Service charge questions

maestro2001

We are considering purchasing a six year old freehold property on an estate. When we viewed the estate agent said nothing about a service charge. It was only when a friend mentioned that there might be one that I called the agent and asked-their initial response was 'I doubt it -its a freehold', I asked if they could check with the vendor and yes, as it turns out there is one.
This raised some questions with me so I called the vendors estate agents back yesterday with a list of questions- the agent I spoke to was really pretty rude and I was made to feel as if I was being a complete pain. As a consequence I have been completely put off the property.

Does anyone have any experience of paying a service charge on a freehold property?

Talc1234

I pay just over £100 per year and the management company cuts the grass periodically and sends snooty letters about vans being parked etc...

Accounts will have to be cleared before you can buy / sell the freehold but the annual fee is not huge. Very common now

maestro2001

Thanks. Is there a price increase each year or does it pretty much stay around the £100 mark?

propertyman

thats estate agents for you no detail is important "just buy the ******** house".:eek:

Charges for external and communal areas are increasingly common as local authorities are less and less keen to take them on and developers unwilling to pay large sums for them to do so.

Not that your council tax band is adjusted...

What services and what you pay vary site to site
http://arma.org.uk/leasehold-library/document/freeholders-on-private-estates/pages/1

GeorgieBuilder

Oh, rudeness annoys me especially if you are their customer, speak to this persons boss, tell them you do not want to deal with that person, and if they are that rude again, tell them to......

hazyjo

Very common on (fairly) new build estates.

I had one with my last house (several years old). Somewhere between a hundred or two a year. Our 2 garages had a flat over and it covered the insurance for those, and the outside maintenance/pruning, etc.

Jx