Avoid Persimmon or Bovis fleecehold?

petenuttall

Hi

Looking at new builds because they offer px and I can't sell my flat. The fleece hold situation worries me. Would either Bovis or Persimmon agree to a sale without open ended management charges? I would be happy to sign up for RPI increases but the horror stories about huge increases and poor maintenance.

Could a canny solicitor avoid this and would the developers agree to selling without egregious terms?

Thanks

Smi1er

I wouldn't buy any house that is freehold. Period.

If they don't want to sell freehold, then they soon will

NeilCr

Highly unlikely. If they did it for you they'd have to do it for everyone else.

SallyDucati

Smi1er wrote: »

I wouldn't buy any house that is freehold. Period.

If they don't want to sell freehold, then they soon will

Do you mean you wouldn’t buy a leasehold house?

SallyDucati

NeilCr wrote: »

Highly unlikely. If they did it for you they'd have to do it for everyone else.

My thoughts too. Very unlikely.

Crashy_Time

Why can`t you sell your flat?

ProDave

It amazes me that anyone buys a leasehold house. I certainly would not.

I would ask them straight, I want to buy the freehold. If they said no I would leave.

If EVERYONE did that and simply refused to buy these rip off leaseholds, then they would have to change.

davidmcn

Smi1er wrote: »

I wouldn't buy any house that is freehold.

SallyDucati wrote: »

Do you mean you wouldn!!!8217;t buy a leasehold house?

Kind of irrelevant anyway as they're talking about the management charges for communal areas, which are (probably) the same no matter what tenure you have.

And no, they're not going to offer you a different deal from everyone else in the development.

sal_III

ProDave wrote: »

It amazes me that anyone buys a leasehold house. I certainly would not.

I would ask them straight, I want to buy the freehold. If they said no I would leave.

If EVERYONE did that and simply refused to buy these rip off leaseholds, then they would have to change.

The government already announced plans to ban the sale of leasehold houses. This will not solve the issue where the houses are freehold, but there is management charge for the estate grounds etc.

Shakin_Steve

Some agents try to hide the fact that the property is leasehold in the ads they place. When we bought this place, we looked at a fair few on Zoopla. Most ads stated freehold, but some of them just didn't state anything, and when I rang up and asked the question, it was only then that I was told.
Of course, a solicitor would have picked it up, but only after I had wasted a lot of time.

eddddy

petenuttall wrote: »

Looking at new builds because they offer px and I can't sell my flat.

I'm not sure that logic works...

Realistically, if you can't sell your flat, it's almost certainly because it's priced too high.

If the developer does a p/ex, they will want to price your flat to sell quickly - which may be some way below your current asking price. (They won't want to be stuck with a property that takes months to sell.)

So if you're not actually that keen on a new build, you could make things simpler - and just cut the price of your flat so it sells quickly.