To avoid new build homes with maintenance charges??

[Auramigraine]

Hi

Some lovely new build homes being built near me at the moment which we could and I’m desperate to move (have been for a while) but these maintenance charges are putting me off, says £72 a year (freehold but private roads, grass cutting etc) and I know I would live in fear of these charges becoming extortionate. Am I worrying with good reason or is this a normal and ok charge to live with??

This is called fleasehold. Check your contract as they can be a nightmare, i’ve heard some contracts charge you a service charge when you want to sell. Some are not to bad and some are awful.

I’m in Scotland do it may be different but in 15 years there has only been one very small increase. There are usually clauses written into the agreement limiting the amount that the charge can be increased by. Our solicitor at the time checked.

Do some further research - there have been comments about these on the news over the last year or so - management of the areas can be sold off to other companies and sometimes the amounts can become extortionate. Personally i wouldnt do it - its supposed to be one of the advantages of owning your own house - no service or maintenance charges!

You also need to be aware that with private roads the water company won't fix any sewer or water mains issues. A sewer collapse under the road could be very expensive to fix.

Also look into cable tv/broadband provision. Ive known people be refused as the company won't lay cables on a private road.

A lot to think about...... thanks again!!

I pay about £370 a year, property is over 20 years. All I can see is it pays for the surrounding area to be landscaped, mowed etc which really should be covered by the £2700 council tax I pay?? I just suck it up but it did annoy me when I bought the house because it wasn't even mentioned until solicitor was doing searches etc.

It would put me off, see this link (Daily Mail sorry)

www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-6847095/My-ground-rent-service-charge-tripled-three-years.html

OP I know quite a few people have been trapped by service charges going up exponentially and where some building companies have sold the management company on to investors who are clearly only interested in returns. So do your homework on the terms of the service charge - some start low but double every 2 years, so eg £100 pa may seem good but after 10 years would be £3200 pa, making the home unsellable. And make sure your conveyancer checks this for you as well and that you have an email trail to them. I understand the government is supposed to be moving on this but that could be glacially slow..

This should be done by the council but the council don’t have the money for landscape maintenance also now street and light maintenance, so they were glad to get rid of it but I think it is an awful idea and unfair on the homeowner. We pay enough council tax.

I would avoid anything with charges. The last place we lived in had a owners association with charges. We all voted to dissolve the association so we didn’t have to pay

People are confusing ground rent with service charge here. They're very different things - if you own a freehold house you won't have to pay ground rent but may well still have to contribute to the upkeep of your estate (the service charge).

Mine is a service charge every household owns a £1 share in the company that owns our communal grounds, our roads are adopted by the council. The grounds are managed by a team of residents and you can not be on the residents committee unless you are both resident and registered on your deeds.

Ours have always had a committee of directors who are residents on the development. They decide how the money is spent and the development managed.

It is a maintenance charge to maintain the communal areas (play park, grass areas, planting etc).