this might make you think twice about a leasehold property.....

Young_Turk

Mickey666 said:

NameUnavailable said:

Young_Turk said:

NameUnavailable said:

Also, I wonder what all these additional costs will do for the BTL market? I can see a lot of BTL flats becoming simply not profitable for the ownders, and what that in turn will mean for the private rental market. They don't think these things through do they.

What happens to the private rental market? More BTL sell, more renters buy. Why is that a bad thing?

If lots of additional charges are going to apply to flats, on top of existing service charges, then the profit on a rental property may not be enough. It might drive rents up or make more LL's give up and sell up. Probably in reality a bit of both.

Not all renters want to buy. Many rent because they don't have the money to buy a property or they don't want to be committed to a mortgage and the additioinal charges but prefer the flexibility of renting. 

I’m sure that’s true, though it seems strange not to want to commit to a 25 year mortgage in favour of committing to a lifetime of paying rent.  Seems a very high price to pay for ‘flexibility’.  Still, each to their own.  At least it creates a market for landlords to sit back and watch their wealth roll in.

Do you know of any example of someone committing to a lifetime of paying rent (if they did that wouldn't be flexible at all)? I thought the longest tenancies were 12 months, so those who choose to rent could always buy in a year or so, or rent something else.