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Buy in building with 'Secure Tenants'
jane_gal
Posts: 2 Newbie
We are in the process of purchasing a property in North London - greater Camden area.
Beautiful Victorian villa - converted into 3 flats.
We are now 1 month after our offer was approved and our solicitor finds out that the other 2 flats can never be sold, they are owned by Camden Council which is the landlord of the building and they are really used as council flats.
So we are supposed to pay the amount you would pay for a Victorian building but move into a building with council flats residents and live in a council-regime building!!
We are shocked, really angry with the agents which did not share this information and do not know if we should proceed or not.
Has anyone been in a similar situation before?
Beautiful Victorian villa - converted into 3 flats.
We are now 1 month after our offer was approved and our solicitor finds out that the other 2 flats can never be sold, they are owned by Camden Council which is the landlord of the building and they are really used as council flats.
So we are supposed to pay the amount you would pay for a Victorian building but move into a building with council flats residents and live in a council-regime building!!
We are shocked, really angry with the agents which did not share this information and do not know if we should proceed or not.
Has anyone been in a similar situation before?
0
Comments
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Oh really, poor you being forced to live beside ordinary council housed people, first world problems eh.0
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I really don't mind - I just don't want to pay a fortune for it!!!0
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I don't quite understand what the problem is here. When you viewed the property you obviously liked it enough to put an offer in, so presumably it was well looked after and no trouble caused by the council tenants.0
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Not every council tenant lives in a council built property.
Not everyone living in a council built property is a council tenant.
Anyone can check who owns a property using the Land Registry website.
But remember private tenants can cause problems too.
And so can owner occupiers, but probably less often...0 -
jane_gal wrote:We are in the process of purchasing a property in North London - greater Camden area.
Beautiful Victorian villa - converted into 3 flats.
We are now 1 month after our offer was approved and our solicitor finds out that the other 2 flats can never be sold, they are owned by Camden Council which is the landlord of the building and they are really used as council flats.
So we are supposed to pay the amount you would pay for a Victorian building but move into a building with council flats residents and live in a council-regime building!!
We are shocked, really angry with the agents which did not share this information and do not know if we should proceed or not.
Has anyone been in a similar situation before?
Charming ....
Buy somewhere else then !Advice given on Assured and Regulated Tenancy, Further advice should always be sought from a Solicitor....0 -
fairy_lights wrote: »I don't quite understand what the problem is here. When you viewed the property you obviously liked it enough to put an offer in, so presumably it was well looked after and no trouble caused by the council tenants.
True.
But OP is wise to be cautious.
Any good tenant, council or private, can end up being replaced by a nightmare tenant.
But also an owner occupier can sell up and be replaced by nightmare neighbours.
So unless you buy a secluded detached property, then you can never entirely eliminate the possible problem.
All you can do is meet your prospective neighbours, do your research and make a sensible, informed decision.0 -
I don't see why living next to council tenants would be any better or worse than living next to private tenants or owner-occupiers. That said, the benefit of council tenants is that they will have secure tenancies and are more likely to be long term neighbours than private tenants.
What would worry me is the council being the LL of the building. When councils are the Leaseholder (or whatever you call them in Englandshire) then service charges and maintenance costs can be high.0 -
I've never quite understood the situation in England. You have a mortgage and buy the flat but you don't really own it. It's all a bit odd
It's not odd at all. It's a reflection of the fact that your 'ownership' of the flat is inseperable from the condition/status of the other flats.0
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