Getting a notification that a new property has been added to Rightmove is like a new episode of Breaking Bad in our house. We gather over the laptop, cats included, and we prepare to look intently, analyse the street view, look up the nearest stations, inspect the floorplan...and then it can either go one of two ways...hearts will sink upon realisation that the flat is 20 metres from A406. Or we realise that estate agents have described it as 'walking distance from the station'. This is never a good sign...and the quick check on Google maps quickly confirms that the walking distance to the station is indeed 25 minutes. Sometimes there will also be a dire warning, such as 'beware, this route might not have pedestrian walkways' - meaning that the estate agents think you are an eagle and flying over motorways every morning on your way to work is a piece of cake.
None the less, when we saw the notification about the new(ish) build flat, we jumped at the opportunity to see it. The pictures were hazy and not great and the estate agents advertising the flat were based in Docklands (miles from Wanstead). But I rang them and arranged a viewing, which was hard in itself as the flat was let and the tenant had strict times when he/she allowed viewings.
Just to let you know a thing or two about viewing flats that have tenants in... it is always an awful experience for two reasons; the tenants are angry because the landlord has decided to now sell their home and they have to move all their furniture and stuff somewhere else, which is inconvenient and costly and this makes them bitter. The second is that the tenants have rights to specify times they allow viewings and due to anger and bitterness over having to move, they tend to exercise those rights. There is usually a window of one hour on a Monday night one can view tenanted properties. Another problem is that tenants will, when they agree to be out for an open house, mark the territory. One such viewing had washing hanging in every room and unflushed pee in the loo. If that is not a message to the landlord, I am not sure what is.
The tenants in this particular flat were actually nice and a lovely woman showed us the flat. We quickly realised that the flat the agents advertised is not the one being sold (is that not illegal...misrepresentation act and all that?) but we were pleasantly surprised. The flat was on the ground floor and although generally we are against ground floors, it came with a garden. She opened the french doors leading to the garden but it was very dark and due to lack of garden illumination, our imagination took over. We were aware that at the end of the garden there was a Central line track, but having lived near the trains before, it did not upset us. The tenant told me it is not very loud and we were fine with that.
Very rarely my husband and I like any place equally, but this time we walked out in high spirits and we agreed we liked it. Over the course of few days I imagined planting tall bamboo by the Central line wall, imagined buying parasols, imagined lying in a deck chair reading, sipping Nespuccino (drink invented by one of my close friends which consists on cold coffee topped by cold milk shaken in the jam jar till it froths) while my cats catch butterflies around me. The fact that the flat was new build also meant I would not have to live with olive or grey marl effect plastic kitchen work tops and cheap bathrooms and the EPC rating will not be at rock bottom, inviting condensation and mould problems. So we requested to see the property again, in the day time with an agent. When the tenants are showing you around you never quite feel comfortable, even when they are nice. They have nothing but torment to gain from you buying the flat and rifling through their wardrobes and kitchen just adds insult to injury. This is a stark contrast to happy homeowners who clean the property to a high standard, open the cupboards themselves, never ask you to take shoes off and offer you a drink and a warm cookie if you are lucky...all because their happiness actually depends on you liking their property.
The agent kept us waiting in the harsh wind and when he finally arrived he was the epitome of the estate agent from hell, obnoxious, disrespectful, egocentric, rude and clueless. The tenants were in, but now shot me very resentful looks because I requested to come with the agent and they sat on the sofa watching day time TV and seething politely.
When I saw the garden in the daytime I almost threw myself on the bedroom floor to cry. What looked like a large garden surrounded by brick wall in the pitch darkness, now told a different story. There was no brick wall...how did I imagine this? Each flat (not just ground floor flats) had its own patch of grass, approximately 2 metres by 2 metres, separated by tiny shrubs.
Behind the patch of grass was a little path leading from the front so what seemed like a private garden was now more like a communal garden allowing anyone to come to your back door, break in uninterrupted without anyone but Central line passengers seeing them. But best of all... what separates the garden from the train track is a huge metal fence, finished off with a generous helping of barbed wire. It quickly dawned on me that there will be no space for parasol and a lounger on that grass, that no self respecting butterfly will ever come to that garden and that any Tom, Dick and Harry can see into my bedrooms from the gardens next to me...or shall I say from their patch of grass...not to mention tube passengers. It dawned on me I will probably be removing the carcass of my cat off the barbed wire before too long and this quickly ended the dream of that flat. I tried to politely explain to the estate agent that I did not realise the garden is so exposed, not private etc. His suggestion was to plant lots of quick growing conifers for privacy. Apart from the fact I have no land to speak of to plant conifers, to do what he suggested would probably mean that in 2 years the whole building will suffer from foundation problems as conifers are notorious for ruining foundations and causing subsidence, but good to know that those in the profession of houses know this and warn people.
I did get few calls from that agent after, with various suggestions which varied from; the owner will build you a fence, plant bamboo etc... even though I urged him to check the lease if I can actually have a fence, plant bamboo etc... finally he stopped calling me, although I still live in fear.
This is not the first case of the 'night vision' syndrome. We also liked another lovely Victorian conversion flat beautifully decorated, with a garden...only to see it in the daytime and notice that the view at the back is less than desirable, as well as the peeling front...so my advice is to never ever view the property at night unless there is absolutely no other way and you have nothing better to do, you don't mind coming again to see it in the day time or you want to check if the area suffers from night crime. Otherwise insist on coming during the day, barb wire fence looks so much better when you can't see it...and since you spend most of the day time awake staring at it, these things will matter, trust me.
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