Buying a leasehold flat. Help needed.

This is my second leasehold flat in a private house of 3 to 6 flats. We manage ourselves therefore have no costs on a Property Management Company. We decide the level of service charge and pay £80 per month per flat and are trying to save up as much as possible due to roof and driveway costs which are huge.

I would love to move into a sheltered accommodation near here. The flats are easily affordable but the service charge is £280 per month which is a bit high for me.

My DD bought a leasehold flat in London and had no problem as it was owned by a very good housing association. I would have thought a freehold flat could present more problems as it is not managed.

I've looked into moving into over 60s flats and every one is lease hold . Having had bad neighbour problems I thought it would be the best option as there would be a manager to help if there were any issues . I've never found an over 60s which is freehold sadly .

It's a difficult choice , sell and move into a freehold flat and concerns over noisy partying neighbours or buy over 60s leasehold in the hope of a nicer standard of living

My flat is leasehold, and I have had no problems.
Probably because it's an ex council flat and the other reason is that I don't understand any of that other stuff

Walk away … recently my daughter managed to sell hers …. Paying huge service charges but no work done to repair roof etc …. Management company went bust lost all funds … still leaking roof …. Stay with freehold

Walk away, don’t buy any property that is Leasehold.

I sold my leasehold flat 2.5 years ago . It was leasehold and I’d never buy leasehold again.

Management fees were very high going up each year and problems took months to resolve, they just wanted the money. My ground rent stayed the same at £200 a year but I heard it was going up the year after I sold.

I would pull out and buy a flat with a freehold definitely

Walk away now

Let me know if I can help further Cathy. You can always send me a pm if you like. I understand the appeal of a flat in your situation but you can do better than this.

Also look online at the "Leasehold Advisory Service". Full disclosure I haven't used it myself but it's "government funded independent advice" so hopefully something useful there.

Thank you both.

I don’t post very often but check in most days. I was hoping you would see this Germanshepherdsmum as I felt you would have be able to help me.

I have bought and sold several leasehold flats. You need a good solicitor for any property transaction but particularly for leasehold.
Broadly speaking I think all leases can be different with different conditions in them.
Any doubts you should ask your Solicitor and if they can't or won't provide you with a satisfactory answer(i.e. one you can fully understand) then change them.
Try and enlist a trusted friend to "run things past" for the process.
You have clearly read and understood the Ground Rent conditions.
I don't recall a set period for reviewing the Service Charges (SCs) . That is because S Cs often are reviewed annually and change annually based on the actual expenditure for the year divided by the number of leaseholders involved plus a standing "management fee" that is a wage for the Managing Agent(usually employed by the Freeholder) to do his job.
What the service charge may include varies from property to property. One (miniscule) London flat I had nearly 30 years ago supplied heating centrally so that cost was included in the Service Charge.Maintenance and Cleaning of the common parts of the building are also often included in the SC.
Good Luck

Your daughter is correct that the restrictions on escalating ground rents apply only to new leases.

Walk away. This doubling of ground rent every 21 years or so is iniquitous. It was ‘the fashion’ with house builders from around the 80s until very recently and people bought without doing the maths. And service charges can be enormous. If you like the look of another leasehold property, before making an offer ask to see the lease and ask what the current service charge is. Show the lease to your solicitor (money well spent). Don’t touch a lease with an escalating ground rent, and your solicitor will advise whether the time left to run is becoming such that you will need to pay for extra years for it to be saleable. Unfortunately you don’t get to see all the management information without paying a fee to the management company and that will happen after an offer has been accepted - nasties to look out for there include expenditure anticipated in the near future without a sufficient sinking fund to cover it - and other leaseholders being in arrears with their service charges. I have never bought a leasehold property, and never will.

Thank you all for your replies.

I spoke to my daughter earlier and she said she thought there was some legislation brought in last year to stop those things happening. I have spent the afternoon googling and it seems there was . But only on new leaseholds. As I understand it .

I thought that the service charges and ground rent would be offset by me not having so many outgoings. Large garden, tall hedges, boiler servicing, having to run a car etc.
I shall sleep on it but suspect I shall pull out of the purchase.

My son had a leasehold flat but the extortionate increase in maintenance charges year by year made it unsustainable for him.

I think there was some recent legislation regarding this issue which prevented the massive hikes on leaseholds underway afew years ago.
I have always had freehold properties but know people who were exploited in this way and in the end the outcry made changes.
The percentage rate may have been capped but I think you are right to check the small print. Maybe CAB can help, if you can find one...

I wouldn't want a leasehold property because of the horror stories about the extra costs that can quickly multiply which the leaseholder can do nothing about.