The empty 'luxury' flats on Overhill Road

[joom]

I'm wondering if it might make sense to re-purpose this building as a small business development?

It looks like they are never going to be occupied by residential tenants. However, as business units they may well be a far more attractive proposition. Does anyone know if this kind of switch is possible?

[PeckhamRose]

If the windows were made with glass that you could not see IN to, they might be better!

[joom]

I know! The luxury bit in the description is what really gets me - if the whole building was one or two apartments, that would be luxury!

[SimonM]

I saw the other day that one of them is "under offer" - allegedly

[Jeremy]

The asking price has been dropped a few times, I expect you could pick one one for around 225k. They seem to offer a reasonable amount of space for the price, but they just look too damn ugly.

I'm not sure about using them as business units, they're quite a long way from any public transport.

[SimonM]

They look pretty horrible on the inside too, judgung from the photos on estate agents' web sites. And wouldn't there need to be a formal change of use for non-residential use? I really cannot see either the Council or the neighbours wearing that...

[ae]

I went to see the ground/lower ground floor flat in this development back in November when we were looking around to move to ED and I'm not at all surprised that they're still on the market (whether to rent or buy). Before going I'd thought that they looked quite nice, but once I got inside it was a different story.

When I expressed surprise at the lack of space in the living room and bedrooms and the complete and utter lack of storage, the agent said to me that he felt that the owner had been screwed by the architect and told me that the upstairs flat was even smaller!

Quite apart from the lack of space in the rooms, the quality of the finish was terrible for the kind of look and feel (not to mention price) that the owner had clearly been going for - for example, the boiler and associated pipes and wires weren't even boxed in. It just looked and felt half-arsed and there was no way I'd have paid anywhere near the rent they were looking for to have a flat where there would have had to be floor to ceiling net curtains blocking to stop it feeling like a fishbowl.

Good luck to whoever has (allegedly) put an offer in. I hope it suits them. It certainly didn't suit me.

[joom]

Mmm, I hadn't thought about the extra cars that would be around if it was filled with working people and what the neighbours might think - and I live on Overhill road!

[AD]

These are so badly designed it is crazy, the bedrooms are tiny and no storage space, and to top it all off you can get people looking into you bedrooms in the lower flat every time they walk past. I can't see these being sold for a very long time unless the price gets reduced massively.

[Sherwick]

Can't they use these flats for Big Brother?

[????]

The market must be picking up...."Last few available" down at the flats opposite ED station

[Sherwick]

???? Wrote:

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> The market must be picking up...."Last few

> available" down at the flats opposite ED station

There were only a few available to start with..

[seanmlow]

I had a look at these to rent. They are absolutely terrible. I once lived in Altima Court, which I thought was well done inside, so was keen to see these. Agreed, storage space is minimal, the space is an odd shape. On top of that, the agent told me the vendor was expecting 'top rent' for them. I am an agent myself, and can spot the chat a mile off. You would think that with them being vacant this long, he would be a little more flexibile. Unless, of course, a repossession order is more attractive that a couple of 100 quid off the rent price!

[SteveT]

Yawn Yawn......................

[Jeremy]

I think quids is being sarcastic, that sign has been up there for 2 years.

[Brendan]

What's so fucking luxuary about a flat anyway?

All these awful new buildings that look like they are going to dissolve in the rain are just flats built to a worse standard than the ones that went up in the ?30s. I drove past one in Stockport on the weekend, sandwiched between a derelict warehouse and a petrol station. The sign outside proclaimed ?Modern Luxury Apartments?

Fucking stupid fucking fucking cunts!

[skidmarks]

Luxury modern flat = spot lights and a cooker extractor.

I miss my old Victorian terrace; funny to think it would have been demolished in the 60?s and 70?s under the slum clearance and replaced by something that would look like Robin Hood Gardens?mmm

I give these modern ?luxury? flats 25 years until they put a large lead ball through them - ? not exactly sustainable building

[jimbo1964]

I'm not against modern buildings but that development seems to be particularly badly designed. Greedy developers trying to cram too many flats into a small space.

[gerritsmith]

According to planning requirements, off street parking spaces is a requirement when more than two flats are built in one building.

There is something dodgy about planning for those flats.

[Jeremy]

gerritsmith Wrote:

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> According to planning requirements, off street

> parking spaces is a requirement when more than two

> flats are built in one building.

I'm not sure I buy this, I can think of several counter examples!

[gerritsmith]

Few years ago, a planning officer said this to me when we applied for conversion of a house into flats.

[Siduhe]

gerritsmith Wrote:

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> According to planning requirements, off street

> parking spaces is a requirement when more than two

> flats are built in one building.

>

> There is something dodgy about planning for those

> flats.

I've seen this in guidance notes issued by planning authorities before (not Southwark) - but only as guidance, not an absolute requirement - and if I recall correctly, it only applies to conversions, not new builds.

[skidmarks]

What you need to look up is Southwark's Unitary Development Plan. In this document it stipulates the requirement for parking spaces. If the development has good transports links (a high PTAL rating) the developer could get away with building a ?car free? development.

[Brendan]

Well there you go then. We all know the P13 goes past there.

[jimbo1964]

I love the P13.