Buying ex-Local Authority flat

seven-day-weekend

Hi, me again.

It looks like our son may have to withdraw from the flat he was buying (private development) due to massive problems with the management company that the solicitor has uncovered. If this happens then the whole development will obviously be off-limits.

We have seen two more flats at a similar price, in nice areas, both are ex-Local Authority.


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25726621.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30983395.html

Are there any particular problems with buying an ex-Local Authority place? I'm thinking in terms of service charges etc.

All advice gratefully received.

tanith

I like the second one it looks like a nicer quieter place.. you'd need to find out from the council if there are service charges . I can't think of any other problems to be honest you can get noisy awful neighbours anywhere... wish there were some places near us at that price for my grandchildren to buy but no such luck.. I'll have to tell them to move oop! North ... lol

RAS

The biggest problem with ex local authority flats is that when major work has to be done owners can be hit with very very high charges, often at short notice. it is almost like there is no management company.

seven-day-weekend

Thanks Tanith

The St Michaels Court one is far more handy for both their places of employment (neither of them drive). The second one in Fieldhouse place is indeed quieter; St Michael's Court is on a main road.

RAS, I too had heard this; maybe we should contact the council to find out (or try to find a cheap little house with no management company to worry about!).

moremore

The biggest problem is having the council as landlord....check out the service charges and look at the state of the common area. I bet it will be dirty. Council are looking to make money and tenants are the easy prey.

Also, make sure you check out tenants as they properties are very not insulated and you can hear what tenant’s in other flats f*****g and that is not an exaggeration.

Check out how big the estate is as well as it will not just be your building that you will be paying the estate can be large, but I am sure your solicitors will be doing all that for you. You got to think of reselling and ex council homes are not easy to sell.

BitterAndTwisted

The council are only required to disclose their plans for the next five years. After that, almost anything could happen. If your family have a choice I would suggest that they look elsewhere. My mother was hit with eye-watering charges which bore no resemblance to the work that was done. It appeared that the private owners were being wallopped with a disproportionate percentage. And she had a couple of "Care in the Community" residents next door who weren't there when she bought and who made her life a complete misery for a very long time.

moremore

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The council are only required to disclose their plans for the next five years. After that, almost anything could happen. If your family have a choice I would suggest that they look elsewhere. My mother was hit with eye-watering charges which bore no resemblance to the work that was done. It appeared that the private owners were being wallopped with a disproportionate percentage. And she had a couple of "Care in the Community" residents next door who weren't there when she bought and who made her life a complete misery for a very long time.

Yes, the care in community people end up with no care as it is social service that should be helping them, but not doing so.

We have been asked to pay 3.50 for two years now for digital aerial that is not needed but the council wanted to employ a large crane and leave it on site for months on end but what the heck the tax payer will pay for it....The council do things like this without any consultations with tenants. Lovely well paid lazy employees of the council could not care less....:(

Torry_Quine

I live in an ex-council property. The council is not my landlord, no-one is, why would a private home have a landlord at all? There aren't service charges, again what for?

Personally I think that they are good as they tend to have been kept in good condition. The only work done was painting the guttering when they were doing the rest of the building but we didn't have to get the work done.

moremore

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I live in an ex-council property. The council is not my landlord, no-one is, why would a private home have a landlord at all? There aren't service charges, again what for?

Personally I think that they are good as they tend to have been kept in good condition. The only work done was painting the guttering when they were doing the rest of the building but we didn't have to get the work done.

The landlord is responsible for the upkeep of the building that is standing on their estate or ground. You probably purchased a street property and not a flat as flats have a landlord unless the flat is a small block and they tenants purchased the freehold of the flats and not sure if council would agree to this.....

Torry_Quine

moremore wrote: »

The landlord is responsible for the upkeep of the building that is standing on their estate or ground. You probably purchased a street property and not a flat as flats have a landlord unless the flat is a small block and they tenants purchased the freehold of the flats and not sure if council would agree to this.....

It definitely is a flat and even has a mix of private and owner/occupier.

Freehold, not really sure what that is but definitely not applicable here. I own the flat and the land, no-one else has an interest.

Maybe Scotland is different?

CLAPTON

better if possible to buy a small house

service charges in all flats can be quite large and you normally have litle control of the level

in england there are no freeehold flats; scotland is different