Buying a council flat

hezzie

Hi all,
I currently live in a council flat, masonette type ie 1 ground floor flat below us-none above. We have our own door and stairs (not communal), it's 2 bedrooms with concrete floors, which gives poor sound insulation.
It's valued around £68,000 with a £24000 discount available so £44,000 purchase price, it's a nice neighbourhood and many have bought their own properties nearby, but the flat below and to the side is still council tenanted.
Can anyone tell me if this would be hard to sell as
1. It's only sold as Leasehold on a 125 year lease
2. There is a yearly service charge (which is reasonble).
3. Sound insulation is poor, but I could soundproof it at extra expense (any ideas on cost please).

No major works are planned by the council in the next 5 years, the roof seems to be in good condition and it was built in the 1960's

If it wouldn't be a good buy as a home then what about buy to let, we could in theory sell it after 5 years as thats a stipulation on buying it, that we can't sell for 5 years (or we pay some of the discount back)
Thanks,
Wayne.

micheleen

If there are council tenanted flats in the same block then I personally wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. There may be no major works planned, but all it takes is an unforseen accident (eg the roof gets damaged in a storm) and you could have repair bills running into thousands to pay. This can and does happen.
All IMHO of course :rudolf:

Norma_Desmond

I agree with micheleen; friends of ours bought their council flat and they were saddled with huge repair bills for 'major works' on top of their seemingly reasonable service charges. Their local authority made terrible Freeholders and acted illegally on more than one occasion. After hearing my friends' tales of woe, I personally wouldn't touch a council flat with a bargepole.

hezzie

Thank you for your input folks, it's not looking good so far. ....back to the 1st time buyers drawing board!

cattie

How many flats are in the block? If it's a small block then it could be a good buy. A lease of 125yrs is excellent & make it attractive to potential purchasers. It's a pity you'd have to hold onto it for 5yrs though to get the full discount, in some areas it's only 3yrs.

I'm surprised you saying that concrete floors make for poor sound insulation as I would have thought it actually increased sound insulation. Wooden floors on the other hand make for very poor sound insulation & I personally would never buy a flat or maisonette where the property above me had wooden floors, having learnt the hard way.

Decent sound insulation can be quite expensive, costing a few thousand £'s, so wouldn't really consider it as an option.

The question of having to pay for expensive repairs & maintenance at some future time is there, as other posters have mentioned. What repairs & improvements if any have been carried out by the council over the past couple of years? There is a government initiative at the present time where councils have to bring their homes up to certain standards & this is proving to be very expensive for many leaseholders.

Although your council may have said there are no major works planned for the immediate future, they don't always know what they are talking about, so you can't trust their word & things can change from year to year depending on the budget.

If the price is right you'll always be able to sell the flat, especially if it's in a good area & only a small block, but you are wise to be giving it thought & weighing up the pros & cons before making a decision

hezzie

Thank you cattie,

it's in a block of 4, we're on the end on the top, (thats 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom), it looks like a normal house really, I've been told by the council that we can opt out of the "decent homes scheme" in which the council have to bring all their homes up to scratch by 2010 if we purchase the flat, however I think the property prices have reached a peak so if I was to buy the flat I might be better waiting for the work to be done and then buy it.

Alternatively we have our name down for a house and that may be available in a couple of years.

It IS very surprising that concrete is a poor insulator of sound, but dense materials carry sound (I looked into it) quite well, we can hear people talking below and also the television when ours is off.

It's a nice roomy 2 bedroom flat with a huge loft that could be converted, I suppose it would be a "dream apartment" worth £400,000 in London, but in south yorkshire it's something different.

Many thanks for your reply, looks like the case isn't closed after all.

:xmassign:

elisebutt65

Given the option - I'd wait until after 2010 - there was a T McDonald programme on a few weeks back about ex-tenants facing huge bills as a result of the council work required to bring them up to scratch and the companiers doing the work charging about 4x the usual price!!

I was thinking about buying my house and am not bothering now - I only pay 140/month max anyway, and am apparently due to have a new heating system put in soon, just had a new bathroom and kitchen this summer and a new roof last year Just had an engineer out FOC as my Central Heating just went up ths spout tonight - turned out the system needed topping up - as i bled it last week - i know nothing about CH - lol

I think council housing is excellent and they should stop this right to buy scheme - Why buy, when it's so cheap to rent?

mummytofour

What else could you buy in the area for 44k?

Any lease hold propety you buy could end up with huge bills, if something unforeseen were to happen, dont forget that insurace does cover a lot of unforeseen things such as roof blowing off!

IMHO it sounds like a good buy and very much like my friends flat over the road from me.

hezzie

elisebutt65 wrote:

Given the option - I'd wait until after 2010 - there was a T McDonald programme on a few weeks back about ex-tenants facing huge bills as a result of the council work required to bring them up to scratch and the companiers doing the work charging about 4x the usual price!!

hmmm thats a good one I never thought of, thanks elise!

Doh! Mummy to 4 also has good points...looks like it's the old case of swings and roundabouts...

Thanks to everyone who posted! I'd be glad to hear of any further opinions! :beer:

Spendless

Hi -My gran bought her upstairs council flat last year (S.Yorks). Hers are just one flat upstairs, one down,built in the 1960s and linked to the next door neighbours property by what was once an outhouse/coal shed. She hasn't regretted it. The area is a good one, and the majority of upstairs flats are now privately owned, the downstairs ones still council and either elderly, or people with a disability which means they can't manage stairs. She has her own front door too. The service charges which she knew of in advance, were reasonable.
Ultimately though it's up to you.:)

hezzie

Thanks Spendless!