Advise on selling flat, quickly.

battletux

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction on advice/reviews of firms like National home buyers (I know they have a bad rep but surely a firm out there that is reputable exisits?).

The reason is that I need to sell my flat ASAP. It has been on the market for about 6 months and as my situation has changed (expecting our first child in April) So I really need to let it go, as long as the outstanding mortgague and most/all of the fees are covered then we do not care about losing our deposit.

The flat was valued at £120k, we have every few months dropped the price and it is currently at £109,950. The main issue is the lease has 70 going on 69 years left and the landlord is absent, so renewals need to go through the courts.

The only other idea we have is to drop the price to £100k and hope someone takes an interest in buying it, failing that trying to let it.

Any advice would be greatly recieved, thanks.

alared

I`m afraid in the current climate the only way to get rid of property, if you`re desperate, is to drastically reduce the price.
Even properties at auction aren`t reaching their reserve prices.
Some properties have been slashed up to 30/40% and still go unsold.
The biggest "stickers" of all are flats or as they call them these days "apartments".
Sorry to be so gloomy,but that`s the way it is for the next year or two.

sarah_elton

If you're looking at the companies that buy houses, they typically offer about 70% of market value, so you'd get well under £100k. If you can sell it for £100k you're definitely better off doing that.

That lease issue is quite a tricky one and I'm sorry to say will put a lot of buyers (and mortgage companies) off. If the freeholder is absent, what happens re repairs etc? Do you have a management company as well?

sjcollett

The main issue is the lease has 70 going on 69 years left and the landlord is absent, so renewals need to go through the courts.

This is a major issue i am afraid. perhaps you may be better off at auction? Pm me and i will give you details of am auction house in London who i always use

Richard_Webster

How long has OP owned the flat? If it was bought in the past 5 years or so then the solicitor possibly should have warned OP about the problems/cost of a lease renewal/extension.

Has the landlord always been absent? If so, again possibly the solicitor should have explained the costs and hassles involved in getting a lease extension.

Cameraman

We had one of those 'We buy homes for cash' type of companies see us as we were interested in a property they owned. Our maisonette is 50% share of the freehold, really nice condition throughout up for £120K and they offered £68k for a cash sale on ours from memory so I really don't recommend these type of companies to anyone!

Reducing your price more would be better and do everything you can to renew that lease.

Good luck with it.