Tell me about flats

[FlorayG]

I'm planning to downsize but bungalows are so in demand here a small one will cost me the same as my three bedroom semi-detached house
SO I'm considering buying a flat.
But no idea on how ongoing costs are managed. I know purpose built flats have a management fee for communal areas but what about houses that have been converted and don't have any communal areas? What if e.g. the roof need repair and one owner won't or can't pay their share? What other things do I need to consider before buying a flat?
Any Dibbers that own and live in flats would you recommend it?

[Disney_time]

I own flats, but don't live in them. I think my factors fees are quite steep £85 per month. This covers management fee, buildings insurance, gardening, common close cleaning, close lighting, window cleaning, and an amount into a sinking fund for roof repairs etc.

The advantages are that the place looks good for prospective renters, repairs are attended to quickly and someone else deals with hiring the gardners and cleaners.

DS has looked at flats in converted buildings where the owners have told him that they 'self-factor' by having residents meetings and splitting the cost of cleaning and repairs but this leaves someone having to have the time and interest to do all the work, and then what if not everyone agrees, or some properties have tenants who are not interested in common upkeep. That method does save the management fee.

Other DS does a bit of both where they pay a factors fee but the garden isn't covered, so anyone interested does a bit and hopefully it stays looking good.

[munmun]

Flats are full of loop holes if buying please use a good solicitor not a quick conveyancing firm and read the lease from cover to cover.

Like another poster I own flats in England but dont live in them. All but one of my flats has share of the leasehold so that means there is no reducing lease length and no expensive lease extensions to consider. Once a lease length gets below about 75 years the mortgage situation if you want to sell on at any time becomes difficult. I have no mortgages but would not consider buying a property with a short lease. Flats which are leasehold may also be subject to a ground rent fee. Look at this carefully when buying and at the ratio used to increase the payment. It has been known for these to increase fast and make the property undesirable to sell. I pay no ground rent on any of my flats.

The flat I have with a lease now had a 165 year lease as I negotiated a lease extension and bought the flat at a very low cost due to the short lease, it has no ground rent.

Most flats have a service charge, mine range from £800 a year to £1500 a year and depending on the flats this can cover cleaning of communal areas, external maintenance, gardening, security like answer devices to front doors and insurance. I pay this three monthly by direct debit.

Most blocks of flats have a management team which may or may not be a group of owners or an external group.

As I said you really need to understand all this prior to purchase and know what you are buying. If the price looks to good to be true it's probably down to the lease.

Be careful to find out things like if you can keep pets, let the flat if needed (some leases forbit lets) etc etc.

Just do your homework and you will be fine.

[megaflyer]

Depends on the flats

Some we own and rent out we own the free hold too so that’s easy to navigate as a family company

The one I Currently live in is mine - You can not own the freehold. We pay a very hefty monthly charge for concierge, 24/7 security, car parks , facility etc etc and is over £1k a month . If I decide to rent it out I need to factor this in as I would need to include this in the rent and not charge separately you need to do your homework but once you know what is included it can be pretty simple and straightforward really and should put you off buying one

[Blue nose]

Although I'm in a house we're leasehold and pay a separate management fee for communal areas

There are flats on part of our development. Their service charge is approx £2000 annually, ours £200. These are not fancy flats and sell for just over £100k for one bed or £120 for 2 bed.

Our residents meetings are always flat owners complaining about other residents damaging stuff (paint work work, carpets, bins) or people not paying so their fees going up or not getting management company doing work correctly or on time.

We've got one old dear that wants the front door changing to be more accessible for her and collectively the residents refused to foot the bill so she has to pay herself or struggle.

Just from observing I would buy a flat and look for a bungalow.

[MUAlumni]

For any flats make sure you check the ground rent and service charge. My first property was a flat and I loved it, the ground rent was £100 a year and service charge worked out around £60 a month. Halfway through living there we changed the management company that looked after the property and the new company was fantastic and sorted everything immediately. The previous company sneaked additional charges on whenever requests were made.

Recently I looked at buying a flat to rent, immediately on checking the fees I cast it aside - ground rent £1000 a year and the service charge was almost £4000 a year. No wonder no one in the block can sell - these flats aren’t in an “exclusive” area (Average area in a northern town) and had no added extras E.g gym, concierge. If I had bought it and rented it out the rent would of just covered these fees each month which just shows how ridiculous the fees were for the area.

However back to subject I would recommend a flat, especially top floor if possible but just make sure the fees are manageable.

[wez]

Beware of the charges. Our original leaseholder sold the lease to another company who are awful. They’ve upped the ground rent as much as they legally can and it will increase every 5 years. The development now has a £3.5 million bill to rectify building probs which is passed on to owners (£509 a month for over 2 years) & cant sell until it’s resolved, and the service charge has increased from £70 odd a month to £120 a month. Never again!