• Tiny London studio flat taken off market by council
    54 replies, posted
Looks like one of the campus apartments ay my university. They're literally a fucking shoebox.
About the size of some of the singles dorms on my campus. You would be surprised how little space you need to get by.
[QUOTE=imptastick;45027008]About the size of some of the singles dorms on my campus. You would be surprised how little space you need to get by.[/QUOTE] Do American dorms all have toilets and kitchens within the rooms or are they made in a bedsit fashion?
[QUOTE=w00tf1zh;45026204]Since when is it the governments duty to tell people where they can and can not live? Jesus Christ, I know a good deal of people who would kill for an apartment like this. That being said, I would literally commit suicide if I lived there.[/QUOTE] The government is responsible for the safety of its citizens, so it's their job. An apartment that small is unlivable by most standards. Even if you were personally comfortable with living in it, what if you had a pet or a child? They might not be. Having special rules for families and individuals is hard: it's much easier to just ban ridiculously small apartments. It's also hazardous. There's so little room that the tiniest amount of clutter or just accidentally knocking over furniture could cause a fire hazard or block off the exit.
[QUOTE=Zephyrs;45026429]I always wonder what these people do with their extra crap? Obviously there's the things like, they can't have a ton of books, or clothes, or any other random thing, and if they do, they need to lease storage somewhere. Then there is also the everyday stuff. They have to do grocery runs every couple of days at least because they can't store enough to go once every week or two. They can't stock up on tons of stuff with a long shelf life during sales. Hell, they have to take out the garbage and recycling often, while people like me just have a huge basket for paper, and a bin for plastics, and I just let it pile up in the garage. I only actually get rid of it every 2-3 weeks because I have no reason to go more often. People like this practically work part time just running errands every day. I mean, if you like living in a place like that, power to you, but I'd go insane in short order, and that's before considering the amount of annoyances related to daily upkeep.[/QUOTE] If you are buying fresh and only buying for yourself its generally more economical to do grocery runs every few days anyways I have a full sized fridge but I still end up going to the store every other day to pick up what I need. You simply can't bulk buy chicken/veggies/fruit/produce or anything really because if you are just one or two people you will never use it up fast enough before it goes bad. Even stuff like bread is like this. The guy still has a car so getting to the store and carrying food to and from the apartment isn't really that big of a hassle. That's usually the biggest thing - grocery shopping without a car or doing it by foot where you have to walk 30 minutes to get to the store or can only get enough to fit in your two hands. [editline]7th June 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Noss;45026467]You literally wouldn't be able to live there after more than 6 months unless you're one of the preppy people who design places like these, and spend all day writing blog posts in a Starbucks. Order things online and want to hold on to the box in case you need to send it back? Tough shit, the boxes take up too much space. Want to buy a new appliance? Tough shit, no room. I'd rather work outside of the city and take a ~30% pay cut and live in a decent sized property than live in a squalid place like this - despite how many fancy design elements it might have.[/QUOTE] If it was just me I'd honestly love to live there Why the fuck would you buy an appliance while you live in such a space as that? The idea is that space covers ever real need you'll want, so there is no need for extra. If you are the kind of person that can't stand the idea of not getting something new every month then a small but well designed living space isn't for you. And boxes, really? How about... you throw out your boxes? When have you honestly been in a situation where hoarding boxes was a life saver situation.
[QUOTE=Zephyrs;45026429]I always wonder what these people do with their extra crap? Obviously there's the things like, they can't have a ton of books, or clothes, or any other random thing, and if they do, they need to lease storage somewhere. Then there is also the everyday stuff. They have to do grocery runs every couple of days at least because they can't store enough to go once every week or two. They can't stock up on tons of stuff with a long shelf life during sales. Hell, they have to take out the garbage and recycling often, while people like me just have a huge basket for paper, and a bin for plastics, and I just let it pile up in the garage. I only actually get rid of it every 2-3 weeks because I have no reason to go more often. People like this practically work part time just running errands every day. I mean, if you like living in a place like that, power to you, but I'd go insane in short order, and that's before considering the amount of annoyances related to daily upkeep.[/QUOTE] Take it this way - the guy lives in the middle of the city, which means a grocery store is a five minute bike ride away at most. How many groceries do you actually need? You can easily store some staples as they don't take a huge load of space. And bread or buns? I mean buying it more less often than once eevery 2-3 days is senseless as well, since it goes stale otherwise. But yeah, you can't actually own a huge tone of books for instance, but you can still have quite a few without issues. As to trash - well the wastebin is probably in the building itself, so all you have to do to take it out is grab the trashbag and throw it out in the collective bin on your way out.
[QUOTE=KorJax;45027159]If you are buying fresh and only buying for yourself its generally more economical to do grocery runs every few days anyways I have a full sized fridge but I still end up going to the store every other day to pick up what I need. You simply can't bulk buy chicken/veggies/fruit/produce or anything really because if you are just one or two people you will never use it up fast enough before it goes bad. Even stuff like bread is like this. The guy still has a car so getting to the store and carrying food to and from the apartment isn't really that big of a hassle. That's usually the biggest thing - grocery shopping without a car or doing it by foot where you have to walk 30 minutes to get to the store or can only get enough to fit in your two hands. [editline]7th June 2014[/editline] If it was just me I'd honestly love to live there Why the fuck would you buy an appliance while you live in such a space as that? The idea is that space covers ever real need you'll want, so there is no need for extra. If you are the kind of person that can't stand the idea of getting something new every month then a small but well designed living space isn't for you. And boxes, really? How about... you throw out your boxes? When have you honestly been in a situation where hoarding boxes was a life saver situation.[/QUOTE] Do you actually own your own house or do you live in your bedroom? You naturally accumulate tonnes of useful shit that cannot be stored in a flat like that. Also I keep my boxes until the warranty runs out or until I want to sell the goods. You can get a good deal more money when you re-sell an item in its original box. Yes, you might be able to 'live' in there in terms of staying alive, but your quality of life quickly decreases as all of your life decisions have to be made around the fact that you live in a shoebox.
[QUOTE=wraithcat;45027214]And bread or buns? I mean buying it more less often than once eevery 2-3 days is senseless as well, since it goes stale otherwise.[/QUOTE] Don't you people freeze bread? It'll last months
[video=youtube;juWaO5TJS00]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWaO5TJS00[/video]
[quote]"The property does have planning. It's been checked several times by the environmental health and the planning department. We have not subdivided units."[/quote] bullshit, that stove is within 2 feet of a highly flammable bed, there's no fucking way that would ever be allowed with proper fire-codes [editline]7th June 2014[/editline] [quote]Cllr Murray suggested the rooms, [B]which had once been solely used as bedrooms[/B], had been re-purposed as self-contained studio flats.[/quote] then they should have stayed bedrooms instead and you should have combined units instead of trying to make more money by selling half a unit
[QUOTE=Sableye;45027744]bullshit, that stove is within 2 feet of a highly flammable bed, there's no fucking way that would ever be allowed with proper fire-codes [editline]7th June 2014[/editline] then they should have stayed bedrooms instead and you should have combined units instead of trying to make more money by selling half a unit[/QUOTE] That's the issue, over here everyone and their mother are trying to turn any property into flats as quickly as possible as the return is so much better. In some places it makes sense, like down in the former holiday towns where there are 19th to early 20th century holiday homes that are pretty sizable, with room for servants and such, but in others they're literally just trying to get as many tiny rooms in as possible to sell.
My mortgage for a 3 bed semi + garage is cheaper than that by a couple of hundred quid (although I live in the north and London prices can be completely crazy).
It's nicer than my dorm room, but that's expensive as fuck.
Living in an appartment like that I'd probably go stark raving mad.
I honestly think it'd be pretty cool to live in a place like that, and get creative with fold-away beds and tables. You'd need to rent a storage unit too though, so at that point you might as well just rent a bigger apartment anyway.
I once lived in an eight by six foot camper on the back of a pickup with my girlfriend. Had a full sized bed, desktop computer with 25" screen, and not much else. But it cemented our relationship and kept us active, and we had loadsamone from working full-time and only paying $150 a month for rent, internet, and electricity. I bought a bitchin cooler that keeps ice for 5-7 days, and we only ever needed a single burner stove. We had space in a shed we would hang a solar shower in and had a cassette toilet. Now I pay $1100 for rent alone, and have nearly zero money for my own interests. Fuck all this useless space, it makes me sick. If you want to have money to spend on yourself and the ones you love, living in a smaller place and dumping all your useless shit is a great way to do it. Once I'm no longer required here I'll go back to where I belong. If someone told you "you can't live there, its too small" what would you say? As long as your house isn't breeding rats from piles of garbage who gives a fuck what it looks like? There are building codes for safety reasons, so long as the codes are reasonable why does there need to be a minimum square footage?
[QUOTE=Terminutter;45029040]That's the issue, over here everyone and their mother are trying to turn any property into flats as quickly as possible as the return is so much better. In some places it makes sense, like down in the former holiday towns where there are 19th to early 20th century holiday homes that are pretty sizable, with room for servants and such, but in others they're literally just trying to get as many tiny rooms in as possible to sell.[/QUOTE] Classic modification for a Vancouver Special: -remove door at bottom of stairs. Plaster over old opening. Suddenly you have a duplex apartment you can charge $1500/month for.
everyone saying that urban rent basically comes down to simply not having to own a car is massively oversimplifying a matrix of variables that involve gentrification, redevelopment, zoning, foreclosures and average income for an entire metropolitan area money changes neighborhoods more than space, density, etc
Reminds of the time someone posted an article about the shitty flats you can get in China, where food is kept under the bed, kitchen utensils in the bathroom and your entire wardrobe hangs on a rope out the window. (and for some reason 90% of the thread thought it'd be a cool place to live) This one in London isn't as bad as that but good lord who could retain sanity in that? I'd understand if you were some big-shot salary man who's on the road six days a week but I couldn't see anyone living happily for any long amount of time.
It's too expensive to live in the UK nowadays. I want to leave but that's too expensive.
[QUOTE=Noss;45027239]Do you actually own your own house or do you live in your bedroom? You naturally accumulate tonnes of useful shit that cannot be stored in a flat like that. Also I keep my boxes until the warranty runs out or until I want to sell the goods. You can get a good deal more money when you re-sell an item in its original box. Yes, you might be able to 'live' in there in terms of staying alive, but your quality of life quickly decreases as all of your life decisions have to be made around the fact that you live in a shoebox.[/QUOTE] To be honest it's really relative. For instance a small flat is generally only good for one person, two at most. a family in one would not really work out well. That's also where lot of other stuff start playing. A single person generally needs much less kitchen appliances for example than a family. You won't be cooking for a larger group daily, but generally only for yourself. With that in mind, the need for a kitchen robot, huge ass blender and others suddenly go on the hindsight, because you won't generally have a need for them. How many appliances or useful shit in boxes do you buy regularly? Not too many because once again a lone person generally won't have a huge need for them. Add to it one really huge and important bit. You spend significantly less time cleaning the place. You also spend significantly less on heating in the winter. As to a tonne of useful shit - mind just citing some examples? I've found out, that up to a certain minimum size, apartments or houses are like HDDs - you have no issues living in a smaller size, but once you get a bigger place, you just fill it with more crap. The apartment pictured has huge issues. Some come to just shitty furnishing for a space like that, and he majority come down to the price of it. But living in a small space and feel cosy is completely achievable. [QUOTE=ThePuska;45027361]Don't you people freeze bread? It'll last months[/QUOTE] Why the hell would I freeze bread when I can pop into the store for some and be out in five minutes with fresh?
[QUOTE=wraithcat;45034145] Why the hell would I freeze bread when I can pop into the store for some and be out in five minutes with fresh?[/QUOTE] One reason would be if you don't run out of bread fast. Would be a waste to throw half a loaf away just to buy a fresh one when you can freeze it.
[QUOTE=itisjuly;45034163]One reason would be if you don't run out of bread fast. Would be a waste to throw half a loaf away just to buy a fresh one when you can freeze it.[/QUOTE] Doesn't really taste as good anymore though but I guess if you're trying to save money it works.
[QUOTE=SomeENG;45030884]I once lived in an eight by six foot camper on the back of a pickup with my girlfriend. Had a full sized bed, desktop computer with 25" screen, and not much else. But it cemented our relationship and kept us active, and we had loadsamone from working full-time and only paying $150 a month for rent, internet, and electricity. I bought a bitchin cooler that keeps ice for 5-7 days, and we only ever needed a single burner stove. We had space in a shed we would hang a solar shower in and had a cassette toilet. Now I pay $1100 for rent alone, and have nearly zero money for my own interests. Fuck all this useless space, it makes me sick. [/QUOTE] This actually sounds good to me. I have a 14 by 15 foot room and I could easily live out of it. So much unused space in my room though, because I have roommates and we have a kitchen/bathroom. I have a desk with a pile of papers and a kettle that I never use, and a 6x6 part of my room that is literally just collecting dust. You could do so much in this room, and my rent is only like 750 a month (actually less because I have a special deal, but that's the normal price).
In my experience of the times I've lived in small spaces. the bed is the main waste of space. If you have a bed you can break down, fold away, or otherwise stash somewhere, you'll immediately have a more livable space. There's really no reason to always have a bed set up. You shouldn't need it to sleep all day and if you're living in that small of a space you probably aren't going to be having sex there much. edit: I'm referring to the picture of the London flat.
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