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Welcome to our guide to buying and renting flats in Richmond.
The Borough of Richmond upon Thames includes
Kew, Barnes, Ham, Sheen, Mortlake, Twickenham,
Teddington, Whitton, Hampton and of course the town of Richmond
itself, known as Richmond, Surrey.
Many of the flats in
Richmond upon Thames are part of converted Victorian
terraced houses - usually a shared entrance hall and then
one flat on the ground floor and another on the first floor.
Some of the bigger houses in Richmond are converted into
three flats. Due to the proximity of the River Thames,
there are fewer basement flats in Richmond than in other
parts of London. The flats in converted properties tend
to have one or two bedrooms with one bathroom, but there are
also many studio flats.
Richmond also has a large
number of mansion blocks, filled with flats. The first
mansion blocks were built in the 19th Century for the
growing urban upper middle classes - the white collar
workers - with grand entrances, generous elevations and
balconies reminiscent of mansions. The benefit of a
mansion block is that there's usually an organised
resident's committee, there are always people around (good
for security) and as the buildings are taller you can get
flats on higher floors and therefore more privacy and better
views - some of the views in Richmond are spectacular,
particularly from Richmond Hill. The downside is that there are rarely lifts in
these old properties so be prepared to walk up lots of
stairs with your shopping.
In the last 20 years we've
seen masses of new modern flats built in the Richmond area,
fashionably known as apartments.
These are generally pretty high specification and two
bedroom flats will often come with two bathrooms (including
an en-suite bathroom), and a single kitchen/diner/living
room. The advantages of these developments is that
they have better heat and sound insulation, lifts, and even underground parking in some cases.
Whether you're looking to rent or buy a flat, the biggest
impact to the cost other than the number of bedrooms is
going to be the location. Premium spots include
Richmond Hill, Petersham village, Kew village and of course anywhere
near the River or tube and train stations.
Richmond Council no longer provides council housing.
All houses owned by the Council were transferred in July
2000 to the
Richmond Housing Partnership who own and manage over
10,000 houses and flats in South West London.
The main town of Richmond Surrey is a green and leafy town
and it is surrounded by accessible open spaces.
Richmond Park lies to the South
and East of Richmond - a large area of wild heath and
woodland that was first enclosed by Charles I as a hunting
park. The wide green lawns and playing fields of the Old
Deer Park which run down to the River Thames lie to the
North, and beyond it
Kew Gardens. It's also an excellent centre for
shopping and
restaurants.
If you have local insight
about apartments or apartments in Richmond Surrey that you'd like to share with us, that we can share with
everyone else, please let us know - contact information on
the About Us page. |