Is this flat suspiciously cheap? (first-time buyer)

silvercar

prenny16 said:

Just to add regarding the EWS1 issue - it's not so much the issue of lending but safety.

Can be either.  A friend’s daughter bought a ground floor flat in a block where the higher floors have wooden floored balconies. It has a “failed” EWS1, so she is struggling to sell. There is nothing particularly unsafe about being on the ground floor in such a block.

prenny16

MFWannabe said:

If you want you could post a link to the property and posters may see a reason for it being cheaper than others that’s not obvious to you maybe? 

Ah thanks but I'm too new to the forum to post links at the moment.  If you go on Rightmove and search 'S2' (Sheffield); Max budget: £100,000; Min bed: 1/Max bed: 1, It's on St. Mary's Road.  Pretty distinctive - it has a blue kitchen!

prenny16

user1977 said:

5 floors is into the "multi-storey" bracket which will deter some lenders (this is a pre-Grenfell thing).

City centre flat, so what about other potential issues - commercial units in the same building? "Bad" neighbours close by? (pubs/clubs/take aways etc). Big costs coming up?

Bad neighbours are something I'm terrified of!  I know Sheffield pretty well and I'm sure it's just accommodation blocks down that road.  There's definitely student accommodation along there, not sure if professional too.  Going to ask who mostly occupies the building and surrounding blocks at the viewing tomorrow.  In terms of big costs coming up, how would we get to know?  How do we ask?

prenny16

silvercar said:

prenny16 said:

Just to add regarding the EWS1 issue - it's not so much the issue of lending but safety.

Can be either.  A friend’s daughter bought a ground floor flat in a block where the higher floors have wooden floored balconies. It has a “failed” EWS1, so she is struggling to sell. There is nothing particularly unsafe about being on the ground floor in such a block.

That's a good point.  I suppose a flat is always going to be tougher to sell on than a house, but we just don't have the budget for a house.  The only houses in our budget (and it's rare any come up) are either in bad areas or need a tonnnnn of work doing. 

MaiTai

Ah thanks but I'm too new to the forum to post links at the moment.  If you go on Rightmove and search 'S2' (Sheffield); Max budget: £100,000; Min bed: 1/Max bed: 1, It's on St. Mary's Road.  Pretty distinctive - it has a blue kitchen!

Nice apartment but the fact is is currently tenanted would be enough for me to look elsewhere.

user1977

This one?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/130833932#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's currently let. It's not for you, unless you want to be a landlord.

MikeJXE

prenny16 said:

MFWannabe said:

If you want you could post a link to the property and posters may see a reason for it being cheaper than others that’s not obvious to you maybe? 

Ah thanks but I'm too new to the forum to post links at the moment.  If you go on Rightmove and search 'S2' (Sheffield); Max budget: £100,000; Min bed: 1/Max bed: 1, It's on St. Mary's Road.  Pretty distinctive - it has a blue kitchen!

Very Nice 

Is it cheaper because it has a tenant in place ? 

Alderbank

The estate agent is devious.

On the first page he boasts

Key features:
Ideal For Rental Or Owner Occupation

...but since he reveals on a later page that there is a tenant in situ it's far from ideal for owner occupation.

Save yourself wasted time and cross that agent and his properties off your list.

inkydolphin

Very Suspicious Of Any Listing Containing That Many Capitalised Words!

prenny16

We've generally been avoiding tenanted properties, but the agent has assured us the tenant is due to move out (or is happy to move out - need to check).  If this is the case, is there anything we can do to ensure this happens?  Obviously, we don't want to get into a situation where we're paying court fees in order to turf someone out.