Re: emboldened text above.

That's true, of course, and in the last house I bought, the faults and issues became apparent in the weeks and months after I moved in. But I think you have to factor that into your plans. Sellers are not about to tell you of faults and will often do their best to conceal them, both from surveyors and potential/actual buyers - new wallpaper over a damp wall, for example, and a fire on every day to keep it dry, while they look for a buyer.

It is up to the buyer to try and spot as many faults as they can ahead of time, not be afraid to ask questions, and to look in places that many don't look in when they're just viewing the property.

Incidentally, you can't blame anyone but yourself for buying a place with small rooms - see OP.

If you do buy a new house do a lot of measuring before you buy furniture. That was a lesson my brother learned too late when he bought a new house on Vicky Dock. He couldn't get a three seater sofa into the house, no way it would negotiate the tiny hallway into the living room. Getting a double mattress up the stairs and around the corner into the bedroom was a nightmare for him. Just too tiny.

It's swings and roundabouts really, new houses keep cleaner and need very little maintenance. My house was built early 1900s, it's solidly built but it can be a PITA keeping on top of it, you can't decorate with having to plaster something, any coving or skirting boards that knacker have to be mended as impossible to replace as they are too well attached and completely different to today's sizes. We had all the internal doors replaced a few years ago and what a trial that was as all of the doorways are bigger than standard.

Not sure I agree with that. Our house was built 1988. It's a two bed but the bedrooms are spacious enough (room for a king-size, two wardrobes, chest of drawers and 2 bedside tables). We have only just replaced the wood windows with upvc. Huge private garden, cul dear sac location, garage and off road parkibg, not overlooked at all. It is compact but neither a matchbox nor a slum. Mind you, it's a small development of 10, not a huge estate.

We bought our house off plan on a new build estate moving 20 miles mainly due to price. Have a 3 bed detached that's cost £130k new (one of the advantages of living in Lincolnshire). It has had both good and bad points.

Good: Able to choose fixtures and fittings and plan everything from scratch. Also knowing you have no "work to do" on it for a few years. Very energy efficient (although I believe the government has changed the rules making new-builds less-so from now on). Seeing your house built is quite nice as well. Main reason we bought was price as seemed a good buy.

Bad bits: We choose a builder with a good review (or should I say least bad reviews). The structure of the house is fine but to be honest the fixtures and fittings done by subcontractors are a nightmare and we have had to have them back time and time again. We've had leaking in all 3 toilets (turns out the plumber was sacked who installed them for bad workmanship on another house). Kitchen doors wrong and mis-aligned. Wrong cupboards fitted. Lights not working. Initial painting I could have done better myself, they had painted over the light bulbs in some rooms. Window upvc facias missing. Tiling in bathroom misaligned and trim uneven. Coffee cups and remains of builders lunch in gaps above cupboards...... all of these things were sorted out but the stress of having to get them back was annoying. Also when I rang them they always wanted the contractors to come round in the day when I was at work and would seem surprised I was working.

The other thing to remember when buying a new build is the constant noise and dust while they are building the other houses. Its finished here almost now but it does go on a bit.

Would I buy another new build ? I think so yes, but id probably be a bit more assertive in terms of how I dealt with he builders. I don't plan on moving for a long time but I wouldn't say it's been a bad experience, just a bit trying at times.

Indeed, my mum lives in a grade II listed one and it is lovely and spacious and the exterior is beautiful. You do have to spend a lot of money to get a decent sized new build unfortunately.

The big down side to some new build (flats) is the service charge, some of them are ridiculous. We were going to buy a gorgeous flat in Northampton but the service charge was nearly £300 a month, sorry no, not worth it.

We went to look at a show home down the road from us where they are building a new development of about 50 homes. They are meant to be up-market and are selling at an average of one million £ each.

To be fair they were quite pleasant and spacious. The bedrooms were of a decent size, apart from the fifth bedroom which was more of a small office or dressing room size. It was nicely decorated with good carpets, beautiful furniture (not included) and clever layout.

The one major issue which put me off is the poor quality of the building itself. I was on one bedroom and my son and husband were talking next door - I could hear them very clearly. In our house, the walls are concrete and you cannot hear someone shouting at the other end of the house with the doors closed. We were very happy to return home knowing we have not missed out on anything and saved £100,000,000.

I think a lot of new estates are going down the service charge route. We had to pay for the grass to be cut, communal areas to be cleaned etc. It started out at about 30 quid a Month but went up every year even when there was a surplus left over.
Also I wasn't technically allowed to park my work van on the estate, as it was against the terms of the covenant.

You former (sofa tale) in conjunction with your later (Victorian/ Edwardian property) worked well for us. We bought an absolutely enourmous sofa a couple of years back, heavily discounted because the store couldn't sell them. Too big, they said. Everyone likes the sofa, but hardly anyone can get them in their house. Not us in our old old property, walked it straight in and in no way imposes on the lounge space (looks just right). I've taken to eyeing up 'space' in recent years because of this current rabbit hutch building habit and have seen one bedroom flats whereby the entire flat is the size of our lounge and entire 2/3 story houses for which the footprint would also fit easily into our lounge. Old property is the way to go despite the maintenance (yes, old plasterworks like ornate coving / ceiling roses are a particular nightmare) but you can't put a price on space (not living on top of each other).

British homes are the smallest in Europe, study finds

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...udy-finds.html

76sq m total floor space the study says (new builds) v UK average of 85 sq m.

Were you planning to buy the whole estate then? But seriously it says something that even by spending £1m, you're getting only limited quality.

Have you ever looked at what type of car your 'garage' can take? Any property built with garage be it attached or not, should only qualify as a garage if capable of taking a large car such as a Range Rover or X5 with doors fully opened without the walls scraping them.

In my opinion that should be a building regulation requirement to qualify as 'garage' but i've never seen any new build properties with such. Most are used as sheds for storage because if they can get their small car in, they struggle to get out without bashing the door on the wall.

Anyone buying a house with garage shouldn't need to wonder whether their Range Rover will fit in the garage. If it doesn't then it's not a garage, it's a brick built shed.

The garage to our new house is a really decent size, surprising these days, and can easily take a large car
Unfortunately it's really handing for storing stuff as well!

I can't agree with those who say older houses are quieter. My current house was built in the 50s, my previous house was built in the 70s and in both of them I could hear the neighbours talking in their living room through the wall. In between those two houses I rented a couple of new-builds and couldn't hear a thing through the walls.

QFT!

I live in a four year old three-bed house (Taylor Wimpey). It's built on an old road and is large, with a brilliantly designed layout and incredibly well insulated. My monthly combined gas and electric bill is £38! Apart from some minor snagging issues I haven't had one problem, and it's gone up £100k in value in the three years since I bought it.

I would never buy an old, damp, draughty house with a ton of DIY needed on it ever again.

You aren't at home very often, use candles for lighting and live on take-away meals!


Even my sons property hasn't reached that, and he lives in London!

My house was built in the 50s and I can't really hear anything through the walls apart from the occasional bang here and there. The flat I lived in before this house was the complete opposite - it was hell living in that place. I could hear literally everything from the flats either side and the one beneath me. The only reason I ended up living in the house I'm in now is because the noise problems in that flat were so bad. The walls were like paper, and it didn't help that the neighbours were the type of people who enjoy making a LOT of noise.

How old were the flats? The current building regulations specify maximum sound transmission (in dB) so you shouldn't hear normal sounds from your neighbours. Another good thing about the current building regs is that they specify leakage rates (so you don't get draughts) but also ventilation rates (litres per second per square metre of floor) so you don't get condensation problems, even when there's no wind.

A lot of new housing estates are completely grim. Tiny houses, tiny back gardens, a parking space, no communal green space, overlooked wherever you turn. Supposed four bed detached houses that have no land with them! I presume people move into them either because the houses are cheaper or because they want everything brand new, even though the quality is sh!te!

We used to rent a flat that was built in 2010. You could hear downstairs turning their lights on and off, and flushing their toilet at night.

By no means is that the conclusion. I live in a large Victorian house, and my summer bill is around £50 a month for power, and we have about 350sq m to light and heat, and frequently a lot of people to cook for. It'd be fantastic if that were the winter bill too, but sadly, we currently have almost no insulation Simething we have plans to change. Current building regs set a very high standard for heat dissipation and draught exclusion. You need little energy to keep warm. I have some friends who have a passive house, they don't have any heating installed. It's 20c inside almost constantly, the house opens a roof vent to let the heat out even on winter days.

Quite often, more times than not

The floor plans are so horribly basic

I know its not all of them but so often you seen a downstairs layout of just 2 rooms....a sitting room and Kitchen diner

no thanks

Not a dig at those who choose to buy these homes, its just not for me

Indeed. My house is just over 100 years old and is literally solid as a rock. Houses were built to last in those days and used properly seasoned wood in the loft/attic etc.

So in summary.
We need to build more houses (not enough).
We build smaller (and compared to Germany, France we really are small houses).

But hey the economy needs more migrant workers.

So we build more,, and smal.

But wait, we are in the UK in Winter, we spend more time in our boxes, sorry house. Our gardens have all but gone. The countryside is disappearing (I live in North Bedfordshire, house plans mean to get to the countryside, open spaces is going to mean more travelling).

UK I heard came 19th for Quality of Life a couple of years ago.
Wonder if we will drop out the top 20 soon?

I have lived in quite a few houses and the youngest one was built in the 1930's. Most of them were Victorian and one late Georgian. I have looked at new houses but they seem to be like little boxes and even when they have 5 beds the living area is so small that you wonder where all the occupants can sit down.

At present I am in a 2 up 2 down Victorian house built in the 1860's. The walls are not straight of course but it adds to its charm. I have 2 double bedrooms mine being 15ft x 12 ft and the other small double 9ft by 12 ft. The bathroom is also good size. I have a lving room and a separate dining room and a small kitchen. The house is a mid terrace and either I have very quiet neighbours or it is well sound proofed. This house doesn't have a big garden but a pefectly adequate courtyard garden with flower beds and a good area for sitting and for drying clothes. There are problems with old houses but you know what to look for and they are solidly built, Most of all for me,they have character.

I don't drive a range rover. My car fits into my garage, and I don't see how the size of my garage has anything to do with your original point ; that any house built post early 80s is a ' matchbox slum'. My house clearly is not and it was built in 1988.

Oops, I got carried away with the 000s

House prices are unbelievable round here in the South at the moment. A standard 4-bedroom detached house is at least £600,000 unless there's something wrong with it. I refuse to spend that much (i.e. get into crippling debt) so we will just manage in our little bungalow.

And we have quite a decent household income. I wonder how everyone else manages TBH.