Flat doesn't seem to be selling?

[DAISYBELLAxx]

Hello everyone.

We are based in Surrey and looking to upsize. Our flat has been on the market for a month and it is just not selling.

We have had a total of three viewings but no offers. All viewings have been as a result of our estate agents calling people directly. Nobody seems to be enquiring from zoopla, rightmove etc off their own back.

I was wondering, as outsiders, if you could give your honest opinion as to why people are not proceeding to want to view. The link is: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/67811323/

There are no bathroom photos currently and the estate agents are in the process of rectifying this (the photographer forgot to take photos of the bathroom??!!)

When people are viewing, I am always ensuring that I am keeping the flat clean, tidy and pleasant.

Your opinions would be much appreciated!

Thank you 😊

Lease is too short.

Those built in units in the bedroom are dreadful. Leave no space all. They need to come out.

Ahh - this is such disheartening news. We had hoped to atleast have moved by New Year. Sounds like it's going to be a long and painful process.

Rather than going down the legal routes and timeframes etc, do you think if we dropped the price to £210,000 we would have a buyer?

Sorry for all of the questions, I am just trying to think of all the possible outcomes for when I speak to my parter tonight, who I know will feel deflated too!

At 89 years lease will be an issue as some mortgage companies won't lend on that short a lease. So need to look at extending.
Kitchen looks dated and no bathroom pictures would make me think that needed a refurb.
I think a cheap pair of curtains would help lounge.

Dropping the price won’t solve the problem that mortgage lenders won’t touch it until the lease is sorted.

Sort the lease out first, a few cushions from Dunelm is not going to help it sell if the lease isn’t extended.

So much grey...wht did anyone ever think grey was a good look?
Def needs a colour injection, cushions for a start, some plants, bed cover for starters.

The grey does not bother me, I can see past all that.
Main issues - the lease, no mention of what the ground rent or service charges are and how scruffy it is outside.

Of course the lease is a problem too, I would want 125 years on it at least.

Yes, you can see past colour, of course, but just looking at the photos alone wouldn't make me want to read other particulars, let alone think about the lease.

Personally I think grey is versatile colour. I like it with pink but can go mustard yellow or navy?
Repaint walls in soft white and then do accents in your chosen colour.
Bit of freestanding lamps.

Can the table go in the kitchen? You should have a space?

I don't have an issue with the decor @DAISYBELLAxx My next door neighbours sold their house 18 months ago - and it had a lot of grey in it, from carpets to walls. It looked fab to me - and they got a lot of interest and a fair bit over the asking price for it too, so plenty people won't mind the internal decor

The pictures aren't good. The outside looks awful, it's not even clear whether it is a ground or 1st floor flat, as far as I can see. Too many of the living room too and the dining table looks tiny. Suspect it's the first floor from the photos where greenery can be seen through the windows. The second bedroom looks very small and you have to look closely to see that the bed is a double bed - it looks like a single from the angle it is taken from. It's clear that the main bedroom doesn't have a lot of space from the photos either

There doesn't look like a lot of storage space in the flat full stop - but the main issue is the length of the lease plus the 'cost' of all the other things that go with it, maintenance, service charges etc. They are all simply listed as 'ask agent'. So makes it difficult to work out what it would cost you

@DAISYBELLAxx

We had a similar situation a few years ago.
We listed it with a long lease and started the process. I would take the short lease off the listing as it will put people off.

You need to contact your leaseholder to get an information pack. Ours was HA so was easy, but it can be a nightmare with private leaseholders. They should have a process they want you to follow. The extension cost is based property value + legal costs.

You can then negotiate with any buyers around the lease. We had 1 woman saying she could only afford X, we said fine, but you will have to extend the lease. She then found the extra money for the lease as she couldn't be bothered to deal with it.

You would have to start it as you can't extend until you'v owned the property for 2 years. But if you start it, the extension can be transferred to another party.

Yes. A large price drop shows a motivated mover. I think it will help a lot.

My friend just extended his. I think it is now 165 years. However, he had no idea that marriage value exists, so by the time he got round to extending it, it was at 72 years.

It cost him £30,000. SE London, similar setup to the OP.

I wouldn’t touch anything with a lease that short and there’s been so much negative press about service charges recently that I would also never buy somewhere with a service charge. As others have said you need to extend the lease then price realistically. If I saw that a property had sold for 185K only 3 years before it would have to pretty amazing to justify the price hike since then.

As PPs have said, it's the lease that's the issue. You have to be in the property for two years before you can start the least extension process yourself so this makes it even more an appealing for potential buyers. Whilst that doesn't sound very long, because the lease on the property you're considering is already so short, those two years could equate to an extra few thousand pounds when it comes to paying a conveyancer to look at an extension.

I sold my property a few years ago which had 84 years lease left. the buyer wanted me to start the least extension process to avoid the two year wait. You can legally do this so I got the ball rolling and the lease extension effectively happened just before the moving date. Buyer paid for the extension and obviously his solicitor fees. Annoyingly he bailed out of paying my solicitor fees for this just before the move so I lost about £3,000 pounds - in hindsight it should have been made clear from the very start that the buyer was liable for paying for everything.

Sadly I don't think the price drop will make buyers (and possibly their mortgage providers) overlook the lease issue. If you wanted a quick sale with a lease that short you would probably need to go down to around £195k and hope for a cash buyer. It sucks, but at least you will know never to buy a leasehold property again!

Possibly. That's closer to inflationary increase in price.

The outside looks awful but nowhere near as bad as that grey cold storage container like livingroom. Go to B&M and spend £75 on warm coloured cushions, pictures and ornaments.

No, the lease is a deal-breaker, whatever furniture you add and dropping to 210 likely isn't enough.
You could potentially sell via auction with the short lease - that would resolve the sale quickly but you will probably get less than you paid for it.

With that lease you’ll really only get a cash buyer or auction sale.

You’d do well to shift for £185k I’d say. 2021 was pretty toppy for the market in Surrey. Your estate agent sounds pretty incompetent tbh.

Was this the formal or informal route?

This. I think you’ll be lucky to sell for more than you bought it for given the length of the lease, the decrease in value is probably offset broadly by property price increases and so I’d expect it to be stable in value.

The problem is most people won’t even look with a lease of that length unless it’s a true bargain - so I think you might struggle.

Lease is so short.

100% the lease. If you don't extend it you'll need to sell for less than he bought it for as the next person will have the hassle and expense.

Unless he's done a huge amount of work on it (which no offence it doesn't look like it has been) why would it be worth much more in a short time? We completely renovated a flat in London and made a v modest profit, the people after us sold for the same price their paid 3 years later, a good friend took a 10k loss on a flat in South London a few years ago too. It's hard to add value and justify a big increase on a flat in a v modest building near a motorway. If you really want to sell I think you just need to be really realistic about its true value.