Owning your own home

Is a 100 year lease satisfactory?

If it's got 100 years left before the lease expires, yes. Worth extending sooner rather than later though.

I wouldn't touch anything in a block of flats while the EWS1 is a thing.

I lived in a Victorian house converted in to two flats. The freehold was shared between the two flats, or I owned the freehold with the upper flat as leasehold, I can't remember exactly, but effectively all costs involving the outside or shared entrance were shared and this was specified in the deeds. It would be a pain of the upstairs owner didn't want to pay their half, but we always got along ok on that front. As the other owner was a landlord it was often fastest to get stuff sorted and charge them half.

The quality of the conversion left a lot to be desired, but that's another story.

Probably being naive as I don't know anything about leasehold but what are the general things to look out for?

Yes - you need to look at the frequency and quality of maintenance. You need to understand the management set up and do a bit of digging on whatever parties are involved. You need to understand the composition of the block - who the people are and their situation and any trends.

If it is block you go for then you are aiming for somewhere that is well maintained but not gold plated where in-it for-the-long-haul residents have good input in to what is being done but don’t hold the process hostage or manipulate it.

is a Victorian house converted into 2 flats an easier lease than a purpose built multistory?

A two up two down conversion can have an upside in terms of control and if you find a good one with good residents it would probably be ‘better’ than a purpose block. There are risks in that the composition can change completely if the co-owner moves for example and if circumstances change and there is financial trouble or disagreements. Obvs technically the build will be ‘worse’ than most purpose builds but they are more desirable so you are more likely to benefit from any house price rises.

There’s some fairly well documented examples of the ups and downs on here, velocio, dammit, bleakrefs, fox, spotter, myself have all highlighted some of the risks.

100 years at the mo is fine, you should probably aim for share of freehold with 999 year lease but don’t need to die in a ditch for it.

Just to add to Howard's comments, specifically around management of the leasehold, you should make sure your solicitor asks for:

• Accounts of the management company
  
• Whether there is a sinking fund for periodic repairs (and how much is in it)
  
• Date last repairs to common parts and exterior were done, what was done, how much spent
  
  

I would avoid anything involving joint freeholders unless you're going to be one of them as it is a living nightmare.

If you hope to buy the freehold at some point you should check that the building qualifies for collective enfranchisement, probably by asking a surveyor as in my experience solicitors can get this wrong.

I've owned the lease on the top half of a converted terrace since 2013. No issues at all so far.

Extended the lease three years ago when there was 87 years remaining. Freeholder initially quoted £13k but I got in touch with a chartered surveyor who immediately said that was about 50% too much. Appointed them to deal with it and paid £7k for a new 125 year lease, so that's sorted for another 40-ish years.

Appreciate there are benefits to share of freehold, but there's also some reassurance in the freeholder being a third party in case the other ones are dicks. Or sell to people who turn out to be dicks, etc.

I had a share of freehold in a converted Victorian terrace. I owned half, downstairs owned the other half. When buying there doesn't seem to be much premium for that setup as opposed to just the lease on that type of flat.

It was very easy as the lease was pretty clear on who was responsible for what (being upstairs I was responsible for the roof for instance) and the communal areas were minimal (hallway and tiny front yard area). The only joint cost we had was the buildings insurance.

We also extended to a 999 year lease whilst I was there which cost about £500.

There is the risk of the other freeholder being a dick but you're always going to get that risk.

If you really hate the idea of being leasehold then a flat in a block may not be for you. The leasehold element is likely to weigh heavier than in a converted house.