146 year lease on flat, is it enough?

whitejohn

I’m considering buying a flat with a 146 year lease and have been told to be careful as leasehold property has many pitfalls.

The flats are very modern, in a city centre location and above retail premises.

Most of the retail premises are still vacant after 2 years and management fees for the flats are 2 to 3 times the normal fees for this area.

The land appears to be owned by a large PLC that controls the management fees.

The apartment prices are not too bad now considering it's only 10 miles from a National Park, an area that I would like to live in.

Friends suggest that I should be looking for a 999 year lease.

Should I be concerned about a 146 year lease when I’m 66?

Lokolo

Length of lease of 146 years is nothing to worry about.

whitejohn

Lokolo wrote: »

Length of lease of 146 years is nothing to worry about.

Thanks that was a quick reply

Surrey_EA

Yep, only when you get to 70/75 years remaining is it a problem.

HouseBuyer77

Lease length becomes an issue around 80 years: https://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=75

So when selling if you're getting near there a potential buyer may be put off or you'll have to sell it cheaply. With 146 years left you could stay in it til the day you died and upon your relatives selling it they may find they have to extend the lease, but the cost wouldn't be too bad compared to the value of the property.

So length just fine.

The other pain with leasehold is service charges as these can be changed and can be expensive.

You're also liable for a share of the costs in any major works done to the building so you might find yourself with the occasional large unexpected bill.

whitejohn

Surrey_EA wrote: »

Yep, only when you get to 70/75 years remaining is it a problem.

Great thanks, don't know why it becomes a problem but it should still have over 100 when I'm gone.

Rosetinted

146 years is plenty. I'd worry more about the management fees. If they're unreasonable now, they'll only go up from here, which will put off potential buyers if you decided to sell in the future.

whitejohn

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

Lease length becomes an issue around 80 years: https://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=75

So when selling if you're getting near there a potential buyer may be put off or you'll have to sell it cheaply. With 146 years left you could stay in it til the day you died and upon your relatives selling it they may find they have to extend the lease, but the cost wouldn't be too bad compared to the value of the property.

So length just fine.

The other pain with leasehold is service charges as these can be changed and can be expensive.

You're also liable for a share of the costs in any major works done to the building so you might find yourself with the occasional large unexpected bill.

Didn't know you could extend it before it ran out.
The buildings should have 10 years NHBC guarantee, if they take it from when you buy as opposed to when it was built. They have a strange system whereby they divide the costs across the number of residents so if only 5 in the block that could be very expensive repairs compared to say a block with 50 residents. Yes I'm worried that they could suddenly double the service charges, makes you wonder why anyone would want a flat really. I'm just preparing for old age, being close to everything and not wanting to do gardening anymore. May consider renting too and keeping my capital.

whitejohn

Rosetinted wrote: »

146 years is plenty. I'd worry more about the management fees. If they're unreasonable now, they'll only go up from here, which will put off potential buyers if you decided to sell in the future.

Yes that's probably why they are not selling very well at the moment.
According to Rightmove many were "sold" over the last 2 years and yet the agents still have the keys and the flats are empty, vacant on the post boxes so very suspicious.

whitejohn

Thanks everyone, I've decided to stop looking at flats completely, mainly due to ridiculous management charges but other complications too. Just easier to buy a property outright or rent something.