Buying a W London property

[Cracklecandle]

Hello

Me and my partner are looking to buy a property in W London. It is a converted church with four flats and a nursery on the ground floor.

We liked the flat but we have been told that the property flooded a couple of years ago and the nursery made a claim which has resulted in high building insurance (in addition to service charge).

The estate agents haven't provided any details. The flat has also been on the market for around 9 months (although we note that the market is not great currently).

We're wondering essentially whether this is a complete no go or whether there is some chance we could still pursue it. We would obviously try and get as much information about the flooding and the insurance position out of the EA as possible.

AIBU Mums pls respond xx

I don’t have an answer for your specific circumstance, but when we were first looking for properties we found a lovely flat that was in a building that had a shop at the bottom. The shop had previously caught fire, and since then insurance etc were significantly higher. This would have still been affordable for us, but when we spoke to a mortgage adviser he said that it would be difficult for us to find a lender who would be prepared to offer us a decent mortgage, if at all, on what they consider a “high risk” property.

This was what then put us off - partly because we didn’t want to have trouble getting a mortgage, but we also had an eye on when we wanted to sell it. If it was difficult for us to mortgage, that would also make it difficult for future prospective buyers to mortgage.

In your position, I’d probably walk away, but if you really like it, then get as many details as you can about the flooding (was it weather related or did someone just leave a tap on overnight, that sort of thing) and do some research about mortgage lenders. Also see if any of the other flats in the building have sold since the flooding and how long they were on the market for.