Owning your own home

100%, problem is that newer flat are not even that much of an improvement.

We were careful in our search and found a 1901 terraced maisonette (rather than a house that was converted into flats), and cheap enough to be able to modernise it.

My partner’s brother old flat in the Squirrel (Lewisham) was shit, build in the late 50’s/mid century vibe, but no centre heating, lots of condensation, weird layout where only one room have a lots of light, etc.

So the option are much more limited beside the new build from the last 20 years but even that have risk that it’s not build properly (seer cladding).

We saw a nice new build in the same building as the small Sainsbury near Catford station, it was amazing and only need some paints and furnitures but it got the wrong cladding (!!!).

Lastly, most flats have services charges that eat up our monthly budget, so a shitty turned insulated late Victorian maisonette was the best we can find.