Buying my first flat has turned into a nightmare. Am I making a big mistake with a leasehold?

AFF8879

Is there any reason you can’t take out a small mortgage in order to buy a freehold house instead? Without knowing your personal/work situation etc it would probably be the better long-term option 

PartyOfFive

You should be pushing the estate agent to communicate with your sellers and sellers solicitors (as they will be the ones dealing with the management company).

Suggest to the estate agent that if no progress is made by X date, that you are walking away. Of course, you don’t necessarily have to do that, but the threat alone should put a spring in the step of your seller and sellers solicitors to get the management company to act.

edited to add - to show the estate agent (and therefore your sellers) you are serious with the threat, you could ask them to show you any rental properties they might have on their books and follow through with viewings. while it might waste a bit of your time (and theirs), it should cement that you are willing to end the sale (that they don’t want to lose).

27 weeks is a very long time, and your sellers must be frustrated too - do you know what their situation is (ie regarding potential onward chain?).

You should also remember that the estate agent doesn’t work for you - they work for your sellers.

ThisIsWeird

Two issues as far as I can see - the first is whether this flat is a good purchase in the first place. Only you and your conveyancer can tell you this. Hopefully it is, and it's worth it.

The other is where you are staying at the mo', and what you'd do if you were to pull out of this purchase - where would you stay then?

At the very least, consider how much expense and hassle you are saving by being put up by your friend, and be bludy generous with them - lubricate the situation for them by being a super-good guest :-)

dills18

NameUnavailable said:

dills18 said:

NameUnavailable said:

What is the deed for exactly?

The document that makes me acknowledge the lease terms in the lease. 

There are some other things the management company required, such as becoming a shareholder too.

Shareholder? It sounds like it is a shared freehold - if so that's a good thing, or possibly just a Right to Manage company (also good). Can you share more info?

What is the lease length? Ground Rent? Maintenance charge?

It’s is not a share of freehold, but the latter, a share of the company that owns the freehold. In my case, 16 shares for the 16 flats. So if I’m not mistaken, I have a say in how the management company acts.

The lease was renewed 5 years ago and has 94 years remaining. 

Ground rent £600 p/an inc. parking spot
Service charge £700 p/an inc. parking spot

dills18

AFF8879 said:

Is there any reason you can’t take out a small mortgage in order to buy a freehold house instead? Without knowing your personal/work situation etc it would probably be the better long-term option 

It’s about financial stability personally. I’m early into my career on relativity low-pay for what I do. I’d like to own a freehold of course, but being near London a small mortgage is no small mortgage. It’s a job I’d quite like to do freelance (I work in film) at some point, but there’s no guarantee I could keep up with the high mortgage repayments (many films on actors strike currently, not much work going round, then what would I do?). I’d rather have a place of my own, save up and then make the cross to a freehold in future.

dills18

PartyOfFive said:

You should be pushing the estate agent to communicate with your sellers and sellers solicitors (as they will be the ones dealing with the management company).

Suggest to the estate agent that if no progress is made by X date, that you are walking away. Of course, you don’t necessarily have to do that, but the threat alone should put a spring in the step of your seller and sellers solicitors to get the management company to act.

edited to add - to show the estate agent (and therefore your sellers) you are serious with the threat, you could ask them to show you any rental properties they might have on their books and follow through with viewings. while it might waste a bit of your time (and theirs), it should cement that you are willing to end the sale (that they don’t want to lose).

27 weeks is a very long time, and your sellers must be frustrated too - do you know what their situation is (ie regarding potential onward chain?).

You should also remember that the estate agent doesn’t work for you - they work for your sellers.

Thanks for your reply. I call the estate agent on a daily basis, unfortunately the original sales person who was dealing with the property moved branch. So every-time I call now I seem to repeat my situation to whomever- summer has been a right pain with everyone seemingly off on annual leave too! 

I have said this week I am now “actively” looking at alternatives. Whether that has actually put a spring in their step has yet to be shown. But I do like your further edit of asking for what rentals are available to pile on the pressure. I’ll see if that works. 

The sellers have no onward chain, and are as eager to move out as I am in!

dills18

ThisIsWeird said:

Two issues as far as I can see - the first is whether this flat is a good purchase in the first place. Only you and your conveyancer can tell you this. Hopefully it is, and it's worth it.

The other is where you are staying at the mo', and what you'd do if you were to pull out of this purchase - where would you stay then?

At the very least, consider how much expense and hassle you are saving by being put up by your friend, and be bludy generous with them - lubricate the situation for them by being a super-good guest :-)

I do believe this flat is a solid purchase for me and it’s right for my needs, location wise and size wise. Nothing has been suggested otherwise by anyone fortunately.

The purchase has opened a huge can of worms which I didn’t know went into a flat purchase however- there’s a whole load of legal babble and paperwork to wrap your head round. 27 weeks in my patience wears thin, which is why I have turned to these threads in search of answers. 

And of course! Without my friend I’d be homeless! If i did pull out of the sale id most likely rent again- and the process would be back to square one. So I am forever grateful and they are duly compensated. Needless to say I need to move out their living room their sake as much as mine!

BobT36

dills18 said:

My rental accommodation had ran to the end of its tenancy and if I stayed I'd have to have renewed for 12-months which, when i'm buying a property, wasn't an option.  

Too late now, but just in-case you ever end up renting again (hopefully not!), that's not how it works. 
If you'd have stayed, you'd have automatically been put onto a "rolling" monthly contract. Within two months of, or after your tenancy ended, the landlord could have sent you a section 21 however, to give you 2 months notice that they may begin proceedings to have you removed. 

RAS

If you'd just stayed put, your rental would have continued. The LL would probably have issued an S21 notice,  but you'd have had about 6 months before anything got to court. A nice letter to the LL explaining the situation might have staved that off and you would have to give the correct notice at the end of the rolling contract. So maybe a month's overlap paying rent and mortgage.

gwynlas

Sorry for your loss and the added stress of having to make very adult choices without the backing of a parent. Some might think it sounds condescending but I beleive the ages of 16 to 25 are a crucial stage in adult development. It is a very long time to be waiting and I would suggest that you request a face to face meeting with your conveyancing solicitor. This would be to emphasise the human angle that you are a first time purchaser who could do with your hand holding and some reassurance. It might not be true but who cares at this stage. Owning equal shares in the management company is good as yoou will have in put to setting service charges, your ground rent seeems very high and you should query why this is.
Once you have moved in establish contact with your neighbours who are the named directors of the management company and suggest that all leases are exended preferably to 999 years and that a sinking fund is established for on going maintenance issues. If current lease is 94 years it suggests original was only 99 and internal decoration of communal areas is probably due if not done already and you will have to pay a proportion of that.
Also you could request that you be given a named person at EA to deal with. The seller must be equally frustrated. As you are saving on rent and mortgage  maybe offer you friend a generous allowance to continue to stay there.