New built flat or house? Pros and cons?

[Sandrine1982]

So we're planning to make an offer on a beautiful penthouse flat with a massive private roof terrace. It's in a very nice area in north London close to the tube and the flat is very spacious. However for the amount of money we plan to offer we could get a similar size house in the same area, slightly further away from the tube. Am I being stupid by considering such an expensive new built flat? We have totally fallen in love with it. What are the pros and cons?? Thanks

I live in a new build flat on a medium size development in east london and if I could have afforded a house I definitely would have. Have lived here 3.5 years service charge has gone up a significant amount in that time and will keep on rising, just found out we have cladding on the building and until fixed Nobody here will be able to remortgage or sell.

As for thin walls I don’t think that’s the case in new builds at all. Have lived in houses in London with paper thin walls. New builds usually have certain regs they have to meet when it comes to insulation etc I can barely hear my neighbours.

If I had the choice I’d never buy leasehold again

Build quality: Is is brick? Does it have cladding? How is it built? Concrete or steel frame? Look at the plans for planning permission plus any building materials details you can get. It can be clad as it is less than 6 floors.

Are the garden/parking areas neat and cared for? When you view, does the lift work? Are the shared areas neat and well looked after? Can you see any signs of windows that need painting and doors that do not fit? (Get binoculars). I assume you are going to visit?

When people review developers, it is always the ones that have had problems. The criticisms may not relate to this building. Problems usually refer to poor internal finishes and not coming back to rectify them. I would avoid any clad building.

I assume the building already has owners in the flats. If this flat is finished internally, open every cupboard, look at every room in detail. Look at the drainage for the roof area. Is there water on it? Whatever you do, get a decdent survey.

I meant - is there any way of checking building quality before we make an offer? I've asked for the developers details and will try to look for s

... will try to look for some documentation online. But any other tips will be greatly appreciated. Xx

Luckily our building is on the lower side so cladding cert was sorted quickly but it's destroyed a lot of people's lives. Our service charge has creeped up in the 7 years we've lived here. It was high to start with but we now pay just over £300PCM on service charge. We have no recourse on that. We have a sink-in fund for major works though so at least are protected from huge bills (some friends have been presented with huge bills for building works when they don't have a sink-in fund, so check if that is included).

I also caution re service charges increasing exponentially in a flat. I moved to one in 2007 which also has a large roof terrace and lovely views (over neighbours' gardens) but the monthly bill is £300 plus ground rent £250 annually. It suits me to live in a flat rather than a house but if you are still young I would definitely go for a house and put aside savings each month to pay for its maintenance.

I bought a new build flat 5 years ago and from the day I moved in, I vowed to never ever buy a new build property again in my life. I too bought a penthouse flat, it was overpriced (as new builds are) but it was a luxury block and we assumed therefore that it would be well built. It had lots of fancy extras, underfloor heating throughout, expensive flooring and fittings, designer sinks and taps etc. Well, it was the biggest mistake of our lives. The finish was absolutely appalling. The plumbing broke the day we moved in and never worked properly the entire time we lived there. The cupboard doors in the kitchen used to randomly fall off. The floor started lifting after a few months. The bike store never had a key and we lived there for 2 years and still weren't ever given one! The lift broke the first week we moved in and wasn't fixed for 2 months, we used to joke that there could be a dead body in there and nobody would bloody know as they just never came to sort it. It was just problem after problem and they say with new builds you have a grace period to get things sorted by the managing company not at your own cost, but that's simply untrue. They will always find a way out of fixing it, or take so long to do it that you end up finding someone and paying yourself so that you don't have blocked drains for weeks on end. We eventually sold it for a loss because new builds are so overpriced that it's very very difficult to make your money back, but to be honest we were just glad to be rid of it. After we bought it, we realised that the issues weren't specific to our new build, apparently they're all the same because they're just built to sell - never for the developer to live in, so they don't care about the finish and everything like that. As long as it looks ok on paper thats all they care about. Save yourself the hassle and avoid like the plague.

Freehold always tops leasehold for me.

@HotChoc10

If you've fallen in love with it, I think you would regret going for a house just to be 'sensib'

This. Go with your gut.

Update:

Not so good news. Developer Taylor & Wimpey. Resident association: no. Current service charges: £2100 pa.

Hmmm....

Do you know who the management company are? Also, if you do go ahead ask your solicitor to check whether the contract has limits as to how much the charge can be increased by each year. 2,100 may not seem crazy, but it could significantly change.

NO FUCKING WAY. House every single time.

Just be aware that service charges on new build flats are generally low. That's because lots of things that go wrong are under warranty - the lifts, the windows, the building etc. It's 10 years in that things start to go wrong and the sinking fund is usually small because charges have been low and then there is suddenly a hike to cover the ongoing costs and cushion against future ones

@HappyTimeTunnelDinosaur - yes they said the managment company is Remus Managment. I'm just reading their reviews and they don't seem very good :-(

We used to have Remus, where I lived. Like other management companies, they started off well, but the standard of service deteriorated over time.

I am considering buying a flat, I've seen one I like the look of and it is in exactly the right place in a small, pleasant road. I have no idea at the moment what the service charges are but obviously will look into that if I do decide to put in an offer. It's all in the planning stage at the moment and may not happen but I really think the flat would suit me well.

PS: Apologies for my last post, above, I was thinking out loud. It has no real relevance to the thread. However the flat I may be interested in is in a London Borough, on the outskirts of London, is not a new build but not very old.

I understand the average service charge for flats in London which presumably includes Greater London, is between £1,800 and £2,000 a year. That's quite a lot on top of a mortgage but would, I think, be OK for someone who is a cash buyer, eg downsizing.

Flats tend to have more usable space compared to same area house spread over few floors. In current market conditions, you can negotiate better on a flat price and get a better deal.

@Sandrine1982 we used to live in TW flat about 10 years ago. It was husband's first flat- a one bedder. The flat started falling apart after 2 years eg integrated fridge died, kitchen had cheap units and was fragile etc. It wasn't a tip, but just not as solidly made as it could have been. When we were recently looking to move into a house (2 kids and dog now need space!), TW were advertising Chobham Manor in the Olympic Park. Briefly tempted as freehold and quite nice to live in the park itself. But we nosed around the first phase of houses to have been built on RM/Zoopla rather than rely on the brochure, and the photos didn't look fantastic. So we dropped the idea completely.

FWIW, £2k is the average SC for London. We pay close to £5k for old flat! There are some where we live which go up to £7k PA as there is both swimming pool and gym. What facilities does the flat have? And are gardens and communal areas well maintained?

Yes the service charge includes indoor parking, bike storage, lifts, and a well maintained garden + playground. I don't think 2k is excessive, but I'm worried about future increases..