Leasehold house - £20000 contribution needed to upgrade roof. Any help appreciated.

NameUnavailable

Slithery said:

bagby said:
She has said will definitely never buy leasehold again.

There's a massive difference between 'buying leasehold' and 'buying leasehold with a council freeholder'. There are a huge amount of decent leasehold properties that will never have the issue that your daughter currently has.

I had to sell my leasehold flat because I couldn't afford any more service charges after getting a bill one year for over £30K then £6K the next year and then notice of further works. This was a conversion flat in a Victorian property (not LA).

We went to tribunal but only managed to negotiate a partial reduction in the first bill, which the freeholder then just billed us for the next year.

I vowed not to buy LH again but I just can't afford anything decent that's freehold in my areas (even going wider) and am now looking at a LH with share of FH (at least other freeholders aren't going to stitch themselves up I would hope, and the block appears to be very well maintained).

bagby

NameUnavailable said:

Slithery said:

bagby said:
She has said will definitely never buy leasehold again.

There's a massive difference between 'buying leasehold' and 'buying leasehold with a council freeholder'. There are a huge amount of decent leasehold properties that will never have the issue that your daughter currently has.

I had to sell my leasehold flat because I couldn't afford any more service charges after getting a bill one year for over £30K then £6K the next year and then notice of further works. This was a conversion flat in a Victorian property (not LA).

We went to tribunal but only managed to negotiate a partial reduction in the first bill, which the freeholder then just billed us for the next year.

I vowed not to buy LH again but I just can't afford anything decent that's freehold in my areas (even going wider) and am now looking at a LH with share of FH (at least other freeholders aren't going to stitch themselves up I would hope, and the block appears to be very well maintained).

Oh dear. Even worse.   Didn’t think that bills of this amount could be just dropped on you.  I know it’s been on news lately about people going bankrupt in London re cladding bills on flats.  Will be very wary in the future.  As a house owner I have never paid out bills of this amount so don’t know about it until it happens to you or someone close.  

ComicGeek

The main issue is that HAs/Councils only work with the big contractors that can tick all of their boxes - there are employers agents, surveyors, quantity surveyors, clerks of works, management etc all involved before a contractor even gets to touch the roof. Day rates are significantly higher to cover all of these (unnecessary) costs, and the costs just keep escalating. 

We don't get involved with HAs or Councils any more - we used to have to charge double our normal rates to just break even, but that would probably be at least 3 times now, so we don't even bother to quote for the work. They were also the worst payers, and we had to take many to court to get paid.

The cost reflects the bureaucracy, not the actual work involved.

bagby

ComicGeek said:

The main issue is that HAs/Councils only work with the big contractors that can tick all of their boxes - there are employers agents, surveyors, quantity surveyors, clerks of works, management etc all involved before a contractor even gets to touch the roof. Day rates are significantly higher to cover all of these (unnecessary) costs, and the costs just keep escalating. 

We don't get involved with HAs or Councils any more - we used to have to charge double our normal rates to just break even, but that would probably be at least 3 times now, so we don't even bother to quote for the work. They were also the worst payers, and we had to take many to court to get paid.

The cost reflects the bureaucracy, not the actual work involved.

I couldnt agree with you more.   I work for government and have seen the amount of meetings that are held before anything is decided.  That’s just the preparation.  

csgohan4

ComicGeek said:

The main issue is that HAs/Councils only work with the big contractors that can tick all of their boxes - there are employers agents, surveyors, quantity surveyors, clerks of works, management etc all involved before a contractor even gets to touch the roof. Day rates are significantly higher to cover all of these (unnecessary) costs, and the costs just keep escalating. 

We don't get involved with HAs or Councils any more - we used to have to charge double our normal rates to just break even, but that would probably be at least 3 times now, so we don't even bother to quote for the work. They were also the worst payers, and we had to take many to court to get paid.

The cost reflects the bureaucracy, not the actual work involved.

So sad but true, being accountable to tax payers is one thing, but wasting money to show on paper compliance is wasteful

Momogeew

I started reading this thread as it displayed new posts, i didn't realise it was 4.5 years old 🙄
Worth mentioning that a lot of the information may not be relevant now, to others in similar situations.

ian1246

Op - if she was about to exchange on her flat sale, how about making the buyer aware & offering a £20,000 retention to cover these anticipated costs? That would then mean your daughter needing to make up the £20,000 "lost" equity via increased mortgage borrowing, but at least that would allow her sale & purchase to proceed and her to get out of the flat. Of course whether this is viable depends on how close she was to affordability for her mortgage amount - it's worth considering - £20,000 over the course of a mortgage is ultimately a modest amount. I'd suggest maybe speak to her mortgage adviser to see whether there is any scope for additional borrowing & if so, this could be the way out.

eddddy

ian1246 said:

Op - if she was about to exchange on her flat sale, how about making the buyer aware & offering a £20,000 retention to cover these anticipated costs? 

<snip>

The OP's question is from over 4 years ago.

The OP has already explained the outcome:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81748229#Comment_81748229