Opinions on a Flat I just went to see (Burton on Trent)

Prothet_of_Doom

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44130836.html
Okay, so I don't need to buy a flat, but I have just started a 12 month contract where the work fluctuates between Derby and Burton-on-Trent.
I have a house 110 miles away and I'm not about to move. This is just 4 nights a week.
I have been looking at flats to rent, at about £350 to £450 plus bills - Which puts it to about £500 to 600 a month. Call it £6000 to £7000 a year.
Worst B&B in the area would be £400 a month, and a room in someone's house would be £350 a month.
So renting a whole flat would be more. But privacy and comfort is justification.
Now. I happen to have a spare £45K in the bank,


And I "Happened" to see the above Flat as well as the others below.
Now I'm thinking
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/map.html?locationIdentifier=USERDEFINEDAREA%5E%7B%22polylines%22%3A%22%7DqeaIjg%7DHnDcZlNvBuF%60a%40gLuI%22%7D&sortType=6#_includeSSTC%3Don%26auction%3Dfalse%26lastPersistLocId%3DPOSTCODE%255E4067723%26locationIdentifier%3DUSERDEFINEDAREA%255E%257B%2522polylines%2522%253A%2522%257DqeaIjg%257DHnDcZlNvBuF%2560a%2540gLuI%2522%257D%26maxPrice%3D90000%26previousSearchLocation%3DUntitled%2520(Drawn%2520Area)%26radius%3D0.0%26searchLocation%3DUntitled%2520(Drawn%2520Area)%26searchType%3DSALE%26sortType%3D6%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dfalse%26box%3D-1.63121%2C-1.62516%2C52.78688%2C52.79023
There are 3 small issues -
1) The lease say no pets - But Everyone ignores it.
2) The heating, lighting, and water are a communal price, and it does not matter how much you use, as the management company charges every one £110 a month. (There is one other cost Council tax of £98)
3) The lease say that you can't rent the flat out. What this effectively means is that a mortgage can not be obtains in Buy to let Form. Apparently, 75% are rented out according to owner.
Now the risk is that I buy it (or one of the others) and after a while I don't need to live there midweek, and yet I can't rent it out and yet I still must pay £110 a month bills despite that If I left it empty, I wouldn't use any energy.
So, to me ALL this just pushes down what I would value the thing at.
Given that these flats were originally pushing £70K and the last 2 sold at £55K, and one sold much cheaper,
I'm thinking "Make an offer on the 3 cheapest ones, and make it low"
So 3 questions ?
Is it worth the hassle / risk ? Effectively I save £400 a month rent, so about 8% return on my investment in short term.
In the long-term can the Freeholder / Management company actually enforce the "no rental, no pets" clause in lease?
How cheap would be too cheap ? I was thinking £45K

PasturesNew

For a year it's rarely worthwhile anybody buying a 2nd place.

The costs to buy/sell would cost you the equivalent of 1-2 years' rent.

If people are renting them out, then there's a high chance the renters will be changing over a lot of the time, with some "low rent" types - first-time renters, party animals, people with dope smoking mates who ring your bell at 2am to be let in.

Running_On_Empty

Avoid it like the plague. It'll be difficult to sell on.
Have you seen that the only bedroom is 8x8 feet and described as a double? What other lies are they telling?

Running_On_Empty

If you book a Premier Inn, en bloc, far enough in advance, how would that compare in terms of costs?

Prothet_of_Doom

Running_On_Empty wrote: »

If you book a Premier Inn, en bloc, far enough in advance, how would that compare in terms of costs?

Oh it's cheaper to stay in the Days Inn on the A50 £122 for 4 nights in advance.

kinger101

In your position, I'd seriously consider being a lodger Mon-Fri. I should imagine the benefit of having privacy soon wears off when you're returning home to your 250 sq. ft shoe box. If you can find one, Mon-Fri lets are usually cheaper than full-time.

The problem with buying one of these one bed flats is they're probably hard to shift. Given you can get a 2 bed house within 1 mile of here for £70K, you'd struggle to find someone wanting to buy a 1 bed flat. Particularly one they don't want you to let out.

kinger101

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

Oh it's cheaper to stay in the Days Inn on the A50 £122 for 4 nights in advance.

Is one of your aspirations to become Alan Partridge? Make sure you take your big plate to breakfast :rotfl:

Prothet_of_Doom

When I woke up this morning I was ready to make a very low offer, but then I Powered up excel and did a number of what if calculations, and decided that I personally put a value 30% lower than the asking price, and TBH I wasn't going to put an offer of £36K to the agent when the vendor paid £67K 5 years ago. Instead I viewed 3 flats for let in Derby, and one studio for sale, which I made a very low offer on and then I ended the day by putting a deposit on this rental : http://www.hallandbenson.co.uk/properties/7946771/lettings Yes it would be cheaper to rent a room in someone's house, but I've "got the T shirt" and I'm getting too old to live like a student.

Running_On_Empty

Chaddesden is not going to be easy to commute from on the days you are in Burton. Too late now. I would catch train between the two towns, good train service.

Prothet_of_Doom

Running_On_Empty wrote: »

Chaddesden is not going to be easy to commute from on the days you are in Burton. Too late now. I would catch train between the two towns, good train service.

I think 8 out of 10 days at Raynesway, and the rest in Burton.

kinger101

The hardest part will be getting used to eggy beer. Bass and Martsons is definitely an acquired taste.