]

Yes, a lot of the problems are also caused by bodgers. People fixing things without the know-how of google so they at least do the job properly, or hiring cowboys to fit things (like windows) that are installed incorrectly, so they need further bodged just to work.

It's bodges all the way down.

 

[D.P.]

UK houses sre reasonably safe and secure, but i would agree the quality is often lower than other countries. However, lots of variables such as property age, purchase/rental cost parity.

Many UK homes suffer from dampness. Newer homes have paper mache internal walls. The finishing is often low grade, e.g the cheapest kitchen units and surface possible. Lots of manky carpet or vinyl, when there is a wooden floor it is some laminate rather than genuine hardwood. Rarely get underfloor heating. En suite bathrooms and walk-in closest seem to be luxory rather than standard fair. Mostly closed rather than open planned.

Part of the problem is the UK's terrible rental laws,so neither the tenant or landlord are incentivised to upgrade. You compare that to the many countries with rental control and unlimited contracts, then landlords wsnt to upgrade the property in prder tp raise prices, snd tenants can upgrade the kitchen or bathroom as they see fit because they can be living there for the next 20-30 years

 

[Mickie]

I believe Landlords will be forced to upgrade their homes to new tenants soon to a certain Energy rating, cant remember which one off the top of my head but that'll go a long way in making things better for tenants or cheap homes for first timers..

 

[dlockers]

I believe Landlords will be forced to upgrade their homes to new tenants soon to a certain Energy rating, cant remember which one off the top of my head but that'll go a long way in making things better for tenants or cheap homes for first timers..

Na just means the LLs will need to:
1) hold on to property longer to realise the benefit
2) will increase rent to foot the bill

 

[Mickie]

Na just means the LLs will need to:
1) hold on to property longer to realise the benefit
2) will increase rent to foot the bill

The only way around the new regulation is to hold onto the current tenant.. increased rents probably wont work in all areas, I've noticed recently LLs selling up, maybe that's a factor.. people shouldn't expect low rents in renovated properties.

 

[PermaChanged]

letter boxes that are uncomfortable to open etc

Makes them a nightmare to poo in.

 

[Jean-F]

So 40+ years ago (47 years if you had the then-usual 25 year mortgage) the housing situation was less bad than it is today, even in central London. If anyone invents time travel, I'll rethink my post. Until then, I think it's not an exaggeration.

Impossible to argue with your logic and I wouldn’t even try.
I think the problem here is that I overreacted to your original statement, “that if you’re not a multi-millionaire at least, central London is crap.”
I’m not a millionaire by a long shot, I live as near as dammit in central London on the State pension and one small one that I paid into, a total income of pennies over a grand per month, I do okay so naturally I don’t see London as crap, I have no desire to move away from my home town, I love it and it’s what I’m used to.
I neglected to factor in that I pay zero to live here, as my house is paid up, and that due to my work ethic I stashed bundles over the years and that providing that things go to plan and I die before I run out of money I win.

 

[Efour]

Surely you want to die the day after you run out of money?

 

[DarrenM343]

I believe Landlords will be forced to upgrade their homes to new tenants soon to a certain Energy rating, cant remember which one off the top of my head but that'll go a long way in making things better for tenants or cheap homes for first timers..

Think it has to be a C or higher from 2025 to be able to be let to tenants.

 

[Retro6]

Many people just move into a property and do no maintenance at all. There is no grace period on a new house where maintenance is not required either.
Maintenance includes cleaning, decorative repair and repairs to damage as soon as practicable, maintaining the pipework and heating systems, Improvements like extra insulation, replacement glazing, the list goes on. Being a home owner means that every weekend there is something that needs doing, even if its only mowing the lawn..

I see so many old period houses get destroyed inside for the sake of cheap nasty contemporary design. Floorboards covered in fake laminate flooring, old cast iron bath tubs ripped out and Victorian tiles replaced with cheap looking plain modern tiles. Old stare cases ripped out et etc I could go on.

 

[Retro6]

A mate of mine is seeking to rent a home. So far he says that British homes are expensive, sub standard and dangerous.

Everything he sees is a dump and expensive, this guy gets a very good wage 3 times the average wage in the UK. His skills are needed here, but now he is seriously thinking of moving abroad.

His boss has offered him a bit more to stay and not leave the company. If he leaves a department will be impacted.

I would have to agree.

For what they are, properties are very expensive in the UK. Many properties in the UK are dark and dingy. Council flats that were built for the poor are now being bought up by the rich. The problem is there are so many people in the UK that there isn't enough space to build larger or decent properties.

A lot of cities and towns are very old which were built when there wasn't so many people around which makes living spaces smaller and compromises have to be made to maximize the amount of housing needed.

A lot of the old houses particularly street properties need a lot of work and look dirty and run down with cracks everywhere and really could do with work done to them. Some just get patched up until they need doing again.

I think properties in general are expensive in the UK because they are in such high demand.

 

[Retro6]

For sure, it does depend on where you live. When I lived in the Black Country, I saw a lot of homes that hadn't been maintained properly, and some had never even been fully modernised. When I first moved in with her, my wife's house still had a gravity fed shower and a high level chain pull cistern for the toilet.

Yes but a lot of that older stuff is becoming a luxury now.

I don't agree with modernization. I think its important that our history is saved. Of course some moden things can be done like new electrical wiring, new pipes etc but other things should be left as they are. I live in an old Victorian house and I'd hate for any kinda modernism. Modern design is cold, plain and boring not to mention cheap looking. Victorian stuff is nice to look at, something to be admired and is of quality.

 

[andybird123]

I believe Landlords will be forced to upgrade their homes to new tenants soon to a certain Energy rating, cant remember which one off the top of my head but that'll go a long way in making things better for tenants or cheap homes for first timers..

I'm not sure how insulation that won't be visible will make UK homes any better. Equally I've bought properties, spent £20k on renovations, let them out for a couple of years only for the tenants to do £7k's worth of damage and not fulfill their contractual obligations on their bit of the maintenance, so I'm not at all surprised to hear that a lot of landlords don't bother redecorating that much. (I only flip properties now and don't landlord anymore because it's too much hassle renovating a place twice to be able to sell).

 

[Mickie]

I'm not sure how insulation that won't be visible will make UK homes any better. Equally I've bought properties, spent £20k on renovations, let them out for a couple of years only for the tenants to do £7k's worth of damage and not fulfill their contractual obligations on their bit of the maintenance, so I'm not at all surprised to hear that a lot of landlords don't bother redecorating that much. (I only flip properties now and don't landlord anymore because it's too much hassle renovating a place twice to be able to sell).

Cheaper to run for the tenant, It is a risk being a LL, thankfully not all Tenants are bad or else no-one would bother letting out their homes..