Ex-council vs. Newer apartment dilemma

Bigphil1474

I'd just add about lifts - by law passenger lifts have to have an examination every 6 months to make sure they are working properly. Obviously an old lift might end up having to be replaced eventually, but regular checks are mandatory. I would also add for info, that not all council's contract out their maintenance works and even large project work. My local council has its own building services team with about 300 trades people working there. Good luck.

HouseHuntingAmy

Fellow FTB here (also London, also deep in the comparing-apples-with-oranges phase) - the line about qualitatively different options really resonated. We started scoring flats on the things we would actually feel every day - light, noise, the walk to the station, whether we smiled when we walked in - because the spreadsheet variables never settled it on their own.

Two practical things from your description. On the newer one, £390 ground rent on a 2012-13 build is worth a proper look at the review clause before you offer: leases of that era sometimes double every ten or fifteen years, and a doubling clause makes lenders nervous and can be expensive to fix later. If its RPI-linked thats generally fine.

On the ex-council one, echoing the planned-works point - ask the council as freeholder, in writing and before you offer, whether any section 20 major works are planned or being consulted on. You learned the hard way on the first flat that agents wont always volunteer this stuff, and councils are no better.

For what its worth, the top-floor view flat is the one I would find it hard to forget. You can replace a kitchen. You cant replace that skyline.

SeikoAlpinist

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82167087#Comment_82167087

Thanks - we went with the newer build one in the end, but that's a helpful tip on the ground rent, will have a look today. That said, I think the govt confirmed during party conference season that it will be capped at £250 during 2027 as they commence the relevant bits of LAFRA 2024 - so hopefully that cap comes in before any increase!

And fully agree on the things that really matter - we added columns to our spreadsheet for things like distance from station, and notes on the feel, light, proximity to green spaces, etc. They both came out fairly even (except that view, which we now won't get!).

In the end it was caution about some of the potential cost / works issues mentioned in this thread about ex-council blocks where the vast majority still belong to the council, plus the fact that the newer one is pristine and nicely fitted out (where the ex-council one would have needed new carpet, white goods, re-painting, etc) that swung it. We're both really busy and in reality it would have been quite a lot for us to take on, I think - not to mention the cost. Doesn't hurt that the newer one also has a 110-year lease where the ex-council one has 99 years left.

poseidon1

OP you should consider late 2027 for implementation of the £250 cap as aspirational rather than set in stone. Late 2028 remains the officially recognised roll out year.

The Burnham commitment to enact the Reform Bill during the current parliamentary session does not equate to establishing a firm implementation date, especially since the Freeholders legal appeal against the abolition of ground rents is not slated to be heard until April 2027 .

They are still fighting this, and it would be inappropriate for the Government to pre empt the outcome of the appeal. The wheels of legislative change in England turns painfully slowly.

https://lease-advice-bureau.co.uk/ground-rent-cap-brought-forward-2027/

KittenChops

I think I would investigate the energy costs more, for the newer flat

OP originally said "Underfloor, air-source heat pump heating throughout the building"

Then OP said "We did ask about the heating and they said the vendor had no problem choosing whichever energy provider they liked - there's a huge futuristic-looking machine thing in there, where I would expect to find a boiler, so guess it's not actually communal and that's a heat pump for that flat? No idea how heat pumps work so didn't realise you could do that"

I'm wondering if the choice of energy provider is for the electricity consumed within the flat - then there's a separate 'communal network heating' charge, over which you have no control & is not subject to the price cap?

SeikoAlpinist

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82167278#Comment_82167278

thanks for the tip. The breakdown of the service charge includes £8k a year for communal electricity, which I would hope includes heating those spaces, but who knows! So many of the service charge figures look arbitrary and high tbh. e.g. £4.5k a year on lift maintenance for a ~13 year-old lift in a four storey building. But saw similar on other leasehold service charge breakdowns in blocks of flats run by management companies, seems to be pretty much the norm.