Contacting Vendors Directly to ask Questions

Lokolo

So I have found a flat which has been up on the market for about 2 weeks now.

The orignal listing does not have the service charge or ground rent. So I phoned the EA and asked them to find out.

Now they have come back to me and said there is no Service Charge (as no services provided) which I can see by the state of the road (private).

However they have said the ground rent is £1225 a year. Which I do not believe for a second. However they are insistent that this is the case.

Is it rude or a bad idea to post a letter through the vendors property to ask them to confirm? I will be giving them my phone number and email (which has my name on). Obviously I don't want it to come back and bite me should I put an offer in.

hazyjo

I'd be asking your solicitor to confirm. Personally, would never have asked the EA in the first place - half of them seem to make these things up as they go along!

Also, they often only go on what the vendor tells them - and there does seem to be an awful lot of people in flats who don't understand what they actually pay or the ins and outs of the fact their property is leasehold. The EA might have actually been fed wrong information.

(Ask them to put this ground rent charge in writing. They might double check then!)

If it's something that's had a lease renewal, or new build, I suppose there's a chance the ground rent could now be a ridiculous price... hmmm.

Jx

poppysarah

Get your solicitor to write to them with questions so you get written answers.

Lokolo

It did seem like they made it up as they used the "Well it's the area as it's near the station." which is a lie as another block of flats next door has £600 a year for service and ground rent.

I did think it was too high but I do want to find out before I get mortgage as it will effect my personal affordability.

Thanks for suggestions.

The_Palmist

Ask EA to arrange a formal meet with the vendors and insist on seeing some paper work regarding the charges before you instruct your solicitor.

Richard_Webster

Regrettably estate agents and often the sellers themselves do not understand the technicalities relating to flats and leases and you do normally have to wait for your solicitor to get the papers before you can really get to the bottom of it all.

£1,225 sounds like service charge and ground rent together - the seller may not understand the difference!

cattie

You don't even have to ask the ea for a meeting with the vendor, ask the ea to get a copy of the document that details the ground rent directly from the vendor, although if you can get the vendor to respond to you directly re putting the note through the door, then this would be the quickest action.

Lokolo

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Regrettably estate agents and often the sellers themselves do not understand the technicalities relating to flats and leases and you do normally have to wait for your solicitor to get the papers before you can really get to the bottom of it all.

£1,225 sounds like service charge and ground rent together - the seller may not understand the difference!

Well I contacted the EA asking them to clarify as it is very expensive and he has contacted the vendor to ask for the freeholder info so they can find out from them directly.

Funnily enough when you google the name of the flat and town one of the results is a PDF of a similar property

http://pdf.lsli.co.uk/propimg/008_0001/600046949.pdf

Which shows £108 ground rent a year. When shown this to the EA they think there was a mistake on that brochure and it should say £108 a month...... Not sure how old that PDF is though!

However, he is going to investigate for me which is good :rotfl:

cattie

Let us know how you get on when you find out the true cost. I've lived in a few leasehold properties over the years & the max I've paid in ground rent is £250yr, the lowest £10yr.

I think your ea needs educating in ground rents. He obviously doesn't really have a clue as to what the normal range is.

princeofpounds

Don't believe a word they say unless it's on paper, preferably in response to your lawyer's questions on the SPIF.

DVardysShadow

princeofpounds wrote: »

Don't believe a word they say unless it's on paper, preferably in response to your lawyer's questions on the SPIF.

I agree. The reason you employ a solicitor is to get this done in a verifiable way where you know what you are letting yourself in for when you buy the property. If you ask the vendors direct, you risk getting the answer you want to hear rather than the one you need to know.

And the reason the vendors employ a solicitor is to sort all this out for them without having to deal with you. Some vendors will tell you to leave them alone if you start trying to contact them direct - or even report your contacts to their solicitor who will tells yours who will advise you to butt out.

About the furthest you could expect to go is to arrange another viewing and ask the vendors direct