Opinion on buying a leasehold flat

[Mabsa]

I am a First Time Buyer in the process of buying a leasehold flat in a 3 storey building. I am still waiting for all the searches and documents to be provided to me. However, I have noticed in the Fire Risk Assessment that the overall rating is Moderate (Moderate Harm and Medium Likelihood) which makes me nervous. I still haven't seen the EWS1 certificate, awaiting for it.

The report mentions: The external wall construction of the building does not appear to be of sufficiently low risk that it can be assessed visually as part of this Type 1 assessment. Parts of the front building façade has timber cladding. A specialist survey will be required.
Balcony approaches on first and second floors to rear of building appear to be constructed of non-combustible materials. There is some timber cladding to the front elevation

The building is owned by a Housing Association so this would be their responsability. However, I am worried about the potential impact that this could have if I decide in the future to sell the flat. What's your view on this? Anything I should be checking? Since I am a cash buyer, I didn't have to get a mortgage approved, hence my worry.

I am also not sure that a EWS1 certificate will be available as the building is only 3 storeys (picture attached)

I don’t know what you’re basing that on, but it simply isn’t true.

Obviously that’s a quick google but more googling will only confirm.

If it’s not already apparent this is quite literally my day job.

And by “higher” you mean a longer term. I can tell from your terminology that you’re not wholly familiar with leases.

Based on the reviews alone I would pull out tbh. Even if it meant having a sizeable down payment on somewhere else with a mortgage instead of cash.

ultimately your solicitor should go through everything and you are right to be cautious with a leasehold as there’s more to consider but from my own experience they are not all the nightmares you hear of. Leasehold can be absolutely fine and offer affordable nice property options

as for the people saying buy a freehold even if it means in a less desirable area - that’s each to their own. I would never do that personally and would happily take a decent leasehold for preference of location any day. It’s personal choice. You’re asking all the right questions OP that’s all you can do an then make a decision

If the management company is ok and there's no issues with the fire safety it's fine

I used to live in a flat and I have a house now, things were far easier when I had the flat

I wouldn't for the life of me live in a worse area just to have a house

There are lots of advantages of flats, you don't have to spend time maintaining the place and if something goes wrong the cost is shared

It depends on your lifestyle, if you're a homebody that likes diy then a house would be better. But if you can't be bothered to crawl around your loft and check your gutters once in a while but dedicate time to your career then a flat works well.

Also flats are generally maintained over the years. Houses often have dodgy conservatories/extensions lots of hidden problems and costs, people not maintaining them properly and doing all sorts of bodge jobs. And they still cost money to repair, and you have to deal with dodgy tradespeople trying to rip you off when you want something done. Plus also your neighbours can be a real pain over shared boundaries and start extending things all over the place.

Just an addendum to the above quite a lot of the housing stock in this Country is not maintained well. Most people don't maintain them properly and are storing up expensive problems for themselves. You can't just not replace a roof when it needs replacing.

This is especially true of flats with a share of freehold IMO!

There has been a lot in the news in the last few days about high service charges, so be careful when buying a leasehold.

Our lease says that external painting should be done every 3:years. It is 13 years and counting since it was last done!