Buying flat awful experience

F37A

Hi 

There are so many things hidden on the flat that you have to spend a fortune before you find out anything of note. At least with a house there just the survey and searches. But with flat its survey / lease / searches. Also given agent / seller lies about property it is easy to go through several purchases and spend 5k on each. In the end you got no deposit left. I suppose they know this so play on this best they can. Whole system designed to milk you for maximum cash. Who wants failed purchases in cost of living / inflation environment.

I prefer to get a flat based on needs but just can't waste money on dead end purchases. It's like a trial and error and have no clue what's going to go through. May have to say this flat purchase process is so bad i have to get a freehold and live far from work and get the car for commute - that in itself is stressful potentially.

Anyone feel same?

Thanks

youth_leader

I only learnt from this forum that you don't ever 'own' a leasehold property, I had also been looking at flats. I found the length of lease/maintenance charges/ground rent - and share of freehold - confusing, and I changed my search to the very small freehold houses I could afford.  

If you did look for a small freehold house, would you be able to WFH at all to save on your commuter fares? 

TheJP

Care to elaborate over the dramatics? What are you asking the forum? We all know leaseholds are pretty cr&ppy but what happened? More information would help.

EssexHebridean

What on earth are you doing to be spending 5k a time without even getting to exchange? 

eddddy

youth_leader said:

I only learnt from this forum that you don't ever 'own' a leasehold property,

I've seen some posts that say stuff like that - I think that's really just playing with words (in a slightly unhelpful way).

I think this description of leasehold on the gov.uk website is a more helpful one:

You only own a leasehold property for a fixed period of time.

Link: https://www.gov.uk/leasehold-property

youth_leader

Thank you eddddy, bad phrasing on my part.  I'll put that link in my favourites, I do have a feeling my daughter might have to buy leasehold.  

youth_leader

lucky I looked - rules are different in NI!

NameUnavailable

You can and probably should get a copy of the lease before going ahead with a purchase. You can also check the basic lease details for £3 on the land registry website. No need to spend £££'s with solicitors to find this stuff out.

Norman_Castle

F37A said:

Hi 

At least with a house there just the survey and searches. But with flat its survey / lease / searches. Also given agent / seller lies about property it is easy to go through several purchases and spend 5k on each. In the end you got no deposit left.

Your problem seems to be with leasehold and agents giving incorrect information rather than flat vs house. Have you ever bought a property?

F37A

youth_leader said:

I only learnt from this forum that you don't ever 'own' a leasehold property, I had also been looking at flats. I found the length of lease/maintenance charges/ground rent - and share of freehold - confusing, and I changed my search to the very small freehold houses I could afford.  

If you did look for a small freehold house, would you be able to WFH at all to save on your commuter fares? 

Yeah there are some firms that are doing hybrid working and I know of people that have done the long commute 3 or 4 days a week. My only concern with long commute is that its real stressful and I'll just be so exhausted each week. Some firms are insisting on 4 days a week which is a joke

F37A

EssexHebridean said:

What on earth are you doing to be spending 5k a time without even getting to exchange? 

EssexHebridean said:

What on earth are you doing to be spending 5k a time without even getting to exchange? 

I was 3 weeks from exchange. Just searches left. I could and should have approached differently but solicitors want to milk you as well as agent so don't tell you anything. It was 500 broker cost, 800 survey and 3.5k solicitors