Leasehold service charges

[supercatlady]

I’m separating from my husband. Adult children have left home. We are selling up and buying separately.
I am mid 50s and think this will be my forever home. Am leaning towards apartments in a local development which has repurposed some military buildings and built new.
2 bed apartment is £190k. It has a liftand communal areas are well maintained. Service charge is £3k per annum. This is affordable now and in retirement but I’m aware it could increase. Does anyone have any experience they can share please?
thank you

there is no ‘could’ about it. It will definitely increase. New housing estates are managed in the same way: shared landscaped areas, repair costs etc and this is in addition to council tax. Who is managing the property currently?
First Port?
these reviews give you an idea do the potential issues
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.firstport.co.uk

The best place to start is by educating yourself about service charges:

https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/service-charges-other-issues/

Once you have an understanding how they work, you can evaluate if the service charges in the leasehold flat you’re interested in are reasonable or not. Note that facilities like lifts, gyms, onsite staff, etc will mean higher service charges. Also make sure that a sensible contribution to a reserve fund is also included so you don’t get hit with huge bills for future maintenance.

Generally you get bad advice on MN re service charges as most people don’t understand them, and just tend to trot out horror stories they’ve read in the Daily Mail. So don’t be put off by the naysayers. Instead make sure you understand what you’re getting into and ensure you fully understand your lease. It’s amazing how many people buy flats and don’t understand (or even look at!) their leases let alone understand how service charges are calculated. (I have experience doing consultancy work with service charges for one of England’s biggest property developers, as well as being the Chair of the Board of Directors for a company that owns the freehold for a central London building of 115 leasehold properties).

if you do buy a property that has service charges then I recommend getting involved as a director. We live on an estate that is managed in this way and service charges have increased, as costs for gardeners, maintenance work have increased then this is inevitable. However, the management company wanted an increase of 8% in their fees which directors challenged (based on inflation) and negotiated down to 4%.

You’re confusing leasehold with share of freehold. In order for the OP to even consider becoming a Director (which comes with its own challenges), she will need to buy a leasehold flat that also owns a share of the freehold.

Get a good survey done as you need to have an idea of when any "big" work will need to be done, i.e. replacement roof, replacement cladding, replacing plumbing/heating systems, etc. That's the kind of thing that catches people out with huge unexpected bills.

The normal/routine maintenence, cleaning, gardening, lighting/heating for communal areas is pretty normal and will just rise in line with inflationary pressures.