How much should a small decent flat cost in the UK?

[verywell]

If the flat in question is
- very small, one-bedroom, -- just for a single individual, with a neat bathroom;
- probably old, but rather clean and not requiring expensive repairs;
- not supposed to require high taxes and annual service fees;
- located in England, but not in London or other big cities;
- property type is leasehold or freehold;
- ownership is not shared,
how much should it cost?

Of course, there are sites like "Zoopla", but there are flats meeting these criteria that cost, for example, £ 50 000 or £ 150 000, and, as a foreigner, I have a hard time figuring out the difference. Are there typically any hidden issues with cheap flats? I'd appreciate someone enlighten me on the veracious average cost of such a small, clean flat. Thank you.

 

[verywell]

Concerning.

e: Mods? Mods!

May I please clarify, why? Why concerning?

 

[verywell]

i don't really have much knowledge but i would be looking at how much fixed those service and maintenance charges could be raised ,this flat near the ocean for instance is freehold but the land around is maintained by a management company at 1100 a year

Thanks for the suggestion. In this particular case, do you believe the price indicated in the listing is fair? As a foreigner, I'm not quite sure whether having the ocean in close proximity is a downside or the opposite. Also, the listing says "refurbishment is required"...

 

[verywell]

I hear there's cheap flats above the chippy in Aberdeen

Thanks for the tip. I noticed there're listings for quite a few cheap flats over there. The flats mostly look neat, and the buildings are OK, too... What could make them this affordable? Location in the northern part of the country may be?

 

[verywell]

it all depends on location, location, location.... what part of the UK? places in Wales are generally cheaper, what town or city? London is crazy prices compared to somewhere like Nottingham, then the area that the flat is in that town and city.

In most towns and cities there are great areas with catchment areas for highly rated schools and then there's the slums...

Figure out roughly where you want to live and see what type of area for that town/city that you can afford to live in.

I see. Good point. So if we talk location, for instance, the above suggested Aberdeen, -- is it considered a good area? Not living in a big city like London is a don't care to me. I prefer small cities. After all I can just commute to London on rare occasions, if need be. You also mentioned slums. How does one tell such places from better areas? Is it just unpleasant street views or being too remote from certain places of interest? Forgive me my ignorance..

 

[verywell]

Almost every flat in the UK will have an ongoing (monthly/annual) cost associated with the maintenance and management of shared spaces. These costs can be ridiculously high. The seaside flat above (the one that said refurbishment is required - means you will need to get work done to make it habitable) has £1100 a year, which isn't insignificant. And it will go up over time. Also, you do not own the land under your property. I would always recommend buying a house.

Yep, that flat needing refurbishment concerns me exactly in that sense, -- as a foreigner, I'll find it difficult to gather all needed resources to get that work done to make it habitable. As for the maintenance fee, -- yes, £1100 is quite steep. But which figure would you deem reasonable? Thank you.

 

[verywell]

Probably just their location.

You need to watch out for cladding https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cdg4kq5x60dt


Up north where I live flats seem to start around 50-60k and go all the way up to 250k which just seems like a joke when I look at the buildings from the outside.

Ideally you should probably find a city you like, and then goto that cities page on reddit and ask on there.

Where I live Newcastle Upon Tyne, people are kinda sick of Londoners asking about which area is the best to live etc.... so some places might be against helping you



Most areas of cities in the UK that have a bad rep, are living on a reputation they had in the 1990s and early 2000s.
in reality most of them will be quiet areas now

Just avoid the places they are dumping destitute migrants in.
they don't respect the areas
Poverty attracts crime and bin divers... literally see people bin diving in house hold waste these days... it's mental.

Thanks for warning me and thanks for the link. Didn't know about that.

I appreciate everyone's replies. I believe I should take time to do some research on which areas are preferred, as I see I'm starting to annoy people and they're about to (wrongfully) brand me a troll. Of course, they live in the UK and know everything about their country and my naive questions seem ridiculous to them and that's just the matter of perception, I take it.

I will resume discussion when I have done enough research. Thank you.

 

[verywell]

The UK leasehold system is an absolute minefield, and nearly all flats here are leasehold. This is one of those features of the UK that doesn't have a parallel in any other country as far as I know.

It is indeed unregulated, so a freeholder can charge you (the leaseholder) an unlimited amount in service charges. There are good freeholders and management companies who charge reasonable rates and do not attempt to take the ****, and there are those who will neglect properties and charge 10s of thousands in service charges.

If that wasn't bad enough, there are the following:
- Ground rent, which can include a doubling clause as part of leases every 5-10 years or so, with banks unwilling to provide mortgages on flats with a ground rent of over £250 last I heard
- Sub 80 year leases being subject to 'marriage value' if you want to extend the lease (necessary for retaining the property's value / mortgagability / reduce ground rent to a 'pepper corn')

On the plus side the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 was passed by the last government and was even approved in to law. Service charges will remain fully unregulated, but in theory the marriage value portion of leasehold extension will be eliminated, as will needing to pay your freeholders legal fees and other nasties.

The problem is the last government threw in the towel with an early election, and now we have a new exciting Labour government with its own vision and seemingly little interest in hashing out the details of how to implement the passed-into-law Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which was one of the few kindnesses our Tory government threw our way, so we're left in limbo.

One of the reasons some flats are so cheap / going straight to auction is because of a low amount of years left on their lease (and by low I mean sub-80 years). Some people try to extend their lease on a flat they bought for 50K, and find out it will take another 60K to get the +90 years added to make it a 'real' property again that can be re-sold.

Then there's the cladding issue. After Grenfell Tower, many flats were found to have the same cladding flammability issues. Leaseholders have had bills passed down to them for largely fictional 24 hour fire wardens, and many can expect a higher bill of say £20-50k per flat as a one off fee to finally get their cladding re-done. These flats are completely unsellable for this alone, outside leasehold issues, until the cladding issues are rectified. Some have even found themselves subject to evacuation orders for extended periods of time, so not only is their flat worthless, it's technically uninhabitable.

Having said all this, I own a leasehold flat. I've learned almost all of this after the purchase (don't rely on your solicitor to spell this all out for you lol). It's my first time buy. It's a helluva lot nicer than any freehold property (aka 1930s terraced house dungeon) I could've got for a similar price (aka +20% price, but offset by lack service charges etc). I will soon tackle the leasehold extension, whether the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is implemented or not, as the 80 year landmark of doom is looming.

I appreciate your kind and thorough response. So much useful information gathered in one place and all to the point, without name-calling or branding my question stupid (albeit, as a foreigner, I admit my approach being rather naive). Thank you.