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

user1977

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. 

You need to make sure you are comparing like with like. Generally you get what you pay for. Many places won't include buildings insurance for example, and I've lived in a flat with (nice) communal gardens which we were paying for. For my first flat, the vast majority of the costs were simply the minimum admin charge the factors made for having our account, there weren't any real regular costs so it was just any ad hoc repairs.

user1977

[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.

It's significantly different in Scotland as the freehold is shared among the flat owners, so ultimately it's up to them who (if anybody) manages the common costs and what they spend money on. But you need to get a majority on board if you want to change management.

[Deleted User]

oldernonethewiser said:

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.

I wish it was that easy to have changed things, where most flats are tenanted it becomes virtually impossible to get the majority needed to kick out the current management company.

maladict

If the factor is a housing association that still owns even just one property in the block then you may be stuck with them.  That was our situation, it was written in the deeds of all the flats and there was nothing we could do to get rid of them.  

If the factor is a housing association, run and don't look back.

Blank11

maladict said:

If the factor is a housing association that still owns even just one property in the block then you may be stuck with them.  That was our situation, it was written in the deeds of all the flats and there was nothing we could do to get rid of them.  

If the factor is a housing association, run and don't look back.

I thought HA as factors were good because I read online they are cheaper than other factors and gets the job done quickly?

oldernonethewiser

[Deleted User] said:

oldernonethewiser said:

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.

I wish it was that easy to have changed things, where most flats are tenanted it becomes virtually impossible to get the majority needed to kick out the current management company.

Yeah, it does depend on the willingness of the owners. 

Although factors get a bad reputation a place down the road from me was self factored and they were all very smug about how easy it all was.  Until they needed major roof repairs.  Lots of falling out about that.

maladict

Blank11 said:

maladict said:

If the factor is a housing association that still owns even just one property in the block then you may be stuck with them.  That was our situation, it was written in the deeds of all the flats and there was nothing we could do to get rid of them.  

If the factor is a housing association, run and don't look back.

I thought HA as factors were good because I read online they are cheaper than other factors and gets the job done quickly?

Our experience was of repairs and maintenance being charged for but not done, constantly ignoring reports and complaints, acting in breach of the conditions in the deeds, lying, abusive behaviour... We lost tens of thousands of pounds of equity because of our HA factor and it had a terrible impact on my mental health.

From my experience of owning a flat with a proper non-HA factor, they treat each site as a discrete entity with its own programme of maintenance and repairs.  Our HA factor owned flats in all the buildings they factored, and treated every single building as part of the whole.  It didn't matter that our building needed repairs when they had other buildings needing more urgent repairs: there's only so much money available and it can't cover everything, and there are other much more important priorities than the roof over your head.  They had a vested interest in not doing repairs and the power to enforce their wishes.  Any factor can have proposed work voted down by the owners, but you can't vote to force them to do things they have an incentive not to do, and unlike a proper factor, you can't get rid of them if they still own part of your building.  You're utterly helpless, and it's devastating.

TimSynths

Blank11 said:

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. 

I think it was £1200 20 years ago when I moved in but no, I needed somewhere to live fast and this was affordable. The flats (nr Brighton) are nudging £300k now and they sell almost as soon as they go on sale.

The fee does include building insurance and cleaning of all the communal areas (cleaner had his hoover nicked this week, sadly too many scumbag neighbours now). The landscape gardeners were here yesterday pm too.