Scotland - people living in flats how much are you paying for factor fees?

Blank11

I have seen a flat I am interested in but the factor fees is £110 a month. The flat has no lifts either. It seems a bit extortionate after researching online, unless things have changed due to inflation and that is the norm for factor fee these days? 

TimSynths

I pay £1900 per year, no lift but large landscaped gardens.

oldernonethewiser

No lifts is a bonus.  Something you don't have to pay for or worry about breaking down.

Do the factors include all insurance, apart from personal stuff, stair cleaning, landscaping etc?

Prices can vary enormously depending what is included, or not. 

Blank11

TimSynths said:

I pay £1900 per year, no lift but large landscaped gardens.

That’s approx £158 a month, sounds expensive! Did that ever put you off the flat? My other concern would be when the time to sell if that would put potential buyers off. 

Blank11

oldernonethewiser said:

No lifts is a bonus.  Something you don't have to pay for or worry about breaking down.

Do the factors include all insurance, apart from personal stuff, stair cleaning, landscaping etc?

Prices can vary enormously depending what is included, or not. 

I agree no lift is a bonus but majority of the factor fees that are roughly that cost include lift maintenance so I was shocked it was so high. Yeah factor fees include usual communal cleaning and stuff along with building insurance. I am just a bit put off as I’ve seen most flats are £60-80 for monthly factor fees. 

[Deleted User]

I've just sold a flat in England that had a service charge(guess that's the same as factor fee) of £3000 a year, no lift.

There is nothing to stop the factor fees being increased considerably 3 or 4 years down the line without anything the flat owners can do about it, I know it happened to me.

oldernonethewiser

Blank11 said:

oldernonethewiser said:

No lifts is a bonus.  Something you don't have to pay for or worry about breaking down.

Do the factors include all insurance, apart from personal stuff, stair cleaning, landscaping etc?

Prices can vary enormously depending what is included, or not. 

I agree no lift is a bonus but majority of the factor fees that are roughly that cost include lift maintenance so I was shocked it was so high. Yeah factor fees include usual communal cleaning and stuff along with building insurance. I am just a bit put off as I’ve seen most flats are £60-80 for monthly factor fees. 

I have never had a factor that has organised communal cleaning, all done by owners taking their turn on the stairs

It really does depend on the property & factor.  I know someone living in a converted townhouse which is factored and they pay £165 a month for very what appears to be very little but the insurance is the biggest cost. 

If that sort of cost puts you off then you need to look elsewhere.  Can you ask the seller about how good the factor is at dealing with issues?

Just phone my mate who lives ina flat near Anniesland and his monthly rate ahs more than doubled. He was only paying £40 now £95

Blank11

[Deleted User] said:

I've just sold a flat in England that had a service charge(guess that's the same as factor fee) of £3000 a year, no lift.

There is nothing to stop the factor fees being increased considerably 3 or 4 years down the line without anything the flat owners can do about it, I know it happened to me.

That is very high and I am assuming England’s fees are higher than Scotland. 

In Scotland if enough flat owners vote the management company out we can assign management to another company. However the issue is if the owners are landlords they don’t care about this. 

oldernonethewiser

matt1976 said:

I've just sold a flat in England that had a service charge(guess that's the same as factor fee) of £3000 a year, no lift.

There is nothing to stop the factor fees being increased considerably 3 or 4 years down the line without anything the flat owners can do about it, I know it happened to me.

If a majority of the owners agree they can change factor or self factor so there is an option to change things.

Blank11

oldernonethewiser said:

Blank11 said:

oldernonethewiser said:

No lifts is a bonus.  Something you don't have to pay for or worry about breaking down.

Do the factors include all insurance, apart from personal stuff, stair cleaning, landscaping etc?

Prices can vary enormously depending what is included, or not. 

I agree no lift is a bonus but majority of the factor fees that are roughly that cost include lift maintenance so I was shocked it was so high. Yeah factor fees include usual communal cleaning and stuff along with building insurance. I am just a bit put off as I’ve seen most flats are £60-80 for monthly factor fees. 

I have never had a factor that has organised communal cleaning, all done by owners taking their turn on the stairs

It really does depend on the property & factor.  I know someone living in a converted townhouse which is factored and they pay £165 a month for very what appears to be very little but the insurance is the biggest cost. 

If that sort of cost puts you off then you need to look elsewhere.  Can you ask the seller about how good the factor is at dealing with issues?

Just phone my mate who lives ina flat near Anniesland and his monthly rate ahs more than doubled. He was only paying £40 now £95

That is interesting as all the flats I’ve viewed and asked about the communal close, windows and stairs cleaning is included in the factor fees. The owner did say large portion of the cost is related to insurance. But other factor fees I’ve seen including insurance isn’t near as this much. 

I do like the area where the flat is situated but I am debating whether this is something worth big enough to look elsewhere. 

I am Glasgow based so this is good to know (not that it is good his factor fees have doubled!). That is mad how much it has increased, hopefully not in such a short space of time like a year. If that price is more of the norm then I’d be more fine with paying that much for factor fees. 

oldernonethewiser

He got an email from his factor apparently then two months later the increase took effect. 

Interesting about the communal cleaning must be more common than I have experienced. Always a good way to meet the neighbours when you are out sweeping the stairs. 

My sister used to live on a new build estate and there was a service fee for communal landscaping. No way to escape paying unlike the factor situation. 

If you are keen on the place then do try and get feedback on the current factors. To be honest not many get positive comments.