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

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verywell said:
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.
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Can you really not see how it's a bit of a useless question without some context to narrow it down a bit?

In a similar vein:

How much should a car cost? - Are we talking a brand new Ferrari, or a 20 year old rust bucket you want to turn into a fire pit?
How much should I pay for some food? - A penny sweet or a 15 course menu from a Michelin star chef?
What should I get a living entity for its birthday? - Your mum? 10 year old cousin? Girlfriend? Hamster?
 
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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.
 
Vexr said:
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.
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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.
 
Honestly, if you are coming from aboard without any other people to live in the same place, it may be worth looking at sharing for a while. You can sample different areas and the life style for that area, the housing market isn't easy to enter or exit in the uk, the last thing you want to be doing is buying a place then being forced to live a certain life style.

There's certain areas in the UK where you don't really need to drive as public transport will get you by, mainly big cities; while there are other areas that driving is a must. Likewise with work, certain areas of the uk have more of certain job roles than others, there's more bar staff work near holiday places while trying to find a job in "cyber" is near impossible around there. If you're planning to mainly work from home, you may want something a bit bigger; I would hate working from home if I didn't have a spare room/office which I close the door to every evening, else I would just have monitors and computers everywhere.

Even if I was to move to Scotland, I would struggle to know what the price is for decent house/flat in an area, or even if I want to live in the area.

I moved home towns a few times, twice as a student so I was forced to move to a certain area, and given the choice I wouldn't have wanted to live in one of the cities, the second one was much neary to home but far more expensive so I ended up living in a rough area.

I moved around my home town a few times, then I got a job somewhere where I had a job prevously for 3 years and the traveling got a bit too much, so I knew what it was like before moving there, then I moved to Manchester; I had family living here already and knew certain areas, so I rented in one of the areas that I knew...
 
A strange opening question 'where to buy a flat in the UK'. Normally when people come here they come for work or to be near family so they know the general area or county they want to live in but the way you put it's pretty much open ended.

If your like a looking to live here and work then all best places are around London as that's where the money is. You can get a decent one bed place for around £200k give or take. If you just want something that's dirty cheap and don't mind living in crap areas then yes places like Aberdeen or Birmingham might be suitable for you.
 
Just sold mine in Tunbridge Wells for just shy of 240k. That’s probably just above average for a 1 bed here though. We do have London rail links and it is a fairly big town.

200k would be enough I would think for most places though.
 
Cleisthenes said:
Just sold mine in Tunbridge Wells for just shy of 240k. That’s probably just above average for a 1 bed here though. We do have London rail links and it is a fairly big town.

200k would be enough I would think for most places though.
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The mind boggles at Southern prices. Our 3-bed detached house with rear garden and front parking for 2 cars cost just over £250k a couple of years ago. We're on the outskirts of the Liverpool area so away from the worst of the rats with good rail links back into Liverpool and motorway junction 2 minutes down the road.

Now I don't doubt Tunbridge Wells is probably a nicer area than the grim north, but still... :eek:
 
squerble said:
The mind boggles at Southern prices. Our 3-bed detached house with rear garden and front parking for 2 cars cost just over £250k a couple of years ago. We're on the outskirts of the Liverpool area so away from the worst of the rats with good rail links back into Liverpool and motorway junction 2 minutes down the road.

Now I don't doubt Tunbridge Wells is probably a nicer area than the grim north, but still... :eek:
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Proximity to London will play a big part, and the salaries available due to that.
 
squerble said:
The mind boggles at Southern prices. Our 3-bed detached house with rear garden and front parking for 2 cars cost just over £250k a couple of years ago. We're on the outskirts of the Liverpool area so away from the worst of the rats with good rail links back into Liverpool and motorway junction 2 minutes down the road.

Now I don't doubt Tunbridge Wells is probably a nicer area than the grim north, but still... :eek:
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Same. Our 3 bed detached cost 260 in 2020.
Can't imagine moving somewhere and having to live in a flat for same money.
 
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