Leasehold- How much should I be paying ground rent (for flat in Barry Road)?

[foxtrot]

Hi Anyone who can help!

-A 2 bed ground floor flat on Barry rd, has a charge of ?800 per year which includes building insurance, ground rent and communal service charge. Does this seem reasonable?

Thanks very much any advice appreciated!

k

[Jeremy]

Sounds fine to me. In fact, ?1000 for that lot wouldn't be unreasonable.

[reetpetite]

I pay almost that amount for a 2 bed 2nd floor ex Council flat so that sounds about right.

[sophiesofa]

I pay nearly ?800 for just the buildings insurance on my 2 bed flat but that's because the previous owner made 2 claims. Maybe ask how much the insurance is to see if the maintanance bit is fair but it sounds reasonable to me.

[foxtrot]

Golly Gosh this thing is brilliant- Thanks so much for replying everyone! :0))))

[Loz]

I thought you were moving to St Francis Road?? Have you abandoned us? :))

[sazzle]

Hi K,

I live in a fairly new flat. My ground rent is ?100 a year and i think the freeholder can set this amount, but i would imagine this is just a minor part of your charge. My service charges are closer to ?1500 so it seems very reasonable.

Might be worth checking if they have what is sometimes called a 'sinking fund' i think where excess on teh service charges goes into a pot to help pay for future works. Also worth checking if there are any works planned for the near future so you are prepared.

Saz

[MrBen]

I agree - thats well within the range. If your ground rent is say 250 and buildings insurance (approx 250-270 for a converted flat's share of a 1, 2 or 3 story building, then you are still paying 300 for service so make sure that you get some. They are obliged to show what that Service charge is covering e.g. cleaning costs for communal area, their admin time to sort out the insurance, handling a break in.

You can get pretty anal and legally demand receipts etc before you pay it. Also for any work needing done you can get your own quote and they are obliged to use a cheaper one if you can find it - all info and you rights as a leaseholder can be found at www.lease-advice.org

Or take my approach and decide life's to short and just pay it if it's reasonable -which your's is. Owning sub prime residential freeholds is a weird business run by even weirder people- I've run through the business model before and yet to see how anyone can make any reasonable money out of it!

[James Barber]

Do make sure you have a 'sinking fund' so that over time quite an amount is set aside for expensive items like new roofs.

Suddenly getting a bill for ?10,000 each without a 'sinking fund' to cover it is very painful.

Saying that councils aren't allowed to have 'sinking funds' for its leaseholders.

[AcedOut]

Isn't that what insurance is supposed to cover?

[sophiesofa]

Insurance doesn't cover just worn out/old roofs does it? Genuine question, I'm not being sarcastic.

[Jeremy]

AcedOut Wrote:

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> Isn't that what insurance is supposed to cover?

Nope, insurance doesn't cover general wear and tear.