Owning your own home

We're looking at renting our flat because we can't sell it due to this EWS1 fiasco, the letting agents are saying they have more 'stock' on their books than ever before. Flats that would normally rent in one day of viewings are now sat there for up to a month.

Annecdata though.

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?

No. I'm glad I did, even if my Chambers/offices are still in London, not that I've been there more than once in the last six months. London is fundamentally broken. As, by implication, is the UK on a structural level.

Stop talking the UK down, remainer scum!

That's useful, thanks. Looking at plan B of continuing to rent if I can't get it sold in time, so trying to figure out what's going on.

We're looking at renting our flat because we can't sell it due to this EWS1 fiasco, the letting agents are saying they have more 'stock' on their books than ever before. Flats that would normally rent in one day of viewings are now sat there for up to a month.

Annecdata though.

I've had two EA's round in the past week, both say they have huge stock levels, although they are selling - but not at the sort of money they were getting pre-referendum, and they've both said that confidence is fragile, and that if the end of furlough goes badly they're concerned the the market will stall.

How much of that is designed to give me the hurry up, you decide.

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?

A lot of this is going to be hyper specific based on your property and location. Mine is a 2 bed flat in SE1. Not very desirable right now.

If you're trying to rent a 3 bed in Hither Green with a decent garden it's prolly open-season.

2 weeks to the day since the buyer of my house had the homebuyers survey done, radio silence. No news is good news right?

We’re flying over this weekend to pack what’s left in the house and ship it all to Ireland so fingers crossed everything goes ahead.

Cheers - yeah and I imagine more detail is in the paperwork when you get to that stage. I'd hate to have the liability of a share of a blank cheque for something.
No idea about who owns the freehold at the couple I've just pulled up - maybe whoever owns the most valuable part of the building and split it up initially?

The vendor in this listing owns a share of the freehold https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-94897322.html

And then this one doesn't say anything about the lease at all
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-83293792.html

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.

I had a flat that was half a terrace house and there was no service charge.

We shared the buildings insurance and paid for repairs as and when (with pretty much all being attributable to one flat or the other).

Exactly where I'm at too. The surveyor told me if you don't hear then that's good.

I've also found out that my mortgage redemption figure drops by a further 2% if I redeem in Oct opposed to Sept so thats probably worth doing.

It seems like I'm making progress albeit very slow progress.

I'd hate to have the liability of a share of a blank cheque for something.

Then rent.

Then rent

Indeed ;-)

Same as us, except we each have our own insurance. The number of potential buyers whose head's exploded at the idea was a bit of a shock.

The number of potential buyers whose head's exploded at the idea was a bit of a shock.

It is quite wild and somewhat risky. Fine whilst the Leasholders get on but if one moves out and a troublemaker moves in...eeeesh.

Did you have a deed of trust or was it totally as and when informal?

I'll add that to the other 1,000,001 what ifs then...

What is that list was increased to 1,000,002?

@aggi that sounds ideal. Was it leasehold?

I'd hate to have the liability of a share of a blank cheque for something

There's no way round this if you're buying leasehold. You'll be liable for a percentage of the maintenance of the building, whatever it needs, just like if you owned (a percentage of) the building.

The added joy is that you're at the mercy of the freeholder to decide what work needs doing and when and who they get in to do it and for how much. The processes for objecting are fairly weak.

(OTOH the processes for freeholders to claim unpaid bills off difficult leaseholders can be equally useless)

in summary, england is bad

BTW asbestos survey came out clean. Need to find something new to worry about

@Colm89 best of luck and hope it all goes okay.

As somebody who's buying their first (freehold) house outside of London with no chain either end I don't know how you London types do it. Sounds exhausting, feeling lucky I have a fairly easy journey in comparison, in theory . I'll try and curb any complaining here.

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.

The vendor in this listing owns a share of the freehold https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for­-sale/property-94897322.html

Share of freehold is generally good - it means you're in control, at least partially.

And then this one doesn't say anything about the lease at all
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for­-sale/property-83293792.html

Ask them who the freeholder / managing agent is. Often when a plaec is cheaper than it should be, that's a sign of a predatory freeholder/managing agent, and it pays to be sure.