Should You Buy an Apartment on the Refuge Floor?

Buying on the refuge floor is a genuinely unusual situation, and it deserves a real weighing of both sides rather than an instinctive yes or no.

The safety case is real. In an emergency, all you have to do is step outside your own door — that's meaningful peace of mind, especially for families with senior citizens who might struggle with stairs or evacuation under stress.

The configuration is often unusual — in a good way. Because the refuge area gets built into that floor first, the residential unit on it is frequently a different shape or size than anywhere else in the building. That's rarer inventory, not automatically worse inventory.

The catch: the refuge area itself isn't yours. It legally belongs to the society, not to the flat owner on that floor. And in an actual emergency, it becomes the single most crowded floor in the entire building — the opposite of private, right when you'd most want space.

Don't rule out a refuge-floor flat purely on instinct, and don't buy one purely for the safety pitch either. Weigh what you gain against what you don't get to control, and decide from there.

Considering a specific refuge-floor unit? Get in touch — send us the floor and building, and we'll help you weigh it properly.