Whitby saga

Some time ago I said we were buying a flat in Whitby. We have changed horses in mid stream and now we are buying another one and dropping the first. It has all come about in a strange way which I can only describe by telling the full story.

In January while we were on holiday Martin and Lindsey saw flats advertised which they thought would suit us in an old property in the centre of Whitby. The property, built in 1816, stands on a ridge and looks over the west of Whitby, the Esk river and over to the start of the North York Moors. As soon as we returned we went up to view the two flats for sale, one on the ground floor, one on the first floor immediately above.

Alex had noted that from the upper flat he could see the station and the occasional service out along the North York Moors Railway. The upper flat was still occupied but was rather larger than the ground floor flat which, although nominally with two bedrooms, the second was very small and could have only accommodated bunk beds or one single bed.

We decided to bid for the upper flat but found we were in a bidding battle with another prospective purchaser. We made what we thought was a knock out bid, considerably more than the asking price, because the property appeared to meet all our requirements, Annette was keen so we stretched to the limit. We were devastated to find we were the losing bidder and withdrew hurt.

After a month we decided that we would compromise on the ground floor flat. It had much the same view ( from a lower level of course ) and we decided that the pro’s outweighed the cons. We were also caught by the new tax on property for rent which came in April.

We then proceeded with all the usual enquiries etc. and were nearing contract exchange when the estate agent phoned to say the original successful bidder for the upper flat had pulled out and asking if we were still interested. Within a couple of days we decided to bid again for the upper flat. We were able to buy the survey they had done ( which was reasonably OK ) and decide they had fair reasons to pull out. They already occupy a large  upper floor maisonette on Whitby sea front and were looking to downsize and move to ground level.

We have just been to see the upper floor flat which we last saw in early February and satisfy ourselves it is the property we want. Basically it has a largish living room, two bedrooms ( both en suite ) no principal bathroom but a decent sized kitchen. Lindsey came with us and made some important suggestions. The second bedroom ( actually over part of the entrance hall ) isn’t large and probably will only comfortably fit a double bed while the main bedroom is L shaped, will take two single beds and a work desk or table with ease.

The house ( essentially a massive Georgian semi ) as a whole is 2 star listed and was split into six flats about 10 years ago after a long stint ( with internal communication to the next door property) as municipal offices.

The entrance hall and staircase is rather grand, wide, and sweeping up to a large landing. Entrance to two other flats, one at roof level and one to the rear is from this large landing. Our choice is also off this landing. In addition there is a basement flat and rear ground floor flat. The property stands on a ridge with the ground falling away sharply to Pannett Park just across the road from the property. Access by car is from the rear and there are wide steps to the side up from the main road. Just by the house proper are two flats at ground floor level, possibly originally stables.

Hopefully much of the legal work will read over and we should proceed to exchange quite quickly now.