Buying a Car Parking Space - Manchester

epz_2

close to glasgow city center there are 2bed repoed new builds going for about 60k, if i worked in glasgow i would think seriously about geting one for the parking space and renting the flat out.

granted i would factor in total capital depreciation over 10 years as the places will be hell holes by that time but financially it would likely still be worthwhile.

Curious_Moose

Another thing you have to take into account is how many parking spaces are available to the development? If only a few, then £18,000 may seem reasonable. If every flat has a space, then they wouldn't command the same premium.

Also, what about re-sale? Does the space go hand in hand with the flat you have bought or are they two completely separate investments? If you can sell the space completely independently of the flat, that's a plus as it gives extra flexibility, but could you sell it to anyone or would re-sale be restricted to others having a flat in the same development?

Also, there may well be ground rent to pay on the space each year, just like a flat.

loofer

Don't forget to factor in the extra interest you will pay in interest for borrowing the extra 18-25k.

Simply just work out the increase in your mortgage payment (if you add it to your mortgage) or the monthly loan payment - would it still be higher than the £100 per month if you parked at a meter/car park etc?

The downside is that with your own space, you know it's there... you don't have to hunt around for a space... and it could be a distance away.

Have you considered a season ticket http://www.ncp.co.uk/seasontickets.htm
I'm not sure if it actually guarantees you a space or if it's just a cheaper form of pre-prayment. I'm sure you could find out about hiring a space.

wymondham

Curious_Moose wrote: »

Another thing you have to take into account is how many parking spaces are available to the development? If only a few, then £18,000 may seem reasonable. If every flat has a space, then they wouldn't command the same premium.

Do people really pay £18k for a rectangular bit of tarmac, or have I missed something?

maxheadroom

It will make it easier to resell/rent not having one wil automatically reduce the market thats interested.

When i was renting places in cities they were immediately rejected if they did not have allocated parking due to nature of work and hours meant did not want to be hunting for a space when i got in.

Thinking to the future if you have kids do you really want to be hunting for a parking space then have to walk miles with them and shopping in tow? (or if you don't what about your potential purchaser/tenant)

Quidco-ette

I think that there are about 141 car parking spaces and 213 apartments.

I think that the NCP season ticket is an option that we could consider, although it doesn't say how much they are, but i guess it depends on which one we park in.

We have heard that when we go to re sell (which won't be for a good few years anyway) that buyers won't consider a 2 bed without parking?? I suppose it's how we looked at it in the beginning, we could either spend an extra 20k on parking or buy a bigger apartment, we ended up stretching for an extra bed and still want to spend more on the parking.

At the end of the day we are going to have to fork out at least £100pm for parking anyway but I think that unless we can buy one for say 15k then i think we will just rent one.

bristol_pilot

Quidco-ette wrote: »

We have heard that when we go to re sell (which won't be for a good few years anyway) that buyers won't consider a 2 bed without parking??

Correct IMO. I would never buy or rent any property without allocated off-street parking.

GDB2222

Quidco-ette wrote: »

We have exchanged and they will give us 10 days notice to complete - why do you ask this? is this a problem?

It's a terrible contract, but it tends to work out absolutely fine, provided the builders complete the building more or less on time. However, if it's flats, they won't complete it until most of them are sold. If you hunt around on this board, you will find quite a lot of horror stories of people who have been waiting up to a year past the original estimated completion date. During that time, their mortgage offers have lapsed, and so on. Have a look around.

Did your solicitor advise you against this sort of contract?

Quidco-ette

Yeah we were originally told August 2009 but since they have stopped working on the other building (there are 2 blocks in the development - the other one is a shell) they said it is more likely to be May. TBH we wouldn't mind too much if it was put back because the mortgage market may have picked up by then. We are taking the risk of waiting until early next year before we start mortgage hunting.

Our solicitor never flagged up the agreement with the 10 days so we assumed it's all standard. We have kept a good relationship with our developer, and they have said they will give us 3 months notice so we can have our mortgage in place ready.

We also have an IFA who is being a great help and we are just following his advice at the moment so I am sure it will all work out in the end. :rolleyes:

GDB2222

Quidco-ette wrote: »

Our solicitor never flagged up the agreement with the 10 days so we assumed it's all standard.

It is standard term in most contracts, and most builders are not prepared to negotiate different contract terms. However, it is a pretty toxic clause without any sort of long-stop completion date, and I think your solicitor ought to have warned you about it. You might still have gone ahead, but you should have had a chance to stop and think about it.

In the past, housing was booming, and any delays were small - just an inconvenience, really. However, now things are different, and delays can be massive. In a falling market, the value of the place may drop by 10% or more during the time it's delayed. In theory, your builder might decide to stop construction on the site for several years, but still expect you to complete at 10 days notice when they start up again.

So, a clause which was in practice just very one-sided a few years ago, is now in practice potentially extremely toxic, and you should have been warned.

I hope that my warnings all come to nothing and it works out swimmingly for you.