Has anyone sold a leasehold flat recently?

[ThierryEnnui]

About to put my flat on the market. It's got about 119 years to go on the lease, so not worried there. More concerned that I'll take a loss on it (bought for £325k, thinking I'd be lucky to get £300k) and that it'll take ages to shift. The draw of it being well located in a commuter town is substantially less than it was in a world where we all worked in offices 2.5 years ago!

So just wanting to hear recent experiences, good bad and ugly, from anyone who has sold a leasehold flat recently!

I recently sold mine - the one thing that really took a long time was getting Information out of the management company. It delayed us massively and I still had to chase it daily.
I would advise you get onto them asap order management packs etc

It will also depend on your ground rent and if it doubles etc. and service charge.

and yes, you’ll probably have to pay your freeholder or MA for them to come up with the accounts etc.

Not personally by my parents sold their lease flat by auction - their tenant passed and they decided they just wanted rid of it quickly as they are in their 70's. Their tenant died late December, everything was ready to go on their side from mid January but were waiting for one signature from the company who owned the building for months. The flat finally went on the market in Late May. Get the ball rolling asap

Sold a 2 bed leasehold flat end of last year...south east commuter town 30 mins from Victoria, flat only built 2010.

The service charge of £ 6000pa, (First Port management - look them up Trustpilot, my god), £300pa ground rent, B2 cladding rating, £2500 annual building insurance (my share from first port Insurance) and COVID all did my nuts in.

Took a 30,000 hit to shift it from my asking price (10%), had 8 viewings in 6mths and finally sold to an overseas guy who made no diligence checks and saved my bacon.

Where I lived, market was awash with flats. There were buyers, but the service charges made me desperate - totally out of my control and only going up.

There are buyers - landlords see high rent rates and like what they see... But if half their annual rental income goes on charges they pick another flat...

Just bought a leasehold but with share of freehold so different but there are some real pitfalls

• the freeholder is important. Find out who it is - there are some sharks out there and they can jack the ground rent up
• If it's in a large block find out who the management company and check them out. See what their rep is. Ask to see the accounts and see how much they have in reserve for maintenance etc. Find out what the service charge has been each of the last 5 years
• If a house conversion make sure the leasehold agreement has the correct layout. If a loft conversion has been done since the last signing it takes weeks for solicitors to sort it out

You have a relatively long lease so shouldn't be any problems getting a mortgage on it