Buying a flat with several Section 20 notices

Zuzi

eddddy said:

Zuzi said:

The EA, I suppose, was passing on information they received from the sellers about the estimated costs. As to why my solicitor does not yet have those docs, I do not know.

The EA was chasing me to comment on the price reduction offer so to get her off my back I replied I said I am accepting it. I suppose I can still renegotiate further depending on the official information that goes to my solicitor when that happens, but for now it seems the costs will be unavoidable so selling me the property for less is a logical step, no?

But it would very much be in the EA's interests to underestimate the cost - e.g. estimate the cost at £4.5k, when a more realistic estimate could be £12k.

So you should be grilling the EA to find out where that estimate came from, and therefore how reliable it is.

For example, it could just be a number that the EA pulled out of the air.

(e.g. The EA is thinking "The seller said their prepared to drop the price by £5k - so I'll tell the buyer the cost will be £4.5k. So hopefully, that will make the buyer proceed".)

Thank you @eddddy - my thinking right now is that I can still change my mind and my response after I have seen official documents from the mgmt company, am I wrong in this? I am not desperate to buy this flat, my sellers seem a bit more to sell it. If something feels really off, I am ready to walk away but I'm not at that stage right now.

I understand what you are suggesting, even the precise calculations that were in my EA's email could have been faked, but then surely there is little point in trying to grill her over email when the reality will come out sooner or later in hopefully documents sent to my solicitor anyway.

However, I may just email her something along the lines you suggested if the solicitor doesn't get the cost estimates soon. I hope the EA is not making this up, but would be interesting to know why she has this info when my solicitor does not (yet).

ReadySteadyPop

Zuzi said:

thanks @gm0 & @fullyrendered

I will keep an eye on the auctioned flat. It was advertised normally beforehand but was probably overpriced, and I am curious what it will sell for in the end (I should know in 10 days or so). There are a few more flats in the building, it's not large, for the three S20 notices I am apparently due to pay 25% of each. 

The S20 works don't seem to concern any cladding issues but yeah one of them is lift repair.

I have been told the house does not have a sinking fund, and the service charge is relatively high (one of the things I am looking at, I do want to understand where the money is going!)

I have applied for a mortgage and the valuation for the bank is tomorrow, so I am curious about the outcome.

I should have some spare money but I was hoping to use most of that on mortgage overpayments, rather than unavoidable costs connected to my block :/ I hope there is nothing "wrong" with the building or the way it has been managed... ETA the whole block is just 10 years old.

Yes, and for that reason you should keep looking at other properties, once you are in the costs could mount quickly.

ReadySteadyPop

Zuzi said:

user1977 said:

What sort of works are the notices for?

1) Interior Redecoration to communal areas (there was water damage which may eventually be reimbursed from an insurance claim)

2) Lift Repairs - work required outside of warranty 

3) Planned external works (part of planned maintenance programme for mid/late 2026)

Could all spiral in cost and lift etc. could be a recurring problem, you are better to rent these properties and let the landlord pay rather than attaching yourself to it with a mortgage debt.

Zuzi

ReadySteadyPop said:

Zuzi said:

user1977 said:

What sort of works are the notices for?

1) Interior Redecoration to communal areas (there was water damage which may eventually be reimbursed from an insurance claim)

2) Lift Repairs - work required outside of warranty 

3) Planned external works (part of planned maintenance programme for mid/late 2026)

Could all spiral in cost and lift etc. could be a recurring problem, you are better to rent these properties and let the landlord pay rather than attaching yourself to it with a mortgage debt.

  I hope it's not the case that there'll be something with the block all the time... it's only a small number of units, surely we can refuse any unnecessary works? 

eddddy

Zuzi said:

...surely we can refuse any unnecessary works? 

It wouldn't really work like that. The management co has to do whatever the leases require them to do.


If you thought some of the work they do is outside the terms of the lease or unnecessary, typically it would work like this...

• The law says that Service Charges must be reasonable

• If you believe that your Service Charge isn't reasonable, you could challenge it at tribunal

• So, let's say the management co installed a replacement communal front door which you felt was unnecessary, and £100 of your Service Charge went towards that communal front door...
  

• ... you could then challenge that £100 charge as not being reasonable, because you believe the work was unnecessary

You would tell the tribunal why you believe the £100 is not reasonable (i.e. because the work was unnecessary), and the management co would tell the tribunal why they believe it's reasonable (i.e. because the work was necessary).

And the tribunal would decide who they agree with.


But maybe a better approach is to look at past Service Charge accounts, to see whether they seem reasonable - or whether there seems to be an excessive amount spent on maintenance, repairs etc.