Flat Maintenance too much?

jono3000 · 19 October 2009 at 1:08PM

I am struggling to sell my flat. It is a large one bedroom apartment in a conversion of 10 flats, with shared freehold. There is allocated off road parking and communal gardens.

Had lots of viewings and a couple second viewings this past week, but feedback from EA is that the maintenance is too much. It is £360 paid quaterly, which includes building insurance, water, sewerage, cleaning of windows, maintenance of communal gardens, electric for communal areas and sinking fund contribution (£20 a month). Does that seem too much? There is no ground rent. Can the EA list the price differently to make it less off putting to potential buyers (I think £120 monthly sounds better)?

All other feedback from EA has been positive i.e. good room sizes, like the split level, like the high ceilings etc.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Jowo_2 · 19 October 2009 at 1:27PM

To be honest, whether you stipulate monthly, quarterly or yearly, it still seems heck of a lot - like paying two lots of council tax or similar, sorry.

asajoseph · 19 October 2009 at 1:32PM

Do all of those things actually get done?

And where are you based?

Water on it's own could make up a quarter of that (in terms of what you're saving) and if the rest of it gets done well and regularly, it might not be such a bad deal.

Also, in London, this doesn't seem too high (relatively speaking) to me, but out of town it could well be considered very expensive.

shop-to-drop · 19 October 2009 at 1:33PM

I don't think it sounds a lot if it includes all of the above. Water rates/meter could easily be half of that alone. Unfortunately if you are selling to first time buyers they may not be aware of how much all of these cost. If I was buying a place with a charge like this my main concern would be lack of control of these costs how much will it go up in the future. I think it's always an issue but I don't think yours sounds particularly expensive.

Oldernotwiser · 19 October 2009 at 1:36PM

Jowo wrote: »

To be honest, whether you stipulate monthly, quarterly or yearly, it still seems heck of a lot - like paying two lots of council tax or similar, sorry.

I have to disagree, for what it includes, that seems really good value to me. Where I used to live, the service charges for a 1 bed flat were about half this but only really covered ground rent, buildings insurance and the sinking fund. The water alone must be worth £20 per month.

Can your EA include some information on what it covers on your flat's details. I think that s/he needs to make it really clear how much someone would be getting for the money.

jono3000 · 19 October 2009 at 1:46PM

asajoseph wrote: »

Do all of those things actually get done?

And where are you based?

Based in Bournemouth.

Yes they all get done (garden and window cleaning monthly)

Oldernotwiser · 19 October 2009 at 2:14PM

jono3000 wrote: »

Based in Bournemouth.

Yes they all get done (garden and window cleaning monthly)

Then I think you need to get your EA to get this message across to prospective buyers because I think you have a bargain!

m_13 · 19 October 2009 at 2:41PM

We pay £380 a quarter for maintenance on a two bed leasehold flat (with a share of the freehold) which includes a live in caretaker, shared gardens, an allocated car space and an allocated car port or garage, window cleaning, gardening and buildings insurance. The building is also repainted every 5 years. Maintenance includes lift maintenance for one lift shared between 15 flats, cleaning of communal areas, communal electricity, heating and water/sewerage (there's two places to wash your car with hosepipes) and sinking fund.

However, we do pay our own water/sewerage bill (last bill £60 for a metred quarter).

As other posters have said, I think you need to ensure that people realise it's for all the water and sewage not just the shared water and sewage.

Ladybird20 · 19 October 2009 at 4:28PM

I pay 90.00 pcm north west area for the same services.......

tomstickland · 19 October 2009 at 4:33PM

I pay approx £100 pcm to a famously rubbish "management" company.

Fire_Fox · 19 October 2009 at 5:34PM

In Bradford/ Airedale that would be the highest service charge by a country mile: here they start from £600 per annum. Even my parents building which is a listed mill conversion, has private roads, car parks, grounds and lift maintenance pay £1000 a year. Sinking funds are an excellent idea but in practice young people who want a flat for a few years don't want to plan for future maintenance. Would suggest you ask the estate agent for the charges at other comparable properties in the area and go from there.