Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Dear all,


I own a flat which occupies the upper floor of a property. The flat below is owned by the council which, as the most recent tenant has left, the council have offered to sell to us (inc the freehold of the entire property). I expect to receive the council's valuation in the next few weeks.


Now, I doubt we could ever afford to buy it even if I wished to. But, I wondered whether anyone had experience of this kind of situation and whether there were any particular pitfalls that I should be aware of. Is buying from the council the same as buying privately - will the council massively over-value?


Thank you for looking at my very hypothetical situation.


Bug

I thought it was more usual to sell them to existing tenants, not to someone who doesn't even live in it. If they do that they usually go to auction. It would certainly be worth owning the freehold. Have you lived there long and had to deal with the council as regards to repairs to the outside yet?

Bug Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Dear all,

>

> I own a flat which occupies the upper floor of a

> property. The flat below is owned by the council

> which, as the most recent tenant has left, the

> council have offered to sell to us (inc the

> freehold of the entire property). I expect to

> receive the council's valuation in the next few

> weeks.

>

> Now, I doubt we could ever afford to buy it even

> if I wished to. But, I wondered whether anyone

> had experience of this kind of situation and

> whether there were any particular pitfalls that I

> should be aware of. Is buying from the council

> the same as buying privately - will the council

> massively over-value?

>

> Thank you for looking at my very hypothetical

> situation.

>

> Bug



I bought my grandmother's house in Kennington many years ago from the Council, they came in with a valuation, which I then negotiated down by ?17,000....


I would not accept the first price...I think they need money and it puts you in a good bargaining position.

I think what has happened here is that the council have decided to sell the empty flat- and they own the freehold too. Under law they have to offer the freehold to other leaseholders first- they might mention the 1987 Housing Act? ie you get first stab at it. Try www.lease-advice.org to see if this sounds familiar. One of the reasons may be that the flat or the whold building needs a lot or work - think about things like services, asbestos- which an estate agent might not pick up on.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • He seemed to me to be fully immersed in the Jeremy Corbyn ethos of the Labour Party. I dint think that (and self describing as a Marxist) would have helped much when Labour was changed under Starmer. There was a purge of people as far left as him that he was lucky to survive once in my opinion.   Stuff like this heavy endorsement of Momentum and Corbyn. It doesn't wash with a party that is in actual government.   https://labourlist.org/2020/04/forward-momentum-weve-launched-to-change-it-from-the-bottom-up/
    • I perceive the problem.simply as spending too much without first shoring up the economy.  If the government had reduced borrowing,  and as much as most hate the idea, reduced government deiartment spending (so called austerity) and not bowed to union pressures for pay rises, then encouraged businesses to grow, extra cash would have entered the coffers and at a later stage when the economy was in a stronger position rises in NI or taxes would have a lesser impact, but instead Reeves turned that on its head by increasing ni which has killed growth, increased prices and shimmied the economy.  What's worse is that the perceived 20 billion black hole has increased to 30 billion in a year. Is there a risk that after 5 years it could be as high as 70 billion ???     
    • That petition is bananas.   If you want a youth centre there pay the landlord the same rent a Londis would and build it yourself or shut the f**k up to be honest. Wasting our MPs time with this trivial nonsense is appalling. If your kids are still out at 1am on a school night you've got bigger problems than vapes and booze and hot sausage rolls. 
    • There used to be a better baker than Gail's on the same site immediately before Gail's pulled their financial muscle.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...