1-bed in terraced building considerations?

MattMontreal

Sorry, still trying to piece this together. The person who has not made a mistake, has made nothing.

That would be the 'non-profit “shared freehold” company with you & the others as Directors or Members' they mention, right? Broadly speaking it seems to me like a no-brainer to want to have a share of the freehold.

I'll do some more reading on the subject in the next few days and start filtering results by share of freehold and see what comes up.

AlexMac

Although, as I said, I'd prefer a "shared freehold" with the legal protection of the usual constituted freehold "Company Limited by Guarantee"  (against catastrophe like meteor strike and third party claims"!) ... I would be open to other tenures if I loved the flat- whcih is what matters; heart over head any time.

I did once buy a Victorian cottage on three floors where the semi basement flat converision was sold on a long lease, and I owned the upper two floors AND the freehold. I bought it at auction, (stupidly, without funds so  requiring a mortgage, two weeks before Chriistmas with a 28 day completion deadline, and six weeks before getting married, but that's another story).  Thankfully,  the odd tenure  wasn't really a problem, in that the lender (the Halifax) was OK with it and the downstairs leaseholder was OK footing her 30% share of the new roof as the palce was a wreck.  

So I guess that's a possibility ( a "landlord" freeholder in the lease jargon)  although if I was her, I'd prefer the control of being a shareholder... and either way, want repairing and sharing set out clearly in the lease. Just in case an 4r5ey developer had bought the gaff, instead of a warm and respectable punter like me. 

Sold it three years later without problem, and at a silly profit (as Sarf-East London really came up when they built the Millenium Dome- aka the O2- someone benefitted from it at least?)  And was really pleased whenthe family who bought it then acquired the downstairs garden  flat  when that owner moved on... and re-converted it to a single family house on three floors with a decent garden, not shared plots!

Possibly TMI?  You can tell,I'm home, bored, recovering after surgery?

MattMontreal

Not TMI at all. It's great to hear from people who've done it a few times when you've never done it yourself. Much appreciated, AlexMac!

NameUnavailable

Yes look for shared freehold if you can - co freeholders aren't going to be trying to milk themselves dry of funds in the way that a 'business' freeholder might. A shared freehold flat should have a 900+ year lease and peppercorn ground rent.

Conversion flats offer more character but can also be less well insulated against noise. Older properties will probably need more maintenance (Victorian conversions etc). If there are only two flats in a conversion you will be paying half of any costs. If there's 6 flats, you'll pay a sixth (OK maybe not exactly but you get the idea - think about what work might be needed and what that might cost you in the future).

If buying purpose built then avoid the dreaded cladding issues. Buy in a traditionally built low rise block. Lifts are very expensive to maintain and even worse when they need replacement!