Flat V house - how do the sums add up?

jules9

Ok, I have 24 hours to decide what to do, help would be really appreciated.

I have seen a 2/3 bed flat in a nice area at £175k. Maintenance is £1800 pa with ground rent of £150pa. Maintenance is hight due to lift and caretaker.
Lease is long:101 years.

I have also seen a 2 bed semi detached house at £225k in an equally nice area with smaller rooms but a large garden.

My conundrum is which to go for. Both properties are in good condition although flat requires rewire, new kitchen and new central heating, so i reckon on around £9k for that making the flat's total cost £184k.

My concern is the ongoing outgoing of maintenance charges on the flat, albeit it is tempting as it is signifcantly lower in initial outgoing than the house.

I intend this to be a long term home and not a short term place to live.

Please give some thought, particulalry on the sums. thanks as always.

Gwhiz

jules9 wrote: »

Ok, I have 24 hours to decide what to do, help would be really appreciated.

I have seen a 2/3 bed flat in a nice area at £175k. Maintenance is £1800 pa with ground rent of £150pa. Maintenance is hight due to lift and caretaker.

I have also seen a 2 bed semi detached house at £225k in an equally nice area with smaller rooms but a large garden.

My conundrum is which to go for. Both properties are in good condition although flat requires rewire, new kitchen and new central heating, so i reckon on around £9k for that making the flat's total cost £184k.

My concern is the ongoing outgoing of maintenance charges on the flat, albeit it is tempting as it is signifcantly lower in initial outgoing than the house.

I intend this to be a long term home and not a short term place to live.

Please give some thought, particulalry on the sums. thanks as always.

Impossible to answer. If it's long term then what do YOU need? With a garden comes responsibility of that (do you want to travel much, if so who will stop it overgrowing which will alert burglrs no one is home) vs flat where you can leave and not worry (apart from flooding from a neighbour above:)). You need to work out what's important to you and go from there.

missile

I think it is more of a question of what suits you and yours? Do you want your own front door? A garden is great for kids to play in, but some hate gardening.

The maintenance charges sound high and they may increase but you may well have repairs on the house.

Why the rush? It is a BIG decision. If you can't decide then wait, there will be other properties.

bristol_pilot

I would go for the house. The mtce charges on the flat are excessive relative to the flat's value and would put off future purchasers. In a flat you will have more neighbour problems as well, the only reason to buy a flat IMO is if you can't afford a house.

ukmaggie45

I'd go for a house with a garden, but then I love gardening!

Flat management fees can rise, plus what are the neighbours like? My parents lived their last years in a flat with glorious views, but the chap above them was not a very nice neighbour to them. Can't really go into details here, but after that I'd be very careful if I needed to move into a flat. Mind you, the lady downstairs was very kind and helped no end when my parents got infirm.

Of course you can have difficult neighbours in a house too!

The maintenance for the flat is horribly high - nearly £2K a year with the ground rent. And you'll presumably still have council tax on top of that.

Good luck with coming to a decision!

Maggie

Oldernotwiser

bristol_pilot wrote: »

I would go for the house. The mtce charges on the flat are excessive relative to the flat's value and would put off future purchasers. In a flat you will have more neighbour problems as well, the only reason to buy a flat IMO is if you can't afford a house.

Unfortunately that's a very British attitude and one that has some responsibility for soaring house prices, IMO.

To the OP;
The maintenance charges are a bit high but does that mean that there's a decent amount in the kitty for future works; that's one of the most important things to look at when buying a flat.

seven-day-weekend

bristol_pilot wrote: »

I would go for the house. The mtce charges on the flat are excessive relative to the flat's value and would put off future purchasers. In a flat you will have more neighbour problems as well, the only reason to buy a flat IMO is if you can't afford a house.

When my husband and I feel the time is right to sell our Spanish house (may be next year, may be ten years), we are going to buy a flat with the proceeds.

We have actually chosen to buy a flat as a) there is no outside maintenance, b) there is no gardening and c) there is only one level.

As we already have a house in the UK, our son will probably live in the flat initially, but if we ever get old and infirm enough to not be able to do the maintenance on the house and garden, then we will move into the flat ourselves.

This is a concious decision and we even know which development we will buy it on.

(I understand that your point of view is precisely that, I have posted just to show another perspective from someone who will actively chose to buy a flat rather than a house).

To the OP, I do feel the service charges are very high on the flat that you mention.

Oldernotwiser

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

When my husband and I feel the time is right to sell our Spanish house (may be next year, may be ten years), we are going to buy a flat with the proceeds.

We have actually chosen to buy a flat as a) there is no outside maintenance, b) there is no gardening and c) there is only one level.

As we already have a house in the UK, our son will probably live in the flat initially, but if we ever get old and infirm enough to not be able to do the maintenance on the house and garden, then we will move into the flat ourselves.

This is a concious decision and we even know which development we will buy it on.

(I understand that your point of view is precisely that, I have posted just to show another perspective from someone who will actively chose to buy a flat rather than a house).

To the OP, I do feel the service charges are very high on the flat that you mention.

We had a very large flat with an equally large garden so you can combine the two if you want.

We were paying about £1100 pa maintenance (for a large 3 bed flat) but this did include buildings insurance which may be something the OP needs to look at. We also had a healthy kitty for future repairs.

zzzLazyDaisy

Obviously it is down to what suits you. But the fact that you are even asking, shows that you have misgivings, and that is no way to enter into such a major purchase, in my view.

Personally I would go for the house - when I lived in my flat the maintenance charge increased by 30% in just one year AND they also demanded a contribution for replacing the gates to the secure car park on top of that.

My long term plan is to sell my house, release the money, buy a small flat, and use the rest to fund long winter stays abroad So yes, I agree, in certain circumstances a flat can be the right thing.

But if you are fairly young, there is an increased chance that you may want/need to move at some point. Houses are generally more popular than flats, and even people who want flats might be put off by the high maintenance charge, so you'd be restricting your pool of potential purchasers.

As I say, I'd go for the house, but it is what is right for YOU that matters!

seven-day-weekend

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

We had a very large flat with an equally large garden so you can combine the two if you want.

We were paying about £1100 pa maintenance (for a large 3 bed flat) but this did include buildings insurance which may be something the OP needs to look at. We also had a healthy kitty for future repairs.

The block of flats we have in mind has really nicely kept communal landscaped gardens and the ground floor flats have a back door or patio door which opens onto them. We will only move into the flat if we can't manage our house and garden any more, so this will do nicely thankyou!

Last I heard (about five years ago) the service charge on this development was about £1000 a year including ground rent and buildings insurance, although I think they have since asked everybody for a one-off lump sum to repair the roof as there was not enough in the sinking fund.

seven-day-weekend

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

My long term plan is to sell my house, release the money, buy a small flat, and use the rest to fund long winter stays abroad !

Sounds like a plan! :rotfl: