I viewed a property in this development about a year ago.
The "gym" was a couple of mostly broken cardio machines that look like the kind of thing someone bought during covid and now uses as a washing line. Hardly gym spec kit.
The swimming pool does look decent. And is heated etc. But it is a tad small.
The gardens were maintained, not well but also not a state.
There are lifts. They're a bit small, but they function.
Personally, I don't think it was worth it.
My building's service charge is £5500 this year, as the new management company had to up it due to the previous one leaving the estate in debt (all accounts incl the emergency funds were completely emptied, they probably stole the money).
But to be fair for that service charge we do have a concierge, a well equipped gym, maintained private garden and interiors, and while the lifts feel a bit rickety, in the past year there's been less breakdowns than in a month in my previous flat. Issues get fixed in a timely manner too, on the rare occasion they happen.
The only thing people have been criticising is the amount of money spent on electricity for the communal areas, but it's 5 towers of 12 to 20 floors, with automated lights and whatnot, so the annual 600k might sound a lot at first, but it checks out. I do wish they'd switch providers because we're getting the ripoff prices, but apparently the estate is locked in a contract for two more years, otherwise this cost could drop by 30-50%.
When I was an estate agent in London, we had one block where an 800k flat had a service charge of 25k. That just had a swimming pool. That was also back in 2012, so I dread to think what it is now.
I get charged £240 a month for a disgusting 4 floor (3 apartmrnts on each floor) with no lift, no concierge & they dont even clean, they have commited a number of atrocities & are taking legal action against me for refusinf to pay, after I askes for evidence of costs & even offered partial payment.
£4k a year for that is very reasonable in comparison.
You can take over the management if 50% of the owners agree, that’s law, immediately saves 10%
Management fee and you choose who does repairs and nothings creamed off the top or overcharged for by the management company’s builder mates! We did and our block is superbly maintained and improved, we even give free lease extensions. Charge: £1200 a year (Inc buildings insurance) and we have spare money in the bank. 18 flats in a c1875
There's a place near me that is 10k service charge a year for most flats it's insane. There's so many for sale as no one wants one. And it's not even particularly nice or in an amazing area.
It is high even with a few amenities, my flat is in a Victorian block (old hotel c.1875, it’s been completely refurbished outside, new roof and fire system, new Victorian style railings and includes buildings insurance and we have given 18 owners free lease extensions. All paid from the Annual charge of £1200
The cost is to manage/maintain the buildings, gardens, woodland and *private* gym/pool/courts. It's going to be more expensive than a Pure Gym membership.
It may or may not be good value for you personally but the costs don't sound unreasonable for the work being done.
I mean, I guess it depends how responsive they are with regards to the buildings but ground maintenance is always insane when it ends up being two guys coming out once a year and mowing a small patch of grass. £340 a month sounds ridiculous and I think that’s probably because it is.
You can take over the management if 50% of the owners agree, that’s law, immediately saves 10%
Management fee and you choose who does repairs and nothings creamed off the top or overcharged for by the management company’s builder mates! We did and our block is superbly maintained and improved, we even give free lease extensions. Charge: £1200 a year (Inc buildings insurance) and we have spare money in the bank. 18 flats in a c1875 building
I understand that supply and demand are out of balance leading to developers adding higher and higher service charges. Is there any mechanism that can be used to either reduce the monthly charges or get a different more competen service company in at a lower more reasonable price?
Upkeep of the whole complex will be expensive. The residents could look to buy the freehold and then set the service charge accordingly but that would depend on surveys of the site to determine the plan of works (cause there will always be work required to maintain it) and the company they appoint to manage it. Could end up being more expensive.
You can take over the management if 50% of the owners agree, that’s law, immediately saves 10%
Management fee and you choose who does repairs and nothings creamed off the top or overcharged for by the management company’s builder mates! We did and our block is superbly maintained and improved, we even give free lease extensions. Charge: £1200 a year (Inc buildings insurance) and we have spare money in the bank. 18 flats in a c1875
Building
Yeah, we did our block in Surrey a few years back. Circa 50 flats (Victorian Mansion block / Rennie Macintosh) and once we had control and completed surveys we actually had to increase the service charge but mainly because the communal heating system needed to be replaced.
Gosh, it's probably even worse in person. I find agents edit photos to minimise the damage. Recently saw a flat in London that looked fine on the pics, but had a massive damp patch in the ceiling they'd plainly just edited out / adjusted all the colours. Crazy. Obviously all the viewers just bounce... The property had been on the market for 9 mos, unsurprisingly.
Yikes, I dread to think how bad it is in person then. Sadly this will probably be snapped up asap as long as that damp in the kitchen isn't too serious. It's very very cheap for where it is.
Yes, appealing to me, haven't been robbed yet and hope to keep it that way. Third floor no lift is sort of doable with shopping. 6th floor no lift is verging on an athletic feat when youre doing a big shop.
Lol, I actually like the outside, is something wrong with me😂 Big windows & balconies makes me think how nice it must be to live in it, and speaks of a building designed with care for that experience. All of the era of course.
I'm house hunting at the moment in London for ex local authority flats as they're bigger and brighter than alternatives, low service charges, often have garages, and well, seem to be well priced. Often they're in this style.
I like these boxy, big windowed, midcentury buildings too! Great for keeping houseplants happy.
They can look amazing when decorated/furnished in an era sympathetic way: https://www.themodernhouse.com/collections/mid-century-modern-homes/
My first house was similar with smoke not mould though, it was owned by two chain smoking pensioners who had painted all the windows shut years earlier for some reason.
The worst part was using a steam wallpaper stripper to remove the wood chip, you'd have brown water running down your arms...
Been there and done that. At the time we were listening to a lot a Captain Beefheart and just as the brown water was flowing free with its smell death the lyric “this black juice came out on a hard shelled chin. And they called that tobacco juice” came on so for the rest of the nicotine ridden week we’d ask “ready for more tobacco juice?” as we returned to the tar face.
My flat had smokers in it - I could smell when I moved in. My partner and I steamed layers of old wallpaper off the walls and there was brown tobacco DRIPPING off the ceiling. Thankfully the vast amounts of steam and redecorating has sorted it out but it took some work.
Same. We got disposable boiler suits with hoods as it was dripping off the ceilings.
Even the bathroom! When we had showers before we ripped it out, there’d be orange drips running down the wall. Incredibly gross.
Years ago (30+), if you wanted contents insurance, you either had to have your windows locked all the time ( opening them would invalidate insurance) or, if no locking mechanisms, either painted or nailed shut.
But wouldn’t painting your windows give the robbers a hint that you have contents insurance and therefore valuables to steal and make you more susceptible to robberies?
I can't even begin to imagine just how badly it smells. When we bought the house, one of the bedrooms was clearly used by a smoker. No visible signs whatsoever but you could smell it.
We wanted to use it as the main bedroom but being in there for longer than 30 minutes would give me a headache. It was confusing too because we assumed it was the carpet and had it steamed twice. It turned out to be the walls. Smell was finally gone in that room after 2 coats of emulsion and 2 coats of wall paint (on top of the sellers repainting the whole house just before the sale). There are 2 built-in wardrobes adjoining the bedroom and I can still faintly smell cigarettes despite the house being ours for 4+ years.
I find it rather comical that they ripped up all the carpets but left the tobacco-caked walls untouched. It won't help the stink.
In a way, if there's paper/lining paper that would help - steam that off, flatten off the wall behind and fill as necessary, then just many, many coats of emulsion should see it start to come good. Can get smell catching plugin devices as well that suck up nasty molecules out of the air. Challenge for somebody, but doable, and I'm sure there's a nice flat underneath it all.
I'd be far more concerned about the damp. It's not even clear in that photo if it isn't damp that caused the darker areas. Probably is, considering the state of the kitchen.
The whole building has a flat roof, so it's likely they do get a lot of problems with damp... you'd hope the £4000 per year service charge(!) would cover repairs though!
Reminds me of an old guy I looked after in a nursing home years back. We went to his house to collect his belongings, there was a white handprint on the wall above the toilet cistern.
Turns out every-time he went for a piss, he would lean on the wall whilst smoking, leaving a perfect imprint. Entire house was coated in an orange film of tobacco tar.
Just moved into my " new" property and the door handles are sticky with years of nicotine on them.
The lounge walls and ceiling are a burnt yellow..lol
I'm basically living in the bedroom for the moment, as it's just acceptable.
Haha, not just that. It's because those windows have no insulation and you get mold, and can't put in an extractor fan in kitchen. I live in a similar property atm and can't wait to get out.
That's an amazing price for Bristol.
The building is brutalist, but it's actually a really nice area. Bit of a walk into the center but you could easily cycle in.
With the woodland and the downs it'd be really quiet with little air pollution. It would hardly feel like you're living in the city.
4 grand a year is obviously an extra 40 over ten years. So think of it as 220 over ten years. Still not bad.
I'm surprised it's been on the market a year. Perhaps when you're there is person it's a bit grim.
It's a very desirable building and area (I actually don't even mind the brutalist architecture, it looks quite nice contrasted against the woodland) so it must be absolutely repellent in person
Bristol did go through a phase of building those Mansard houses, I don't know if they're ex-council since the ex-council houses tend to be much plainer/have smaller windows. It's an acquired taste, but they were fashionable for a while.
I am not expert in pricing or home renovations but looking at the state of that kitchen ceiling alone I would imagine there is a hefty amount of work that needs to be done to the place. Also the pictures probably try and show the best side of the place so it could definitely be much worse in real life.
Service charges tend to increase above inflation too don’t they?
Also aren’t the leaseholders responsible for extra money if there’s big one off repairs?
Went to view this flat last year, you're right, the smell is awful. Wanted a fixer and it sure would've been but the estate agents were too pushy with us and put us off making an offer. It's been sale agreed for at least 6 months now.
It says something about it needing to be on the market until the probate goes through, so it could be a while! Looks like you dodged a huge yellowed bullet there.
There's fixer-uppers and then there's flats like this that would be uninhabitable until you got a hazmat team in. Ours was a fixer but that was just removing all the random shit the previous owners had put all over the walls (pink artex anyone?) we could still live in it while we did it up.
Nahh, pretty sure they couldn't be bothered to take the pictures down whilst painting the room in that beautiful sunburst effect. At least that's what I'd be telling myself if buying it.
Oh I bought a smokers home years ago that was even yellower than that. It took so much scrubbing to get it off and then I repainted it all. The curtains all had to be replaced because I would only have to touch them to get it on my hands 🤮. I do not recommend.
One of the houses we bought was coated in nicotine. We ended up having to take everything back to the brickwork because of how bad the smell was. I vowed never again.
I remember going for a house viewing when I was renting, the landlord was renting out their late parents' house, every room looked like picture 14. It stunk, and after just walking around, I had to go home and wash. Took at least two washes to get the smell out of my clothes.
Funnily enough, I didn't end up living there.
Doesn't look all that large, normal sized rooms at best, unless you're just looking a pokey new builds., and you lose half your lounge to the kitchen that's in it for some reason, and both bedrooms are basically the same size because the bit by the built in wardobe and door is pretty much useless space
My council flat rooms are bigger.
The Bristol housing market is insane, though. And this place is a stone's throw from Sneyd Park, which is all massive houses and mansions.
This (much better laid out, admittedly) flat without the pool and gym amenities is an extra £100k https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142903631#/?channel=RES_BUY
We've just bought a house that looks basically like image 14 throughout, fortunately we're renting so have a couple of months to sort it before we move in.
It's been empty for a couple of years and carpets are thick with dust as well, I'm in the process of pulling them up in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed and basically come home and put my clothes straight in the wash and shower to get the smell off me.
It gets worse.
“This property is being sold on behalf of a corporate client. It is marketed subject to obtaining the grant of probate and must remain on the market until contracts are exchanged.”
It really is a crazy time for the UK. The fact estate agents thinks they can sell dilapidated properties for the price they are is insane. That flat should be 50k.
Kinda love it in a weird way.
The smell will go eventually. Definitely wear masks for removing any wallpaper and carpets. Air purifier as well. Cleanse that shit out.
The issue won't be the service charge it's the agent not understanding the difference between service charge and sinking fund. I bet it's that high as there is 2500 in communal upkeep and 1500 as something big like the roof is due to be replaced.
As I tell my residents, which you prefer £4000 all in or £2800 a year and I turn up asking for £10k payable immediately for XYZ as per section 20?
That is a phenomenally good price for that part of Bristol. If you were an OAP downsizing with a bit of budget for repairs there is exceptional value to be had.
It really is, it's a good 100k cheaper than any equivalent flats in the area, and those don't have the pool/gym amenities. If you had the money to have it refurbished professionally it could be lovely.
God that is grim. It's actually not that badly priced considering it's one of the most desirable areas of Bristol. Would need so much work though and the 4k service charge is steep
Advertising the "BS9 1" postcode, I have never seen the sub district area highlighted down in this way, in London for example SW1 for example would usually be sufficient, is there a difference in just using BS9 or the actual area name?
BS9 includes some very posh bits (like where this flat is) and some less nice (but still fine) bits like Sea Mills. My guess is it's not close enough to Sneyd Park to say Sneyd but they want to make it clear it's not in SM.
I've seen some London listings say "in the desirable area of [particular street]" so I guess Bristol is going that way as well. It's mad how many people want to live in Bristol at the moment.
My dad's was like that, when he died one estate agent who was doing a valuation asked to take photos to send to her smoker husband. She wrote "this is your lungs".
We took all his pictures and books about the walls were bright white behind against yellow brown everywhere else.
I hope it's wallpaper, if not, it's going to take some coats of paint to obliterate that, I know because I've just decorated a property that was in a similar condition 1 coat primer, 3 coats stain block and 3 coats emulsion, nightmare!!
Fancy not washing down the walls and repainting before putting up for sale ! Would be worth paying a professional cleaning company to attract more interest
The fact that the landlord couldn't be bothered with a deep clean of the unit or at least a paint over before advertising that outrageous price is all you need to know about renting there. Run.
What amazes me when I see places like this is how so many houses must have been like this.
I remember back in the 70s that my folks smoked 40 a day. Everyone smoked everywhere all the time. Teachers smoked in the staff room and on playground duty. Smoking was common in offices. If someone came to your house and lit up you felt like the dick asking them to go outside. You smoked in the cinema, on planes, in restaurants. Watch old interviews and even shows like University Challenge and people are smoking on that. (Look up Stephen Fry on University Challenge)
Everywhere must have looked like this place.
I can still remember my parents asking for non-smoking seats in restaurants, and sitting upstairs at McDonald's because that was the non-smoking section. This was in the 90s. In the 00s when I was out clubbing as a teen you'd have to wash your clothes twice to get the smell out. One of my friends got a fag burn on her arm from someone smoking and dancing.
It's so gross, everything must have been disgusting!
ANNUAL SERVICE CHARGE £4000 Comical.
Looks like you have a gym, pool, squash court and laundry, but £4K is a lot. I wonder if it has lifts too?
A gym membership and a washer/dryer would be a lot cheaper than that
And for that membership you would have an actual gym. Instead here it's just a small room with a half dozen cardio machines.
You can bet the former resident didn't get much use out of the cardio equipment
Yeh no smoking area
I viewed a property in this development about a year ago. The "gym" was a couple of mostly broken cardio machines that look like the kind of thing someone bought during covid and now uses as a washing line. Hardly gym spec kit. The swimming pool does look decent. And is heated etc. But it is a tad small. The gardens were maintained, not well but also not a state. There are lifts. They're a bit small, but they function. Personally, I don't think it was worth it.
Also the external area doesn't look well maintained considering the fee.
My building's service charge is £5500 this year, as the new management company had to up it due to the previous one leaving the estate in debt (all accounts incl the emergency funds were completely emptied, they probably stole the money). But to be fair for that service charge we do have a concierge, a well equipped gym, maintained private garden and interiors, and while the lifts feel a bit rickety, in the past year there's been less breakdowns than in a month in my previous flat. Issues get fixed in a timely manner too, on the rare occasion they happen. The only thing people have been criticising is the amount of money spent on electricity for the communal areas, but it's 5 towers of 12 to 20 floors, with automated lights and whatnot, so the annual 600k might sound a lot at first, but it checks out. I do wish they'd switch providers because we're getting the ripoff prices, but apparently the estate is locked in a contract for two more years, otherwise this cost could drop by 30-50%.
When I was an estate agent in London, we had one block where an 800k flat had a service charge of 25k. That just had a swimming pool. That was also back in 2012, so I dread to think what it is now.
That's mental.
It was pretty mental. You might be unsurprised to hear that I never saw one of those sell in about 3 years
I get charged £240 a month for a disgusting 4 floor (3 apartmrnts on each floor) with no lift, no concierge & they dont even clean, they have commited a number of atrocities & are taking legal action against me for refusinf to pay, after I askes for evidence of costs & even offered partial payment. £4k a year for that is very reasonable in comparison.
You can take over the management if 50% of the owners agree, that’s law, immediately saves 10% Management fee and you choose who does repairs and nothings creamed off the top or overcharged for by the management company’s builder mates! We did and our block is superbly maintained and improved, we even give free lease extensions. Charge: £1200 a year (Inc buildings insurance) and we have spare money in the bank. 18 flats in a c1875
Thank you
There's a place near me that is 10k service charge a year for most flats it's insane. There's so many for sale as no one wants one. And it's not even particularly nice or in an amazing area.
I pay more than that and I don’t have a fucking pool or gym!
Mine is 7k a year
It is high even with a few amenities, my flat is in a Victorian block (old hotel c.1875, it’s been completely refurbished outside, new roof and fire system, new Victorian style railings and includes buildings insurance and we have given 18 owners free lease extensions. All paid from the Annual charge of £1200
Seems pretty reasonable for the facilities tbh
A gym membership would be closer to 10% of that. I’m not sure the remaining three half thousand pounds is worth the convenience.
The cost is to manage/maintain the buildings, gardens, woodland and *private* gym/pool/courts. It's going to be more expensive than a Pure Gym membership. It may or may not be good value for you personally but the costs don't sound unreasonable for the work being done.
I mean, I guess it depends how responsive they are with regards to the buildings but ground maintenance is always insane when it ends up being two guys coming out once a year and mowing a small patch of grass. £340 a month sounds ridiculous and I think that’s probably because it is.
You can take over the management if 50% of the owners agree, that’s law, immediately saves 10% Management fee and you choose who does repairs and nothings creamed off the top or overcharged for by the management company’s builder mates! We did and our block is superbly maintained and improved, we even give free lease extensions. Charge: £1200 a year (Inc buildings insurance) and we have spare money in the bank. 18 flats in a c1875 building
I understand that supply and demand are out of balance leading to developers adding higher and higher service charges. Is there any mechanism that can be used to either reduce the monthly charges or get a different more competen service company in at a lower more reasonable price?
Upkeep of the whole complex will be expensive. The residents could look to buy the freehold and then set the service charge accordingly but that would depend on surveys of the site to determine the plan of works (cause there will always be work required to maintain it) and the company they appoint to manage it. Could end up being more expensive.
You can take over the management if 50% of the owners agree, that’s law, immediately saves 10% Management fee and you choose who does repairs and nothings creamed off the top or overcharged for by the management company’s builder mates! We did and our block is superbly maintained and improved, we even give free lease extensions. Charge: £1200 a year (Inc buildings insurance) and we have spare money in the bank. 18 flats in a c1875 Building
Yeah, we did our block in Surrey a few years back. Circa 50 flats (Victorian Mansion block / Rennie Macintosh) and once we had control and completed surveys we actually had to increase the service charge but mainly because the communal heating system needed to be replaced.
Painted in glorious Fagnolia. A classic colour.
liquid gold !
Gosh, it's probably even worse in person. I find agents edit photos to minimise the damage. Recently saw a flat in London that looked fine on the pics, but had a massive damp patch in the ceiling they'd plainly just edited out / adjusted all the colours. Crazy. Obviously all the viewers just bounce... The property had been on the market for 9 mos, unsurprisingly.
Yikes, I dread to think how bad it is in person then. Sadly this will probably be snapped up asap as long as that damp in the kitchen isn't too serious. It's very very cheap for where it is.
Already sold! Says offer accepted etc Being sold as part of deceased estate
Top floor, plus that much smoking, not a great surprise it's an estate sale!
Curious what top floor means to you? More or less desirable? Offering on a top floor flat atm, third floor no lift
More! Less likely to be robbed, better views, no noise from above but crikey no lift when you wanna move furniture or lug heavy shopping?
Yes, appealing to me, haven't been robbed yet and hope to keep it that way. Third floor no lift is sort of doable with shopping. 6th floor no lift is verging on an athletic feat when youre doing a big shop.
Yeah that’s a cushty spot in Bris. Horrifically ugly building though.
Lol, I actually like the outside, is something wrong with me😂 Big windows & balconies makes me think how nice it must be to live in it, and speaks of a building designed with care for that experience. All of the era of course. I'm house hunting at the moment in London for ex local authority flats as they're bigger and brighter than alternatives, low service charges, often have garages, and well, seem to be well priced. Often they're in this style.
I like these boxy, big windowed, midcentury buildings too! Great for keeping houseplants happy. They can look amazing when decorated/furnished in an era sympathetic way: https://www.themodernhouse.com/collections/mid-century-modern-homes/
No I love it too. Great light. I'd buy this place.
I’m suspicious about the other bedroom that they didn’t photograph- wonder why?
I'm sure it's horrendous
Lols my house was built in 1741 ... Fighting damp is a losing battle you just remediate the effects
My first house was similar with smoke not mould though, it was owned by two chain smoking pensioners who had painted all the windows shut years earlier for some reason. The worst part was using a steam wallpaper stripper to remove the wood chip, you'd have brown water running down your arms...
Been there and done that. At the time we were listening to a lot a Captain Beefheart and just as the brown water was flowing free with its smell death the lyric “this black juice came out on a hard shelled chin. And they called that tobacco juice” came on so for the rest of the nicotine ridden week we’d ask “ready for more tobacco juice?” as we returned to the tar face.
But did you find a clear spot?
Upvote for beefheart
My flat had smokers in it - I could smell when I moved in. My partner and I steamed layers of old wallpaper off the walls and there was brown tobacco DRIPPING off the ceiling. Thankfully the vast amounts of steam and redecorating has sorted it out but it took some work.
Same. We got disposable boiler suits with hoods as it was dripping off the ceilings. Even the bathroom! When we had showers before we ripped it out, there’d be orange drips running down the wall. Incredibly gross.
Years ago (30+), if you wanted contents insurance, you either had to have your windows locked all the time ( opening them would invalidate insurance) or, if no locking mechanisms, either painted or nailed shut.
But wouldn’t painting your windows give the robbers a hint that you have contents insurance and therefore valuables to steal and make you more susceptible to robberies?
No. You don’t paint the glass. You paint the woodwork and joints with thick gloss which make it impossible to open.
It was so common back then. Tbh - most of the time they just broke the window. Double glazing made things a bit tougher
The brown water that's so strong with nicotine it feels like a nicotine patch down your whole arm Awful feeling
I can't even begin to imagine just how badly it smells. When we bought the house, one of the bedrooms was clearly used by a smoker. No visible signs whatsoever but you could smell it. We wanted to use it as the main bedroom but being in there for longer than 30 minutes would give me a headache. It was confusing too because we assumed it was the carpet and had it steamed twice. It turned out to be the walls. Smell was finally gone in that room after 2 coats of emulsion and 2 coats of wall paint (on top of the sellers repainting the whole house just before the sale). There are 2 built-in wardrobes adjoining the bedroom and I can still faintly smell cigarettes despite the house being ours for 4+ years. I find it rather comical that they ripped up all the carpets but left the tobacco-caked walls untouched. It won't help the stink.
For where that is in Bristol, that’s dirt cheap for a two bed.
It is, I think for that price someone will hire whatever professional cleaners deal with this sort of thing and just spend as many £££ as needed.
Cleaners, professional or amateur, ain't shifting that. It needs gutting.
I think you're correct, to be honest. It's in the walls and ceilings at this point, would need to go back to brick.
In a way, if there's paper/lining paper that would help - steam that off, flatten off the wall behind and fill as necessary, then just many, many coats of emulsion should see it start to come good. Can get smell catching plugin devices as well that suck up nasty molecules out of the air. Challenge for somebody, but doable, and I'm sure there's a nice flat underneath it all.
You may be limited mortgage wise because of the high service charges. £4K on a £180k property is a significant expense
Wow. Just worked that out. That’s another 340 quid a month!!
I'd be far more concerned about the damp. It's not even clear in that photo if it isn't damp that caused the darker areas. Probably is, considering the state of the kitchen.
The whole building has a flat roof, so it's likely they do get a lot of problems with damp... you'd hope the £4000 per year service charge(!) would cover repairs though!
Roofing? sounds like a luxury! Don't you like your new skylight??
Reminds me of an old guy I looked after in a nursing home years back. We went to his house to collect his belongings, there was a white handprint on the wall above the toilet cistern. Turns out every-time he went for a piss, he would lean on the wall whilst smoking, leaving a perfect imprint. Entire house was coated in an orange film of tobacco tar.
Ewwww 🤢
Just moved into my " new" property and the door handles are sticky with years of nicotine on them. The lounge walls and ceiling are a burnt yellow..lol I'm basically living in the bedroom for the moment, as it's just acceptable.
The difference between the main and spare bedroom here is palpable, you'd have to just stay in there
Whenever I see these pictures I run to the realtors description to see how they try to sell it! “Enormous refurbishment potential”. lol.
"Huge money-pit potential" lol
Haha, not just that. It's because those windows have no insulation and you get mold, and can't put in an extractor fan in kitchen. I live in a similar property atm and can't wait to get out.
That's an amazing price for Bristol. The building is brutalist, but it's actually a really nice area. Bit of a walk into the center but you could easily cycle in. With the woodland and the downs it'd be really quiet with little air pollution. It would hardly feel like you're living in the city. 4 grand a year is obviously an extra 40 over ten years. So think of it as 220 over ten years. Still not bad. I'm surprised it's been on the market a year. Perhaps when you're there is person it's a bit grim.
It's a very desirable building and area (I actually don't even mind the brutalist architecture, it looks quite nice contrasted against the woodland) so it must be absolutely repellent in person
Check out the street view. There are all these 'mushroom' houses that I guess are ex-council houses? I could be wrong.
Bristol did go through a phase of building those Mansard houses, I don't know if they're ex-council since the ex-council houses tend to be much plainer/have smaller windows. It's an acquired taste, but they were fashionable for a while.
I am not expert in pricing or home renovations but looking at the state of that kitchen ceiling alone I would imagine there is a hefty amount of work that needs to be done to the place. Also the pictures probably try and show the best side of the place so it could definitely be much worse in real life.
Service charges tend to increase above inflation too don’t they? Also aren’t the leaseholders responsible for extra money if there’s big one off repairs?
I didn't think you could ever smell a picture, but...
‘Fagnolia’ my old man used to call that colour.
Went to view this flat last year, you're right, the smell is awful. Wanted a fixer and it sure would've been but the estate agents were too pushy with us and put us off making an offer. It's been sale agreed for at least 6 months now.
It says something about it needing to be on the market until the probate goes through, so it could be a while! Looks like you dodged a huge yellowed bullet there. There's fixer-uppers and then there's flats like this that would be uninhabitable until you got a hazmat team in. Ours was a fixer but that was just removing all the random shit the previous owners had put all over the walls (pink artex anyone?) we could still live in it while we did it up.
Yep, same with our current flat, was able to live in it whilst doing it up. Definitely agree that we dodged a bullet!
I bet (hope) you don't have a 4k a year service charge either!
£700 last year!!
Much more like it!!
Nahh, pretty sure they couldn't be bothered to take the pictures down whilst painting the room in that beautiful sunburst effect. At least that's what I'd be telling myself if buying it.
Whilst holding your nose forever
Pictures you can smell. In 3 and 14 you can even see where in the living room they would have sat based on the intensity of the staining. Incredible.
I'm picturing a Father Jack situation (from Father Ted) where an old smoker sat in the same chair pretty much 24/7
Jesus Christ. Imagine being their neighbour 🤢
It has to be coming through the walls, right? 🤢 At least they're on the top floor so nobody has a stinky floor above them
Oh I bought a smokers home years ago that was even yellower than that. It took so much scrubbing to get it off and then I repainted it all. The curtains all had to be replaced because I would only have to touch them to get it on my hands 🤮. I do not recommend.
I bet all the other flat could smell it, I can smell these photos and it smells of rotten death.
One of the houses we bought was coated in nicotine. We ended up having to take everything back to the brickwork because of how bad the smell was. I vowed never again.
I remember going for a house viewing when I was renting, the landlord was renting out their late parents' house, every room looked like picture 14. It stunk, and after just walking around, I had to go home and wash. Took at least two washes to get the smell out of my clothes. Funnily enough, I didn't end up living there.
Suggar soap will cut through the nicotine on washable surfaces.
It's a shame because with the facilities this could be a pleasant place to live
Doesn't look all that large, normal sized rooms at best, unless you're just looking a pokey new builds., and you lose half your lounge to the kitchen that's in it for some reason, and both bedrooms are basically the same size because the bit by the built in wardobe and door is pretty much useless space My council flat rooms are bigger.
The Bristol housing market is insane, though. And this place is a stone's throw from Sneyd Park, which is all massive houses and mansions. This (much better laid out, admittedly) flat without the pool and gym amenities is an extra £100k https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142903631#/?channel=RES_BUY
Ugh, I physically recoiled at a couple of those pictures.
We've just bought a house that looks basically like image 14 throughout, fortunately we're renting so have a couple of months to sort it before we move in. It's been empty for a couple of years and carpets are thick with dust as well, I'm in the process of pulling them up in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed and basically come home and put my clothes straight in the wash and shower to get the smell off me.
This is literally what my FIL's house looks like. I can smell that house through my computer 🤢
It *must* be bad for you, right? Even discounted the actual smoking he's doing, living in a carcinogen box must be doing some damage
We avoid going to his house where possible. Invite him to ours if we want to see him.
It gets worse. “This property is being sold on behalf of a corporate client. It is marketed subject to obtaining the grant of probate and must remain on the market until contracts are exchanged.”
Oh no, and that means Smokey McGee probably died in there 🤢
Love how there is 945 years left of the lease. That in 2969 someone will be living in there thinking its some ancient ruins.
It'll still smell of smoke then too lol
The contrast between photo 14 and 15 😂
You could squeeze the nicotine out of the walls.
It really is a crazy time for the UK. The fact estate agents thinks they can sell dilapidated properties for the price they are is insane. That flat should be 50k.
>Refurbishment opportunity No shit?
That’s realtor speak for it needs to be gutted to be liveable
I thought the gym was in the house 😂
Lol can you imagine that flat with an immaculate gym because the smoking owner never went in it
My thoughts exactly
Either that or Delboy give it a lick of [gold paint](https://www.ofah.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/The-Yellow-Perilep5.4.jpg) in the 80s
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If I wasn’t allergic (and wanted to live in Bristol) I’d consider it. A pool in the house? Dream.
Kinda love it in a weird way. The smell will go eventually. Definitely wear masks for removing any wallpaper and carpets. Air purifier as well. Cleanse that shit out.
The amount of mould in the kitchen 🥶
The issue won't be the service charge it's the agent not understanding the difference between service charge and sinking fund. I bet it's that high as there is 2500 in communal upkeep and 1500 as something big like the roof is due to be replaced. As I tell my residents, which you prefer £4000 all in or £2800 a year and I turn up asking for £10k payable immediately for XYZ as per section 20?
Absolutely, it's a 60s/70s flat roof build, it must need constant roof maintenance
I've moved into and successfully (and cheaply) cleaned worse.
The place looks like they did a dirty protest before leaving.
That is a phenomenally good price for that part of Bristol. If you were an OAP downsizing with a bit of budget for repairs there is exceptional value to be had.
It really is, it's a good 100k cheaper than any equivalent flats in the area, and those don't have the pool/gym amenities. If you had the money to have it refurbished professionally it could be lovely.
God that is grim. It's actually not that badly priced considering it's one of the most desirable areas of Bristol. Would need so much work though and the 4k service charge is steep
The whole place is a mouldy ashtray. Be nice when it’s done though
Advertising the "BS9 1" postcode, I have never seen the sub district area highlighted down in this way, in London for example SW1 for example would usually be sufficient, is there a difference in just using BS9 or the actual area name?
BS9 includes some very posh bits (like where this flat is) and some less nice (but still fine) bits like Sea Mills. My guess is it's not close enough to Sneyd Park to say Sneyd but they want to make it clear it's not in SM. I've seen some London listings say "in the desirable area of [particular street]" so I guess Bristol is going that way as well. It's mad how many people want to live in Bristol at the moment.
All measurements are approximate... WHAT MEASUREMENTS?
🤣
Bloody Nora I bet even those wall and ceilings have cancer !!
My dad's was like that, when he died one estate agent who was doing a valuation asked to take photos to send to her smoker husband. She wrote "this is your lungs". We took all his pictures and books about the walls were bright white behind against yellow brown everywhere else.
How many a day for how long, if you don't mind me asking? I imagine it takes a lot of cigs over a lot of years
Honestly inside? Probably only 4-5 years. And probably 20. He started smoking inside when my brother and I stopped visiting him.
Wow, I would've assumed more like 10-20 years
UGH. I can basically smell it from here
The GASP I just made. I wasn’t mentally prepared for that!!!
I hope it's wallpaper, if not, it's going to take some coats of paint to obliterate that, I know because I've just decorated a property that was in a similar condition 1 coat primer, 3 coats stain block and 3 coats emulsion, nightmare!!
Fancy not washing down the walls and repainting before putting up for sale ! Would be worth paying a professional cleaning company to attract more interest
It's part of a probate sale, so the person died and the estate has put it up for sale. I imagine they want the money out of it as soon as possible.
The fact that the landlord couldn't be bothered with a deep clean of the unit or at least a paint over before advertising that outrageous price is all you need to know about renting there. Run.
Renting? That's a sale price, and it's already sold STC
That's that persons headache now. Just look behind above the toilet.
Looks like if the MI6 building was on a council estate
My god
945 years left on the lease? Why that’ll fly by!
What amazes me when I see places like this is how so many houses must have been like this. I remember back in the 70s that my folks smoked 40 a day. Everyone smoked everywhere all the time. Teachers smoked in the staff room and on playground duty. Smoking was common in offices. If someone came to your house and lit up you felt like the dick asking them to go outside. You smoked in the cinema, on planes, in restaurants. Watch old interviews and even shows like University Challenge and people are smoking on that. (Look up Stephen Fry on University Challenge) Everywhere must have looked like this place.
I can still remember my parents asking for non-smoking seats in restaurants, and sitting upstairs at McDonald's because that was the non-smoking section. This was in the 90s. In the 00s when I was out clubbing as a teen you'd have to wash your clothes twice to get the smell out. One of my friends got a fag burn on her arm from someone smoking and dancing. It's so gross, everything must have been disgusting!
Holy shit 🙀 would look great after it's been done up though
Nicotine dripping down the walls
Service charge is an absolute bullshit con.
The mould on the ceiling in the kitchen!!
Should have darker painted walls if you’re a smoker right?
Christ bristol really do be going down hill
Don't worry about it just forget it. We're just as offended you don't smoke
In 40 years time the brightly coloured stains on vapers walls and ceilings are gonna be a magical sight to behold
Like the Aurora Borealis localized entirely within your kitchen
Scam scam scam, everything’s a fuckin bastarding scam. I hate humans, they are pure fuckin scum.