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Bargain or a nightmare? Would you buy this flat?
Wallbos
Posts: 2 Newbie
My partner and I are interested in a flat in N London. It's potentially a bargain as is a repo on at £299,000, down from £310,000. Pretty good for the area. It's now under offer but thanks to the local paper we know the other offer is £280,000.
There are a couple of problems that are holding us back from getting into a price-rising bidding war.........
1) lease remaining is only 78yrs - which will cost about £150000 to renew in 2 years time. Do you think this is too short - could we sell on with 75 year lease? If we paid 285,000 for the flat - we are really paying 300,000
(poss still a bargain).
2) Freeholder owns the ground floor flat, which is unoccupied. He has no intention of renting it out or selling it so must be a tax dodge. Nice area but should we be weary of this? Broken windows/squatters unlikely, but still possible and would make it hard to sell on.
Any solid advice welcome - I am pregnant so uber keen to get somewhere. Think it may cloud my decision making!
There are a couple of problems that are holding us back from getting into a price-rising bidding war.........
1) lease remaining is only 78yrs - which will cost about £150000 to renew in 2 years time. Do you think this is too short - could we sell on with 75 year lease? If we paid 285,000 for the flat - we are really paying 300,000
(poss still a bargain).
2) Freeholder owns the ground floor flat, which is unoccupied. He has no intention of renting it out or selling it so must be a tax dodge. Nice area but should we be weary of this? Broken windows/squatters unlikely, but still possible and would make it hard to sell on.
Any solid advice welcome - I am pregnant so uber keen to get somewhere. Think it may cloud my decision making!
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Comments
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should that 150000 lease extension be 15000?I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0
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Yes - the OP says they would be paying 300k if they got it for £285k.0
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So the price paid with a lease extension would be 300k and its a repo on the market for 310k.
Where is the bargain?I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0 -
Empty flat downstairs would make me nervous.
How likely is the freeholder to keep up with repairs?I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0 -
Yes, sorry, typo - £15,000 lease extension
Silvercar - yes, it doesn't sound like much of a bargain when you put it like that but is it not true that the original asking price on a repo is lower than it would be ordinarily?
Downstairs garden is overgrown. Not really a good sign.0 -
rightmove link?
what part of N London?
check the value of similar properties already sold.I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0 -
I would pass.0
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It seems like a lot of money for an upstairs flat - realistically how long is this going to suit your growing family? If you sell in a couple of years you need to factor two lots of fees into the cost.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0
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Is there anything you could do about the downstairs flat after you had extended the lease i.e. is it worth having a word with the council/environmental health as though you own the property without giving the address and see would they be interested.
I wouldn't be keen on a flat, but maybe that's the only real option in your area.0 -
Avoid like the plague.Starting Debt: ~£20,000 01/01/2009. DFD: 20/11/2009 :j
Do something amazing. GIVE BLOOD.0
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