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Where did you live when you were newly weds?s

(138 Posts)
chicken Mon 03-May-21 11:12:07

Our first home was a flat in Leicester, the bottom half of an old terraced house opposite the blank brick wall at the rear of a garage business.The small living room had an old unusable kitchen range in it,and there was a tiny scullery with a deep stone sink and not much else.The lavatory was the second door along in the back yard, beyond the coal shed,and was shared with the tenants of the upstairs flats who had either to walk through our flat to get to it or go out of the front door and down a little alleyway between the houses. The only bathroom was in the upstairs flat with a hot water tank that took 24 hours to heat enough water for a bath. We were happy there for two years and thought ourselves lucky to have our own place.After two years we had saved up enough to pay the deposit on a detached house with a big garden which was on the market for £3750.How times have changed.

Soupy Mon 03-May-21 23:47:18

We rented a flat above a dentist in Esher, Surrey. It was freezing cold so we bought a paraffin heater - remember those?
It was opposite Sandown Park racecourse so we had a brilliant view - of the car park!

Saved enough to buy a 3 bed semi in Cobham but had no real furniture to go in it. When a local lady visited us to welcome us to the area we let her think we were still waiting for our furniture to be delivered...........

Floradora9 Mon 03-May-21 21:53:22

We rented a small flat in Ealing . The landlady felt free to come into it while we were out and complained when we left the radiators on when we were away for a weekend . I decided the rent was too much for what we had ( DH has organised it ) so we looked around and got a bigger flat in Acton . The landlady lived in the bottom half of the house and we had the top we could just go down to her part with ho security. The poor old sould used to leave us gifts on the stairs , things people had given her .

chocolatepudding Mon 03-May-21 16:38:50

As DH was studying full time at university we had a one bedroom flat student accommodation - in reality the upstairs of a terraced house on the edge of the campus.

Beechnut Mon 03-May-21 16:29:42

In each other’s arms on cloud nine ??

joannapiano Mon 03-May-21 16:29:40

In a small Police flat near Kings Cross. It was rent-free courtesy of the Met Police so we could save up for a deposit for a house within two years. DH seemed to be on endless night duty, we had no phone and I knew no one. I was 21 .He worked all night and I worked all day and we met in the hall once a day.We used to have drunks banging on the door in the middle of the night and a noisy pub opposite our bedroom window.

Shrub Mon 03-May-21 16:26:55

We rented a first floor flat in Leicester with rooms off a communal landing! There were two elderly Scottish ladies upstairs, who fortunately crept quietly in and out, but complained that I didn't dust the bannisters often enough! Downstairs was an opticians so I didn't have to go far to get my eyes tested. A couple of years later we bought a Victorian 3 bed terraced house a few streets away, with bathroom added.

grandMattie Mon 03-May-21 16:22:44

WE were very fortunate that a) my husband worked for a bank and had a bank mortgage - 5% interest, imagine! in the 1970s!! and b) he was already hafway up the ladder and was "old" at 33 when we married.
So we had a 2 bedroom maisonette. It was heaven after the dreadful bedsits I lived in, which was all I coud afford.

Puzzler61 Mon 03-May-21 16:19:06

A two up - two down terrace, small rooms but high ceilings and steep stairs. As it was near the river the garden soil was excellent and we grew lots of salad, beans and sweet peas. Washing was dried on a line the length of the garden and I winched it up and looped it over a hook so that it blew high over the garden.

BBbevan Mon 03-May-21 16:16:55

First six months with my parents. Then we had a small 2 bed council house, furnished with second hand family stuff. Only new thing was the bed. We could have bought it for £3000 but we couldn’t afford it. Bought our first house five years later ,.

Grandmabatty Mon 03-May-21 16:08:25

We lived with my parents at first as exh didn't have a job. Then moved after three months to a Scottish Special house in a wee village. I was classed as an incoming worker. It was lovely. We backed into fields. I grew lots of vegetables and there was a real community spirit. After three years we bought our first house for £22,000. That would be around 1984. It had Hessian on the walls and every summer brought an ant infestation. However we loved it. It was in a lovely estate at the foot of the Ochil Hills. I still look back with pleasure at that house.

MayBee70 Mon 03-May-21 15:40:41

After living in several shared student houses we bought a house when we got married and I’m still living in it. 3 bedroom detached, now 4 bedroom after an extension. I sometimes wish we’d started off in a smaller house as I would have got used to the idea of moving house. As it is I’ll probably spend the rest of my life here.

TrendyNannie6 Mon 03-May-21 15:35:39

A two bed end of terrace house with very small postage stamp garden

Sundaze Mon 03-May-21 15:34:36

Oh, and the interest rate on our mortgage was 16% shock

crazyH Mon 03-May-21 15:33:23

With my mother

Sundaze Mon 03-May-21 15:30:54

We bought our first home in 1980 for £16,500. We were both 20 at the time. It was a toblerone shaped house, with 1 bedroom and the bathroom downstairs, and 2 bedrooms up in the attic space.
It had a very trendy shag pile carpet in the lounge. This unfortunately housed an infestation of fleas from the previous owners pet. I also had some fluffy mule slippers. The fleas made their presence known swiftly by jumping onto my slippers shock.
We tried to get rid of them with powders and sprays, without any luck. Eventually we had admit defeat and call in the professionals, and move out overnight due to chemical spraying of the whole house.

Sara1954 Mon 03-May-21 15:18:54

We were looking at unmodernised terraced houses, no kitchens or bathrooms, mostly needed rewiring , but we were young and enthusiastic.

My father law though we were mad, so gave us £2000 for a deposit, so that we could afford somewhere with basic amenities.

We bought a mid terrace for £9.100 in 1976, and sold it three years later for £18.950

Grandma70s Mon 03-May-21 15:18:00

We lived for two years in a rented top floor flat in an 18thC terrace. The rooms were huge and very cold. No central heating. We didn’t have much furniture, so there was a lot of empty space. It was beautiful but impractical.

Callistemon Mon 03-May-21 15:13:18

Upstairs large, airy flat in a terraced house in Devon; the lovely old landlady who was widowed lived downstairs.
She used to like a chat every day when I got home from work.

grandmajet Mon 03-May-21 15:10:28

A second floor rented flat in Northwood, near Watford. We were already living there when we go married. We saved like mad and bought a terraced house nearby a couple of years later.

Grany Mon 03-May-21 15:09:05

In a tied cottage 3 bed with big garden.with it came with the farm job stock man. So I moved from Cornwall to Wiltshire to a little village.

SueDonim Mon 03-May-21 15:04:58

We had a tiny top floor flat in a building that stunk of cooking cabbage. It was so small that only person could get in the kitchen and you had to stand in the living room to open the oven door. You could also watch tv when you were sitting on the toilet. grin

Hot water came from a terrifying gas geyser over the bath and we kept warm with paraffin heaters. It overlooked the English Channel and in winter we had to stuff the gaps in the windows with newspaper and masking tape to keep the drafts out.

We weren’t there for long as we managed to buy our own home the following year. It’s now a very fancy apartment above a showroom for fancy speed boats in an area populated by DFL’s (down from London). We couldn’t possibly afford to live there now. confused

DanniRae Mon 03-May-21 14:34:39

We saved money up before we were married and with a loan from my Brother-in-law we were able to put a deposit on a house in South London. This was 1970 and I think the house was £6,000......and we are still there! smile

nanna8 Mon 03-May-21 14:06:27

Warrington in a 2 bedroom bungalow. Hardly ever home because I was at college.

timetogo2016 Mon 03-May-21 14:04:29

We were very lucky tbh.
We went on our honeymoon for 2 weeks and the day we were due to come back to my parents,they went on holiday for 2 weeks.
We recieved news that we had a 2 bed brand new council flat to move into asap.
We loved it,it was in Redditch,West Midlands.
I still go back and look at the places i have lived and Dh2 enjoys my history of homes too.
I think i need to get a life lol.

MerylStreep Mon 03-May-21 13:58:33

We rented a beautiful flat in Leigh on sea for about 18 months then found out we could get a 100% mortgage.
My husband’s boss lied through his teeth to enable us to get that. ?
We knew we could pay, but his wage wasn’t enough on paper.
£5,400 in 1971.