Hi,
I am interested in this flat. It is a good size, comfortable and ready to move into, in a location that is very convenient for us and on a nice, leafy road.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59807587.html?premiumA=true
The first issue is that it has a short lease of 70 years left. The cost to extend will be between £18k (vendor quote) to £30k (quote from an expert I spoke to who has not been in the property), plus a good few thousand on professional fees - probably around £4k but with the risk that it could go up to £8k if we can't agree between ourselves and the freeholder, in which case we'd have to go to tribunal to agree a price. Vendor is willing to give notice to extend before selling.
For comparison, this is 2 doors down and has a longer lease of 88 years (ie past the watershed of 80 years, below which it becomes very expensive to extend):
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-57985126.html
So gutted that we didn't manage to buy this one. I'm not sure how much it went for but I would assume £350-360k.
Other issues....
EPC rating of F. I'm going to request the EPC certificate to try to understand the reason for the low rating and what the potential EPC is.
Jungle of a garden with a broken fence between its garden and the one of the ground floor flat. Very tight narrow passage from the front to access the garden.
Neighbours have an aggressive sounding note up at the front of the house saying don't ring the bell with any parcels. Going to find out more about the neighbours.
Road is quite congested as far as parking goes - may have to park on a different road sometimes.
Finally, re our personal circumstances, we may not actually be able to live here beyond a few years. We would rent (and are still tempted to) but are a bit sick of being treated so badly and have been given notice twice in quick succession and can't deal with having to move constantly (have children). Also, our deposit is being eaten away by deflation and other issues (quite considerably).
Help! Thank you