1 bed Flat For Sale £220,000
A comfortable, quiet and attractive one bedroom flat on the second - top - floor of a Grade II listed Georgian building circa 17th century. Lying in the heart of the medieval centre of Tonbridge, it is an excellent opportunity for an owner occupier or buy-to-let investor.
The location is both delightful and convenient, with a medieval church and extensive churchyard on one side, and the town's High Street and commercial centre on the other side. The 13th century Norman castle and its grounds, a sports centre, a quality public swimming pool and the River Medway are all within a few minutes walk. The building lies within the Tonbridge Conservation Area.
There is a large Waitrose supermarket, and a large Sainsburys supermarket, a few minutes walk away, between the flat and Tonbridge mainline train station, which is also within easy walking distance.
As a buy-to-let investment, the flat lets very easily, typically within a week from the moment of listing to taking a deposit from the new tenant. The current rent is £830 per month. At the asking price the yield is 4.5%.
The flat is on a 999 year lease from 2014. The ground rent is a constant £100pa. The service charges are calculated proportional to floor area. The freeholder guarantees the service charges will be no more than £600 pa for the first three years.
There will be no ongoing financial liability for buyers relating to the tenant currently in place. There are no ongoing fees, such as renewal fees, if the current AST is extended. If the existing tenant is retained, there will be no fees relating to the transfer of the current AST or on the monthly rent. There is no rent outstanding, nor any payment missed, since the start of the tenancy in 2019.
Entry to the building is via an arched brick gateway off Church Lane opening onto a walled communal courtyard garden. Entry to the second floor is naturally lit by a domed roof light above a listed central staircase and galleried landing, and an unusual range of period windows above a second staircase leading up to the second floor.
The entrance door to the flat gives onto a hallway leading to the bathroom, bedroom and main room. The hallway is naturally lit by a small opening window facing east looking over roofs toward the church. The main room, an open plan living room and fitted kitchen area, looks west through two listed 9-pane Georgian sash windows. There is good natural light. There is a listed sealed fireplace with a decorative relief.
The flat has full gas central heating with radiators fitted under windows, very good sound and heat insulation and generous power points.
The sound and heat insulation includes doubled ceiling boards isolated from the joists with rubber bushes. Visually the advantage in this is the complete lack of cracks in the ceiling plaster because the arrangement of rubber bushes between boards and joists has inbuilt tolerance of minor movement in the structure.
The voids between the joists are filled with 10cm of 'Soundslab' (this is a rockwool type substance designed primarily to absorb sound but none the less effective with regards to heat). The hollow sections of dividing walls between rooms are similarly filled with Soundslab.
The floors are formed of engineered 8'x 4' four part laminate boards. The laminate is comprised of high density chipboard on silicone pads over mdf board with a final layer of heavy felt which is in direct contact with the joists.
The benefit of this is not visually obvious but is appreciated by anyone living in these flats; they are unusually quiet one flat to another.
The windows have been fitted with sophisticated, counter balanced, vertical sliding and tilting, double glazing with toughened 4mm glass.
The bathroom has a white suite and low level wc. There is an entry phone.
The flat is one of eight flats created when the building was carefully and completely redeveloped in 2005. Protected period features were preserved and state of the art materials and structure, including the insulation, were introduced. The conversion was praised in public documents by local authority planning officers and building regulation staff, who wrote: 'The conversion works have all been carried out to a very high standard.'
The walls of the courtyard garden, like the building, are Grade II listed. The paving in the garden complements the building's Georgian architecture.
The building stands within 1/2 mile of Tonbridge mainline station, which offers what may be the best rail service of any town close to the M25. There are direct commuter trains to London Bridge, Cannon Street, Waterloo, Charing Cross, and Victoria, and they are frequent. The fastest trains take around 35 minutes to London Bridge. The lines also run south, east and west to Gatwick and Dorking, Canterbury, Dover, Hastings etc. There are nearby road links, via the A26 and A21, to the M20 & M25 motorways; the main roads to and from Tonbridge are excellent. Junction 5 of the M25 is approximately eight miles north.
Tonbridge, an historic market town, lies in the Medway valley between the Kent Weald and the Green Sand Ridge/North Downs. Its schools are consistently among the highest performers in the South East.
Tonbridge offers a range of retail and leisure activities with many high street stores and a full complement of banks and building societies, together with a selection of coffee shops, restaurants and local inns. The geography and history of the area are interesting and extended. There is an extraordinary variety of local villages and places of interest within easy distance, including Hever, Chartwell, Ightham Mote, Penshurst, Cowden, Knole, Sevenoaks, Bewl Water, Ashdown Forest and Hartfield.
The location is both delightful and convenient, with a medieval church and extensive churchyard on one side, and the town's High Street and commercial centre on the other side. The 13th century Norman castle and its grounds, a sports centre, a quality public swimming pool and the River Medway are all within a few minutes walk. The building lies within the Tonbridge Conservation Area.
There is a large Waitrose supermarket, and a large Sainsburys supermarket, a few minutes walk away, between the flat and Tonbridge mainline train station, which is also within easy walking distance.
As a buy-to-let investment, the flat lets very easily, typically within a week from the moment of listing to taking a deposit from the new tenant. The current rent is £830 per month. At the asking price the yield is 4.5%.
The flat is on a 999 year lease from 2014. The ground rent is a constant £100pa. The service charges are calculated proportional to floor area. The freeholder guarantees the service charges will be no more than £600 pa for the first three years.
There will be no ongoing financial liability for buyers relating to the tenant currently in place. There are no ongoing fees, such as renewal fees, if the current AST is extended. If the existing tenant is retained, there will be no fees relating to the transfer of the current AST or on the monthly rent. There is no rent outstanding, nor any payment missed, since the start of the tenancy in 2019.
Entry to the building is via an arched brick gateway off Church Lane opening onto a walled communal courtyard garden. Entry to the second floor is naturally lit by a domed roof light above a listed central staircase and galleried landing, and an unusual range of period windows above a second staircase leading up to the second floor.
The entrance door to the flat gives onto a hallway leading to the bathroom, bedroom and main room. The hallway is naturally lit by a small opening window facing east looking over roofs toward the church. The main room, an open plan living room and fitted kitchen area, looks west through two listed 9-pane Georgian sash windows. There is good natural light. There is a listed sealed fireplace with a decorative relief.
The flat has full gas central heating with radiators fitted under windows, very good sound and heat insulation and generous power points.
The sound and heat insulation includes doubled ceiling boards isolated from the joists with rubber bushes. Visually the advantage in this is the complete lack of cracks in the ceiling plaster because the arrangement of rubber bushes between boards and joists has inbuilt tolerance of minor movement in the structure.
The voids between the joists are filled with 10cm of 'Soundslab' (this is a rockwool type substance designed primarily to absorb sound but none the less effective with regards to heat). The hollow sections of dividing walls between rooms are similarly filled with Soundslab.
The floors are formed of engineered 8'x 4' four part laminate boards. The laminate is comprised of high density chipboard on silicone pads over mdf board with a final layer of heavy felt which is in direct contact with the joists.
The benefit of this is not visually obvious but is appreciated by anyone living in these flats; they are unusually quiet one flat to another.
The windows have been fitted with sophisticated, counter balanced, vertical sliding and tilting, double glazing with toughened 4mm glass.
The bathroom has a white suite and low level wc. There is an entry phone.
The flat is one of eight flats created when the building was carefully and completely redeveloped in 2005. Protected period features were preserved and state of the art materials and structure, including the insulation, were introduced. The conversion was praised in public documents by local authority planning officers and building regulation staff, who wrote: 'The conversion works have all been carried out to a very high standard.'
The walls of the courtyard garden, like the building, are Grade II listed. The paving in the garden complements the building's Georgian architecture.
The building stands within 1/2 mile of Tonbridge mainline station, which offers what may be the best rail service of any town close to the M25. There are direct commuter trains to London Bridge, Cannon Street, Waterloo, Charing Cross, and Victoria, and they are frequent. The fastest trains take around 35 minutes to London Bridge. The lines also run south, east and west to Gatwick and Dorking, Canterbury, Dover, Hastings etc. There are nearby road links, via the A26 and A21, to the M20 & M25 motorways; the main roads to and from Tonbridge are excellent. Junction 5 of the M25 is approximately eight miles north.
Tonbridge, an historic market town, lies in the Medway valley between the Kent Weald and the Green Sand Ridge/North Downs. Its schools are consistently among the highest performers in the South East.
Tonbridge offers a range of retail and leisure activities with many high street stores and a full complement of banks and building societies, together with a selection of coffee shops, restaurants and local inns. The geography and history of the area are interesting and extended. There is an extraordinary variety of local villages and places of interest within easy distance, including Hever, Chartwell, Ightham Mote, Penshurst, Cowden, Knole, Sevenoaks, Bewl Water, Ashdown Forest and Hartfield.
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