At the beginning of this year I decided to move out of my family home that I had lived in with my mum my whole life, with that decision came the apartment search. Me and my partner set our budget – £450. We narrowed down our property search by making sure the apartment was within one mile of a train station, close to shops and in a safe area that we both liked. So, finding a property that ticked all our boxes and was within our budget was extremely hard for us to do. By May we was both ready and rearing to move out and start our future, so it was becoming very frustrating that we was not able to find a place we both wanted to move into.
At the beginning of May we found a place that we thought was the perfect place – it was not. It was within our budget, close to shops and a train station, so we went to go and see the property. The property its self seemed perfect for us, it was a one bedroom basement flat with modern fixtures throughout. We filed out our application forms and we paid our application fees, along with our deposit. The first few months felt like bliss, it was a good price and we was happy in our first place together, that bliss however didn’t last long.
I have made a lot of mistakes in my lifetime and I am not naïve to think I won’t make anymore but one mistake I regret is not doing enough research on the letting agency and on living in a basement flat. It was a mistake none the less and its the whole reason I am making this blog post, so I hope this post helps you make a decision on whether a basement flat is for you or not.
There isn’t much light
We rented the basement flat in a complex of flats during the very summery months of this year so we did have some light, but considering how sunny it was during June, July and August this year you’d expect your home to light up with bright natural light – it didn’t. There was three windows in the whole flat; one in the bedroom, one in the living area and one in the bathroom. The window in the bathroom didn’t even lead out anywhere and was dark all the time, it was simply to air out bathroom (some good that did). I would often have the blinds wide open and even that didn’t allow sun in. What little sun that did beam down on the flat during the day was sparse. The kitchen in our basement flat didn’t have a window so couldn’t even air out the kitchen after cooking something that had a strong smell. I do not know if the no window in the kitchen is a normal thing with basement flats or whether it was just the layout of our partiture basement flat. Having no light during the summer was pretty depressing, so I cannot imagine what it will be like during the winter months when the sun isn’t around for as long each day. I needed light more than I thought I did and although this didn’t bother me at first, it began to really get to me at the end of our tenancy. If you need a place to rest your head and you’re not in your flat for anything else but sleeping and eating I guess this kind of flat wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But, when you want to actually live in your new place, the lack of light will definitely affect you. However, if you’re a vampire this is the perfect place for you!
No signal
I mean this one is pretty self explanatory really, but it was something we overlooked and didn’t think of as a massive issue. I didn’t notice until move in day that we getting signal on your phone was the most annoying ordeal. My phone seemed to get a bar or two when placed near the window but my mobile wasn’t a house phone, I couldn’t leave it there all the time. My partner had even less luck and had to actually go outside and up to pavement level to get signal. It’s kind of a pain when you’re waiting for an important call or text. Luckily most of my interactions with friends and family were through apps that relied on internet and not a mobile network to work so I was able to deal with the whole ‘having no signal’ thing. It is something to consider though, if you take a lot of calls or text a lot, there is a chance you’ll be walking around looking for somewhere there is some signal, and don’t count on that being a smooth connection either. If you’re job is call based and you work from home I would not even consider a basement flat AT ALL.
Rubbish outside all the time
Being in the basement means you’re below everyone else and something we know about our society is that some of them aren’t the cleanest and don’t seem to care that there are bins for a reason. So, when people drop crisp packets and cans on the floor, you can bet they’ll find their way to any outside areas near your basement flat. Wind blows rubbish around, leading it to blow right into the basement area of any home, and although it blows in pretty easily, it’s not likely it will blow back out. This results in bundles of rubbish in your walk area or outside your windows as those areas are great places for rubbish to collect. When we moved in the letting agency didn’t even bother to clean these areas up (this should have been our first warning sign regarding them), so the result was at least a few months of rubbish and smelly damp leaves piled high near our door and windows. So, I spent some money and time and I cleaned everything in those areas and it looked good for the first time since we moved in, and for a few days it remained that way. But, as predicted a week later the rubbish was making its way back in (it was near impossible to get out the small windows to clean the rubbish outside the windows so this was a task to do once, let alone once a week). Unless you have a super great landlord who will get someone out every two weeks to clean all the rubbish up, you’ll either be cleaning it constantly yourself or you’ll be looking at a heap of rubbish every time you look out the window.
Low Ceilings
Although this wasn’t much of an issue for me as I am just hitting 5 foot, it was an issue for my partner who nearly didn’t fit in at all. He is around 5 foot 10 inches and I would say if you’re any taller then 6 foot, you’re going to be rubbing up against the ceiling or even slouching all the time, which is not good for you posture! As well as your height being an issue you also have to be careful with the height of furniture. Overlooking the height of your wardrobe can be easily done because you’d assume it will fit in because it fits in your current home. But you could end up having to threw things away or sending furniture back if you don’t measure them carefully when moving into a basement flat. We had to be super careful when getting a wardrobe and bathroom cabinet as some where simply too tall to fit in the flat. If you are moving into a basement flat or considering it, take a tape measure and make sure all your belongings aren’t too tall for the low ceilings.
Bugs, slugs and smells
During the summer months we found ourselves swarmed with fruit flies, we set so many traps but they just seemed to reappear when we thought we was done with them. The windows being limited probably didn’t help the fruit fly situation. I imagine fruit flies are more of a summer issue but during those few wet and cold evenings we also had an issue with slugs. They seemed to get through the door some how and would leave slime trails all over the carpet and I would have to go around and see if any where still around, and sometimes they’d still be in the flat. Bugs and slugs where a disgusting and annoying part of our short tenancy at this flat but another massive issue with basement flats that probably increases the amount of bugs was the smell. I tried to keep the flat fresh and clean everyday but with limited windows it was near impossible to air out the flat properly, leaving a odour I could never fully get rid of. Another issue with nasty smells was the pipes. I found that our pipes would sometimes smell really bad in the bathroom and I was never sure why, all I could do was pour bleach down the drains and hope the smell goes away.
Mould & Dampness
Here lays the last straw on the camels back. Mould. All those things above where manageable because we moved the location and the cheap rent, but cheap rent and location will never be enough for me to live with mould everyday. This is one thing I wish I had some research on as it didn’t even occur to me that I could be dealing with such levels of mould. Living at home I dealt with the occasional patch of mould near the windows because of dampness but it wasn’t near the level I witnessed while living in this basement flat. When we moved in it was clear the walls had been painted and the carpet was new but they advertised the property as ‘newly converted’ so I didn’t think too much of it. I certainty didn’t think that the walls had been repainted and carpets replaced because of mould. The first few months where fine like I said earlier, no issues arose and we was happy there. Windows were open most of the time – the three the flat offered, so the place was aired out on a daily basis, but it clearly wasn’t enough. About 3 months in I noticed a very nasty smell and couldn’t pin point where it was, I thought it was the drains smelling again, but it didn’t go away and it lead me to pull out all our furniture and find the horror that hid behind our belongings. Once I pulled out a few items I realised what the issue was – mould. Thick dark green mould was growing all over my belongings. I felt sick, I felt angry, and I felt disgusted. I immediately got some bleach water and scrubbed all my furniture but it was too late for some of my belongings. Others I managed to save and haven’t had any issues* since we moved out of that flat. A few weeks before I noticed the mould my mood had changed drastically, spending most of my time in the flat right next to the flat has clearly had an effort on my mood and on my health. I felt down and depressed – more so as I have severe depression already and I was struggling to breath, which was making my anxiety 10x worse. The mould was the last straw, we found a new place in the coming weeks and we moved out, leaving our tenancy early (we agreed to pay rent up till the end of our tenancy as agreed upon on our tenancy agreement). After doing my research I found out that mould is common in basement flats as there is limited air flowing through the property and there is generally dampness within the basement beforehand anyway.
My opinion on basement flats is a dark one and I would never willingly live in one again. I would advise people to look elsewhere as the cheaper rent is not worth the hassle and your health being at risk. If you have no choice but to live in a basement flat I would advise you to do as much research as possible beforehand. Try and find ways to air out the property and find ways to deal with dampness and mould. It may be extra work but for some I understand that a basement flat may be all you can afford at the time. I would suggest that a basement flat is good for a temporary home – while you save up for a better place or get back on your feet or for someone who isn’t around a lot and just needs a place to sleep and eat.
I have learned a lot from renting a basement flat, and I do have some happy memories there (turning 20, getting Ramsay and it being our first place together). But, I am glad I am not there anymore.
Shannon x
Life With Shan 