- Flats
- Rent
- Cardiff
Flats in Cardiff
What to look for when renting flats in Cardiff?
There are a number of items you may want to consider when looking
around a flat or apartments, which may differ from when you rent a
whole house.
Communal areas
The communal areas in
flats in Cardiff vary hugely
in quality. In apartment complexes, in areas such as
Cardiff Bay the
communal areas are usually maintained as part of the service charges
that the landlord is responsible to pay. This will include
maintenance to lift systems, cleaning and any entry systems. It may
also include extras such as concierge, security and landscape
gardening.
In other Cardiff flats, usually where the building is owned by a
single landlord, the communal areas may not have a dedicated
maintenance team, and therefore the quality and cleanliness of the
communal areas of the flats do vary.
When looking at Cardiff flats, have a look to see where the post
goes. In a smaller block of flats, it may not be a problem it being
posted through a communal letter box, but where the block is bigger
it may be necessary for each flats to have a dedicated letter box.
As well as looking at the communal areas of
Cardiff flats, it is
worth looking at the quality of the fixtures and fittings. Do the
communal areas of the flats have lighting, which is working?
Usually, due to cost these areas will be on timer lighting or motion
sensor lighting.
The entrance systems to blocks of flats vary in how they work from
electronic fob entry to a normal key entry system. The system used
is not of great importance, but what is important is the security.
When you go to your viewing is the main door to the flats locked, or
has it been left open? If you don’t think the communal area is very
secure then pay extra attention to the security on the individual
flat doors.
Parking varies between different
flats in Cardiff. This varies
between off-road allocated parking, on-street residential parking or
no parking at all! Your CPS Homes negotiator will be able to show
you how the parking works for any flats you view with us in Cardiff.
The individual flats in Cardiff mainly come down to personal
preference, and whilst the CPS Homes negotiator will show you around
the flat, at the end of the day it will come down to what flat you
like the most! Some things to consider when viewing Cardiff flats
are: -
Location within the building
Are people living above you? Do you want to be on the ground floor? Do you mind walking up stairs? These are all things to consider, and these will influence where you chose to live within a building. Some flats have private entrance either from external staircases or a private entrance on the ground level although the majority of flats in Cardiff have entrances from communal areas.
Building regulations for converted flats in Cardiff
This is a huge area, and you will require specialist advice from a
variety of professionals before undertaking any work in this area,
but the following is a list of items you may need to consider: -
Planning permission:
If you are converting a house into flats within Cardiff then you will need to acquire planning permission from Cardiff County Council. Each area within Cardiff varies on what they will grant permission for, but you may need to consider providing off-road parking for your tenants. Generally speaking, they will not grant permission for flats where the size and positioning of the flats is sub-standard, i.e. Basement flats with inadequate lighting.
Building Regulations
There is a variety of building regulations that your conversion of a building into self contained flats will need to meet, and this will be inspected during various stages of the conversion. One of the new areas, but now very important is sound proofing the individual flats.
HMO Licensing
If the flats meet the 1991 building regulations then the building would not require an HMO licence, providing that the individual flats are not licensable HMO’s. However, if the flats do not meet the 1991 building regulations then the property may require an HMO licence. This may change over time, as it depends on what type of properties Cardiff County Council wish to make licensable.