Buying a flat managed by Peverel OM. Should I be worried?

sebtomato

Hi,

I am buying a leasehold flat currently managed by Peverel OM. Should I be worried, as they seem to have a very bad reputation?

The property and its garden appear to be well maintained, and the service charges are high, but not the most I have seen. My main worry is if the service charges were to rise a lot, or if the services provided were getting reduced.

I know the resident are currently in the process of buying the freehold, but I don't know if it is related to the management company performance or not. I guess once this is done, they will decide better on who is managing the property, and service charges should go down.

Thanks,
Seb

david29dpo

Will the flat be "freehold" before or after exchange?

sebtomato

david29dpo wrote: »

Will the flat be "freehold" before or after exchange?

The flat will be purchased as leasehold, but the residents are currently looking at purchasing the freehold. I guess the flats would then have a share of freehold. Cost is about £4K per flat apparently. Ground rent is £250 per year, so the return on investment is not obvious, unless this is done to reduce service charges.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Yes, very very worried:eek::eek:

http://www.thetruthaboutsolitaire.co.uk/

Good luck, you're gonna need it!

AMD

mackemdave

You have just reminded me of my worst nightmare mentioning Peverel...........Absolutely dire......6 new build flats paying fees of over £100/mth each....the cleaning of communal areas consisted of a woman with a dust pan and brush every two months...if we were lucky....Gardening rota was even less frequent....Storm dislodged some of the roof tiles....they sent one man with a ladder to try and fix them.......his ladder didnt even get to the second floor windows....I got out after 18mths as it was like putting money down the drain

sebtomato

What I am struggling to understand is what is the point for the freeholder to keep such bad management company... Isn't it better for everyone to use a decent company?

[Deleted User]

Find out more about the freehold purchase. We are in process of buying the freehold and 88% of leaseholders have signed up to a share in the new company that we formed for the purchase. We now have complete control over how the management fees are set etc and how we want the estate managed. You might actually be getting in at the start of a very good venture as the freeholders can dictate to peverels and not the other way around

sebtomato

kittie wrote: »

Find out more about the freehold purchase. We are in process of buying the freehold and 88% of leaseholders have signed up to a share in the new company that we formed for the purchase.

What's happening to the 12% who didn't sign up? Do they now pay ground rent and service charges to the new company (and therefore still get a better deal)?

Fire_Fox

sebtomato wrote: »

The flat will be purchased as leasehold, but the residents are currently looking at purchasing the freehold. I guess the flats would then have a share of freehold. Cost is about £4K per flat apparently. Ground rent is £250 per year, so the return on investment is not obvious, unless this is done to reduce service charges.

And to get rid of Peverel. And to eliminate the need to pay the freeholder when the lease needs extending. And to make the property more saleable. However do not underestimate the amount of time and effort required to manage the property, even if you continue to employ an agent.

biscuit1_2

Mum bought one of these in lincoln and to be honest the flat was lovely ..nice and secure which is what she wanted, she made some great friends the manager was great with her the area was lovely ..But the service charges were steep ..the problems started when she died and we tried to sell the flat and we then became responsible for the service charges even though the flat was not lived in..we cant rent it out as peveral have clauses in place to stop this or to make it so expensive you cant ..by the way you can change the management company but peveral still hold the cards ..three years on we have still to sell the flat and were still paying £3000 a year charges so its up to you ...flats really are great just read the contract very carefully

biscuit1_2

Ps ..I doubt peveral will allow purchase of the freehold ..i suspect the residents are trying to change the management providers