A terrace in South Kensington that was advertised for sale earlier this year is about to find a new owner.
The 128 sq ft, third floor balcony on Stanhope Gardens, close to Gloucester Road Tube station, was listed for £50,000 with Next Home Ltd in July.
The property is in the process of being sold to a purchaser who is buying it for its parking permit, says agent Glenn Jacobs. The balcony’s new owner had recently bought a property a road away and successfully negotiated a price reduction because it did not come with parking. They are buying the terrace for £35,000, and will pay an annual service charge of £1,300.
Despite receiving over 200 enquiries when the balcony hit the market, this was not a use that Jacobs had anticipated. “It wasn’t something we’d thought of initially…I thought of every other thing. I got told of tents and canopies and all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas, but this one makes perfect sense.”
Parking spaces, particularly in areas like Kensington, come at a premium. In prime central London, £80,000 represents the lower end of the market for a parking space, according to Patrick Alvarado, director of Nicolas van Patrick, with top-end spaces going for around £250,000.
Jacobs’ buyer found out about the property through their buying agent. They had intentions of installing a post box at the address, and are planning to put plastic or glass framing around the balcony so that is waterproof.
Jacobs also had serious interest from a buyer in China, who wanted to use the terrace as an art space. They had offered £50,000 for the property and it had gone to the solicitors, but after two weeks of silence, Jacobs put the terrace back on the market. Since November, he has received 191 new enquiries about the property.
As well as initially receiving enquiries about the possibility of pitching a tent on the terrace and building a conservatory in the space, Jacobs was also approached by a party looking to hold a dance class there. Would it fit? “Yeah,” he says. “I bet the neighbours would love that.”
With the terrace gaining around 400 enquiries in total, Jacobs has been busy. “It took a lot of man hours to filter through all the leads,” he says. “I got a lot more emails [since the property was relisted]. Before, the phone was just off the hook.”
Jacobs has also had his share of wind-up enquiries, from people thinking that the entire flat was for sale (“they’d not read the full description”) to others calling the terrace “an expensive doormat”. He reads one email aloud: “I’d like to buy this terrace so that I can sip mojitos and go back to my cardboard box on the street afterwards.” He laughs. “Why would you waste your time to write that?”
Others have asked about the possibility of carving up their own gardens and spaces and selling them for profit. “It sparked a lot of people’s imagination, i.e. ‘I can get a quick 50 grand from separating my garden up.’ It’s not as straightforward as that.”
This was the first time Jacobs had listed a terrace. Did he anticipate the response? “I had no idea whatsoever. The reaction was crazy,” he says. “It’s come to the conclusion that we intended by selling the unit. I wouldn’t have listed it if I didn’t think I could sell it.”
To Jacobs, the attention that the terrace has gained is a symptom of the problems in the housing market. “I think it’s a sign of the times: the poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer. I think people that are struggling are more likely to view it negatively – people in Chelsea putting up balconies for 50 grand. It’s caught people’s attention on that basis – people can’t afford rents, and now they can’t afford terraces,” he says. “It’s tough at the moment. I think this struck a chord.”
