yep the neighbours are the anti christ  lol  They will be the ones to suss you out and make your life hell
when you move into a place you may be totally changing the way the place is  you may  think one or two is nothing but that potentially 10 guys a week  all going to the same place 
 
 avoid flats  that have courtyard with windows/ balconys looking toward the courtyard and the entrances

 my friends and i rented a wonderfull flat in a courtyard  there were 8 block and eight entrances and you came through a security gate  ect but while our flat was in the middle of the  u shape so that we could see everthing there was only 8  -10 apartments in our actual  block so the guys had to do the walk of shame all they way up the courtyard on the mobile phone to our block  to get to us  
 we were ahemm rather busy  and so we were busted in a week and had to move  1500 down the drain  they got the care taker to switch off the intercom lol

another flat we took a week after was in an amazing block overlooking the river  with electric gates but only 12 flat  in the building  3 on each floor  -  Sadly it belonged to an ex copper who had told his bloody ex boyfriend who live in the bulding to keep an eye on things and again we were so busy  
they sent the police  to shut us down  and i wasnt there when it happend and  they took all my stuff to the local nick and i had to go and collect all our work stuff from  the local nick  -  dildos pvc handcuffs ect from the local nick this was 1800 down the drain

  another flat we took we were sussed out within a week  on a busy main rd above a shop the women in the optician opposite sussed  us out straight away luckily we bunge the landlord an extra 100 a month rent and he was cool with it  bless him  

So in the space of   1month me and my friend were out 4k +++the best places i have had was the one that was by  imagine homes  the basement flat and my flat that i have now and they are all pretty similar    
so do your homework well  
          

I usually have a little sticky  or small sign in my mailbox/buzzer/door  stating that there's a business there (thus justifying the traffic).  Something very simple like "holistic therapy","Hypnotherapy", Physio, computer solutions & marketing, etc... If a neighbour engages in conversation regarding what you do just have your lines prepared and be very nice and casual about it. Dress down when coming in and out. Don't wear flashy, revealing stuff, heels or look too pretty or too much make-up. Be very low key jeans & shirt type of person. Don't befriend the neighbours.

Too be honest I'm not too sure if disclosing certain" info" in a public forum is the best idea.I would definately feel more free & comfortable talking about certain "inside issues" while giving advise on them  in a private forum. Who assures me that my landlord is not reading this?

 

I'm not talking about giving away personal info (that's a no-brainer), I'm just concerned about us discussing topics like this one and giving tips to people who shouldn't be reading them (like landlords for ex.). A "private section" within the forum wouldn't be a bad idea. Just sayin. :-)

(My apologies to the initial poster for the off-topic)

Sorry, I think I'm not explaining myself properly here   (my fault I guess)

I'll open a thread later explaining my concerns about discussing certain issues in public. Let's stick for now to the initial topic  of this thread- my apologies :-)

Im over it  lol  it was several years ago and you live and learn  sometime expensivly lessons but shit happens   

God, that's unlucky huney. I hope you find somewhere more reliable! 

i've mainly rented basement flats with own private entrances.  The best location for me was a flat that was surrounded by businesses not homes, and above me was a restaurant that was closed at night.  The flat i was just in  was on a busy road, with alot of students and other people coming and going....the neighbours directly above me were however privy to all the comings and goings and did mention it to the police (when i had to call the cops on my psycho flatmate)....i was mortified as i was under impression i had my cloak of invisibility on....so i would recommend trying to find a slum landlord basement flat surrounded by businesses.

Hi Rooby
I'm thinking of moving to central London next year, and am already dithering about the 'perfect' place for working.   There are just so many things to consider.  Also, it is not always easy finding out about the neighbours habits when viewing a property, especially in London, where the people showing you the place may not have a clue what type of tenants there are. 

The place I am in now is not ideal, the neighbours are trying to create a wonderful 'family' feel about the place so I am ducking and diving bumping into anyone, it's quite stressful. 

Really helpful advice from everyone, especially re the basement flats, I could see that working well, especially if in a very busy area.  Paris, you have some hair raising stories, the description of one building is exactly what I'm in at the moment (so far okay though, but getting rather paranoid). 

I ideally would love a top floor (penthouse) place with an elevator that I am the only flat on the floor - but think I am having property fantasies!  Dream on me... (oh and with a lovely roof terrace with wooden decking lol - I can spend days looking at findaproperty!)  Do you ladies think that would be a fairly safe option though if in quite a big building?  If you were on the top floor of a conversion with stairs only I would imagine that would probably be quite high risk?

hot_totty I like your 'slum landlord' idea!  Thanks all for your ideas, haven't been on here for a while and this question was really stressing me out too, so thank you, thank you, thank you.