To think buying a flat is the right idea

Found this looking at other property threads. I really hope your daughter went with the flat in Central option. Wishing her all the best

You can easily get a nice 2 bed for that price e.g. 2 bed where i am (bit further out, just north of camden) is around 400k. One bed will isolate her and set her apart from peers, whereas 2 bed will give her more flexibility eg she can rent a room to a friend and later use as a home office if she wants.

Hmmm. As a 19 year old student in London, does she really want to live in a one bedroom flat by herself? How close is it to the University and where all her friends will be? What happens once she has finished University and wants to move on. I'd look at choosing an investment property (or investing the money in some other way for her, whatever will get the highest return over the next few years before she is ready to buy something to live in longer term). And pay for nice student accommodation near her friends with the income. And probably have something left over.

But if you want to go this route, then I agree that a small property in a convenient location is much better than a larger property further out.

My niece studied at uni outside of London, then came back to London and got her first job.

she rented in Paddington to start with, loved all what was on offer but wanted her own place, Paddington was way out of her price range.

She had her heart set on a flat in the Kings Road, but service charges and a strongly worded discussion with her solicitor put her off that thankfully.

She has a moped so transport wasn’t a problem to her, and she started looking “out of the box”, and found a tiny Victorian two up two down in Peckham in a beautiful street, and something really, really drew her to it.

it was well within her budget, it felt extremely safe, the neighbours are lovely, it’s 3.5miles to Tower Bridge, and London Bridge, there are buses in abundance too.

she has been there a couple of years now, she is very very happy there, she has the second bedroom which she had a lodger in for about a year, before they bought three doors down.

The only problem with it, is parking a car, there is no parking whatsoever, if you have a moped you are fine as you can park in your own small front garden/hallway (a runner from the front door to the hall, and a piece of wood for the stand), and she does keep her bike spotlessly clean, she is very proud of it.

A lot of people say my niece is living the London dream, and if you are happy with what your daughter wants to buy, (would you buy it?) would she be able to live the London dream, or would it be better to find a two bed so a lodger can help with bills.

I wish you and your daughter all the best.

If you DID want to look at Pimlico, your budget would just about afford ex local authority for a 2 bed. This is about 1/3 way up between Pimlico and Victoria tube on Vauxhall Bridge Rd: www.onthemarket.com/details/14829288/

I think most are privately owned these days. They are solid builds. My gut feel is that Churchill Gardens has more social housing.

There are a few overseas students in the cheap rental flats in Dolphin Sq, but most of the area is family owned or holiday rentals.

As a middle aged woman, I happily catch buses and tubes to the area late at night. If I was a mother of a teenage boy, I would be a little more cautious about letting him roam.

Nobody can say whether a flat is a good buy or not without knowing specifics. Which location is it in? Is it on a tube line or does it have equivalent frequent transport and other facilities nearby? Is it a high or low crime area? What length is the lease? How much are service charges, if any, and ground rent? What size of building, how many floors and flats and what floor is it on? When was it converted - ref building regs, length of original lease etc? Is there a garden front or back or shared, and off street parking? Are the rooms of a good size and proportion and well planned so you don't have to walk through one to get to another, have good light, good kitchen and bathroom size and facilities? How does the asking price compare to other flats recently sold or for sale in the general area or in other surrounding or equivalent boroughs? Have you visited in the daytime and evenings to see what the street/ neighbourhood /neighbours in the building are like and whether it's quiet or noisy etc?

A good flat is fine for a young person, being perhaps too inexperienced or too anxious to cope with the responsibility of a house, which can be daunting. (I know someone whose father died when she was ten and left money which enabled her to buy a small brand new two-bedroom house mortgage free - suitable size and not much maintenance required for many years. At university she became mentally ill and has been since but having that property has been a mainstay and a source of security, income and stability for her throughout the years. Without it I dread to think how she'd manage or what the state of her life would be. Even with that, life has been difficult and she needs family support in various ways). Any property whether flat or house will be a valuable asset for your daughter to have now and in years to come and a proper use of her father's legacy.

The flat ownership is also "a share of the freehold".

What % of share?

Is it sort of like a part-buy part-rent thing?

Does it have large monthly maintenance fees?

Get legal advice for how all that will work out.

A house, owned outright on 100% freehold will be better.

I've owned six different flats over the decades in London, I've also managed one for a friend who moved abroad and let his flat out.

My advice:

1. do not buy a flat in a high rise block
2. do not buy a flat in a new build block
3. do not buy a flat in a block with a lift or which might have to have all its windows replaced
4. do not buy a flat in a local authority block
5. do not buy a flat in a period conversion with a local authority freeholder

That leaves flats in period conversions (non LA FH) or flats in period mansion blocks.

As many have said, be really cautious about potential service charges. Even share of freehold can be a nightmare. The other leaseholders might be BTL owners, or have to be chased for service charges, or just be really difficult people. Buildings insurance can rocket if one of the leaseholders or their tenants causes, say, a flood.

Another problem with flats is noise nuisance from the flat above, or complaints about you from the flat below.

Another problem is freeholders who don't properly maintain the property or communal areas.

I could go on (and on) about the problems with leaseholds. In the end, I moved out of London and bought a freehold house. The nightmare is over.

Surely for that money you could fund a very nice 2 bed. 1 bed will become very cramped very quickly. What if she wants a partner to move in and they end up WFH. A second bedroom for friends to stay. Just to have storage space. If there was enough money and you do have enough money, i would never buy a one bed

I've looked at the Bloomsbury area and over £8,000 on service charges with a lease of around 100 years is pretty common. She needs to look out for that.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143738363

Best advice so far. The UCL buildings are around Warren Street, and both Brixton and Clapham are on tube lines that go there.

Clapham is where the young people go, and probably has more of the vibe she is after as a student.

I'd suggest reducing your budget to £425k and looking in zone 2, rather than paying £650k for a zone 1 flat. Look for proximity to tube station and dear god, don't look for a house.

To a house, she'll have to live so far out it won't be London, and she won't have the London experience she wants. All this nonsense about buying a house rather than a flat comes from people who don't live in London. Flats hold their value just fine here.

London property is very different to anywhere-else-in-the-UK property.

Similar situation here, my DC are buying together. They're paying less than £450k because of the lack of stamp duty for first time buyers.

I'd definitely get a two bedroom place in case she gets lonely or needs extra income.

Watch out for service charges....

I’d go for a two bed flat somewhere like Brixton or Clapham. Lively and fun and still very central. These will definitely hold their value and would allow for a flatmate if she wants company or needs a revenue stream.

Buy the £650k flat for her. She can work her way upwards and buy something bigger. However the security of a nice place, in a good location in London is fantastic. Safety is a big concern in London, no guarantees obviously but I would pay more to feel safer.

I lived living in London, couldn’t afford to buy a property there. You are giving her a great leg up in the property ladder. London is always sought after. Enjoy your visits to her

Kentish Town is good. Very quick into town. A walk to King's X. Right beside Hampstead Heath. Great transport links.

Bad idea. More stamp duty and then capital gains tax when it’s sold. It’s difficult to see any upside to this really.

You would need to look at the implications for stamp duty and capital gains if you did this.

I would buy the flat, but in your name, not DD. You will not lose money on it, and when DD is ready to settle yo7 can then get her a forever home

Re. flats - are getting a very bad rap at moment -. Michael Gove was supposed to be introducing leasehold reform through parliament - but this has largely been back peddled.
Some newer flats are badly affected by the cladding scandal causing problems for owners and their properties are unsellable until the problem of cladding is addressed.
. Many flats with shorter leases are difficult to re-sell - they are usually being refused mortgages and re-mortgages if their leases fall below 80 years - flats less than 80 years then need to have further investment to extend.
Service charges just go up and up - leaseholders are often ripped off by poor and unscrupulous managing agents of whom they have no control.
Ground Rent can be another big problem - it generally goes up every so many years and reform regarding flats' G R has not yet been introduced by this government although it has been for houses.
But Labour have said they will introduce leasehold reform if they get into power!
I think there are about 4 million leasehold properties in England and most property in London is leasehold.

The flat 110%. Make sure she protects that money from any future partners if she does meet someone, buy a house together, have a family etc. That money always need legally ringfencing.

She's a 19yo student, a 1 bed is fine for her needs, she's not going to be stuck there forever.

Also think how much you'd be saving in not paying rent. My daughter and I bought a flat with her late father's money in 2013 in Acton for £390k sold for £425k in 2021. (Think would go for more as crossrail now open.

She then bought a 5 bed house just outside Edinburgh. Had she been paying rent for those 8 years it would have been about £60k in rent she would have spent.

It's your money not your family's.

Bermondsey or Islington would both be a good bet for somewhere that's central, easy to get to UCL by public transport/bike/walking, but lively. Bloomsbury is beautiful but it's really very quiet at weekends and it can feel quite transitory. A 2 bed gives her options in terms of having a WFH room/getting a flatmate and will mean the flat suits her needs for longer.

Go for it, it sounds like a good way to set her up for life and it's really none of your brother's business.

She has a lifetime ahead of her to buy a house in the burbs near a good school and a Gails!
Buying a flat in central sounds like the best choice for her right now but I'm another voice suggesting looking a little further out for a two bed. Has she ever lived by herself? If it's what she really wants I'd suggest testing the waters by renting somewhere similar by herself first. I was a decade older than her when I first lived alone and despite being very well suited to it, and loving it now, it was deafeningly quiet to start with. If all her mates are in chaotic house shares there's a risk she could find it quite lonely in comparison. With a two bed she's got options - if it turns out she prefers to give alone then she's got space for a great home office/ walk in wardrobe/ library and if she might prefer having a mate around then there's space for them.

Sorry one more bit of advice I forgot before: if you buy in a period building set aside some money to invest in professional soundproofing as this is the only area they’re beaten by new builds. Sound proofing makes a massive difference to quality of life and therefore how long you can remain living in your flat.