Ex-council flat with major works – take the risk or run a mile?

jeffling

csgohan4 wrote: »

so probably a RTB vendor and now regretting it, karma bites back

No, that's not correct.

Camster

What you sometimes find is that councils will accept grossly inflated quotes for works from contractors.

I know of one case where roof works in a joint council / owner block was being quoted at £20,000 per property and one owner got their own quotes from reputable companies that were coming in around £6,000-£8000 per property.

HalfPint

Hi,

My advise would be not to touch it with a barge pole! We were the owners of just such a property 3 years ago and it was a nightmare. The Housing Association were awful to deal with, we regularly got unexpected and often high bills £2.5k to replace front and back doors, 5k for external decoration every 5 years (per flat) etc etc and we could never get a straight or detailed answer when we questioned those figures!

We sold the flat 3 years ago BUT when we got the management pack it came to light that the roof was due to be replaced in the next 5 years, the estimated cost per flat was a five figure sum similar to yours. We were very fortunate that our buyer did not bring up or question it but the did manage to hang onto a reasonable amount of our money for nearly a year to cover ‘repairs’ done during our ownership (we sold only a month into the new financial year but the HA never released their figures until 4/5 months later).

That’s my experience and advise. If you do decide to go ahead with the purchase then do so with your eyes open and aware of what you could be getting yourself into.

Oh... and I won’t even begin to mention the troubles we had with neighbours, council tenants!

HP x

hazyjo

Have always found bills come in for way more than anticipated at this early stage. Personally, wouldn't touch with a bargepole. You might want to question these things before making your decision though:


How many years on the lease?


What are the windows like? They seem to love changing a window...


Car parking area? Is it in good nick or with issues?


Is it a painted or brick building (or other)?

markin

Norman_Castle wrote: »

£132,000 seems a lot but possibly a flat roof is being replaced with tile.
Private owners will not be "subing" the council owned properties. The costs will be split equally between all properties.

Im sure ive heard story's on tv of just that, and they are paying more than double for the job! They should buy the freehold and take over the maintenance. It must be cheaper.

Marvel1

jeffling wrote: »

ex-council flat

This was enough for me to say run a mile being a flat.

The vendors have lived there 5 years, but, according to the agent, they've found a new place they love and are desperate for a quick sale. So potentially a real bargain to be had.

Major works to the roof are about to start, estimated at £22k per leaseholder. So no wonder they're desperate to get out.

This is my reason as to me running a mile as soon as you said ex council flat.

Desperate for a quick sale for a new place they love :rotfl: nothing to do with the new roof

Lived there for 5 years, the timescale you can sell after RTB without paying back, it's get even funnier.

westernpromise

I'd never buy in an ex-council block of any variety. Look at what's happened to these people who bought in Grenfell Tower type blocks and whose flats are now worthless and unmortgageable.

Edit: and of course all these doubts you have now as a buyer will be in the minds of anyone you try to sell to in future. If you have reservations, everyone will (and the estate agent will tell you the answer is to knock the price down).

AlexMac

I disagree the majority opinion to run a mile; on the basis of experience. I've owned two ex-Council flats as BTLs; one for 22 years, one for 7 years.

I deliberately bought flats like the one you describe; conventional brick construction with pitched tiled roofs; so relatively low-maintenence and no dodgy cladding (although Genfell post-dated both purchases so I can't claim to be so clever as to have anticipated that tragic screw-up).

Both in low rise blocks each of 12 flats over 3 storeys with no lifts (and no space to put in a lift, so little likelihood of that major expense). And our local Council is really fair and efficient, with reasonable routine Service Charges of £500-£800 p.a on average for insurance, landscaping, caretaking and minor maintenance. Excellent communicators with a very efficient Leasehold Unit in the Town Hall Housing Dept (my council hasn't privatised everything) and a Leaseholder Forum to give RTB'ers or successive owners a voice; no vindictive behaviour to those who have bought their flats within the law (even though RTB was in my view a deeply misguided political imposition).

If the roof of your block is being replaced that's the single biggest likely cost in the forseeable lifetime of the building, so from my viewpoint, that's good .

And if the roof needs replacing, I assume the building is at least 50 years old, when rooms were build to decent size guidelines? So probably very liveable?

Ye you will get future bills over which you have no control. but...

Perhaps my Council is unusual in not having corrupt surveyors or contractors, but while that was common 40 years ago, I think it cynical to assume all Council staff are bent. So on the basis of (in effect) almost 30 years aggregate ownership, I've come to expect fair reasonable bills for major cyclical or one-off works like external decor or replacement UPVC windows in place of leaky old metal frames. I've had bills of about £4-5k every 7 years on average; which is about what a freehold owner can expect to pay in improvements on a period house .

So I wouldn't dismiss it, and as the owner is probably very anxious, make sure you get it at the right price! Goodluck

jeffling

AlexMac wrote: »

I disagree the majority opinion to run a mile; on the basis of experience. I've owned two ex-Council flats as BTLs; one for 22 years, one for 7 years.

Thanks for your reply – great to have some balance!

AlexMac wrote: »

If the roof of your block is being replaced that's the single biggest likely cost in the forseeable lifetime of the building, so from my viewpoint, that's good

Yes, that was our thinking too. The roof seems to be the only thing scheduled in the immediate future.

AlexMac wrote: »

And if the roof needs replacing, I assume the building is at least 50 years old, when rooms were build to decent size guidelines? So probably very liveable?

Yep it was built 1950s/60s. The flat is huge – it's bigger and has more storage than many houses we've seen. The layout and internal decoration is good, so you could move straight in. And, if permitted, it would be very easy to add an extra bedroom.

AlexMac wrote: »

Ye you will get future bills over which you have no control. but... [...] I've had bills of about £4-5k every 7 years on average; which is about what a freehold owner can expect to pay in improvements on a period house.

That's also true. With our budget, and in the area we live, leasehold flats are the only option. And even if we did get a house with freehold, we'd obviously still be liable for expensive works.

AlexMac wrote: »

So I wouldn't dismiss it, and as the owner is probably very anxious, make sure you get it at the right price! Goodluck

Out of interest, what would you consider "the right price" (roughly) in these circumstances?

Cakeguts

You never get money off any property that is going to be easy to sell. If it is being sold cheap then there is something else wrong with it apart from the roof costs that you haven't found out about yet.