new build house, no management fees

eidand

Hello everyone, first time here, been lurking for a while.

I am looking to buy in the next 6-12 months and I have been doing a lot of research. I am tempted by a new build, provided it comes with no management fees.

So far I found only one location where they told me ( over the phone, so nothing in writing ) that there are no management fees. Is anyone aware of any new builds like this? I am looking at 3,4 bedroom house, detached around Southampton, Salisbury, Basingstoke or Andover.

It doesn't seem to be a very common scenario, but if I cannot find anything like that I will probably go with an older house. I am just not a big fan of paying full council tax, plus management fees and be at the mercy of whoever decides how much those fees should be.

pramsay13

As I understand it these fees are to pay for repairs and maintenance of communal areas such as playparks, grassy areas, plants, fences etc.
Why wouldn't you want it?
There is an estate near me where the management company has since gone bust so there is no-one looking after these areas. Recently a fence was hit by a driver and it still remains flattened and is an eye-sore for the whole village never mind the estate in question.
The only other option as far as I see is a single new build on its own or near older properties so that's probably what you should be looking for if it's a deal breaker.

Silvertabby

Is this a fairly new thing - or were we just lucky? We bought our new build in the mid 1990s - and once the estate was complete, the local council took over the maintenance of not only the roads and the grass verges but also the playpark and the communal areas/fences.

HampshireH

Separate to the fees there is a huge difference in price in the areas specified.

You can save the best part of 50-70k by buying in Southampton compared to Basingstoke on older properties. You also get far more for your money.

Whilst new builds aren't quite so cheap they are considerably cheaper than basingstoke.

Also Andover is up to 30k cheaper than basingstoke. Most however will have fees because the land needs managing.

Andover has s lot of development at the moment and they are all reasonably priced. All with fees I believe though

moneyistooshorttomention

Silvertabby wrote: »

Is this a fairly new thing - or were we just lucky? We bought our new build in the mid 1990s - and once the estate was complete, the local council took over the maintenance of not only the roads and the grass verges but also the playpark and the communal areas/fences.

It's a pretty new thing for there to be such a thing as management fees.

The norm is for the local Council to maintain communal areas and that's exactly how it should be imo.

eidand

pramsay13 wrote: »

As I understand it these fees are to pay for repairs and maintenance of communal areas such as playparks, grassy areas, plants, fences etc.
Why wouldn't you want it?
There is an estate near me where the management company has since gone bust so there is no-one looking after these areas. Recently a fence was hit by a driver and it still remains flattened and is an eye-sore for the whole village never mind the estate in question.
The only other option as far as I see is a single new build on its own or near older properties so that's probably what you should be looking for if it's a deal breaker.

Several reasons:

1. the maintenance should already be provided by the council. You are paying full council tax, you should get the benefits.
2. You have no control over those fees and they tend to go up to whatever the maintenance company wants
3. The estate should be adopted by the council, if it's not not then there are reasons, like the roads not being up to standards, issues with drainage, street lights etc.

eidand

HampshireH wrote: »

Separate to the fees there is a huge difference in price in the areas specified.

You can save the best part of 50-70k by buying in Southampton compared to Basingstoke on older properties. You also get far more for your money.

Whilst new builds aren't quite so cheap they are considerably cheaper than basingstoke.

Also Andover is up to 30k cheaper than basingstoke. Most however will have fees because the land needs managing.

Andover has s lot of development at the moment and they are all reasonably priced. All with fees I believe though

white this is technically true, the issue is one of logistics. Basingtoke is a good hub for jobs in Reading, Guidford, even London. Yes, it's more expensive, but worth it. Andover is a good shout as well, I am just trying to identify estates without management fees, if there are any.

eddddy

It's more expensive to build roads, drainage, street lighting to the standard required by local authorities to adopt them. Roads might also have to be wider.

Also getting consent required in advance from the local authorities can delay the building project.

So developers are tempted to go for unadopted (private) roads to save money.

I guess you would hope that the houses end up cheaper as a result, but you would need to eventually re-sell them cheaper as well.

PasturesNew

I live in a house where there are no management fees, built ~2010.

The plot was used to build just over a dozen houses. You drive along the road, over the dropped kerb and over the public footpath and then all land you cross over is individually owned, freehold, by specific houses.

There are no communal facilities, no gardeners (although it's open plan to look at it), nothing is shared/communal. Every inch is freehold owned by an individual house.

As an owner of a house you have easements to cross over the land of the others to reach your numbered parking space.

The easements allow the right to pass/repass on foot or by vehicle to reach the front doors of the houses and to reach the parking spaces - no other rights. So you drive, drive over other people's land to get to your parking space, you park, then you walk over other people's land to reach your gate/door/garden/path. There's no right for other activities, e.g. kids playing "outside/in the cul de sac", as those rights do not exist as the land is freehold owned by somebody ... and if it's not you then it's tough t1tty.

Mine is easy as all my freehold land is contiguous... some of the plots here have the house/garden as one part - and then their parking space as another part they freehold own. If you see a tree, it is on somebody's land and it's theirs, even though it all looks "open plan".

eidand

eddddy wrote: »

It's more expensive to build roads, drainage, street lighting to the standard required by local authorities to adopt them. Roads might also have to be wider.

Also getting consent required in advance from the local authorities can delay the building project.

So developers are tempted to go for unadopted (private) roads to save money.

I guess you would hope that the houses end up cheaper as a result, but you would need to eventually re-sell them cheaper as well.

problem is that many people are now aware what happens with these management fees and how they go up like crazy, so selling a house in an estate like this is going to be a challenge even 5 years on. I like some of the new estates, i just don't feel like paying extra for nothing. There should be a big discount, I'd say.