A duplex is a type of residential property that has two homes on the same plot of land. A duplex property is owned by one person, but contains two homes. However, some people may not understand whether they are buying a duplex or not.
Table of Contents
Is a duplex a flat or a house?
Typically, they are a house. However, their planning system will vary across local authority boundaries or areas where the government has different regulatory measures for residential property in place. In the case of a true duplex, both sides may be owned by the same person or not (eg. one side is let as separate accommodation).
What are the benefits of a duplex?
A duplex has great appeal because they can provide more room, quite obviously. They come in all shapes and sizes too: some large ones could have four to five bedrooms on each side which isn’t common at all. Other bigger properties will offer large rear gardens that few people get to see. The most popular size is usually the two-bedroom flat with ground floor access (such as those found in London), but that isn’t to say properties can only, or should be bought by couples. The buying market for duplexes is as different and diverse as the standard of property itself: extremely large homes on many acres could also come up for sale with two separate floors; some are slightly smaller which businesses might want to buy who want their own place in town (others may let them out) or upper-middle class people looking for a family home.
Duplex house disadvantages
Duplexes are more likely to stand out as a relic from the Victorian Era than any other kind of house and so there is an element of risk in being seen with them. This issue becomes even clearer when they occupy very large plots, but it doesn’t matter how good the block looks or what floor plans you choose if people can see your property; this won’t change until rents rise enough that shops want “to go up on their shop fronts a bit” to make them conform with the rest. Another problem is that not all materials used in modern building can be returned on demolition so you may have problems finding someone prepared to take anything off their hands if required for reuse.
Factors affecting the rooms in duplex house
As most of the rooms are usually on the second floor, they should be large with high ceilings to create a cozy and romantic atmosphere. The bedrooms need to have plenty of space at least 10ft in width so that beds don’t feel close together.
Ideally it would also benefit from having two sides for each bedroom (eg. one side up and another side down). This makes adequate headroom an important factor which allows maximum flexibility – whether this is for a child, adult or other purposes (eg. installing a TV in the living room to watch big events on).
Using this arrangement allows you more space and flexibility with potential ideas like having an office upstairs instead of bedrooms (only if rooms are pretty large!). The bathrooms should be spacious too as they need to keep up with the extra cargo that visitors may bring into your house.
