Buying a top floor flat

[hugnie21]

I'm flat hunting at the moment and have been looking at ground floor because I want some outside space. I've now seen a top floor flat with a roof terrace so am considering that.

Can anyone think of the bad points of a top floor flat (other than the ten flights of stairs!)? There must be some but my mind's gone blank!

[WendyS]

You will probably find that if your flat overlooks a busy road vehicle noise rises and the sound seems to echo & become louder the higher up the building you live.

If you open your windows, you will also find that any breeze/wind will seem more fierce than at ground level. Also, you may find that deliverers of heavy furniture such as sofas, cookers, etc. will charge you a premium for having to hire extra labour to hump it up so many stairs if a lift is not an option. I assume that you're not yet facing old age when climbing so many stairs with arthritic legs would cause you a problem. However, lugging the contents of a week's shopping from the supermarket may take more than one trip (Still, you will burn off a few calories in the process and climbing the stairs will help keep you fit, although it's a long climb down if you find you've forgotten something and left it in your car !)

On the other hand, you won't have to worry about any upstairs tenants letting their bath water overflow and pour through your ceiling, although if the roof leaks, you will be the one who suffers all the inconvenience.

[matt_london]

<PRE>Flat roof would mean the water doesn't run off to the gutter so easily.</PRE>

[katerich48]

I have just moved from a top floor flat after 20 years... the furniture deliveries or anything bulky really, is always a problem... and lugging up suitcases after a holiday - shopping of course...once my washing machine leaked, and it rang right down through the whole building...My parents stopped visiting as they got older (the stairs were too much for them) although this can be seen as a blessing to some! If you came out & forgot something it was a hike back up the stairs again- apart from that it was really really sunny & bright

[katerich48]

Just remembered when it came to my moving out - an australian removal firm turned me down simply because of the stairs - 2 strapping auzzies took one look and ran!

[puzzled54]

You lose a lot of heat thru the roof compared to having another flat above you, but then you gain by not having noisy people in the flat above.

[Neeru247]

One of the best things about living on the top floor is not hearing the tenants upstairs! I can hear mine on a daily basis and they walk around like elephants! (They have wooden flooring which makes it worse)!