service charges worry me buying a flat

humadoon

Hi i recently made an offer on a a flat which is on the market by a corporation. i like the flat, mainly its price however my worry is £200 service charges a month. i am in 2 minds

david29dpo

You are wise to worry.
In my opinion, SCs are a money making scam, (so are leases)
Maintenance is rarely done, goes up every year and the agents are useless.

housebuyer2

£200 a month is quite high, but it depends whether you get value for money? What was the condition of the development like when you looked around? Could you spot any maintenance issues?

In my experience owning a leasehold flat has been great, the managing agents are good at their job, the service chg is reasonable and I feel that I get value for money from it.

Your solicitor will get details of previous service chg accounts and you can see the history. So long as you remember to set money aside for it each month it wont ever be a problem

Lizling

That sounds very high. I've seen London flats with gyms and private car parks included where the service charge is less than that. Of course, that might be what you're looking at so it's hard to say.

Panda78

Recent London flats i have viewed have SC's of £2K per annum, but that did include facilities of a gym, parking and concierge. Still, that has put me off - remember council tax will cost around the same amount. Altogether that is a lot to spare every month.

My issue is when they do needless work, eg a friend was recently told that she would have to contribute towards the cost of new windows for the block, when she was quite happy with the ones she had!