Buying ex council flat

[hairyunicorn]

I am currently looking to buy a new flat, i have found an ex-LA flat that ticks most of the boxes, however i am very, very wary having heard horror stories of people buying ex council flats only to be stuck paying £0000's for 'major works' or 'block refurbs.

The flat i am looking at is in a very small block (around 12 flats) with no lift, no cladding and what appears to be a solid roof.

Looking for advice from those that may have purchased an ex council flat and how that worked out for you. Tbh i have a 2nd viewing on Sat but am thinking it's too much of a risk to take on. I have asked the EA to contact the owner and ask if there have been any 'major works' or 'block refurbs since she has owned the property and i know once i start the process any works planned in the next few years will be highlighted.

I live in London so buying this ex LA flat will would save me over 30k compared to similar properties in the area. It's also a lot bigger than non council flats.

I like everything about the flat and its within budget (which is hard to find in London) I just don't know what to do, any advice would be most welcome. :)

@socialmedia23
If you own a share of the leasehold obviously that it a different situation.

That's not correct about private owners covering HA tenants as the split of responsibility is shown in our lease and is proportional to our property.
For us the negative is we can't jazz things up because the HA won't cover the HA tenants share of works.

@socialmedia23

I'm assuming you pay in the sink fund though?

Its part of the service charge. But it means that we don't fork out in excess of the service charge.

I thought it was more difficult to get a mortgage on an Ex LA flat?

If you need one, it is worth contacting a broker and listening carefully to what they say

They also say that when you buy a place you should think how easy it would be to sell in the future.

If you are planning to move from here one day, even if in 20 years, would being an ex LA flat put too many people off?

If it's in the best bit of Highgate, maybe not as it's a fabulous area.

I am a landlord and own several ex LA leasehold flats. I personally wouldn’t buy a privately owned one due to high management fees.
Yes, you can be unlucky with major works and have to pay out thousands, but they are only done when they are needed. Certainly my LA isn’t on the lookout for unnecessary work. I had the misfortune this year to have one flat having the security system and communal lighting upgraded in the same year, which stung a bit as my share was £1200, but my service charge is normally around £250 PA. Privately managed ones were all over £600.
I would prefer to be in a block where the majority of flats are privately owned ( which is not the case for me) because sometimes tenants lobby the LA for extra services, which I don’t feel necessary, or want to pay for. The LA normally refuses. ( CCTV, swings in communal garden, etc).
I would avoid anywhere with a lift or a heavy caretaker load, as these can massively increase costs.

If your block doesn't have a lift, but the other blocks have lifts, would you have to pay for that.

@socialmedia23

It will probably level out to similar cost over the years but I guess it's easier to manage financially. Paying lots more each month and having that pot of money.
We pay hardly anything but will then use the money saved to pay for works when needed.

You can't compare a lease to a share of freehold in terms of control.

Where we are in London there are lots of purpose built blocks (private or HA) and not many converted etc.

We are selling ours and it was under offer in 2 weeks. We did have plenty of people say it wasn't for them because the communal area feels very council (because it is)
But the location drew lots of people in and we had offers based on the large size rooms, low service fees, great parking etc.

It will always sell for less than private. But we bought for less.

Be aware that service charges are likely to increase significantly on flats over the coming months due to cost of living related inflation- where we are HA's have said likely to double

In my situation if there is no lift in the block I pay nothing towards a lift.
In the one property where there is an albeit very distant lift that I could use ( and do for moving furniture etc) I pay my proportionate share. Fortunately it is spread amongst many flats.
The occupiers of one block in that road successfully challenged contributing towards the estate lift as they couldn’t actually use it to get to their property.