How to find out service charge and ground rent before purchase

bikeman17

If one was interested in a leasehold purchase, but would like to get the confirmed amount of service charge & ground rent, who would be the best person /company to contact?
Is there a website I can visit to get this information or would it only be on the lease?

G_M

The estate agent might know, if the vendor has tld them, though even then you cannot rely on it being accurate.

The vendor should know, but it's surprising how many don't.

Otherwise, check the lease. If

* the property is registered (check here - £3) and
* the lease is filed with the Land Registry

you can request a paper copy here for £7.

eddddy

The ground rent will be stated in the lease.

The service charge is a percentage of whatever the freeholder pays for maintaining the building.

Asking the seller to show you the last couple of service charge demands might be useful...

... but if the the freeholder has recently done a lot of maintenance (e.g. repainted the common areas, repainted the window frames, etc) those bills might be unusually high.

Conversely, if the freeholder hasn't done many repairs lately, the bills might be unusually low - and you might have a bigger bill coming up.

There might also be a chunk of money in the sinking fund.

bouicca21

As indicated above the ground rent will be specified in the lease. Service charges are variable, according to the work that has been carried out or budgeted for. The vendor will have been billed accordingly - why not ask to see the last few years worth?

hazyjo

More importantly, check the remaining years on the lease. EAs and vendors often stretch the truth or don't actually know!