Vague leasehold maintenance plan?

[DecisionTime123]

Viewing a ground floor flat, there are a total of 4 flats in the ex-council block in question. Apparently the "two upstairs look after the roof and the two downstairs look after the drains". No one knows if there's a written agreement. But caring for a property is more than roof and drains surely? The only charge is a small ground rent to the freeholder. No idea about buildings insurance but there must be some!

I'd worry I wouldn't get a mortgage on that basis - what do you think?

I previously owned a maisonette with no service charge and a similar maintenance obligation which was essentially “all leaseholders must agree between themselves what to do when building maintenance or repairs need to be carried out and the freeholder will referee if agreement can’t be reached and intervene to organise work and recharge for it if necessary.” It didn’t pose a problem for the lender, my conveyancer did highlight it. All leaseholders were individually responsible for their own separate buildings insurance. It’s a fairly uncommon setup, but not legally problematic in itself.

If there’s no written agreement and it isn’t in the lease, you can’t rely on the gentleman’s agreement about upstairs maintaining X and downstairs maintaining Y. If there’s nothing in the lease about what would happen if all leaseholders aren’t in agreement about something, that could end up being problematic. I’d walk away if this is the case, or at least seek something in writing from the freeholder and legal advise from a property law specialist.

ETA: there’s also the possibility of all leaseholders acquiring right to manage, if all the flats are owned. But again, you’d want to seek clarification on that before proceeding with the purchase.

My late DF was in a block of 4 flats with exactly the same arrangement. It was written into the lease.

(You're not in Crystal Palace OP?)

It is highly unlikely there is 'no written agreement' as there will be a lease which should specify what the freeholder and what the leaseholders are responsible for. The ground rent is not meant to cover maintainence. Costs of any works and building insurance will normally be added to the service charge that the leasholders pay. If it were me and I was really interested in the flat I would not pay any attention to what an Estate Agent is saying or relaying from what they have been told by others. I would use my own eyes to see if the building looks in a well maintained state, then I would get a copy of the lease from the Land Registry (for a small fee), then I would consider whether to offer and, if I did get an offer accepted, just let the conveyancing process deal with all this stuff. I would add that, assuming you're a first time buyer, if and when you do get to the conveyancing stage, you'll probably be amazed (horrified!!) by the amount of things (e.g. indemnities, lease clauses, results of searches, costs of future planned works, permission for past works, fire regs compliance, etc.) that might come up during that process that need to sorted out to satisfy either you or your mortgage company. Good luck!!

Thank you everyone; its more or less as I thought - there does need to be a written agreement and the fact that the EA thinks there isn't one is not worth the paper it isn't written on!

I'm not a first time buyer but first time leasehold buyer (unfortunately). I'm seeing 2 flats tomorrow and both estate agents have given me the run around with their interesting and creative ideas about the leases!

Th estate agent almost certainly hasn’t seen the lease, so I wouldn’t put much stock in what they do or don’t know. There may well be something in the lease about maintenance, but the homeowner hasn’t cast gaze on it since they bought the property (and possibly didn’t even then.) If you’re interested in the property after viewing, you can get the agent to request the vendor shares the detail.

I would be very wary of any undocumented ‘agreements’. As someone who has ended up trying to sell this type of maisonette due to probate, my experience is that it’s a complete headache especially if your freeholder disappeared (as mine has) I hope you find something more straightforward!