FTB query re freehold or leasehold

beccad

kittie wrote: »

our leasehold is managed very well indeed. No worries about things like window cleaning, maintenance, gardening and sometimes you get to share in something that you may never afford if freehold. We share many acres of parkland, tennis court etc and the icing on the cake for us leaseholders is that we have clubbed together and bought the freehold by forming a company, so now we are leaseholders but to our own company and we are in charge of how we manage this gorgeous estate.

Don`t dismiss out of hand but do your in depth homework first

You're lucky to have that service and I'm sure you're not alone in your experience, but it's not always the case, as I'm sure you're aware. I know many people who pay thousands in service charges to freeholders and never see any return for their money.

8RRJ

Freehold flats are a nightmare to mortgage and hard to sell on.

Don't confuse these with leasehold share of freehold, where the residents have bought the freehold between them and there is a proper lease and maintenance contract in place.

I quite like the local authority as a freeholder - they tend to carry out maitenance promptly and at a reasonable cost, in stark contrast to private freeholders who run these on a commercial basis to make a profit.

Many mortgage lenders don't like shorter lease - sub 70- years starts being an issue.

[Deleted User]

beccad wrote: »

You're lucky to have that service and I'm sure you're not alone in your experience, but it's not always the case, as I'm sure you're aware. I know many people who pay thousands in service charges to freeholders and never see any return for their money.

The trouble with society and people in general is that they see themselves as victims. It takes a great deal of strength of mind to follow the route to self management and the trouble is that most people don`t want to do any work to contribute. It really is NOTHING to do with luck in our case, just a great deal of work done by my dh and 1 other on behalf of 90 leaseholders

no wonder scammy management companies thrive

Fire_Fox

beccad wrote: »

You're lucky to have that service and I'm sure you're not alone in your experience, but it's not always the case, as I'm sure you're aware. I know many people who pay thousands in service charges to freeholders and never see any return for their money.

There is ample legislation and systems in place to allow leaseholders to formally challenge charges that are not "reasonable" or "reasonably incurred" at a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/

Fire_Fox

kittie wrote: »

The trouble with society and people in general is that they see themselves as victims. It takes a great deal of strength of mind to follow the route to self management and the trouble is that most people don`t want to do any work to contribute. It really is NOTHING to do with luck in our case, just a great deal of work done by my dh and 1 other on behalf of 90 leaseholders

no wonder scammy management companies thrive

The problem with taking that route is you need a high percentage of leaseholders to agree, which in practice means owner occupied not BTL flats. My parents' block partially self-managed for a number of years, finally buying the freehold with the money saved. My block has only two owner occupiers out of fifteen flats - the reality is it would be impossible to make contact and concensus, and even if we did I'd end up doing ALL the work. :eek: