The Sheer Greed Of Some Property Developers

[bomberbrown]

This beautiful victorian terrace has been 'carved' up into 4 tiny flats by some sheer property b@stard!! Not one seperate kitchen and the reception rooms are tiny! I had a look in the window of the ground floor flat on the way home last night and I couldn't believe my eyes. Right there in the living room is a f@#king kitchen! The terrace is exactly the same 'version' as mine (except I have a massive seperate kitchen) so can honestly get a feel for the space.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-231...p;mam_disp=true

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-231...p;mam_disp=true

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-231...p;mam_disp=true

4th one looks like its off the market

http://www.houseprices.co.uk/e.php?q=41+gubyon+avenue

[pete.hpc]

240 grand

[lulu]

This beautiful victorian terrace has been 'carved' up into 4 tiny flats by some sheer property b@stard!! Not one seperate kitchen and the reception rooms are tiny! I had a look in the window of the ground floor flat on the way home last night and I couldn't believe my eyes. Right there in the living room is a f@#king kitchen! The terrace is exactly the same 'version' as mine (except I have a massive seperate kitchen) so can honestly get a feel for the space.

But you are obviously forgetting that:

"This is not just a "one bed flat" this is "THE" one bed flat ! "

I would give them £100,000 for one - they are in London after all.

[terryturbojr]

Not really sure what the problem is here. If people want to live in London then they for the most part have to live in flats, why the issue with someone buying a house and splitting it into flats for them?

[Bubble&Squeak]

Not really sure what the problem is here. If people want to live in London then they for the most part have to live in flats, why the issue with someone buying a house and splitting it into flats for them?

1, The price is ridiculous

2, The amount of space is too little, through simple greed and largely because of 1, (who really would buy this shit if everything wasn't overpriced? I am sure you wouldn't)

The amount of housing stock in London that has been ruined through stupid, ill thought-out and greed driven conversions is truly mind boggling. :angry:

[worried1]

Not really sure what the problem is here. If people want to live in London then they for the most part have to live in flats, why the issue with someone buying a house and splitting it into flats for them?

I agree, but the issue for me with this one is selling studio flats as one-bedders. The main reception room is 14'x12' which is ok, but not when you stick a ktichen in there as well. I am not a fan of the open plan kitchen at all myself, but I suppose it is fairly reasonable if you have a 20'x15' reception room.

Overall, I quite like conversions as opposed to purpose built flats. Assuming these end up going for £200k each, the whole house would be valued at £800k - a fair bit more than anyone would be prepared to pay for it as a single house in SE24. This gives the option of converting it back to a single house in years to come.

[Wad]

I too get annoyed by beautiful listed buildings being effectively destroyed by being broken up into flats. I am not talking about old industrial buldings that have been recycled by turning them into flats. That is a good thing in many cases. What I am talking about are buildings that were built as family houses being smashed to bits inside in order to build tiny flats that no one really wants.

It is vandalism.

Edited September 25, 2008 by Wad

[terryturbojr]

It is vandalism.

It's pretty tricky to vandalise something you own.

[worried1]

I too get annoyed by beautiful listed buildings being effectively destroyed by being broken up into flats. I am not talking about old industrial buldings that have been recycled by turning them into flats. That is a good thing in many cases. What I am talking about are buildings that were built as family houses being smashed to bits inside in order to build tiny flats that no one really wants.

It is vandalism.

As I said in my previous post, I do agree totally with the sentiment, but if the demand is there people are going to do these conversions. Hoepfully, the current crash will change this demand because some parts of London have been completely changed forever.

At least with conversions, only the inside is butchered. Three beautiful houses have been razed near me and are being replaced with a massive purpose built block. These houses will never come back - at least the converted ones might do.

[ʎqɐqɹǝʞɐɥs]

1/4 of a million for a kitchen in your living room and a toilet and a bedroom. :angry:

[Tonkers]

If all the houses in the road get divvied up into 3/4 flats each it becomes a massive parking nightmare. West End Lane is a good example of this in London.

[Mrs Bear]

This beautiful victorian terrace has been 'carved' up into 4 tiny flats by some sheer property b@stard!! Not one seperate kitchen and the reception rooms are tiny! I had a look in the window of the ground floor flat on the way home last night and I couldn't believe my eyes. Right there in the living room is a f@#king kitchen! The terrace is exactly the same 'version' as mine (except I have a massive seperate kitchen) so can honestly get a feel for the space.

Vandalism, I do agree. But the prices are a joke - he'll never achieve anything like the asking Ps.

Can't help wondering how long the fashion for 'open plan living' i.e. kitchen crammed in at one end of the living room, is going to last.

All very well in the glossy 'lifestyle' photos with just an artistically arranged avocado or two, plus of course the statutory shiny, happy young couple leaning against the gleaming worktop with glasses of wine.

For anyone who actually cooks, as opposed to just shoving things in a microwave, it just means a lot of smell and mess you can't shut the door on.

But then I am a very messy cook.

[Crashman Begins]

Youd better have money to throw away if you buy one of those

[terryturbojr]

Vandalism, I do agree. But the prices are a joke - he'll never achieve anything like the asking Ps.

Can't help wondering how long the fashion for 'open plan living' i.e. kitchen crammed in at one end of the living room, is going to last.

All very well in the glossy 'lifestyle' photos with just an artistically arranged avocado or two, plus of course the statutory shiny, happy young couple leaning against the gleaming worktop with glasses of wine.

For anyone who actually cooks, as opposed to just shoving things in a microwave, it just means a lot of smell and mess you can't shut the door on.

But then I am a very messy cook.

Totally. Living in London I've had a few open plan places and as a keen cook (see signature) it's a nightmare.

I'm amazed when people take normal sized places and purposefully knock them through into a single open plan room when they've room enough they don't have too.

[Rachman]

£800 or so per sq foot.... there.

Absolutely laughable, they would have been studio flats before. Or they could have made two good flats out of that house.

He has zero chance of selling them at the equivalent mortgage/cost to £1500 a month in rent...... - joker....

they are worth no more than £120K each, even in London as pied a terre (starter flats or one woman brothels to you and me).

[youthoftoday]

I too get annoyed by beautiful listed buildings being effectively destroyed by being broken up into flats. I am not talking about old industrial buldings that have been recycled by turning them into flats. That is a good thing in many cases. What I am talking about are buildings that were built as family houses being smashed to bits inside in order to build tiny flats that no one really wants.

It is vandalism.

100% agree. There's a large 4 bed detatched Victorian villa in my street that the owner wanted to knock down and build 8 flats there. Several letters of protest and a petition or two later planning permission was refused. Now in a fit of pique the owner has decided to rip out the chimney breasts and destroy the original plaster decor in order to convert the building into umpteen bedsits. We can't stop him vandalising the property but just wait till he applies for change of use to a HMO. I feel another petition coming on.

[PropertyBear]

At least with conversions, only the inside is butchered. Three beautiful houses have been razed near me and are being replaced with a massive purpose built block. These houses will never come back - at least the converted ones might do.

It's an interesting point. I did wonder this myself but it's a lot easier to convert a house into two flats than to buy two flats and convert them back into a house.

Does anyone think houses will hold their value better than flats (particularly pokey matchbox studios) or that house prices have risen just as much as studios and will eventually fall proportionally the same?

Maybe if the doommongers economic catastrophe really plays out, the government will own most of the conversion flats in any given street and will be able to convert them back for "hard working families". Hehe.

[Englebert]

But you are obviously forgetting that:

"This is not just a "one bed flat" this is "THE" one bed flat ! "

I would give them £100,000 for one - they are in London after all.

I wouldn't even give that. As much as people say that the credit crunch will affect us all, I am willing to accept pretty much any hardship so long as greedy property feckers like this end up living in a cardboard box.

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

If all the houses in the road get divvied up into 3/4 flats each it becomes a massive parking nightmare. West End Lane is a good example of this in London.

Technically Planning Permission should have been denied outright due to insufficient parking.

[bomberbrown]

Not really sure what the problem is here. If people want to live in London then they for the most part have to live in flats, why the issue with someone buying a house and splitting it into flats for them?

No issue with splitting the house into flats, but 4!!!!!! Sheer greed! I live in exactly the same style house. It is split into 2 flats. Downstairs and upstairs.

[worried1]

Does anyone think houses will hold their value better than flats (particularly pokey matchbox studios) or that house prices have risen just as much as studios and will eventually fall proportionally the same?

I think it varies by area, but generally the bottom end has gone up more in % terms than the top. This is what causes this sort of greed - £240k may be the going rate for a 5-600sqft one bed flat in this part of London, but it does not mean that a flat half that size will fetch the same just because it is marketed as a proper one bed flat.

The prices of decent sized flats will come down, partly because so many new ones have been built/converted during this boom. The price of this sort of thing will be absolutely decimated - if people can buy one twice the size for, say, £150k why are they going to pay anymore than £100k for something like this?

[PropertyBear]

I think it varies by area, but generally the bottom end has gone up more in % terms than the top. This is what causes this sort of greed - £240k may be the going rate for a 5-600sqft one bed flat in this part of London, but it does not mean that a flat half that size will fetch the same just because it is marketed as a proper one bed flat.

The prices of decent sized flats will come down, partly because so many new ones have been built/converted during this boom. The price of this sort of thing will be absolutely decimated - if people can buy one twice the size for, say, £150k why are they going to pay anymore than £100k for something like this?

I agree. I wonder if more flats v houses are BTL too. There could be a deluge of flats going cheap in places like London. Houses should weather the storm relatively better.

[Darkman]

Kitchen units next to a fireplace

How....... novel

[terryturbojr]

I agree. I wonder if more flats v houses are BTL too. There could be a deluge of flats going cheap in places like London. Houses should weather the storm relatively better.

Flats have always been popualr with BTL so I imagine so.

[cht]

Flats have always been popualr with BTL so I imagine so.

I wonder if the developer knows that Harriet Harman lives around the corner? You can bet your life her place isn't going to be divided up any time soon.