Buying in South-East or South London

cattie

There's another flat in Eltham that's just been reduced to £230k with lease being extended prior to completion via Vendor. It's in Royal Eltham Heights, which are quite spacious flats but is situated on the junction of 2 busy roads, Eltham High St & Westmount Road. With decent double glazing I wouldn't think traffic noise would be too bothersome & if the bedrooms are situated to the rear then you'd probably not hear any at all. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67373205.html

I'd definitely be more interested in that than the one in Strongbow Road as the block looks a bit too Councily for my liking.

As far as leases go, the longer the better & once you get to 80yrs the cost of extending gets pretty expensive, I'd not go for anything less than 90yrs personally.

Miranda25

cattie said:

There's another flat in Eltham that's just been reduced to £230k with lease being extended prior to completion via Vendor. It's in Royal Eltham Heights, which are quite spacious flats but is situated on the junction of 2 busy roads, Eltham High St & Westmount Road. With decent double glazing I wouldn't think traffic noise would be too bothersome & if the bedrooms are situated to the rear then you'd probably not hear any at all. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67373205.html

I'd definitely be more interested in that than the one in Strongbow Road as the block looks a bit too Councily for my liking.

As far as leases go, the longer the better & once you get to 80yrs the cost of extending gets pretty expensive, I'd not go for anything less than 90yrs personally.

Thank you Cattie. 
Maybe silly question but when I am walking on the street and see a block of flats, how to understand if these are council flats or not? 

hazyjo

Miranda25 said:

cattie said:

There's another flat in Eltham that's just been reduced to £230k with lease being extended prior to completion via Vendor. It's in Royal Eltham Heights, which are quite spacious flats but is situated on the junction of 2 busy roads, Eltham High St & Westmount Road. With decent double glazing I wouldn't think traffic noise would be too bothersome & if the bedrooms are situated to the rear then you'd probably not hear any at all. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67373205.html

I'd definitely be more interested in that than the one in Strongbow Road as the block looks a bit too Councily for my liking.

As far as leases go, the longer the better & once you get to 80yrs the cost of extending gets pretty expensive, I'd not go for anything less than 90yrs personally.

Thank you Cattie. 
Maybe silly question but when I am walking on the street and see a block of flats, how to understand if these are council flats or not? 

You can usually tell just from looking at them. Blue paint sometimes gives it away too. Sometimes it will be on the EA's particulars.

onetimeatponycamp

Miranda25 said:

movilogo said:

I would suggest that you skip leasehold flats and buy a house only. There will be a trend for people to move away from London as work from home becomes mainstream. So right now you would buy at the peak of the market. London prices won't rise fast any more - in fact likely to fall instead. Get a 2-bed house at least with some garden - if that means going bit away from London. 
Off course, it depends on how much you need to commute to central London daily and where your work can be done remotely.

I wish I could buy a house but I cannot afford it. I rely on government support of 40% in HTB scheme but outside M25 this support will be 20%. 
I did not think about old properties as I imagine that repairs in UK will be expensive. Although I have no idea what is more beneficial in terms of money: to buy new property or to buy old one plus repairs?
Also I am not sure if I want all these repairs as I am not planning to do it my home forever. Even opposite as soon as I have an opportunity to go for work to another country I would jump at the opportunity. 
Here comes another question: can I rent out property bought on HTB scheme?

I think you really need to read all of the documentation about HTB if you are looking to use the scheme. You can't rent the property out until you have repaid the loan, though there are a couple of exceptions. I think you really need to fully understand the scheme to decide whether it's a good option for you.

Miranda25

onetimeatponycamp said:

Miranda25 said:

movilogo said:

I would suggest that you skip leasehold flats and buy a house only. There will be a trend for people to move away from London as work from home becomes mainstream. So right now you would buy at the peak of the market. London prices won't rise fast any more - in fact likely to fall instead. Get a 2-bed house at least with some garden - if that means going bit away from London. 
Off course, it depends on how much you need to commute to central London daily and where your work can be done remotely.

I wish I could buy a house but I cannot afford it. I rely on government support of 40% in HTB scheme but outside M25 this support will be 20%. 
I did not think about old properties as I imagine that repairs in UK will be expensive. Although I have no idea what is more beneficial in terms of money: to buy new property or to buy old one plus repairs?
Also I am not sure if I want all these repairs as I am not planning to do it my home forever. Even opposite as soon as I have an opportunity to go for work to another country I would jump at the opportunity. 
Here comes another question: can I rent out property bought on HTB scheme?

I think you really need to read all of the documentation about HTB if you are looking to use the scheme. You can't rent the property out until you have repaid the loan, though there are a couple of exceptions. I think you really need to fully understand the scheme to decide whether it's a good option for you.

Thank you.
I spoke to one developer: they allow lodgers but expect that you inform them. They do not allow tenants, only in exceptional circumstances and usually it would be permitted for 6 or 12 months (after you provide a confirmation of your exceptional circumstances). Not sure if rules are similar across all developers or they vary.

Miranda25

movilogo said:

I would suggest that you skip leasehold flats and buy a house only. There will be a trend for people to move away from London as work from home becomes mainstream. So right now you would buy at the peak of the market. London prices won't rise fast any more - in fact likely to fall instead. Get a 2-bed house at least with some garden - if that means going bit away from London. 
Off course, it depends on how much you need to commute to central London daily and where your work can be done remotely.

Movilogo,
But there are also leasehold houses. Is there any difference between leasehold flats and leasehold houses?
What are park homes please? Is it for living or only for summer break?

joshiesaunt

Sidcup/New Eltham/Eltham are generally safe and suburban places.  The train from New Eltham only takes 15 minutes to London Bridge and there is a Little Waitrose and a very large Morrisons in Sidcup.  They are building an independent cinema and new library and there are some nice little restaurants and bars.  Eltham has a wider array of shops and a good bus network as does Bromley.  All are very close to Blackheath and Greenwich for café culture, the park and the river.  Personally i'd avoid Swanley and Erith.  Dartford will be regenerating in the future as there is talk of the Crossrail extending out there but it does take longer on the train to Central London.  Beckenham is also a nice place.  Croydon has a reputation as not being very safe but i'm not sure how accurate this is.

joshiesaunt

I would avoid the flat in Strongbow Rd in Eltham as it is on a council estate with a reputation for anti social behaviour.

cattie

joshiesaunt said:

I would avoid the flat in Strongbow Rd in Eltham as it is on a council estate with a reputation for anti social behaviour.

I wouldn't actually call it an estate as it consists of a couple of tall, seemingly well kept blocks many of the flats owned by leaseholders, a smaller block, which OP referred to & a few houses. I've never been made aware of antisocial behaviour there, which was a problem about 10 or so years ago in parts of Middle Park estate.

arthurdick

I tend to agree with Cattie there, I never heard of any antisocial goings on from around that area but that was around 40 years ago that I lived in Eltham I actually thought it was worse around middle park estate and the Ferrier, we lived in Shawbrooke road and that was sort of nice but we also drank in the Yorkshire Grey, which we thought was nice, so it just goes to show you, that the Rep some places get, don't seem as bad when you live there.

Hopefully within 5 years, I will be moving back to around South London area and at the moment the areas I think that  are nicer than Eltham, Erith, Woolwich,  bexleyheath and Croydon, are, Lewisham, Greenwich, Blackheath,Crystal Palace, Beckenham, Penge and even Deptford.