[andresp]

I am Portuguese and line in London and I can tell you that you can find quote terrible housing in London too. When I am looking at does like Zoopla, Rightmove... I need to filter out 90% of the results. From lack of basic appliances, to almost no windows, miniscule studios, badly maintained Victoria era houses, lack of modern buildings... You just need to pay more to get what you want, don't expect good quality when you go for the low end of the market.

I agree thermal isolation is a bigger issue in Portugal though. Because really cold days are not that common, old constructions don't have proper isolation and rely on inneficient heating. In the UK however you have the opposite problem where almost no apartment is ready for warm days. A flat with air conditioning is a rarity. Last summer a friend of mine moved with his kids to a hotel for a week during the heat wave just because of this.

[martinald]

Yes I definitely agree with you - obviously terrible housing everywhere. London now has many built to rent firms though with purpose built brand new fairly high spec buildings, so it's easy to go to them rather than trawl through loads of Zoopla listings. Me and my friend who moved to Lisbon recently found it very different. I have up and got a fairly average apartment, my friends apartment is a lot nicer but he's paying more and did nearly 30 viewings. It still has problems with noise insulation and is extremely cold in winter despite being virtually brand new refurbished.

I do agree with you on air conditioning in the UK though, for sure.