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"The recent trend towards 4 story narrow houses doesn't help. A literal 1/3rd of the house is taken up by stairs" If you want vertical efficiency, we have apar

"The recent trend towards 4 story narrow houses doesn't help. A literal 1/3rd of the house is taken up by stairs" If you want vertical efficiency, we have apartments for that. You get a single staircase and 20 single-story homes instead of 20 staircases in 20 homes. Its funny that US/UK/ anglosphere seems to have never figured out apartments, in Uk you can't even be a true owner - first you pay leasehold, then you pay ground rent, then you pay service charge (for which they are not obligated to provide any service), so you paid 3 times for the same thing! And then when yoy find out that your block was built in breach of fire regulations, it's not the material supplier, not the developer and not the building landlord that get the bill, its the leaseholder that does not even own the house that has to pay for 'waking watch' (pateolls by firemen) and any repairs! People who bought Shared Ownership apartments (you own 25%, other 75% is owned by investors) are responsible for 100% of the cost of fixing the building because between developer, supplier, fire inspector and landlord someone has commited fraud. UK likes to think fo itself as free country, but I have never seen laws as tyranical and feudal as housing laws here. It's like they were writted for medieval lords to opress their peasanta and never changed. If you want to know more about this, google 'cladding scandal, UK'

bobthepanda 5y ago
The US has large apartment buildings, the problem is that there is not a whole lot of anything between 5-20 stories, and there is a construction premium for 20+ story buildings. (And in the US it would be two staircases and 20 single story homes, specifically because building codes require two staircases to prevent a Grenfell-like disaster.
- yholio 5y ago
  In all honesty, Grenfell was caused by bad construction choices, materials and political penny-pinching. A second stairway filled with cyanide smoke would have had very limited benefits.
neilwilson 5y ago
Nobody really wants to live in an apartment. People really want to live in their own little hut - as we have done for centuries. "in Uk you can't even be a true owner " You can never be the 'true owner' of any land in England. All land is technically owned by the Crown. You can only ever hold an interest in land in England - a freehold being the best you can get, and even those are littered with covenants these days.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  "Nobody really wants to live in an apartment. People really want to live in their own little hut - as we have done for centuries." I keep seeing this tryism repeated, but it seems to be a myth - apartment prices aren't very differr than house prices.
- rowanajmarshall 5y ago
  > You can never be the 'true owner' of any land in England. All land is technically owned by the Crown. Functionally speaking, is that any different to any other comparable country?
- rr808 5y ago
  I have a family with a teenager and apartment living is great, needs parking and a good location though.
- com2kid 5y ago
  If my previous town home had 1 more bedroom I would have stayed there and not moved. The shared green space / yard is much larger than the one I have in the house I bought. Having an HOA take care of all maintenance and yard work is amazing. At their best, condos and townhomes can be better than single family houses, but sadly most development isn't "at its best".
leoedin 5y ago
Funnily enough Scotland has figured out apartments - both Edinburgh and Glasgow have some really incredible spacious apartments. I wonder if it's a result of the divergent legal systems. Living in London, I'd happily live in a generous sized apartment (I grew up in one in Scotland - it was fine), but the system here doesn't allow it. The apartments available are almost all very small (with a few very central and highly priced exceptions) and the leasehold system makes owning them and doing work a bureaucratic nightmare. So along with everyone else, I'm buying a house and bidding up the prices of those.
rr808 5y ago
I'd love a review of legal systems for apartments globally because it does seem to differ between countries.

bobthepanda 5y ago

The US has large apartment buildings, the problem is that there is not a whole lot of anything between 5-20 stories, and there is a construction premium for 20+ story buildings. (And in the US it would be two staircases and 20 single story homes, specifically because building codes require two staircases to prevent a Grenfell-like disaster.

yholio 5y ago
In all honesty, Grenfell was caused by bad construction choices, materials and political penny-pinching. A second stairway filled with cyanide smoke would have had very limited benefits.

neilwilson 5y ago

Nobody really wants to live in an apartment. People really want to live in their own little hut - as we have done for centuries. "in Uk you can't even be a true owner " You can never be the 'true owner' of any land in England. All land is technically owned by the Crown. You can only ever hold an interest in land in England - a freehold being the best you can get, and even those are littered with covenants these days.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago
"Nobody really wants to live in an apartment. People really want to live in their own little hut - as we have done for centuries." I keep seeing this tryism repeated, but it seems to be a myth - apartment prices aren't very differr than house prices.
rowanajmarshall 5y ago
> You can never be the 'true owner' of any land in England. All land is technically owned by the Crown. Functionally speaking, is that any different to any other comparable country?
rr808 5y ago
I have a family with a teenager and apartment living is great, needs parking and a good location though.
com2kid 5y ago
If my previous town home had 1 more bedroom I would have stayed there and not moved. The shared green space / yard is much larger than the one I have in the house I bought. Having an HOA take care of all maintenance and yard work is amazing. At their best, condos and townhomes can be better than single family houses, but sadly most development isn't "at its best".

leoedin 5y ago

Funnily enough Scotland has figured out apartments - both Edinburgh and Glasgow have some really incredible spacious apartments. I wonder if it's a result of the divergent legal systems. Living in London, I'd happily live in a generous sized apartment (I grew up in one in Scotland - it was fine), but the system here doesn't allow it. The apartments available are almost all very small (with a few very central and highly priced exceptions) and the leasehold system makes owning them and doing work a bureaucratic nightmare. So along with everyone else, I'm buying a house and bidding up the prices of those.

rr808 5y ago

I'd love a review of legal systems for apartments globally because it does seem to differ between countries.