Leasehold maisonette - no service charge?

Lottir

I've seen a maisonette that ticks all the boxes - the first property that does.

It's in a nice area, well maintained with a garage and garden, plenty of parking, spacious and with a 920 year lease.

The only thing that is putting me off is the fact that there is no service charge. It's my understanding that this means if there is a problem with the building then I would have to contribute a possibly large amount to fix it.

I've heard different things from different people and dont really know what to think. Someone pointed out that if I outright owned a house I would also have to pay for anything that goes wrong so it's not that different.

How unusual is this?

In your opinion, is this a deal breaker?

bouicca21

What would a service charge cover?   Mine covers garden maintenance (mowing the grass, clearing leaves), electricity for lighting communal areas, buildings and terrorism insurance, pest control (rats in garden), window cleaner, minor repairs.  What out of that would you expect the freeholder to pay for? Who is the freeholder?

Lottir

It's a maisonette that is part of a block of 4. The only communal bit is out the back where the washing lines and garages are.

The current owner maintains the garden on his side as it is a private garden and does any minor repairs (such as drains) himself.

eddddy

Leaseholders always have to pay for repairs and maintenance to the building.

With most leases, the freeholder arranges the repairs and maintenance, and then sends a bill to each leaseholder asking for their share.

But some maisonette leases have different repair and maintenance arrangements. i.e. the upstairs leaseholder repairs and maintains the top part of the building and roof, and the downstairs leaseholder repairs and maintains the bottom half of the building and foundations.

Lottir

eddddy said:

Leaseholders always have to pay for repairs and maintenance to the building.

With most leases, the freeholder arranges the repairs and maintenance, and then sends a bill to each leaseholder asking for their share.

But some maisonette leases have different repair and maintenance arrangements. i.e. the upstairs leaseholder repairs and maintains the top part of the building and roof, and the downstairs leaseholder repairs and maintains the bottom half of the building and foundations.

Is this standard? Something I should be wary of? The one I'm looking at is downstairs.

Thank you for answering, I dont know much about leases but I'm trying to learn.

bouicca21

You are missing the point - what if anything would a service charge cover?  Read the lease, find out who is responsible for what.  I’d expect building insurance and minor repairs to be the responsibility of the freeholder but what does the lease say?

notrouble

Service charges typically pay for ongoing routine costs (as outlined by bouicca21). Sometime there is an aditional amount which is put aside as a 'slush fund', but that's not not always the case by any means.

So if a major expenditure comes up (new roof?) everyone stumps up their share at that time. Just as a feehold house owner would need to find that money (alone!) if the roof needed re-doing.

No - it's not a show stopper, but read the lease to see exactly what you will be liable for (eg see edddy's post above).

eddddy

Lottir said:

Is this standard? Something I should be wary of? The one I'm looking at is downstairs. 

There are pros and cons to both types of leases

In overview, you will probably either be responsible for:

1. ... 25% of the cost of repairs and maintenance of the whole block (i.e. the block of 4 flats), or
2. ...100% of the cost of repairs and maintenance of just your quarter of the block

Option 1 tends to be a bit better.

Tom99

As said, check the lease. When you say a block of 4, I assume you mean 2 GF and 2 FF side by side.

In those situations it's quite common to deal with all the repairing obligations (incl structural repairs and building fabric) by slicing the building like a cake.

The ground floor leaseholder is responsible for everything below their ceiling including the foundations and the 1st floor leaseholder is responsible for everything above that incl the roof.

BlueC

Lottir said:

How unusual is this?

Not at all.

Lottir said:

In your opinion, is this a deal breaker?

Not at all.

Read the lease. It should detail exactly who is responsible for what in terms of maintenance and repairs.