New Apartment Dilemma

Mr.Generous

Just a thought - If you don't drive could you rent out your parking space to recoup some of the service charge?

donutandbeer

Sounds nice. £5k a year is (sadly) not that unheard of for newish block of flats in London. A breakdown on the service charge (how much of it is building insurance .etc) might help with gauging how much it can go up. We’ve seen some lovely penthouse flats with amazing roof terrace, really love how low maintenance they are, but we opt for a freehold property instead because this leasehold and service charge business in England is just ridiculous (for young people at least). From where I came from, flats are the norms and all flats are sold as share of freehold, I grew up in a flat and never thought I would not live in a flat.

Only thing that will make me a bit worried from your post is that you said it’s currently selling for a “cheap” price. Did the estate agent say something about them pricing the flat at this price because of the high service charge? Is it cheap because it can only be purchased by a cash buyer (basically unmortgageable) for some reasons? Not necessarily a deal breaker since you said you are not really looking to sell, but still worth considering just in case your life has a change of direction at some point.

bouicca21

£5000 a year is eye watering.  I’d want to know just what I’d get for that.  A bit of luxury is worth paying for but how luxurious is it?

Lifts of course are notoriously expensive to maintain (though a friend insists that in Russia they never break down at all). How many flights of stairs have to be negotiated when the lifts are out of action?   Is there a gym (with more than just a treadmill and exercise bike)? A swimming pool?  A concierge service?  

NameUnavailable

The service charge will put a lot of people off buying that flat, which is possibly why it's 'cheap' ?

As above, find out exactly what that charge covers and if some of it goes to a sink fund (for when the lift needs replacing!).

What is the ground rent? That's another important factor.

IF everything else stacks up and it is only the high service charge to worry about, and you are comfortable with that, then go for it - as there's a lift it's future proof to an extent (if you find stairs hard work as you get older) and as you aren't really too bothered about resale value etc. The only thing with that is if your life changes and you find you need to sell/move on.

PurpleSpud

NameUnavailable said:

The service charge will put a lot of people off buying that flat, which is possibly why it's 'cheap' ?

As above, find out exactly what that charge covers and if some of it goes to a sink fund (for when the lift needs replacing!).

What is the ground rent? That's another important factor.

IF everything else stacks up and it is only the high service charge to worry about, and you are comfortable with that, then go for it - as there's a lift it's future proof to an extent (if you find stairs hard work as you get older) and as you aren't really too bothered about resale value etc. The only thing with that is if your life changes and you find you need to sell/move on.

Great points. There is a sink fund in place, the ground rent is £130 per year.

TripleH

Three things to bear in mind

Are the flats owner generally occupied or rented out?

What state are the social areas in?

What is the age mix of residents?

We lived in a corporate residential building from when it opened for 17 months.

At the start it was immaculate, but over time (and possibly due to lockdown) the communal areas were damaged and looked awful.

Where there are lots of renters, there can be less care of the social areas which everyone who owns will have to pay for.