Pros and cons of buying in Trellick Tower

cyclopse1

I was about to exchange on an ex council flat in Trellick Topwer in Ken and Chelsea. I found out yesterday that the next 5 years proposed renovation charges will be £65.000. I called to find out about this and was told by the housing manager at K&C that this was just an 'estimate', that it the whole project was so massive that they would never get funding so it wasn't likely to happen............ However, I don't believe that. It is a listed building with 215 flats only 35 of which are privately owned and at some point they will have to do these renovations especially since it is seen as an 'icon'. The flat is great and, as I have read here, much bigger than I would get in a Victorian conversion. Service charge is high. I really don't want to have to give it up as I love it. People seem to have been buying there over the last year, so I am not sure what that indicates. I don't want to end up with a turkey that I can't sell. Anyone know anything about trellick or heard of any experiences?



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I am about to exchange on a flat in Trellick Tower but on receiving the pre sales information I see that the estimated renovation costs over the next 5 years are £65,000 for my part. I am thinking of pulling out now. I spoke to the Housing Officer who said it was just a legal requirement since it had been discussed, and they were legally bound to put it in writing and that it was only estimate (show me an estimate that goes DOWN) and was unlikely to happen. But I don't believe that, there is a major renovation plan on Trellick Tower and I worry it could be unrelenting. If I thought £65,000 was a one off I might be able to budget it into the price but not beyond. I know renovation costs are an issue in ex local authority buildings, should I be worried?
There are 210 or so flats of which only 35 are leasehold. I really want this flat but don't want to end up with a turkey.

sooz

From your other post

a lot of people buy ex council quite happily and Trellick Tower seems to be really popular, they can't all be idiots?

Idiots is a little harsh, but the 35 leaseholders in Trellick Tower are either rich enough not to have to worry, or were very naive.

How on earth did you only find this out an hour before exchange?

Even the wiki page for the Tower suggests each flat's essential refurbishment bill to be about double that figure.

Grade II + concrete + council = :eek:

onlyroz

OMG that building is hideous. And it's listed? And there are people who *choose* to live there?

seven-day-weekend

Buildings don't have to look nice to be listed, just of historical and/or architectural interest. Maybe it is one of a kind.

And although I don't know London at all, it seems it has a 'posh' postcode?

However, after having done research on this a couple of years back, I would not touch an ex Council flat with a bargepole, precisely because of the huge amounts of money that you, as one of few owner-occupiers, would be liable for for repairs.

Money_Bunny

I can't other than agree with Sooz. It looks like a maintenance nightmare. I'm afraid I wouldn't touch it!

Excited13

Is it me or does this sound crazy? Only just over 15% of the block are privately owned, it is an old concrete building and the freehold is owned by the council. Personally I think it sounds like a money pit as at some point the work will HAVE to be done and which point you and the other owners will end up with an extremely large bill.

[Deleted User]

However nice the flat is in terms of size.., you need to assess whether if there is a £65k bill in the next five years if you could pay it. If you can't forsee coving that kind of charge, it doesn't matter how nice it is, how much you want it, how late in the buying process it is .., you can't afford it.

Then u need to consider if it is worth paying £65k in the future.

There will be other flats.

jk0

Those flats go for £375k each don't they?

Simple answer is to ask seller to accept £65k less than that.

AlexMac

I own two ex-council buy to lets, but they're low-rise, 12-unit blocks of traditional brick-wall, pitched-tile-roof construction and in consequence, service and maintenance charges are low; about £600-900 p.a. plus the occasional bigger bill of a few thou' for one-off major works like window replacement every 5-6 years .

But I wouldn't touch a tower block with a barge-pole as a BTL, because of inevitably higher maintenance costs and unknown future major problems of system-built construction methods that are still only 50-60 years old. For example, when the freeholder last tried to batch the cost estimates for scaffolding and external decs on my little block with that of the tower block next door, the estimate went through the roof, almost literally, probably due to the challenge of scaffolding a 20-storey building as a package job with our little block.

When I bought the second flat, 2 years ago, I like you, rang the Council Housing's local maintenance surveyor and they were quite candid that they while the Council had ambitius plans about bringing all properties up to higher standards, would not be tackling the programmed major works for several years at least. And why would a junior public servant lie? So take a judgement - after all, you must want to live there; we loved our own Council tower block -within sight of Bib Ben -when we were first housed in one 40-odd years ago

But as you plan to live there (?), and assuming that at worst, you are asked to chip in tens of thousands in future, its your call. And if you were going to rent it out, presumably there would be a premium rent for its central location

ethank

It will have to happen at some point, otherwise it will start to decay. If you are not paying now, there is always the risk that you will have to.

It was last refurbished during the 1990's, so I would expect this to happen some time soon.