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Would a service charge typically be fixed and escalate annually for a flat in a larger old house?
Service charges are meant to be an allocation of actual costs plus a management fee rather than a fixed amount. Actually getting the information to verify this though is very difficult.
Who is the freeholder in that situation?
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Why don't flat listings always have lease info and service charge fees in the rightmove advert? Surely it's a massive factor that can help buyers disregard certain properties without having to email the estate agent.
Works in the agent's favour - they get a lead if you contact them. If you just go to a listing, look, then leave, the agent gets nothing.
Would a service charge typically be fixed and escalate annually for a flat in a larger old house?
As above, the SC pays for the day to day needs of the place and the cost of administration. A lot of it is insurance. There might be a sink fund for big items like a new roof. As things get more expensive over time, SCs slowly go up over time. SCs don't always pay for big items, so if there is no sink fund, when the time comes to replace the roof, it's going to hit your pocket.
There are huge issues around service charges and larger works and the system is not supportive of the people who pay for them that have been written about at length on this thread. Beware.
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Would a service charge typically be fixed and escalate annually for a flat in a larger old house?
It entirely depends on your lease (some only allow expenditure based on the previous year's expenditure, some allow your managing agent to estimate, which means it's effectively open season), and the freeholder/managing agent in question. Generally speaking they will increase in line with inflation, but if you have an aggressive or unethical third party freeholder, you should expect them to increase much more aggressively.
If you know who the freeholder / managing agents are, you'll know if they're that kind of entity by checking their reviews on google. No managing agent has 100% good reviews, but you'll spot a shitty one a mile off - tales of service charges increasing by many multiples, aggressive chasing of residents for minor or no-existent breaches, etc. If more than 50% of the reviews refer to this stuff, run a mile.
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Also, I wouldn't trust an estate agent whatsoever in giving me that information.
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Why don't flat listings always have lease info and service charge fees in the rightmove advert? Surely it's a massive factor that can help buyers disregard certain properties without having to email the estate agent. From what I've researched into flats, balance of 999 years seems pretty common in the South West but hardly any info on service charge. Would a service charge typically be fixed and escalate annually for a flat in a larger old house?