Does anyone live in a flat/apartment?

[EstateAgentz]

Thinking of buying a flat but I know as a leaseholder things are a little different to when you buy a house as freehold.

What is life like in a flat?

Are you allowed dogs and if not do people have them anyway?

How does it work I'd say the whole roof had to be replaced?

Anything you discovered later that you didn't realise at the time of purchase?

Service charge payments - well they depend on what it says in the contract. We pay a flat % of overall expenditure (it keeps fairly stable so we haven’t had extras when the roof was replaced - but we ‘own’ our windows do we paid to get them replaced).

We aren’t supposed to have pets but there are a few cats and some dogs. As long as they aren’t a nuisance people turn a blind eye.

Is the lease a decent length?

100 years left

No stairs.

Otherwise life continues as per anywhere
Check if lease allows pets

What about neighbours is it more important to get along as you share a block or is it no different to living on a terrace and having neighbours front back and side of you.

Share of freehold is better , in that way every everyone owns a share, makes decisions such as expensive repairs, can object to further works such as building an extra storey. I would look to see if they have a management company and who the members are. Look at the service charges and see what it includes like building insurance, gardening, communal areas, sinking fund for major repairs. Pets will be in the lease. Is there allocated or off road parking, are there restrictions on floor coverings, some say you must have carpets in certain rooms. If you go for a lease ask when uts up for renewal, they may decide to try and extend it which could cost a fortune. I would also ask if the flats can be rented out or must be owner occupier only.

Is your building insurance included in the service charge or is that charged separately

10O years is too short a lease - you won’t be able to sell it. get the seller to extend to 999 years before you buy or you could get clobbered by a big bill when you need to extend it to sell.

Check the history of the freeholder behaviour, do they jerk up service charges or extension charges a lot, or any other signs of trouble.

Collective Building costs will be covered by your freeholder via the monthly service charge you will pay them. Again check if the building is well maintained and for any history of trouble. Also check what is covered by the freeholder and what you need to pay for in your own flat.

Pets will depend on the conditions of your lease, which may also have other rules about having floorboards etc, so check that.

People worry about leases but they can be totally fine, but it sounds like you do need to look deeper.

Some flats are share of freehold which is what I have. It’s broadly better because you jointly own, but it can take an awful long time for people to agree to get things done.

It would normally be part of your service charge for a leasehold flat, but check what it covers. You might want some extra.

It's a local authority block so part tenant part leaseholder bought if that makes sense.

Have a Google on leaseholds - you will find a list of things to check for.

Shared ownership?

That will be different again so do have a Google for things to check. They aren’t always the best value, if you have other options.

I think the max they do is 125 years

@Luredbyapomegranate

No not shared ownership.

Some are council tenants and some flats were sold under the right to buy and then sold on so the buyers are leaseholders and the landlord / freeholder is the local council

Check the service charges. Mine covers my block and another (bigger) block
So it's £160pm (bear in mind I'm up north!) and I got hit with a £440 deficit bill - because of stuff the other block had done

I would think hard before buying in a LA block. Some banks won't lend on them. You can also get real issues with paying for works- councils are notoriously bad at either not doing works or else doing them poorly and trying to charge leaseholders a fortune (my friend owns in a council block and has had issues with being charged for works that haven't actually been done, have simply been contracted out and no one actually checked whether they happened- this is with notoriously shit Haringey so it may be that other councils aren't quite so bad).

images.app.goo.gl/Lp4x2R5fhs4xZeCu5

This isn't my flat, but is very similar. These particular flats are called Warner flats and are common in Walthamstow in East London. I'm in North London, they're not called Warner flats here, but are similar.

Our lease is a bit of a mess tbh, we've been here 25 years + and it's gone below 75 years and at this point it's difficult to sell. We're hoping to move somewhere cheaper to release equity and retire but basically we have to speculate to accumulate and have to spend £££ to get the lease increased. The freeholders are being dicks, to long a story. The ground rent should in theory be £70pa but the original freeholder died about 20 years back and for a long time we didn't know who they were, and they've never approached us for ground rent since. We've had legal advice. They have to write to us using an approved format and the5y still haven't done so. Legally, we are only obliged to pay 6 years arrears. When we move we're going for a freehold!

We have a small back yard, think Coronation St! But it's big enough for a shed, washing line, barbie, we can sit outside there, and the dog likes it! (Pets aren't a problem. )

There are no service charges. We have an amicable relationship with the man upstairs whereby if there are any works need doing at ground level we sort it and he does the same for ceiling level up to a value of about £2-300, any more we go halves. The only times we've needed to go halves was some work on the drains and some work on the water tank.

He's very quiet and spends a lot of his time at his partners. We can hear normal everyday noise eg the vacuum cleaner or washing machine but nothing bad but obviously we're lucky he's quiet!

Ours is the ground floor, so no stairs!

Don't is my advice. Just Google it and it's all out there. www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2020/feb/08/leaseholders-facing-staggering-bills-for-ex-council-flats

I live in an apartment. If something big has to be done like replacing the roof then the cost gets divided between all the leaseholders, so could be costly. Although often there is a sinking fund - check there is one and what state the finances are in.
The service charge and ground rent is annoying when also paying a mortgage so make sure you factor those in, and that they will likely increase every year.
Overall I like living in a flat, I feel safer than in a house and no stairs once you are home! Neighbours I say hi to when passing but that's about it.

I have heard of people getting large maintenance bills when they have bought ex LA. A seller should be able to let you have copies of all their bills and any upcoming expenditure (so if the roof or water tanks are due to be replaced).

We've just sold our flat. I'd absolutely run a mile from ever buying one again.

Things to consider-

1. Who are the managing agents? Look at their reviews. Ours was trinity and they were rubbish on every level.
2. Ground rent/service charge costs. When we bought the service charge was £80pcm. Within 10 years that had gone up to £160pcm- for the same shoddy service.
3. What percentage of the flats have been bought as buy to let? Flats quickly turn into a nightmare if the tenants around you change frequently. One month we could be fine and the next we could have two tenants move out and absolute asshats move in. Look at those who own around the flat in question- young couples? Singles? Young families? You can manage one kid nicely in a flat, once you grow your family more than that it gets bloody difficult- which can lead to faster turnaround of tenants/ owners around you.
4. What's your long term plan? Do you want a house eventually? A garden? Are you downsizing now? How long do you want to be there?

Another thing with ex local authority is sometimes if the council decide to demolish the whole estate or block, they do not offer the same amount to leaseholders they would get on the open market so you could be worse off. Its happened a lot on some estates in London.

This is one of my primary concerns.

Our lease requires permission from the freeholder for pets, but we have cats and our neighbour has a dog (we all got permission).

We pay a monthly service charge and this covers most repairs etc - each flat had to pay a bit extra when the roof was repaired but not the whole cost.

Thanks - does that include your building insurance too!

I've lived in lots of flats over the years. I'd happily buy a flat in a converted period terrace with either SOF or an identifiable freeholder ideally living in the building and a decent lease. Would run a mile from ex-council or flash new builds with massive service charges.