FTB - Advice

pawpurrs

That is really unfair! But unfortunetly par with the course with Repos, IMO they should have at the least given you the opportunity to match the offer, if you have allready done the survey.
Hopefully something better is around the corner!

DFCClarky

The only beef I've got is that they knew I were doing a survey, had an offer accepted on the property, and they didn't inform me that there was another viewing.

Feel totally dejected by the whole thing.

MrsMillar

That is really bad news. We are at a similar stage, and the worry is always there.

Our property was on market for OIEO 280K. We offered what we thought was a cheeky 270K, and it was accepted within about 10 mins (damn, we so should have offered lower.......!) Survery being done tomorrow. Just hoping no probs.....

Like you, don't want to show mortgage affordability certificate as it shows about 2.5 times what we want to borrow (stupid money - no wonder people got themselves into trouble with banks willing to lend at that level.....)

Hope you find something else soon.......

princessamy86

Ah that's awful DFC, sorry to hear it. Hope you find another one

DFCClarky

Quick update - not a lot of progress so far. Viewed a couple, but didn't feel they were right. Got another viewing on Saturday morning - irritating that I couldn't get a viewing earlier, but work commitments plus the EA being "busy" on the nights I can do, haven't helped.

pawpurrs

Hope you find something even *better*

DFCClarky

Ok, quick question.

I'm viewing a 2 bed middle floor flat tomorrow which contains a share of the freehold. There are ground rents and maintenance charges to be paid per month.

Should I be concerned?

pawpurrs

Concerned about what? Par for the course with flats.

DFCClarky

pawpurrs wrote: »

Concerned about what? Par for the course with flats.

All the ones I've seen so far have been leasehold with no mention of a share of freehold. I guess I don't know a lot about what happens with shares of freehold.

pawpurrs

Flats are usually on a leasehold title, which means that the freeholder of the whole building leases the flats to their owners.
Sometimes the leaseholders will club together and buy the freehold of the whole building so that they have a share in the freehold but the flats will remain on individual leases. It is rare to find a true freehold flat, which is where the ownership extends only to the boundaries of the flat itself and most mortgage lenders will not accept these as security.
There are potential difficulties in getting flat owners to agree on costs of repair and maintenance, and this could affect the security in the eyes of the lender.
There can be certain regions where freehold flats are common, for example in Scarborough. For this reason, Scarborough Building Society does lend against freehold flats but only in Scarborough. However, more generally NatWest will consider lending against freehold flats .
It is worth remembering that freehold flats are not widely accepted by mortgage lenders, which could have an impact on the saleability of the property when you come to move on.