Maintenance fees

Betty_Lee

In the process of buying first property with my sister. We are still waiting for the solicitors to do their checks during which somethign has cropped up which has begun to worry us slightly.

We will not have the freehold on the 2 bed flat and will be paying an annual maintenance fee to the management company who carry out all external work on the building (grade II listed building so we literally are not allowed to touch anything). This is fine and we were aware of this before putting in an offer.

However, for our solicitor to get hold of legal information from the management company (which has take months!!) necessary in looking into something that came up in the survey, they charged the CURRENT owner £400.

This has got us thinking what can they, and what can't they randomly charge us an extortionate amount for when we own the flat? And will the maintenance fee increase significantly without warning?

BitterAndTwisted

Buying a leasehold, especially in a Grade II listed building will almost always entail substantial charges for maintenance and repairs. Sometimes freeholder see this as an opportunity to write their own cheques. How large is the building and how many flats are there?

Maintenance charges can increase exponentially depending on what work needs to be done. Do you have any information about when the building last had any major works done, or any that are planned? What amount is there in a contingency/sinking fund if any?

CLAPTON

best to look into who owns the freehold and who appoints the management company

tbs624

Trot on over to http://www.lease-advice.org

propertyman

Betty_Lee wrote: »

We will not have the freehold on the 2 bed flat and will be paying an annual maintenance fee to the management company who carry out all external work on the building (grade II listed building so we literally are not allowed to touch anything). This is fine and we were aware of this before putting in an offer.

However, for our solicitor to get hold of legal information from the management company (which has take months!!) necessary in looking into something that came up in the survey, they charged the CURRENT owner £400.

This has got us thinking what can they, and what can't they randomly charge us an extortionate amount for when we own the flat? And will the maintenance fee increase significantly without warning?

Well are you sure that you are ready for buying a leasehold property?

You need to understand that as the other flat relies on you keeping your walls in repair so they dont end up collapsing, and so that there are certain rules that you both abide by eg noise and keeping chickens ( these are all real life instances) in most cases , you do need a lease, and a third party a freeholder to ensure that repairs are carried out.

In the future you and the other flat owners may become freeholders, and have the right to collectively force the sale to you, but will still have your individual leases for those reasons.

As to the costs, the law gives protection that service charges and insurance should be fair and reasonable. How and when charges are raised are set out in the lease, usually estimated annually in advance and billed at regular intervals eg quarterly.

Admin charges such as pre-sales packs are controlled by similar legislation, IF provided to the owner of the flat, but to buyers they are free to charge what they want.

Betty_Lee

I think there are 40-50 flats altogether in what was once a two storey victorian school, so fairly large.

Still awaiting all information about the management company and owners but thank you for the advice.

DominicJ_2

and so that there are certain rules that you both abide by eg noise and keeping chickens

You have a statuatory right to keep chickens on your land, leased or owned, so if any of the surrounding grounds are specificaly for a certain flat, they can have chickens on it.