Ooh I forgot to ask about the length of the lease. It's ex council, does that make any difference?
length of the lease does - there's something of a threshold at 80 years which means lenders don't want to touch it, so if it's close to that now, selling may be difficult as it gets closer / once it goes under that.
unless you're intentionally buying on short lease now with a view to extending the lease at a later stage when finances allow
ex council isn't usually a big issue, although some people won't want to buy an ex council place more through snobbery than anything else. people do have a fear of a 'council tenant' moving in upstairs / next door, but council housing departments are probably more geared up to dealing with anti-social behaviour than buy-to-let merchants who don't really care so long as they are getting paid.
some councils are better than others at handling leaseholders - as i think i've said, mine is pretty reasonable. some seem to be twunts who see leaseholders as cash cows
I did ask about the ground rent and service charge. One was about £300 and the other was £15.
worth trying to get something in writing before you get in to the realms of making offers and getting surveys and everything done - although agent will put disclaimers that your solicitor needs to get formal confirmation of that - not sure if agents actually look at legal documents or whether their position is 'this is what the seller has told us but you need to sort that out in the conveyancing process'
and also whether either have clauses where they go up - some rip-off developers sneak something in like it doubles every 10 years. councils are less likely to try that sort of shit.
also worth asking whether any notice of intended major works has been issued to the current leaseholder (again the estate agent may say they don't know but can't guarantee that)
What she said was that the first time was an investor and his partner and the partner pulled out. And the second time the buyer couldn't get a big enough mortgage (something like that?)
hmm - could be entirely innocent, could be that one or both found something nasty, or the second buyer's lender didn't like the survey / valuation report
I don't think there is a lift. There are only four floors and the bottom two are the flat I'm looking at.
means there could be kitchen or living room above your bedroom which means noise.
You're looking at about £100-200 for a new bath, £50-100 for a mixer tap + cost of a plumber to fit it.
and possibly something for tiling up to the level a shower would be at. three tiles isn't going to come up to the level it will get wet at if you have a shower.
