Buying a flat with no maintenance charge

nickswift

The are about 15 flats in Bolton (check on rightmove for them if you want) up for about £20k each.

The bloke who used to own them just kept on remortgaging as house prices went up with different lenders - anyway, now that house prices are coming down, he has done one and the banks have repossesed them all.

So all up for £20k each, the problem being (apart from being in Bolton) that they dont have a management group as the flats are all split between different lenders.

So if I was the first one to buy one of these flats and the roof fell down, would i be liable to repair the roof myself? What other problems can you see in getting one of these cheap flats?

cattie

If the flats are in a block then there will be big problems if no managing agent is in place to manage the block on behalf of the freeholder.

If the flats are in converted houses with perhaps only 2 flats per property, this makes things easy as then effectively external repairs & maintenance & building insurance should be split 50/50. But in saying that, you would still need to have a thorough read of the lease to ascertain just what the obligations of the leaseholder are & any covenants/restrictions the lease may contain.

clutton_2

you are most unlikely to get a mortgage on a flat like this.

nickswift

i have the cash to buy one of them, so no mortgage.

It is a converted house - 5 flats in each building

GDB2222

It's still a problem over management of the block. Who owns the freeholds?

nickswift

yeah, i think its a problem as well.

Dont know who holds the freeholds, all i know is that more than one mortgage company have delt with the previous owner, so there is not one outright owner of the entire property.

clutton_2

will Land REgistry staff have a note of who is the freeholder ?

cattie

I'd avoid at all costs if 5 converted flats in one building, no active freeholder or management company. You don't know what you'd be letting yourself in for & could face huge problems if ever you wanted to sell.

jojo9239

Where are they in Bolton?? Im just moving there

nickswift

all near the university apparently

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-21989575.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E182&sortByPriceDescending=false&maxPrice=50000&pageNumber=2&backToListURL=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Ffind.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E182%26sortByPriceDescending%3Dfalse%26maxPrice%3D50000%26index%3D10

My dad said he would not live in Bolton - but then again, he lives in the peak district in a half million pound house with no mortgage so he is in a bit of a different situation.

jojo9239

Ohhh yeah these are mainly student buildings. The area is not great if im truthful. Im moving to a flat in town centre . If ure gonna buy to rent out then u might make a bit of cash through students