AIBU to dream of buying this house?

[Unsure72]

AIBU to dream of giving up the rat race to buy this?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-76698701.html

It's a total pipe dream, obviously - I have no idea how DH and I would earn an income or anything like that. But imagine waking up to that countryside every morning!

It also seems like great value for money, given that amount wouldn't even buy a studio flat in my part of London.

Anyway, back to the real world...

Stunning

I'm channelling KB now
"High on a breezy windy moor"

Its a Duchy of Cornwall lease...hard to get mortgages on them and I think lots of leaseholders have complained about the terms and restrictions on them.
It's very feudal but hey, Charles has got to pay for his butler to squeeze out toothpaste for him somehow

It is a lovely setting though!

Beautiful. If only we could sell our house ...

What does Duchy Leasehold mean?

It also seems like great value for money

Not so much when you read this bit though:

The property is held on a 21 year lease from the Duchy of Cornwall and the lease dates from the 25 December 1999, the current rent is in the region of £7,000 per annum.

No I would be too scared to live there - it looks like there are no neighbours, what if I get in trouble?! Raped, murdered, robbed?! Who will hear my screams??!!?!

The lease issues would put me off. Plus the hideous replacement windows.

Lovely to be in the middle of that beautiful countryside though...

It basically means that you never fully own the house that you've spent so much money on. In theory at the end of the 21 years you have nothing but in practice you generally have a new lease.

I second what @AllyMcBeagle has just said. The lease runs out in 2 years if I've read that correctly?! So you'd have to negotiate an extension or new lease.
Good luck getting a mortgage with 2 years remaining on a lease too..

£7,000 ground rent pa is a lot, plus it could increase every few years.

Very nice but not remotely a bargain or anyone other than freeholder.

Lovely but Dartmoor is only good when the weather is, unless your're a country born type. I would prefer something smaller in the London area.

Or you could spend a similar amount of money on a countryside property near where I am without having Prince Charles as your landlord and all the costs of the Duchy leasehold.

I can't see whether or not the llamas are included but do watch out for proof that we do have running water up here.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65270056.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55173273.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54023991.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56474511.html

£7000 a year ground rent is a joke - so much for Charles caring about rural communities.

If the lease is only ever 21 years the property then a mortgage would be very difficult.

Wonder why current "owners" (feudal tenants) are leaving?

Not on that lease - that's why it is cheap!

But definitely move out to the countryside- you couldn't pay me to live in London these days.

Move to Ireland (escaping Brexshit) and you can buy something similar with a bit of land for less than £150k.
If you're in a day dream mode, try googling properties on daft.ie
You could buy a castle.

this makes me so depressed. we're moving to a house in this price range and it's tiny and small and in the south (just outside of london). I want to live here!

I would want it just for that circle of beech trees!
but yes, agree on lease issues and rent on top!!!
bloody hell

It's got nice views!

I loved the llama house. A studio flat on my road costs £300,000.

Stunning. It's also like the setting for an MR James story with that ancient ring of trees AND prehistoric stone structure.

Whole place riddled with Pagan myths and legends! Probably a fair few miserable ghosts too!

A friend 'owned' a flat on the Edgware Road which was leasehold, I couldn't believe such leases are legal This was back in the nineties, and as the lease was approaching its end all the 'owners' in the block re-negotiated. IIRC they had to pay £65,000 each for the privilege of adding another 21 years to the term of the lease, while also paying GR annually.

My current house (in Dublin) was leasehold, but here you can buy out the lease (applies to a house, not a flat) which I did when I re-mortgaged. www.prai.ie/guidelines-for-ground-rents-purchase-scheme/ Forever leases just seem very grasping - it's having your cake and eating it.

It's a sweet looking little cottage. Do you want me to talk you round from it though?

Dodgy septic tank
Damp problems
Mice
Uneven tripping-hazard floorboards
Things falling down the chimney
Constant battle with weeds
Terrible fly problems in summer
Terrifying Daddy-long-legs and spiders in autumn!
Never being able to get it 'quite' clean
Icy winters
Foxes screaming like women being murdered
Rabbits screaming because they are being murdered!
Mud
Villagers. That know absolutely all of your business, and share it
The rooms are too damn tiny to furnish and move around in
Low doorways that visitors bang their heads on
Running out of fuel for the heating
Neighbouring horses whinnying all the live long day when they're in season
Country road driving (a LOT of reversing. Forget about keeping your car clean and scratch fee. Getting stuck behind tractors.)
A choice of 1 school
It taking 40 minutes drive to get ANYWHERE!!
Pheasant shooting all winter
Rabbit shooting all summer
Tourists
A rural attitude by any work person you try to hire ('Ooo, arrr, I'll get to it drekkklllllyyyy' - it will get done, 7 weeks later)
Powercuts
Heavy mists that last for days
Insane winds that bring trees down in the garden/across the lanes
Waterpipes freezing when it snows

There, did that help?

I've got a dream of staying in the South East and having a house with an acre or so of land so my Husband and I can have peacocks and chickens... it's literally been my dream for years.

We're actually working towards it as much as we can, but the price of houses with land in the South East is horrific and I can't see it happening for the next 5-7 years at least due to house prices

That being said, I will get peacocks at some point....

#crazylifegoals
#peacocksforthewin

I was also thinking of small alpaca farm. I follow one on Instagram. A couple gave up their desk jobs in Newcastle and, with no prior knowledge, that's what they do now. But those leasehold conditions are pretty grim.

@puzzledlady I live in a semi rural location, and when we first moved in my DF said to me, on an evening, 'close the curtains - there could be a sniper out there.' He was totally serious too. And DH wonders why I'm a nervous wreck sometimes ...

It's in a beautiful area but would need so much work doing to it imo.