Flats in Scotland

thirtytoseventy

I wonder if any Scots or Scots-implanted folk can chip in with this?
I'm currently looking at places to buy in my neck of the woods (south west / wales borders) where my 150k budget (inc. 30k deposit) gets me nothing much that I'm keen on. I might have the option of moving with my job sometime this year and Glasgow seems like a strong possibility. As I have been there a lot in the past and very much like the city I've expressed an interest in doing this. I am really keen to have a flat for lifestyle reasons, and the fact that they all seem to be freehold there is a bonus, plus the fact that there's just so much choice. I find that flats in my area are generally horrid, boxy, 60s type affairs whereas those lovely red and yellow brick tenements are right up my street. Would anyone who has lived in such a unit mind sharing their thoughts? How does it generally work with communal areas? I've read about 'factors' but I can't quite grasp if this is the same as a service charge? And also, the 'offers over' thing, this makes it darn hard to work out what I would need to secure a suitable place (1 or 2 bed, big rooms more important than number of rooms. I'm not too fussy about location in general). Finally, the whole  Grenfell cladding thing, I'm guessing that this wouldn't affect the sorts of blocks that I'd be looking at?  Thanks in advance to any Weegies or Weegie-adjacents who have any thoughts they would like to share. Cheers!

davidmcn

No issues with fire safety stuff for the solid sandstone things you're looking at.
Generally in Glasgow tenements are professionally managed ("factor" is just the usual term for managing agents in that scenario) - the factors are appointed jointly by the flats' owners, no separate freeholder to worry about.
"Offers over" isn't as big a conundrum as it used to be as you have the surveyor's valuation upfront in the Home Report, but in popular areas there can still be competition with sealed bids pushing the price a fair bit higher than valuation.
Areas will vary quite a bit depending on how big a flat you want for your money and what your other priorities are.

scottishblondie

The factors are a company who manage the repairs etc for the common areas of the building.  There is a charge for their services, but I wouldn't buy a flat in a block that didn't have a factor.  Trying to get everyone to co-operate in a block that is "self factoring" is a complete PITA.  My SIL bought one a few years back and she could never get anyone to contribute towards fixing up the close - it looked a mess the whole time she lived there as it hadn't been painted or even barely cleaned in years.  It was lucky nothing serious went wrong.  If the factors are bad (overcharging, not managing things properly etc.) you can fairly easily fire them and hire a new firm with the agreement of a majority of owners.

The offers over system is a bit odd if you're coming from down south, but basically ignore that OO price.  Look at the valuation on the Home Report.  The vendor will be looking for something in that region - in sought after areas properties can go for well over the HR value.  We paid 5% over HR for our house, but I've heard of people going 20% over to secure a really popular property.  This can be an issue as the mortgage lender will only use the HR value, so if you need to go higher than that, you need to have the cash in your pocket to make up the difference.  To be honest if you're going for a fairly generic tenement flat you probably don't need to worry about it too much.

Cladding will not be an issue on tenement buildings.

Gers

http://www.underoneroof.scot/

This website covers all the roles and responsibilities of living in a tenement.  Some of these buildings are enormous and gorgeous, others can be small / oddly shaped and less gorgeous - just like all other property.

Maintaining good relations with neighbours is key. 

thirtytoseventy

Cheers for that - I was hoping that would be the case re: cladding, it's frightening stuff what's happening to leaseholders in England. Area wise I've only really stayed in the west end but I wouldn't be looking there. I'm reasonably familiar with the southside and happy to be somewhere less 'glam' as long as the access is safe. Would actually prefer to be on the edge of a suburb with a hint of green field and city centre maybe 15 mins journey by car or train. I suggested Paisley to my native Glaswegian friend for ease of airport and getting to the coast but she thinks I'm deluded for wanting to be outwith the city centre rather than trying to be as central as I can...

thirtytoseventy

Thanks so much for those comments and links! I had no idea about cash being needed if yo offer over HO value - that could really mess you up! Are there any areas you would recommend that are decent whilst not being trendy (ie overinflated) ? :-)

fewcloudy

thirtytoseventy said:

I wonder if any Scots or Scots-implanted folk can chip in with this?
I'm currently looking at places to buy in my neck of the woods (south west / wales borders) where my 150k budget (inc. 30k deposit) gets me nothing much that I'm keen on. I might have the option of moving with my job sometime this year and Glasgow seems like a strong possibility. As I have been there a lot in the past and very much like the city I've expressed an interest in doing this. I am really keen to have a flat for lifestyle reasons, and the fact that they all seem to be freehold there is a bonus, plus the fact that there's just so much choice. I find that flats in my area are generally horrid, boxy, 60s type affairs whereas those lovely red and yellow brick tenements are right up my street. Would anyone who has lived in such a unit mind sharing their thoughts? How does it generally work with communal areas? I've read about 'factors' but I can't quite grasp if this is the same as a service charge? And also, the 'offers over' thing, this makes it darn hard to work out what I would need to secure a suitable place (1 or 2 bed, big rooms more important than number of rooms. I'm not too fussy about location in general). Finally, the whole  Grenfell cladding thing, I'm guessing that this wouldn't affect the sorts of blocks that I'd be looking at?  Thanks in advance to any Weegies or Weegie-adjacents who have any thoughts they would like to share. Cheers!

I lived in the sort of tenement you describe for years, Edinburgh not Glasgow though.

Up here you would struggle to get a 2 bed tenement flat for 150k, they are closer to 180k. That would be for the typical 1st time buyers areas such as Easter Road, Dalry/Gorgie. Maybe someone from Glasgow can advise on prices there.

I wouldn't say ignore the "Offers Over" price, as you'll certainly not get the property for less than that. When the market is flatter, Offers Over can turn into Overs Around, and even Fixed Price.

The way you work out what you would need to secure a suitable place, is to sit down with your solicitor and discuss previous/recent sales in the area (nowadays this can be done by using the usual websites, but there is a lag of about 3 months between a completed sale and it showing up on Rightmove, ESPC etc. and your solicitor knows sooner than that). You would also be told how many other Notes of Interest have been made on the flat by other interested buyers.  Armed with this info, you then instruct your solicitor to make an Offer on your behalf. You have no idea how many others are also putting in an offer (if any), nor how much they have offered. Usually a few hours after closing date/time your solicitor calls you to tell if yours was the 'winning' bid.  It's a bit of a blind bidding auction!
Things are different when property is advertised at Fixed Price, which about 50% are at the present time...

davidmcn

fewcloudy said:

thirtytoseventy said:

I wonder if any Scots or Scots-implanted folk can chip in with this?
I'm currently looking at places to buy in my neck of the woods (south west / wales borders) where my 150k budget (inc. 30k deposit) gets me nothing much that I'm keen on. I might have the option of moving with my job sometime this year and Glasgow seems like a strong possibility. As I have been there a lot in the past and very much like the city I've expressed an interest in doing this. I am really keen to have a flat for lifestyle reasons, and the fact that they all seem to be freehold there is a bonus, plus the fact that there's just so much choice. I find that flats in my area are generally horrid, boxy, 60s type affairs whereas those lovely red and yellow brick tenements are right up my street. Would anyone who has lived in such a unit mind sharing their thoughts? How does it generally work with communal areas? I've read about 'factors' but I can't quite grasp if this is the same as a service charge? And also, the 'offers over' thing, this makes it darn hard to work out what I would need to secure a suitable place (1 or 2 bed, big rooms more important than number of rooms. I'm not too fussy about location in general). Finally, the whole  Grenfell cladding thing, I'm guessing that this wouldn't affect the sorts of blocks that I'd be looking at?  Thanks in advance to any Weegies or Weegie-adjacents who have any thoughts they would like to share. Cheers!

I wouldn't say ignore the "Offers Over" price, as you'll certainly not get the property for less than that. When the market is flatter, Offers Over can turn into Overs Around, and even Fixed Price.

Depends on the local market, if there's no competition then many "offers over" properties end up being sold under the asking price.

thirtytoseventy

I'm happy to go for a less competitive area. I won't be looking at Partick / Finnieston or the trendy southside areas as I happen to think the less 'cool' places will suit me better anyway, ha.

fewcloudy

davidmcn said:

fewcloudy said:

thirtytoseventy said:

I wonder if any Scots or Scots-implanted folk can chip in with this?
I'm currently looking at places to buy in my neck of the woods (south west / wales borders) where my 150k budget (inc. 30k deposit) gets me nothing much that I'm keen on. I might have the option of moving with my job sometime this year and Glasgow seems like a strong possibility. As I have been there a lot in the past and very much like the city I've expressed an interest in doing this. I am really keen to have a flat for lifestyle reasons, and the fact that they all seem to be freehold there is a bonus, plus the fact that there's just so much choice. I find that flats in my area are generally horrid, boxy, 60s type affairs whereas those lovely red and yellow brick tenements are right up my street. Would anyone who has lived in such a unit mind sharing their thoughts? How does it generally work with communal areas? I've read about 'factors' but I can't quite grasp if this is the same as a service charge? And also, the 'offers over' thing, this makes it darn hard to work out what I would need to secure a suitable place (1 or 2 bed, big rooms more important than number of rooms. I'm not too fussy about location in general). Finally, the whole  Grenfell cladding thing, I'm guessing that this wouldn't affect the sorts of blocks that I'd be looking at?  Thanks in advance to any Weegies or Weegie-adjacents who have any thoughts they would like to share. Cheers!

I wouldn't say ignore the "Offers Over" price, as you'll certainly not get the property for less than that. When the market is flatter, Offers Over can turn into Overs Around, and even Fixed Price.

Depends on the local market, if there's no competition then many "offers over" properties end up being sold under the asking price.

Fair enough, I am talking about my local market and here there's always competition. The only time it was any different was in the recession 2009/10 and around that time for quite a few years.  But the few properties on sale then were presumably sellers who HAD to sell then, and they were Fixed Price rather that Offers Over.

scottishblondie

thirtytoseventy said:

Cheers for that - I was hoping that would be the case re: cladding, it's frightening stuff what's happening to leaseholders in England. Area wise I've only really stayed in the west end but I wouldn't be looking there. I'm reasonably familiar with the southside and happy to be somewhere less 'glam' as long as the access is safe. Would actually prefer to be on the edge of a suburb with a hint of green field and city centre maybe 15 mins journey by car or train. I suggested Paisley to my native Glaswegian friend for ease of airport and getting to the coast but she thinks I'm deluded for wanting to be outwith the city centre rather than trying to be as central as I can...

Paisley is... Paisley.  It's not where I would choose to live.  Yes, you can get onto the motorway easily and there are plenty of trains from Gilmour Street into town, but I'm firmly a West End girl.  The problem being that the West End carries a pretty premium for location.

Is parking something that is important to you?  It's all going to be on street parking with a tenement - possibly even permit controlled and only 1 car per property.  There are some areas where parking is nigh on impossible - for example Battlefield on the South Side is a great area, but the parking situation is insane.  

In "rough" areas you could pick up a 2 bed in decent condition for really cheap - but if you're not from the area you may well come to regret it.

To be honest, I wouldn't recommend moving here and buying straight away.  Take some time to rent and see where you like.