talk to me about flats.

Glaucus

Glaucus

Glaucus

Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
Posts
76,678
I'm coming round to the idea of buying a flat, mainly as I don't need much room, its less work to do up and flip in 3~years time for another project house, and it'll be ~£50 less than my current rent. It also means I can continue to go traveling and not get bogged down with large mortgagee repayments, which is a huge bonus in my book.

Am I mad?
These are normal houses converted in to two flats. The garden I would own. How does the building and maintenance/damage work to the building, like leaky roof etc.
On the other hand, worried about how much I could sell a flat for when it comes to move on.

What sort of things should I be looking at and asking. They need redecorating, which is how I want it, so I can chisel cables etc into the walls. Obviously if the boiler needs doing it would be a "big expense"
 
Glaucus said:
I'm coming round to the idea of buying a flat, mainly as I don't need much room, its less work to do up and flip in 3~years time for another project house, and it'll be ~£50 less than my current rent. It also means I can continue to go traveling and not get bogged down with large mortgagee repayments, which is a huge bonus in my book.

Am I mad?
These are normal houses converted in to two flats. The garden I would own. How does the building and maintenance/damage work to the building, like leaky roof etc.
On the other hand, worried about how much I could sell a flat for when it comes to move on.

What sort of things should I be looking at and asking. They need redecorating, which is how I want it, so I can chisel cables etc into the walls. Obviously if the boiler needs doing it would be a "big expense"
Click to expand...

If it was me, I wouldn't touch one unless it was to rent out, and then I'd have second thoughts. Not sure what they are like now but my Aunt had a flat 6 or 7 years ago and she couldn't shift it. I think it took her 18 months to sell. Guessing this depends on the area, big city flat will be much easier to shift than one in Stoke!

Can't really help you on the "maintenance" of the building but when it comes to asking things, there is another thread that has just popped up.

If you aren't sure on the boiler, get somebody to check it for you. It'll cost £50 - £100 but you'll know and can then offer accordingly.
 
Black Dynamite said:
Not sure what they are like now but my Aunt had a flat 6 or 7 years ago and she couldn't shift it. I think it took her 18 months to sell. Guessing this depends on the area, big city flat will be much easier to shift than one in Stoke!
Click to expand...

Yeah, it really depends on the area. When my partner and I sold our flats to buy a house together, hers went within hours of going on the market, mine went a week later. They were both in London though.

The problem with maisonette flats is that it's not always obvious who is responsible for things like leaking roofs. You've just got to look into what the leasehold says. Maisonette flats can be great but the experience really depends on who owns the other flat. Get a nightmare neighbour and you're screwed.
 
If it's share of freehold then it's a bit easier to swallow, maintain and shift (come to sell). If it's not, it's a pain.

Also, if it's in an area saturated with flats, it will be virtually impossible to sell and must have something that differentiates it from other flats in the area.

The flat we recently sold went to an investment couple who were going to rent it out. Our flat was purpose built, new, and had good fittings throughout (bar the kitchen, which was OK). We vamped it a bit with some additional cupboards and built in sliding wardrobes, etc. Thing is, we had no real view and overlooked a road. On the other side of the road were many properties of similar ilk. However, they were dual aspect and at the rear, overlooked beautiful gardens (council) with gates straight out onto the gardens.

Whilst our flat was newer, better equipped, larger and had underground parking, it went for only marginally more than a smaller, older flat on the other side of the road.
 
Your service charge will be whatever the two of you decide it should be (two, being the flat owners, assuming two in the house))

It's worth setting aside some money each month for things you would like to do, and also for emergencies, but everything is shared in most respects. It should be a lot cheaper than the equivalent maintenance from a purpose built leasehold
 
Glaucus said:
I'm assuming there is no service charge as its not a block, just a converted house. With each flat owned freehold.
Click to expand...

Unless its in Scotland its unlikely that the flat is freehold as mortgage companies don't tend to lend on freehold flats. There is a big risk that the individual in the flat above does not maintain their structure appropriately which could damage your property.


Usually converted properties are leasehold with a share of freehold so that there is a legal entity with responsibility for maintaining the structure.
 
garak112 said:
Unless its in Scotland its unlikely that the flat is freehold as mortgage companies don't tend to lend on freehold flats. There is a big risk that the individual in the flat above does not maintain their structure appropriately which could damage your property.


Usually converted properties are leasehold with a share of freehold so that there is a legal entity with responsibility for maintaining the structure.
Click to expand...

What? freehold / leasehold has no bearing on a mortgage. A mid storey townhouse, by this assumption, would be impossible to mortgage if this were the case.

A mortgaged property is met with a buildings insurance requirement. If there is no mortgage on the flat above / side / whatever, then a maintenance company should be formed of which both (all) freehold parties are directors to oversee such issues.
 
Plenty of converted terraced houses in my area that were changed into flats in the 60s etc. Basically both own the freehold with ground floor flat having access to front garden and both flats sharing the back yard with the upstairs only having access from the back yard.

I don't know what the situation goes but I guess it can be tricky when it comes to fixing gutters and replacing roofs etc.
 
Duke said:
In most converted houses to flats, you will be lucky not to hear your neighbours.
Click to expand...

my downstairs neighbours in this maisonette sound like they are just in another room of my flat lol..

when they argue it's like it's someone in my house :eek:

when ever the side neighbours are chopping/stirring tea the thud noise of the worktop comes through like it's my own kitchen almost. (they must be able to hear the thuds of me typing which must drive them mad but no one has complained in the year I've lived here

I have 5.1 speakers for my pc but set them to 2.1 and turned the bass all the way down for this reason which *****

I know for a fact when I have sex the neighbours will be able to hear the smallest of noises from the mattress which kinda weirds me out.
sometimes I hear the next door neighbours mobile phone alarm going off in their bedroom and it's about as loud as my phone alarm would be under the duvet lol.
ironically I never hear them having sex but they are on the end of the block so probably do it in the furthest room from anyone else like smart people.

some purpose built flats are brilliant but even ones designed to be like this often have crap separating walls just like a regular dividing wall in your house seemingly.


This place must have been built in the 70's or 80s so you would expect more :| , I also lived in a high-rise block of flats once on the seventh floor and you could never hear the neighbours but I hated when it was really windy and you could feel the small movements of the building
 
Last edited:
Buy a house to rennovate, flats suck.

No use selling up and moving to save £50 a month, if that is a significant amount to you then I'd seriously question whether you can afford a project house.
 
Duke said:
In most converted houses to flats, you will be lucky not to hear your neighbours.
Click to expand...

Indeed!
New flats are fantastic for that. Lived in a new build block of flats and never heard the neighbours above, below or next door.

Older flats and house converted can be a real pain, and the neighbours don't even have to be noisy, it just sounds like they are in the worst cases.
 
As mentioned need to look into service charges.

Check if its leasehold or freehold.

If its leasehold you need to check lease length and entitlements, if its a short lease mortgages can be an issue.

If its freehold you need to check if its an upside down freehold (you are in the bottom flat but own the freehold of the top flat) sometimes its done like this to try to encourage people to maintain the overall building better.

Is there a set service charge? Or is work divided up between the two flats? The problem been that while no service charge sounds good if the other flat doesn't want to contribute to any work required you could face having to pay for all the work and having to fight the other party to get money out of them.

As far as general condition and work required its no different than any other property, get a survey and haggle price based on the amount of work required.
 
pitchfork said:
Buy a house to rennovate, flats suck.

No use selling up and moving to save £50 a month, if that is a significant amount to you then I'd seriously question whether you can afford a project house.
Click to expand...

Its not saving just £50 a month.

Flat £375ish house £650ish (if they even give me enough for a house).
Current rent £425
 
Glaucus said:
Its not saving just £50 a month.

Flat £375ish house £650ish (if they even give me enough for a house).
Current rent £425
Click to expand...

I was under the impression you were already a homeowner.

You'll not save when comparing to a rented property, home ownership comes with more costs - maintenance, repairs, insurance etc. That basically negate and reductions in the core cost of your accommodation.

Check the other thread for what to look at when buying. In particular you'll want to ask about the fire and soundproofing - if you need to fireboard and (preferably) sound board up the ceiling then it's big bucks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom