Maisonette - responsibility for buildings insurance & maintenance?

lynneinjapan

I'm interested in buying a maisonette (upstairs in a block of 4, 54 years left on lease, low ground rent & no service charge) but there don't appear to be any arrangements in place for buildings insurance & maintenance.

I've spoken to the neighbour downstairs (an owner-occupier) and she didn't know what was whose responsibility, and as far as she's aware the building is completely uninsured. I've downloaded the relevant freehold & leasehold documentation from the Land Registry and there's no mention of these matters - though presumably they would be covered on the full version of the lease? The other two flats both have the same owner and are rented out; I spoke briefly to one of the tenants, who told me that her flat had been repossessed and her landlord is now the bank, so there's not much chance of being able to find out from them.

Is there any way I can find out, preferably not at significant cost, before putting in an offer?

I have ascertained that we can get insurance on one individual maisonette (and for a very reasonable price, with the same company we use for our existing BTLs) but that still doesn't cover the maintenance issue.

(We'll be cash buyers so mortgageability isn't an issue.)

puddy

arent you worried about the lease length

who is the freeholder?

Richard_Webster

arent you worried about the lease length

who is the freeholder?

Lease length far more important than insurance, which your solicitor will tell you about once he sees the lease and gets answers to enquiries from t he seller and the freeholder.

You have factored the considerable cost of a lease extension, haven't you?

If you are getting a mortgage, forget it - unlikely many lenders will lend on such a short lease.

G_M

The lease should answer the question.

But lease length is, as said above, a major consideration.

lynneinjapan

Yes, I know the lease will need to be extended and I'm aware that that it will probably cost around £13-15K. I'm factoring this into my budget. The freeholder, according to the documentation from HMLR, is a local company called Allmid. As I understand it, I can apply to have the lease extended whenever I like but the freeholder isn't under any obligation to grant my request until I've held the lease for two years. Still, I don't suppose 52 years left versus 54 is going to make a huge amount of difference to the marriage value.
(The downstairs neighbour also only has 54 years left but is reluctant to pay so much to extend as she doesn't see herself wanting to sell before she dies! The two flats on the other side of the building have already had their leases extended, though I have no idea when this was done.)

The bulk of the finance will come from increasing the mortgage on another property, which we have plenty of leeway to do, so that's not a worry.

Whatliesbeneth

the buildings insurance should be arranged by the freeholder annually, the maintainence of the exterior of the building and common areas such as front rear & garden (if there are any) communal hallway etc are their responsibility also.
in my experience, (i own and live in a leasehold 2 bed maisonette) if the freeholder is a distantly located company that has bought up the freehold they wont care very much about what goes on at the property and it will be up to you or a local arrangement between the flats in the building to clean and maintain it.

In my building all the other flats are rented out and the tenants couldn't give a flying fu*k about the building or keeping it clean so i do most of it myself. giving the hallway a hoover and a wipeover once a week and keeping the front and rear of the property tidy, its a nightmare to be honest and we cant wait to move.

lynneinjapan

Yeah, I get the impression that that's the case here as well, although the freeholder is only a couple of miles away. As it's maisonettes, there aren't any communal areas unless you count the outside drying area, which is so overgrown & full of rubbish as to be completely unusable. There's a big patch of grass in front of the building that's shared between the flat I'm looking at and the other upstairs one (which is rented out); it's not beautifully manicured or anything, but someone is keeping it short, and I suspect it's not anyone who lives in the block - might be someone in the similar block next door. The fascias/soffits/bargeboards (isn't there a single word for all of them?) certainly need repainting, if not completely replacing.

I don't understand how the freeholder can be responsible for buildings insurance when nobody is collecting any kind of service charge though. The ground rent wouldn't be enough to cover it!

I suppose if the freeholder isn't showing any interest in maintaining the property then they're likely to be quite amenable to the idea of selling the freehold (assuming that enough of the leaseholders are interested in buying it), particularly if the leaseholders kick up a fuss about the lack of management.

Whatliesbeneth

the freeholder should be charging a management charge which is their fee for managing the building and organising the building insurance, is there a sinking fund to pay for repairs to the building or do they collect the money as required when repairs are needed?

personally in my opinion from what you have described given the length of the lease and other aspects i would walk away and find another place to save yourself some financial heartache and hassle.

Pupnik

I'm inclined to agree with whatliesbeneath- the attitude of the other residents would put me right off! I am also buying a leasehold maisonette and for our one the building is managed by the owners and buildings insurance is paid jointly, although there are only two flats so that probably makes things easier. If you are getting a mortgage you will need buildings insurance but it doesn't seem like the other residents are likely to cough up for that. Do you know what bank owns the reposessed flats? Perhaps they know about insurance situation.

lynneinjapan

No, I don't know what bank owns the repossessed flats, though I do know who the flat I'm looking at was mortgaged with in 2006 (a dodgy-sounding subprime lender, not surprising given the short lease) so that's probably who owns it now, and I could probably find out the same information from the HMLR leasehold documents for the other flats. But I have got a quote for insuring just the one maisonette rather than the whole block so I know that that's possible if the other leaseholders don't want to pay for a joint policy.

I think I may be letting heart rule head a bit here. Will discuss with hubby and maybe we'll put in a very low offer. After accounting for doing the place up and extending the lease our maximum offer would be more than 10% below asking price anyway, so if that isn't accepted then I'll definitely walk away.

thegirlintheattic

My parents own a maisonette - although it's just them and a retail unit. They hold buildings insurance and do the maintaince for there flat not the retail unit, they also pay ground rent for the use of the garden.