Pros and cons of buying a leasehold (flat)

letitbe90

If you have the means, always buy a freehold house.

In my opinion, flats are for renting and for buy to let, not buy to live.

Thrugelmir

Buy somewhere you want to make your home. That meets all your requirements. We all dream. More often or not practicalities get in the way.

lookstraightahead

letitbe90 wrote: »

If you have the means, always buy a freehold house.

In my opinion, flats are for renting and for buy to let, not buy to live.

We have the means for a house but not in such a nice area. The flat in the nice area is more expensive than the house in the not so nice area. Houses in the nice area are £300000 above our budget lol

Tiglet2

Flat - You would need to see a copy of the freehold title which would tell you if the building is owned by the 4 leaseholders or by a single company. It sounds as though all 4 flats have a quarter each but yes, do ask about it if you go to view. Also find out how the freeholders organise maintenance work. How much are the service charges? Are you happy to walk up 3 flights of stairs every time you go out/come back? Is there a lift? Is the patio garden only for use by your flat and is it on the third floor (i.e. balcony) or a portion of the garden downstairs?

Semi/Detached - you would own the freehold, therefore no service charges or ground rent, but you would be responsible for the maintenance of the property. Some people don't like "estates" as the houses can all look similar, but depends on location to shops/station/doctors etc. Presumably your views would be of other houses. I assume you would get approx. 2 parking spaces and possibly a garage.

End of terrace cottage - sounds idyllic but think about maintenance. Usually a lot more maintenance on a character old cottage. Think about insulation, electrical wiring, parking, but if you plan to be there for some years, then updating could be worth it and you'd have a very interesting characterful property which would be far more desirable than an estate property.

I think you do have to go with your gut instinct here. These are very different properties and all can be the right choice for the right circumstances. Do you have children and therefore an exclusive garden would be more desirable? Do you have any mobility issues which would mean narrow stairs could be a problem? Do you need parking spaces? Do you need to be near a bus stop/station? What about schools/doctors/shops etc? Are you getting older, children flown the nest and a flat on one level (lift access) with some outdoor space would suit you better than having to maintain a house inside and out.

cattie

letitbe90 wrote: »

If you have the means, always buy a freehold house.

In my opinion, flats are for renting and for buy to let, not buy to live.

You've obviously not lived in a busy city such as London as there are goodness knows how many hundreds of thousands of flats. Flats are very common in cities, making up the largest proportion of homes. Freehold flats just do not exist, so they are all leasehold, even if you own a share of the freehold.

I've owned both flats & houses & now in what will be my forever home, which is a very spacious ground floor flat. I love that any maintenance issues that crop up do not have to be handled by me, it makes for a much easier & stress free life.

Fire_Fox

Pros and cons of leasehold generally: see the Leasehold Advisory Service website.

Pros and cons of this particular leasehold flat: see the long lease and speak to the other leaseholders/ freeholders.