How not to get stung.....? Questions

Kuztardd

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Doozergirl

I think the only way you can protect yourself is not to buy a flat in a building in need of repair . I wouldn't even mind paying out for my share if I did, but when there is a professional management company involved, the works seem to cost twice as much as they would if you organised things yourselves.

Buildings works virtually always seem to run over on time and money and I've had friends hit by mahoosive bills on 1930s mansion blocks. They were gorgeous and I begged Doozer to buy one when we bought our first flat, but he'd rented in them and we had friends who owned and we knew the amounts involved

Richard_Webster

You either have to walk away because of the potential risks or proceed at least with getting a solicitor to ask the right questions about the service charge etc. The managing agents should provide details of expected future work with estimates etc - although as has been said - it will probably cost more than the estimates.

The trouble is that all this kind of thing is quite technical and the average seller and his estate agent often doesn't understand it all, so you usually have to wait until the solciitor gets the papers and can ask questions about them.