Why do you think this property isn't selling?

[zzuple]

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/156099821#/?channel=RES_BUY

LOL at everyone saying to rip out the original kitchen and bathroom, which are a big selling point in the Barbican 😂

It’s the lease. It’s probably unmortgageable with only 81 years. It isn’t clear who is paying for the lease extension or how much it will cost. It could take forever to sort out.

Of course, it comes with all the issues of living in the Barbican - high service charges, no sink fund, listed building, no pets, building works - but it also has all the benefits that make the development command a high price - the Barbican Centre, gardens, iconic architecture. It’s a marmite building but flats are usually in demand. It’s the lease that is the big issue.

Sort the lease, stage the property and sell it through a specialist estate agent like The Modern House.

It's the price. I know 'location' and everything ( i used to live just down the road from there actually!) but it's not like it's in immaculate condition! and so small.

(Sitting here, chuckling at the 'desirable architecture' as a person from an ex-Soviet-occupied country). I'll show this to my parents. They'll die laughing at this ugly grey pile of crap (not the flat itself, but the building) being called 'a wonderful example of Brutalist architecture. Lots of fans'. We, as a country, are steadily getting rid of these 'wonderful examples' thank god (horribly ugly soviet blocks where we were all forced to live) and replacing them with decent homes.

Sorry, I digress and don't want to offend anyone. I quite like the flat itself, tbh. And I don't think the price is that shocking for the location, although I'm not a Londoner.

I think it's the length of the lease. And the flat needs staging, imo. It's very bare and doesn't look inviting. Furniture, plants, art, etc. And more pictures.

It's bigger than my three bed house!

OP, I love it. Iconic building, beautiful flat, fab kitchen (although it looks in bad nick - love the design, though.) If I had money to burn, I'd buy it.

I’d love to live in the Barbican.

With respect to my fellow MNers, a lot of them don’t know the area or typical prices nor the very specific market you need to aim at (all that stuff about updating the kitchen and bathroom 😭)

The price isn’t crazy. The flat isn’t very well presented and I agree with pp that you’d do better with a specialist agent who knows how to sell these flats. There will be some S&M partner out there looking for a pied a terre for whom this would be perfect but at the moment it’s not really being marketed at them.

Ignore people slagging off the barbican. Not very helpful given that is where your flat is and not the attitude of the people who love it and obsess over these flats.

The length of the lease. If it were 99 years + I'd have it like a shot.

The price is cheap for the Barbican - probably on account of the lease.

For those who don’t know London, Barbican is a modernist building which is very Marmitey. Personally I hate it but others love it and will pay over the odds to live there. It’s quite a prestige address (why is beyond me!) It’s very central but as it’s the City is very quiet at weekends.

I actually used a company called Brickwise to run my property pictures through it to see why it wasnt selling, which was very helfpul to see how other people saw it and give me a flavour as to what was or was not working. Definitely worth putting yours in and seeing what it says, it provides more of the facts opposed to just a lot of opinion which is obviously what you will get on here.. :)

I get that you're buying into a Brutalist icon, but I'm not sure that the thick end of £1M is that affordable to that many anymore. Also, with WFH, is there much demand for London crash pads?

And
Not many photos
Tired kitchen

Probably is the same people! Both very infuriating responses

Was coming on to say exactly this.👆

I would also love to live in the Barbican! My retirement dream 🤩 also it’s a very good sized one-bed in my view. I think the price is fine but the lease is the problem. Anyone happy to spend that much on a 1-bed flat would presumably be ok to spend a bit more doing up /replacing the kitchen and bathroom for a bit more

For all the people saying to use a specialist estate agent, Frank Harris has been selling Barbican flats for at least the last thirty years (I used them both for the buying and selling of mine). I have no connection with them, but I think they have a pretty good idea what they're doing.

I suspect when times are good, they sell themselves. Frank Harris copies and pastes the normal blurb, identifies the 'Type' and everyone knows the deal.
I wonder if it's just the oversupply of newer, maybe easier to sell on flats in that area. Coupled with lots of adjacent construction plus liability to chip in for future refurbs.
Bit worrying if you bought at peak otherwise it is what it is. If it's an inheritance then it's still a significant one plus the original owner will have loved living there.

And don't rip out the kitchen & bathroom, I'm a fan of the Barbican so I'd want to see that. Plenty of other newer flats to appeal to others.

There are many equally bland, uninspiring, soulless properties I could buy for a fraction of that price.

Are they in the barbican? No.

I get that the Barbican isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but saying these flats are a dime a dozen is, well, wrong.

I could buy my 4 bed house 7 times over (freehold with no lease or fees) for the price of this 1 bed flat. Really makes me wonder why anyone lives in London with the crazy prices and lack of space.

Do you know the Barbican or have you been there? It’s an incredible arts centre, with a theatre, arts cinema, multiple spaces for music performances, it hosts exhibitions, has a restaurant, botanical conservatory, residents garden and excellent transport links in a central part of London. It’s full of life at all times of day. Imagine living within all that, and then able to escape to the quiet of your own home within minutes of watching a play and having a quick supper in the restaurant. I can’t imagine anything better for my retirement years if I had the money (as many, many people in London, and amongst the global elites, do).

I was there a couple of weeks ago, sitting by the lake and fountains and admiring the beautiful way the residents have put flowers along the balconies, and wishing I could live there.

I would refurb and rescue that kitchen, not rip it out.

Beautiful parquet floors.

I don't need residence gardens as a selling point, I live in the country with endless greenery and space walking distance from my door and believe it or not we alsi have a winter garden and oriental garden up here + countless award winning arts venues and free museums, historic theaters and lots of music venues and of course restaurants up here too lol.

Why do Londoner think they are the only people with these basic things?

Yes it is a mystery why all of these tourists come to London from around the world, when they could just go to Barnsley

It’s not about having access to those things but living within them. I can access all these things in my city too but I have to travel to get to them and back. I think living amongst it all would be fabulous, you may have a different view. Of course it wouldn’t work for a family with children, but there are much larger flats in the complex for any families deciding to stick around in central London.

🤣

Well it's the capital of the UK so obviously the most well known city in the country by a large margin. Plenty of tourists also go to Cornwall, the Lake District, the Cotswolds, etc so I'm not sure what your point is. What is clear is that some people value the lifestyle in central London and others prefer the country, some people love the Barbican style of architecture and others find it ugly. People have different tastes, no surprise there.

Nobody thinks that. It’s just pointless saying “I could buy X for this price where I live in the middle of nowhere”- housing in different areas costs different amounts, we all know that. It’s such a tedious non-contribution, expecting people to spell out why a flat on the centre of one of a capital city is expensive.