Second hand accommodation: benefits of renting a flat in an old house

One of the firstmost issues one naturally faces when looking for a flat to rent is whether to choose from newly-built houses or the older buildings. The newly-built developments appear to be much more comfy, simply because it is new. But there is more to it than meets the eye.

Second hand flats are those which have already been certified and registered as someone else’s property. If you are renting out a second hand flat, this will also mean that it had been earlier inhabited by owners and possibly also tenants. But that does not necessarily mean that it is a hundred years-old house with century-old utility networks: this category includes a wide variety of flats with different features. These may be sub-classified into several groups:

• Luxury residences. These are high-end flats in ‘VIP-style’ housing estates with high-end infrastructure and developed premises — and they cost accordingly.

• Enhanced accommodation. These feature cosy flats in modern houses with utility networks in decent technical condition. Most frequently, this also means a larger number of bathrooms and subsidiary inner spaces such as closets and storehouses.

• Standard-issue flats. This is your plain vanilla second hand accommodation; most flats of this category that are being rented out include one- and two-room flats in generic tower blocks in ‘dormitory’ suburb areas.

• Low cost homes. These include the oldest houses that are mostly single-storey buildings, quite often lacking some utilities, without a proper heating system, with unreliable electrical wiring, sewage, and water supply systems.

The latter option speaks for itself; but you can go ahead and rent the former three categories, be it for a day or for a longer period of time.

Benefits of Second Hand Homes

Renting flats from the second hand flat accommodation pool is an option with plenty of benefits:

• They are less expensive than new, recently refurbished residences;

• This option is more affordable when and if you have little kids or pets like cats and dogs;

• The range of choice is far, far wider;

• You will not have to get yourselves engaged in upgrading and refurbishing;

• These flats are ‘set up and ready on a turnkey’ — and time-proven, too;

• Any possible issues have already been detected and dealt with (whereas the newly-built flat often contain unexpected surprises);

• It is highly unlikely that an older, time-proven building will ever subside;

• Your neighbours will come to your assistance with advice on where to look for things you need;

• Second-hand flats are being rented out all across the city, in almost any neighbourhood, whereas the flats in newly-built houses are mostly situated in some districts only.

What about disadvantages, then?

As one may notice, a newly-built flat has plenty of benefits. But when one is strategically planning for a long-time rent, one should not forget the downsides, too:

• The engineering networks in older (particularly in listed/landmark buildings) are often obsolete and worn down. This is an issue to investigate in advance: find out how are things with power supply, hot water supply, and heating.

• Old-fashioned arrangement of inner spaces. Quite often, the access corridors in older buildings also leave much to be desired.

• Construction materials and insulation in newly-built flats are almost certainly better than in the older developments — despite the widespread opinion about ‘reliable good old homes from good old days’.

• No landscaping, no infrastructure, no modern conveniences — these are major problems in all of the older dormitory residential areas.

• Finally, you will almost never going to find out who had lived in this apartment before and what had been happening in it earlier.

Comfort Realty company is here to offer you assistance in finding and renting second-hand flats in Lviv. We have a verified database of landlords, affordable prices, discounts, and loyalty programmes; we are also happy to render comprehensive legal services and ready to stand by you until you successfully sign your rent contract and move into your new flat.