Help! Offer accepted but local authority search reveals planned future major works

ILW

£300k + with one of the 3 units being LA. If the council move in the wrong tenants the place will be worthless. Don't do it, you are asking for trouble. With that sort of money buy a house or a least a place in a private block.

Nosht

ILW wrote: »

£300k + with one of the 3 units being LA. If the council move in the wrong tenants the place will be worthless. Don't do it, you are asking for trouble. With that sort of money buy a house or a least a place in a private block.

& because it is LOCAL AUTHORITY you will have no room for negotiations on the price of renovations or input either. Their standard of workmanship can be deplorable & their time scales the same.


Regards,


N.

phlash

Sorry, but surely if you are going to be buying a £330k property £15k of savings over 2 years isn't a problem let alone 5 years.

Even assuming a 25% deposit, gives a mortgage in the region of £250k. Now, that implies a joint income of (assume 3.5x multiple) £70k.

Roughly therefore, that is £20k on repayment mortgage (6% 25 years)
Roughly £30k tax / NI / student loan
Even with £1k per month spending inc bills (generous)

Then that leaves and you should save £8k per year. So the £15k isn't that frightening. (Now, I've over-egged most of those figures, so your saving rate is probably much better than this)

If the figures above look completely alien to you, then either you have a much bigger deposit, in which case your rate of savings will be ok to get the £15k, OR you are way too overstretched and this is not a typical FTB property.

Cannon_Fodder

Leasehold = yuk.

For that amount of money I would want to really OWN it, not be held hostage by Local Authority bureaucracy.

wuzzlefazza

Hello all, thanks for all your individual replies. I'll try to address the points raised in one reply!

The council hasn't proposed anything concrete other than under the heading of 'Proposed Major Works' in the Council Management Pack which mentions this possibility of exterior renovation works possibly within 5 years which would cost £15k per flat. There isn't anything under the 'Section 20' heading (incl. 'Notices of Intent' and 'Notices of Estimate') which are completely blank. On this basis, is there hope afterall?

Also, what is the 'Decent Homes' standard?

Unfortunately we can't afford a freehold property in the same location which fits our criteria of it being close to both work and our families. Flats in a 1960/70s purpose built blocks or those above commericial premises go for around the same price if not a bit more (£340k +). We don't really want to live in a purpose built block/high rise building which would also incur annual service charges of £1k+.

There aren't any new build properties in the area either although in any instance we much prefer a Victorian building which the converted flat we're planning to buy is in.

Fire_Fox

wuzzlefazza wrote: »

Hi all and thanks for your replies.

We can afford the monthly repayments on the flat and have saved up for the deposit + costs such as stamp duty, solicitors fees and some furniture but like most people who have saved, this would be the bulk of our savings gone. So, potentially being demanded to pay £15k upfront would be a severe shock to the wallet.

Is it typically the case that if the vendor is fully aware of the such potential costs that the asking price is then negotiated down?

So what are you going to do if one of you gets made redundant, falls ill or injured and cannot work, you get pregnant unexpectedly? Local authority repairs and improvements have a nasty habit of costing a LOT more than initial estimates, this isn't £15K this is at least £15K.

Everything leasehold, including major works, here: http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/
Google 'decent homes' there is plenty of information online.

jenny_13

http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/decenthomes/

Have you considered moving a bit further away so you can get more for your money? Have you checked how much the service charge is because I've read on other posts that councils can be quite high.

jayss

Having lodged in a flat where the downstairs flat was local authority I'd run a mile. The roof went under major repair during the time and the council tennant was a PITA the whole time and the project moved at a snails pace due to their refusal to allow access(afterall it wasnt her place, she didnt live directly below the roof :mad: ).

barrybarryr

Fire_Fox wrote: »

So what are you going to do if one of you gets made redundant, falls ill or injured and cannot work, you get pregnant unexpectedly?

Surely that applies to any purchase for anyone and not just in this case?

Drodough

How badly do you want the flat? How long was it on the market for before you made your offer? Was there much interest in the property?

I would say you may have issues with the proposed works (quality, if done by council contractors, as well as cost). And I would be considering how many people would want to buy a flat which was ex-LA and in a building with a flat containing LA tenants... I wouldn't, and I'd guess you may find you have issues finding a buyer at re-sale (only my humble opinion, for what it's worth)

Remember it's a buyer's market. If it has been on a while, or if there was not much interest, you probably are in a position to negotiate. Were it me, I would get your solicitor send a copy of the info to his solicitor and pose the question- is the vendor willing to pay for these works, or reduce the purchase price accordingly? (even meet you halfway maybe?) If he says no, you have a decision to make- I would walk away.

Hope you figure something out.