House to flat coping without a garden

I downsized in December from an extended 135 year old cottage with enormous garden to a modern ground floor flat in a courtyard development with communal gardens. There used to be a factor who maintained the gardens and private parking area, A few years ago the factor vanished, was no longer contactable so the residents cancelled their monthly fees, since then some of the owners have been doing the gardening, each taking responsibility for the area adjacent to their flat. I have been tending my 'bit' (currently resplendent with spring flowers and blossoming bushes) but as a dedicated "if you can't eat it don't plant it" gardener, I have added in some tubs with Herbs, French Beans, Peas, Salad leaves, raspberries, etc. Also enrolled at the village's Community Garden and Community Orchard.

It is possible to sit out in the sun with a coffee and a book but more often than not one or more of the neighbours will join you for a chat, which suits me but may not suit everyone.

Suzyb interesting that you are adding a balcony.

Yesterday I noticed that a building undergoing extensive refurbishment is obviously adding balconies to the three floors - it's an expensive road to live in anyway so the flats would be worth a lot, but even more with south-facing balconies.

I think the importance of at least a bit of outside space can't be stressed enough. The only new builds without balconies seem to be Grad Pads.

I live with my dh in a 2nd floor flat which unfortunately doesn’t have a balcony. We’ve been here 16 years after selling our large family home with huge garden when the kids left home. It’s in a very sought after area and definitely location location location. We’re going through the process of arranging to have a balcony fitted on our south facing front window which is huge. The flat itself is purpose built and 40 years old but has large room sizes which we love. You never tick all your boxes when you make a house move but if you can manage 7 out of 10 then it’s a bonus.
The flats are set in beautiful grounds as there used to be a very large mansion with stable block and tennis courts here before. The gardeners keep the gardens immaculate. During our first lockdown it was a godsend living here as we could sit in the grounds socially distanced from our neighbours and enjoy tea coffee and prosecco whilst chatting to everyone. We were never lonely unlike our friends who had their private gardens and couldn’t have any visitors.
We do own a small place in Spain and I have my little garden there to tend. Being in a flat also enables us to lock up and leave whenever we want knowing it’s secure and without the thought of coming back to grass which has grown to a foot high. Our maintenance charge is £110 per month and that includes buildings insurance and window cleaning plus entrance and stair cleaning every week. We never have to worry about a huge repair bill.
I know communal living is not everyone’s cup of tea and you do have weigh up the pros and cons but all I can say is we love our flat.

mokryna

Buy freehold as we do in Europe, UK leasehold is robbery. I believe I heard that there is a new law coming in banning it, isn’t there?

Yes there is, going through parliament. Mine is lease hold, but with a very reputable EA and nominal yearly payment.

As has been mentioned, stairlifts can be fitted on the most unlikely of staircases.

I used to visit a patient in one of those tiny London mews houses (originally built as stables for carriages) the stairs were tiny, narrow and twisty - almost like a spiral staircase, but there was a functioning stairlift.

Thanks I’ve loved reading all your stories and suggestions. I think I’m going to continue to search for an affordable place with a garden for as long as it takes I agree outside space is so therapeutic in many ways.
This weekend for instance the family all came to mine to get to together with their uncle,brother,cousins visiting from abroad we had a wonderful day in the garden with a picnic lunch games on the lawn and an egg hunt for the children it was fabulous. So thanks for all your positive thoughts it’s good to get other people’s experiences especially living in flats.

I probably wouldn't mind too much if it was no higher than third floor and had a decent sized balcony to grow a bit of veg on.

Dempie55

I am considering the very same dilemma at the moment. I've been house hunting for months, and, ideally, I would like a small 2-bedroom cottage/terraced house, or a bungalow. However, these are getting snapped up at ridiculous prices, and my family are now suggesting that I consider an apartment or flat, partly because they think it would be easier as I get older.
However, I know I would miss having a garden terribly, I love just wandering outside with a cuppa. There is also the thing about noisy neighbours, either clog dancing above me, or having the TV up too loud because they are cloth-eared.
Plus there are maintenance charges, which, no doubt, will be going sky high over the next 12 months. There's a lot to think about.

I live in an old house converted into 2 flats. The 2 flats own the freehold. We both have outside space (my big balcony is the other's bathroom extension). There is soundproofing material between my floor and the ceiling of the downstairs flat.

Personally I would need to be able to step outside and sit in the sun. My friend moved to a nice first floor apartment with a small balcony looks out over woodland and the city beyond and is space enough for 2 to sit out around a small table to eat, planters over balcony bring colour all year round and give him something to potter over without the work a garden brings. Even has artificial grass flooring. The communal garden is now used. He put notices through the other residents doors on his floor inviting them to bring their cuppas out between 10 and 11 for morning coffee and some took the offer up. Its now a regular thing, other floors have joined in and they have the odd get together in the evenings for those out at work during the day. Its all very casual but did bring people together so I guess you have to work at not isolating yourself.
The bird feeder thing is a great idea too. I shall suggest it to him.

tanith

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, I’ve had this decision hanging over me for some years now and I just don’t seem to move forward with a plan. I’ve always been able to just walk out into my garden whenever I want and drink a cuppa and listen to the birds, in a flat I feel ill be surrounded by people and noise. I wish someone else would make the decision for me ?

Definitely get a ground floor flat with a garden Tanith

tanith

So have you? I might be facing this decision at some point and I know I will miss my garden so much. How did you cope?

I've just moved to a ground floor flat, big Victorian house split in 2 , so just the 2 flats, after always living in a nice big house. Wouldn't have considered a place without a garden. My garden here is lovely, 3 mature trees. I'm enjoying putting in some new plants & will be getting some garden ornaments next week, from a lovely shop I keep passing called 'everything under the sun'

I moved to a ground floor flat last year. Have a bad back, some mobility problems and cancer. Having done hospital car for 10 years I have seen so many people stay too long in their house, as they didnt want to move, but then if they were ill or their eyesight deteriorated they had to move quickly as they couldnt drive etc up the dales and that meant they had to take what was on offer or perhaps their family had to find somewhere for them. I preferred to make my own choice. Hated leaving my garden on three levels with my 70 different types of snowdrops and hellebores etc, but knew it was for the best. So I was able to decide what things mattered and take my time finding somewhere. I have chosen to be on the edge of a town now so that there is a train station and buses. If I am unable to drive will have ways of travelling easily. Not far from the hospital and the usual amenities of a town. At the flats here the garden is mostly communal but with a small area of garden for each flat too, but the main garden area has lovely trees - silver birch etc and the grass is cut by the so called gardeners. But it does mean that I dont need to worry about that if my back is bad, we have some pleasant seating and there are lots of birds daffodils etc. I hope to retain my independence for many years here having made this difficult move. So to satisfy the gardening bit, firstly I always have the yellow garden book the NGS one, which shows you gardens to visit in england and wales for charity. You get to see many great gardens and may find some very close to where you live. Then checking out the parks etc nearby you can find one that you enjoy visiting. Also if you look around you may find a church garden or a communal garden which has volunteers where you can be part of . Here, I have found a lovely garden attached to a local church and they open it to the public on market days and on two other days they have a gardening group and you can go along and do a bit of weeding and sit in the garden etc. Another possibility is just looking round when you get settled and see who has gardens where they might be rather messy and you might be able to offer to help. A couple of years ago I was doing hospital car and had one lady saying how sad she was that her garden was getting very untidy since her husband had died and she was not able to do so much to it. Then I took a young man with his son who was sad that they lived in a flat and missed a garden. I did it all officially through the scheme but was able to put them in touch with each other and it was a great result. They agreed that the family could garden and grow veg and flowers and the lady would just take what she wanted to, for herself and be able to enjoy the garden and no money changed hands. I am very happy to say that this carried on for at least 2 years to my knowledge and she enjoyed their company and their little boy visited and the young man used to mend things for her etc. Of course this sort of thing doesnt happen often but all I am suggesting is that if you grasp the nettle now, you have time on your side to really look around and think about what you would be happy with or sure you would not like. Looking round different areas you will find out the type of soil and gardens that appeal to you and just having little trips out to different areas to look can be quite theraputic and give you good ideas. You might find an area that you had not previously considered might be worth looking at. Visiting open gardens in an area also gives you a chance to look around. I have lived abroad and travelled a lot and one of the things I do when I am serious about an area is deliberately go at different times of day and sit in my car, and make a note of the amount of traffic, whether there are lots of lorries or bikes or whatever, check out the busy times of day, try out the cafes, buy the local papers for a few weeks. Their letter columns will tell you the bugbears and the new developments likely. Do you swim, or like tennis - check out where they are in relation to the area you are looking at and how far to the shops etc. Where is the nearest art gallery and library? Looking at all these things can be quite interesting in itself and you will have a much better idea after a while of what is important to you and what you could manage without. If you try this you are taking control and I think you will feel much better about moving than ignoring it and maybe ending up somewhere you really dont want to be. Good luck with it, and I c an only say that although I didnt want to move, due to my health reasons it has been a good thing to do and I would have been worse if I had stayed in my house.

You've made the decision you don't want a flat without a garden

We moved to a flat on two floors 18 months ago and just have a balcony after years of lovely gardens, but we have a direct view over the Thames towards Kew.
Yes I do miss my garden but do have big pots with roses, fruit trees and climbers.
As for paying regular management fees, it's much better to live on a well managed estate than to be faced with large bills for external decorating and unexpected repairs. That's much safer than having a flat in a building with no reserve fund for unexpected bills. What happens if you need a new roof?
If you have a share of the freehold you're very unlikely to be faced with a "rip-off" management company.
We can't dry laundry on the balconies either, but I can discreetly hang duvet covers to dry over our outside table!
Our heating comes from a central boiler house so no unexpected boiler repair bills either.
I don't know about noisy neighbours because there are no flats above us and I rarely hear my neighbours on either side.

I have a ground floor flat with a balcony - its not huge but there is room for a table and two chairs plus the all important washing lines. There are built in concrete window boxes as well plus room for a few pots if I wanted them (I don't, purple thumb here). My late husband was in the extremely vulnerable group during lockdown and it was the only fresh air he was getting when the advice was to not even go out for exercise for that group. Most of the purpose built flats in our area have balconies - I do think a small amount of private outdoor space is important - plus there are several communal grassy areas in my complex which is a mix of council and private ownership. Unless you are an avid gardener, a balcony is plenty for sitting outside in the sun with a book and a few plants/flowers.

Just bought a nice little ground floor flat with a garden. The flat is more manageable than my large house and I haven’t had to sacrifice my garden - win win ??

I’ve been out in London at Natural History museum all day with 2 of my GC who are visiting UK for the first time in 4 yrs so wonderful to see them. I’ll catch up with all your lovely helpful posts later or tomorrow.

I am considering the very same dilemma at the moment. I've been house hunting for months, and, ideally, I would like a small 2-bedroom cottage/terraced house, or a bungalow. However, these are getting snapped up at ridiculous prices, and my family are now suggesting that I consider an apartment or flat, partly because they think it would be easier as I get older.
However, I know I would miss having a garden terribly, I love just wandering outside with a cuppa. There is also the thing about noisy neighbours, either clog dancing above me, or having the TV up too loud because they are cloth-eared.
Plus there are maintenance charges, which, no doubt, will be going sky high over the next 12 months. There's a lot to think about.

Buy freehold as we do in Europe, UK leasehold is robbery. I believe I heard that there is a new law coming in banning it, isn’t there?

tanith if I lived remotely close to you I could easily do a "Kirstie Allsopp" for you because I love looking at houses and flats. I did this for a friend of mine but in the end, she moved to where her family were in Northumberland.

Have you any allotments near you. I walk past our local
Allotments and there seems to be a great community spirit and they sell their surplus.

Mainland Europe builds flats almost all with balconies, it seems. Even in colder climes. Never understood why it’s far less common in uk.
I lived in a flat with no outside space for years when I was younger. Never got used to it. A decent sized balcony would have made all the difference

We tried it…large flat, 8th floor with big south facing balcony. After a couple of years my name came to the top of the list for a council owned allotment and I got my garden ‘fix’ planting and tending my plot. But I still missed those magic moments of just walking outside in the garden - cup of tea in hand - looking at what’s growing, what needs deadheading, or just sitting quietly listening to the birds. I knew We just couldn’t live out our retirement years without a garden so we moved again. This time into a 2 bedroom townhouse, the main bedroom and a bathroom on the ground floor bedroom and a small back garden that is manageable and a pleasure to potter around in.

Any tips on the perils and joys of flats would be much appreciated as we are helping our younger daughter to buy one and we've only ever lived in houses. Thank you in advance!

Private outdoor space is important to many people, and valued even more so after Covid restrictions. I moved during 2020 from a rented ground floor flat and outdoor space was high on my list of priorities as my ground floor flat was alway shades and not very private.

I'm my early sixties and now have a nice cottage with lovely garden and everything is also within easy reach by car. But I suspect in 10 to 15 years, I may value the convenience living in a town or city close to a nice municipal park and other amenities more than the garden and the work needed to keep it nice, and may exchange this priority for convenience and not having to drive and deal with garden maintenance. The problem with UK flats is that many to do not have a proper decent balcony and many rely on electricity to heat them, and to dry laundry which is expensive if you have been used to gas and and out door washing line. Watch out also for service charges.

Make a list of the pros and cons of flat dwelling and then weigh them up accordingly to the importance each one has to you in your circumstances.

You could try renting first before you make your final decision if it is likely to be an irreversible one.