OH MY, The Most Stunning Beautiful Property

Captain_Mainwaring_2

And the fur could fall out of his pu55y due to the vapour from the embalming fluid but he knows best. Call it a freehold and old Rachman will buy it without a second thought.

Bogof_Babe

We are shortly to complete on a leasehold flat, and on reading the seller's pack I see the outside of the whole building is arranged to be re-painted next month. To me that is great - I know all the flat owners will have to chip in for the cost, but not to have to arrange it all is a bonus. The management fee of £25 per month covers all minor expenditure involving the house and grounds (it is a converted Victorian building) - we just set up a DD and nothing further to worry about.

The only restrictions are things that we wouldn't want the other residents doing either - like playing loud music after 11.00 p.m. I feel protected by being a leaseholder, not restricted.

clobber_2

This thread is a great illustration of Clobber's Second Law - any thread on any forum can degenerate into an utter !!!!!fight at any time.

Chill pills all round. Gold star for Pastures for making me giggle though.

Kavanne

My mortgage advisor banned me from looking at anything above a shop....

I wouldn't risk it even if it was freehold!

Bought an amazing leasehold flat with garden + garage. I asked my solicitor what we needed permission for (i wanted to redecorate and do new carpets) he said fine, no need for that, it's only major structural work that needs permission (ie: we are thinking of removing a load bearing wall (properly obviously) at some time in the future and we'd need permission for that). Also I think we need permission for a sky dish but I imagine this will be done by me writing a letter 'Hi I would like to install Sky is that OK with you?' and them writing back saying 'sure'.

It's not that much hassle tbh... I'd rather have the perfect property at leasehold than settle for something not as good freehold (couldn't find anything like our place that was freehold).

narced

I don't really want to get involved in what appears to be a big spat but to the OP: there is nothing wrong with leasehold flats. The first flat I bought was a 2 bed in South Ealing on a 71 year leasehold. Not a problem with getting a mortgage and not a problem subsequently selling it on. It was an upstairs flat of what was originally a Victorian house, think about it, it could never be freehold, both parties need to maintain the building and the only way you can legally be sure of that is via leasehold.

In practise leasehold does not prevent you from doing anything reasonable - we stripped the floors, completely redecorated, replastered the ceilings. Ended up only staying there 18 months as we needed more space.

Fact is, its cheap because its a leasehold and some people have a hangup with that. On the other hand its a bargain to those that don't...

neverdespairgirl

matt99b wrote: »

I know what leashold is and don't think it's identical to renting. But it is in the ways that matter to us. We don't want to ask permission of landlords. If we buy we expect to own completely.

"freehold" isn't "owning completely", though. It's an estate in fee simple - the Queen owns all the land in theory.

You don't need to ask permission of the landlords to treat it as your home, it doesn't really work like that.

neverdespairgirl

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

Of course you wouldn't buy a flat for 375K, though people do - there is a 1 bedder close to me on for 500K if you want to moan like a spin drier.

500k for a flat? chicken feed, you can spend £4 million + on a flat in central London if you are so inclined (-:

neverdespairgirl

Kavanne wrote: »

My mortgage advisor banned me from looking at anything above a shop....

In central London, it's perfectly normal - we lived 3 floors above a cafe and dry cleaners, for example, in a flat theoretically worth over half a million quid.

f1re_cr4cker

our 1st place was a leasehold flat which we totally redoeorated on the inside- you dont need permission for cosmetic internal stuff like that although you generally arent allowed animals in leasehold flats and chances r you would never get permission to convert the garage anyway (even if it was freehold) as garages can only be converted if there is another designated parking space outside which im guessing might be unlikely outside a shop (although i am only guessing!!)

Kavanne

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

In central London, it's perfectly normal - we lived 3 floors above a cafe and dry cleaners, for example, in a flat theoretically worth over half a million quid.

I live in Southampton, that explains that then

(And PS Lucky you!!!)