Buying a leasehold flat with the council as the freeholder

willywee1234

Hi guys,
I am in the process of buying a flat with greenwich council as the freeholder. The flat is in a converted house connected to 6 other flats and only 2 stories high pitched roof and brick construction
 I was just wondering if a flat like this was less likely to have crazy major works carried out on it? Or also hoping some people could give me possitive stories about living in a council freehold flat where they have not been stung by big major work charges! 

Thanks everyone!

NameUnavailable

What condition is the building in? Does the paintwork look like it was done recently or is it due for a repaint? Same with the communal areas. What about the roof? What fire precautions are there already (alarms etc.).

Your solicitor will ask about plans for any major works so  you should know what to expect.

knightstyle

Our DD has just bought a flat like this. Very happy and no unexpected surprises. Thr=e council were very slow in responding to queries was the only problem. One upside is that the council are owners and responsible for maintaining the car park and gardens at the front.

AlexMac

I own two BTL flats just like this in Greenwich; one for 8-9 years, the other about 20-odd.  I avoided high-rise, as you are doing; both in low-rise, walk-up blocks of 12 in Charlto and Kidbrooke.  Conventional construction (brick walls, pitched tiled roofs) no no lifts of cladding to worry about.  Nice size rooms; the Grand Daughter lives in one of 'em.

Greenwich have been really great Freeholders; communicative, efficient and good-value. There's a dedicated leaseholder staff team in the Housing Dept, and "Leaseholder Forum" which I've never bothered engaging with.

Reasonable costs too; service-charges of £800-900 per annum for insurance, minor maintenence, caretaking, etc.   Every 10 years or so I've been billed an extra one-off £4,000-£5,000 for major works like replacing metal windows with double glazing (which seemed good value), or cyclical decorations  of external/communal ares (a bit toppy but reasonable).  As a non-resident owner they didn't have to give me time to pay (as they do with leaseholder owner-occupiers) , in practice, they let me spread the cost on Standing Order or Direct Debit over 12-18 months, as they do with Service charges (over 4-5 months).  So you could negotiate a spread on any furure bills you face.  In practice, these have been no more than any property would expect to cough up over the years/

Your solicitor will check if the current owner has received any of the required statutory notices of planned major works;  I've tended to get 12-24 months warnong of anything big- and as I say, they don't over-maintain!

I did ring in to what was then called the "Housing Technical" Department before buying the second one in around 2012 to try to establish if there were any planned major works; rather vague re[ply- but ther ain't been any.

So I'd say- a good buy; where else can you get a 2-bed gaff in Zone 3 for south of £300k?