To be absolutely at my wit-end with ex-council flat sale

[TulipsinSpring444]

We own an ex council flat - bought on the private market so at full price five years ago. It was all we could afford and we pushed ourselves to the limit. We sold it to a cash buyer recently as it was a really hard sale - most first time buyers said they didn't like 'the neighbourhood'. We aren't snobs and couldn't have cared less about the 'idea' of the neighbourhood and actually it's worked out that mostly we have had lovely neighbours! Anyway, it was a hard sale and we got 15K knocked off our asking price.

Now two months on, the management pack has come in and the f*king council has out of fking nowhere put in costs of 70K for the roof, 12K for redecoration (both per block) and 6K for electrics (per property). We had no f*king idea about this!!!!! No letter, nothing, first we heard of it was in the management pack. I called the council up 5 months ago when we first put it up for sale and they said nothing was on the horizon...I called up the other day and they said 'well, things change, that's life'!!!!!!!!!

WTF, I am so angry, our buyer has pulled out, we are desperately trying to beg them to come back. The works are scheduled for five years time so way in the future and they are 'proposed' so might not even happen but we've offered 10K off the asking price just to entice our buyer back - this is how much the share would be for all these works for our flat. We have to increase our mortgage for the place we are buying to do this - we have found our dream home which is why we are so desperate. This is a major financial hit for us and I feel sick to my stomach.

I feel like we are paying for works:

• Five years down the line that may not even happen
• Will get no benefit from it as our buyer will benefit from the new roof

And basically been completely shafted by the council and our buyers. And our f*king useless solicitor wasn't aware of anything 'untoward' in management pack so didn't even help us with any of this - we heard the buyer was pulling out through our f*king agent!!

Does anyone have experience with selling an ex-council flat and this stuff come up? I never cared about the 'stigma' of them but now I realise why people say avoid - as they are deceptively costly - we've spent far more than we would if if we'd bought a privately owned flat.

I'm devastated, I know this is not an AIBU as such but posting for advice, anyone with any experience please reply, thank you

If the rest of the block is mainly council owned, see if the council will buy it from you.

If they don't comply with section 20 of the landlord and tenant act 1985 then you don't have to pay more than £250. Simple.

Also. Your lease will usually stipulate how often internal and external decorations need to be undertaken.

If it doesn't specifically say then a general rule is internals every 4 years and external every 7.

Were you not paying in to a reserve fund for these large cyclical maintenance works or is there no provision for one in your lease?

One other thing I forgot to mention @TulipsinSpring444, was when I lived in my ex-LA flat, I too got S20 notified about some major works (windows in the communal parts if I recall). This would have been quite the cost as it involved scaffolds and whatnot.

In my case, of 6 flats, at most 2 of them were private owned, the rest were still council tenants, mostly on varying degrees of benefits so they wouldn't have had to contribute, where I would have been liable for 100%of my share.

Anyway, I protested quite strongly, as there was nothing wrong with the sodding windows, it was a just a "they are x years old, must be replaced" exercise. I moved a bit after that and nothing was ever raised in my buyer's searches so I assume they went for the path of least resistance and just canned them for a while.

So even if they are S20 notifying you, it still doesn't mean the works will happen; and you do have a chance to get fully involved with the process, scrutinise the quotes and even propose your own tradespeople.

(although, if they are trying to get away with this without the proper process, you may want to consider keeping very quiet, as that will limit your liability to £250!)

What a nightmare. Major works are over costed and usually badly done. No wonder you are furious.
We were lucky. Our major works happened during our capped period.

A friend bought her place on the Holloway block (HMP property) and got landed with a 75k bill. That was about 20 years ago! £75k and I don't know if they are allowed to keep it now the place has been sold off.

ShotsFired, Unfortunately, they are not S20 notifying us yet. They have simply stated that they have some things in their pipeline. They have 5 years to ensure they are compliant, but until then our property is stuck with the stigma of this potential charge.

SheSaidHeSaid No reserve fund, thought we were getting a bargain with low service charge fees, how wrong we were

We had this and it was a nightmare. Read your lease to find out what you should/shouldn't pay for. They tried to charge us for council tenant flats and communal areas in other blocks.

There will be more buyers. You could set aside 10k for a set amount of years to cover potential works. Or drop the price.

It's frustrating and awful. You have my full sympathy. Plan something nice to do at the weekend to destress and be together as a family. You will get through this.

We had this and it was a nightmare. Read your lease to find out what you should/shouldn't pay for. They tried to charge us for council tenant flats and communal areas in other blocks.

Yes this can be a common problem!

Had some major works done on my ex LA flat in London last year that hadn't been billed before I exchanged. Added a clause in my contract to keep the estimated major works bill amount aside from the purchase price and sitting with my solicitor, so in the event of the bill arriving within a certain timeframe, I would pay up to an agreed amount.

Luckily for me, this didn't hugely affect or limit purchase of next home, but at least meant I could sell up and move on (both literally and mentally!)

I can sympathise with your move possibly falling through, but who did you think would fund your proportion of repairs when they were needed? Did you not realise you would have to contribute towards them?
Your cash buyer sounds like an unexperienced landlord as she should be aware of these costs and expect them on a
Each old property. Tbh 10k over five years isn't extortionate and her rental income will more than provide more than enough for it.
Is there anyway you could buy your new place and keep this as a buy to let yourself? If you have equity in your home, you get an interest only btl mortgage that will give you a lump sum to put towards your new place. Speak to a good independent financial advisor as you may be surprised what they may be able to do for you. Pm me if you need a recommendation as I use one that is good.( i have no connection to him other than using him in a btl purchase.) I hope it works out for you.

leasehold property not old property! Having to use iPad as laptop is being repaired!

Could you swap the mortgage to a buy to let and rent it out?
Gives the council time to work out what they are doing and you don't lose your dream house.

I am pleased to stand updated and corrected, thank you @mainhall.

Sorry to hear this. We have experienced this too as private owners in a housing association block. I successfully took the housing association to tribunal and won but sadly this will not help you in selling as it is not something anyone would want to experience. They made my life hell for doing so. For anyone who says it would be the same in a private block it is totally different. If private owners are in the significant minority in a housing association block then everyone else is pushing for work to be done ie new windows, roof etc and there is no incentive to get value for money quotes. If the whole block is private everyone wants value for money. Our housing association has used companies who quote 10 times the price of the cheapest quotes due to their excellent presentations!!! It is totally corrupt and when the Grenfell towers residents stated they were threatened and intimidated prior to the fire for querying things I totally believe it as I have experienced it. Our housing association has just built the most excessively lavish head office I have ever been in and I worked for several top 100 companies.

Keeping quiet in hopes of only being liable for £250 is NOT a sensible option for anyone receiving a S.20 notice from their landlord/management company.

I didn't know about the case law change but I definitely agree with the rest of it. This is not a time for sticking your head in the sand. OP, from one of your updates it sounds like you are in the worst of both worlds - no upgrades but your place is blighted.

I'm glad you're speaking to the LVT. I cannot recommend them enough. They were brilliant in a S20 dispute I had about 10 years ago and their advice was free. Different circumstances to you but I understand completely how awful this is. I also had to engage my own solicitor but let's not cross that bridge before we come to it. My situation turned out all right in the end and fingers crossed, the same thing will happen for you. Good luck.

Agree mainhall. Being in a private block is not the nirvana that people seem to think it is.

I don't think anyone is saying a private block is great but as someone who owns both type of property I have found that the level of corruption is far higher in housing association as the occupiers cannot join together to fight anything if you are the only owner in a whole block. It is very scary taking on a housing association alone due to the level of threats and intimidation.

I understand that this is a shock and worrying for you. It's not fair to be so angry at your ex buyer though. If they're buying an investment property, it's not surprising that they change course if it becomes a poorer investment proposition.

If you think it's wrong for them to make profit from buying your flat, you should refuse to sell to someone who won't be an owner occupier.

If they're buying an investment property, it's not surprising that they change course if it becomes a poorer investment proposition.

How can it possibly be that investment buyers get such a bad rep? Could it be that they pompously claim credit for spotting the bleeding obvious that any of us owner occupiers would and then point it out?