Sale falling through - what shall we do with this complete turkey of a flat?

Rosieandjim

Do let us know how you get on with the sale. Good luck

xylophone

Guess what...

Oh crumbs!

Gavel at the ready?


As a matter of interest, when your partner purchased, this property, did his solicitor cover the problems that could arise regarding maintenance?

Sibz

ginger_chocolate wrote: »

and when some local kids damaged the back door a while ago, it was covered by insurance.

Was this a communal door? If so, what or who's insurance paid for it? If there is insurance for communal areas such as entrances, roof, hallways.... then there must be some form of communal payment accounting for this...

Sibz

If you are royally !!!!ed off with the other parties that live there you could look into any initiatives the local council has for housing. I've heard of some councils taking over properties for set periods of time and using them to provide social housing. I believe they pay money and then assume full responsibility for the property during that time and are responsible for returning it in the same state it was when the arrangement began.

Slithery

Sibz wrote: »

I believe they pay money and then assume full responsibility for the property during that time and are responsible for returning it in the same state it was when the arrangement began.

That's what they try and sell you but the reality is often very different.

You have no say in the tenants or the quality of repairs and because it's a commercial tenancy you have none of the rights as a landlord that you'd usually have with regards to deposits, evictions etc.

Sibz

Slithery wrote: »

That's what they try and sell you but the reality is often very different.

You have no say in the tenants or the quality of repairs and because it's a commercial tenancy you have none of the rights as a landlord that you'd usually have with regards to deposits, evictions etc.

My previous post was on the basis of the place being nigh on impossible to get rid of at a decent price and the OP previously mentioning an unwillingness to become an actual LL. Also, if they no longer live there they probably wouldn't care who does, certainly in light of their current neighbours lack of interest in resolving the communal issue(s)...

System

What's significant about it being on the top floor apart from taking longer to walk up the stairs or take the lift?

Slinky

beanfarmer wrote: »

What's significant about it being on the top floor apart from taking longer to walk up the stairs or take the lift?

Rain coming in through a leaky roof lands on your heads before reaching the neighbours below.

stator

Rent the flat on a commercial lease to a rental agency that offers this service. Just make sure you read the terms and conditions carefully about who is responsible for the maintenance etc. The rental income is lower this way, but you avoid the hassle of being a landlord and finding tenants.



Or you could lease the flat or even sell the flat to a housing association.

Imladris

Sorry thread 4 pages so don't know if this has been said.
I'm no expert, so you may still be better off just getting shot of it as above, but we bought and sold a flat with a similar lease issue.
Perhaps our solution would apply.

Set of 8 maisonette flats, on a long lease with like 700+ years left, no maintenance agreement etc just permission to keep the building on the land so to speak.

Lease was archaic, it said we were all 50/50 responsible for any issues with the neighbour that the issue applied to. But with no reference to whether the roof was included or down to upstairs flat, gardens, guttering and downpipes etc.
The downstairs tenants were required to allow upstairs to park their vehicle or horse outside on a Sunday, and upstairs (who owned back gardens) were supposed to let downstairs cull their pigs in the back..... I said it was archaic!

Our solicitor when buying in 2007told us we had to take out an indemnity policy when buying to cover any issues that came up as a result of the lease being unclear about maintenance. Our buyer did the same thing in 2016. Ours cost about £280 and went with the mortgage fees. It has sold twice more already, every first time buyers dream, so presumably works out.
Buying the lease out would have been only about £350 for the whole block, but we also had just one neighbour who refused to discuss it and the leaseholder wouldn't sell without agreement from all tenants.
If this sounds like it might apply, or at least help one of your previous offers reconsider, do PM me for the address. I would imagine if you asked your solicitor to look up previous sales and searches on the flat in question they could find out if the indemnity would apply to your situation.
Either way, good luck, it sounds like such a pointless situation when one person spoils it just because they have no plan to sell :-(