Buying an ex Local Authority flat - thoughts?

markhat

All experience and advice welcome!

I am thinking about buying (in London, Southwark) an ex-local authority flat. This would be a flat for me, not an investment. They seem to be significantly cheaper than other flats. I would need a small mortgage.

I have started researching issues but would welcome your thoughts. In particular:
- I see that many mortgage providers will only provide a mortgage if the block is more than (say) 50% privately owned. How do you find out what proportion of a block is privately owned?
- some flats on Rightmove are advertised as in an "ex-local authority block". Does that indicate that ownership of the entire block had formally passed to someone else?
- any thoughts/experiences in general of living in a local-authority block (or an ex-local authority block!)
- any questions to ask the EAs, any issues to look out for?

Thanks all

Markhat

Pixie5740

Who is the freeholder for the building? If it's the council then huge maintenance bills are not uncommon.

markhat

Pixie

I believe the Concil remain the freeholder - but something to check, thanks. Southwark has a schedule of major works on its website, but its uncosted and pretty inpenetrable.
Mark

PlutoinCapricorn

Yes, the council retains the freehold, but once a flat has been bought the leaseholder can sell it on.

Service charges cover both day to day running costs and major works. The councils are supposed to get quotes and good deals, and invite consultations.

barbiedoll

It can be a bit of a gamble when buying an ex-council flat. I bought one, back in 1996 and whilst the service charges were reasonable at the time, I sold it a year before they renewed the windows, my buyer was landed with a £4000 bill to replace 4 windows and a front door. I got my whole house done for less than that!

The council also rehoused a junkie prostitute in the flat above us, which meant that we had a lot of problems with her associated "clients", including vandalism of the entrance door. The glass had to be replaced several times, and a proportion of the charge was added to my service charge bill (quite a large amount!) I argued with the council and eventually got the bill reduced but I doubt that would happen now, most "council" blocks are managed by private companies, who aren't so accommodating.

I had no trouble getting a mortgage but that was back in the day when anyone could get one. I was actually still on my ex-husband's mortgage for a few months so technically, I had two mortgages for a time, whilst the marital home was up for sale.

I work in Southwark and some of the estates there are lovely, others not so much. Where is the flat that you're interested in? (PM me if you don't want to disclose on here)

markhat

Barbiedoll

That's very helpful - thanks. I'll drop you a PM (if I can work it out ... ) once I gather my few thoughts ...

Mark

PlutoinCapricorn

There are various tools that you can use to find out how much the flats were sold for over the years, which gives you an idea of how many are still tenants.

Try putting the Postcode for the block into Nethouseprices for example.

egoode

As others have said beware of large service charges from Southwark particularly if it's a large estate it's on. They are doing a massive number of works at the moment improving the estates they are responsible for and I've heard of bills of £10-£20k. Also they have been known to charge for works that haven't been done or charge for things that don't exist.

The flat I bought in August has Southwark as the freeholder as it used to be an ex-local authority flat but it's an on street property not on an estate so tends to be ignored a bit more by the council. However they tried to charge for electricity and a shared hallway even though my property has no shared lights or other electricity and there's no shared hallway as it's only 2 flats and we have doors that lead directly to the outside so no common hallway. Also I found the team that look after leasehold properties painful to deal with and it was due to them that it took 17 months from my initial offer before we completed.

I'm also currently trying to buy the freehold to the flat with my downstairs neighbour from Southwark and 2 months after enquiring we still haven't managed to get any progress and keep getting fobbed off from one department to another.

hazyjo

Be careful if it has a lift (or more). Can cost a bomb if regular problems or needs replacing.


Also hard to get a mortgage on a block over however many storeys high (depends).


Think about selling it on in the future too.


Google the name of the block, then the road and the immediate area. Lots have been knocked down eventually so you want to find any 'rumours' beforehand.


If it's just a low block, should be fine - but, as above, watch out for those big bills. My friend got hit with a massive window bill too. They do like replacing a window in a council block! Oh, and watch out for flat roofs too.


The same friend also had heating/water pipes running under/around her flat which made it very hot. You sometimes don't get a say in when the heating's turned on/off (although temp-controllable in your own flat I'm sure).


Jx

PlutoinCapricorn

There may be a residents' association: mine is very good at finding inappropriate/excess charges, and at identifying problems caused by the council's neglect, for which they got some charges withdrawn.

markhat

Thanks all - this is all helpful. I hadn't focused on the resident'sa ssocations - that's a good point - might be a good source of info.

mark