Regret buying my flat - what should I do?

[Plantlover101]

Hi folks,

Two years ago I bought my first home (in London) and thought I was buying in a decent area that felt reasonably safe, given my tiny budget.

While I love my little flat to bits, it turns out there has been a worsening problem with fly tipping and rubbish dumping in the walkways of the large development where I live which either I didn't notice at first or it wasn't as bad and it got worse over time.

Before moving in I viewed the flat three times and went to the neighbourhood on at least two other occasions. Not once did I see anything to suggest a problem.

Furthermore, the guy I was going out with at the time knew the area well and said it was "a solid area".

I moved in and was really happy at first but after a few months I noticed items such as broken chairs, old mattresses etc dumped outside the communal bin stores on the development, which is private land managed by a property management company.

The binmen won't remove it as it is not their job. The council won't remove it as it is private land. So once a week the management company is supposed to remove it, but always leaves some items behind - there was a huge filthy mattress left on the pavement opposite my flat for weeks on end and despite my requests, the management company didn't remove it.

Over time the problem got worse.

Eventually the management co put up fake CCTV cameras and signs warning against fly tipping as a deterrent. (I knew the cameras were fake because the guy at the managing agent's told me.) They won't put up real CCTV "because it costs too much".

However, they left that filthy mattress lying there so I got fed up and rang the council. I organised a meeting with council environmental officers and local police, which the management company attended and an action plan was agreed whereby the council would supply a template letter to the management company to send to all residents warning them about fines for dumping rubbish inappropriately.

Nothing ever happened and the council officer in charge (who came to the meeting) ignores my emails.

With the fake CCTV and warning signs, the problem improved for a few months but now the dumping of rubbish has started again.

I have finally realised I live in a bad pocket of what is otherwise a decent area, and the problem is not going to be resolved any time soon, despite my efforts.

Therefore, if I can't learn to live with it I am going to have to move. I spoke to the local estate agent today, who said the particular street in which I live had "gone downhill in the past couple of years".

However, my lovely neighbours opposite have been there four years and tell me the rubbish dumping has always been a problem.

My pal who lives up north said it "wouldn't bother her", that "everyone is not the same as you" and maybe "you should live and let live".

But I sooooooo regret buying this flat.

It is such a shame, as there are two lovely parks nearby and I live right by the station, so it's an easy commute.

The estate agent said he could "sell it this weekend for £250k", and I am tempted. I bought it for 190k but would have to find somewhere else to live and have been priced out of much of London now, if not all of it.

If I didn't find another place to buy I would be hit with a 5k early exit penalty by my mortgage lender, which would be annoying but not totally unbearable. Then it would be back to renting for not much less than £1000 a month. My mortgage is only £650 pm.

Or rent the place out. But would it be a bad idea to hold on to a property in an area that is going downhill?

Or should I "live and let live" as my friend suggests?

Please help! I feel totally stuck and helpless.

I'm sorry your dream home isn't what you were expecting Plantlover We're off to Thanet (Broadstairs/Ramsgate-ish) so we can be near the ILs and have a huge fence around our garden. The one question we'll be asking is what is the proportion of renters to owner/occupiers. If it's anywhere near the 50% marl we won't be touching it with a barge pole.

I hope you find somewhere better soon.

(It was coming home in the dark to discover that someone had flytipped a sofa right across our very narrow access road that finally finished me off).

mark

Meh I live in a depressing and shit area (peostitutes and drug addicts at end of street etc, bail hostel round the corner) but my house is lovely when you get inside and we couldn't have afforded such a beautiful 3 storey, 3 bed place somewhere smarter. And we are only 10 mins from a waitrose so can't be that bad.

And we are very safe here. Mosque at the other end of our street, very respectful neighbours. Left the front door open twice overnight (once with keys in door) without any problems.

OP
I don't think this is a London specific problem.

Further, an awful lot of this stuff is about luck.

tbh I think a major issue is money. I don't know what most MNers mean by "naice" but I would think Hampstead, and if you don't have that kind of cash then you are likely to end up in place where the same risks and problems occur. The area I'm in now, I've been in for 12 years, and it's gone up and down.

I do know how you feel because at one point I had an absolute battle with tenants and management company - in my previous place - about the state of the common parts. When I bought the place, all tenants contributed to looking after them. Go forward 2 years, I was the only one left there who was bothered and I felt like I was walking through a grotty building before I got to my door.

I would think carefully before either selling or renting. Nothing is guaranteed and if you search in a hurry, you will be more at risk of ending up with something similar or worse.

in terms of people not being bothered - yes, it's true it still stuns me sometimes. For example, my flat is small and I had to pay for some stuff to be taken to the tip (broken chairs etc) because the council won't take them. My best mate said "shame you don't live where i live, you could dump them on the street". That's one reason I didn't pick that area, I could have bought a bigger flat but that kind of thing really bugs me.

anyway, I'd have a think before you do anything.

If I left London I could afford to live somewhere "naice" - I suspect that's in my future but I'll cross that bridge later. I have a friend in Bristol who is being plagued by crappy tenants leaving stuff in the hallways and letting their kids draw on the walls. Some people are just awful and it's everywhere unless you've got enough to insulate yourself from it.

The Management Company's accounts obviously don't make sense. Write to them and say you don't understand so can they supply further information and answers to your questions.

Don't be made to feel a nuisance by the clear up contractor, that's their job and you pay a fee for it within your service charge invoice. Although it's the behaviour of people which is causing the problem, are their adequate refuse bins provided for the properties? something else to think about and take up with the management company.

If they're a limited company, which I'd expect they are, go on the Companies House website and have a look at the accounts they've been filing for the past few years.

It does seem really odd that the contractor paid to clear up rubbish complains about the cost of it. Maybe they get paid an all-in fee that isn't dependent on the number of callouts or something weird but no way should they moan at you about it.

re MC accounts, in my lease I'm actually entitled to go their office and request copies of specific receipts etc, yours might be the same.

ooh posted too early
I just remembered something
OP, you said about the council person not being helpful
I remember the council not helping with one situation of fly tipping - must have got them on a bad week - and I happened to be home working when the regular bin collector came round. So I popped out to say hi and ask if they could advise me - I was very apologetic and said I realised it wasn't their problem but I was getting worried - and the lovely rubbish collector said "oh that's just some numpty in the office who can't be arsed dealing with it, we'll sort it out".

And they did, then and there, in spite of all the red tape about what bin collectors can and can't do. I said "oh I don't want to get you in trouble" and they said "No one will know, it all goes to the same place, happy to help".

so it might be worth a word with them if you see them around.

Have you lived in London long which part do you consider good may I ask. I grew up in North London so which part.

Who owns the freehold? Probably not possible with eighty Properties, many of which may be BTL, but if you can get over 50%(?) of the leaseholders to agree you can buy out the freehold. Here.

You then have much more of a say in how the development is run and can control the service charge. You can also set the lease at 999 years.