[Help] Hidden expenses of buying property?

[Elbow750]

The age of the property and type are very important here. A purpose built flat will have be very different to a house converted into flats. Old properties, including flat conversions, with solid walls can be very cold and expensive to heat. Modern flats can be pokey with small windows but toasty warm in winter. Flats built in the 1970's and 80's could have poor insulation and need new windows etc. The EPC will help but buyer beware.

A mate or connection in the building trade is invaluable when viewing property. They work on them all the time and know the weaknesses of different types.

A surveyor (work colleague) put me off buying a nice Victorian 2 bed terrace in Lewes by jumping up and down on the floors and declaring they were too 'springy' which meant the floor joists were loose which would be expensive to fix. I'd have never thought of that. But its the first thing I do when viewing a property now. If the owner or estate agent gets funny then beware because you should be able to jump up and down on the floor without it moving and indeed disturbing the people below.

Also watch out for walls made of bungaroosh in older properties in Brighton Lewes and Worthing. If they get too damp they can fall apart quickly and land you with horrendous bills. Google it if you're not sure, and good luck.

 

[Fungus]

My old house was built in 1730, the only cavity was the living room . . . Walls were over a foot thick

THe current Zefarelly Towers is the first house I've had with cavity walls!

Lucky they hadn't invented mobile phones in 1730

 

[cloud]

If it's a flat, look into when the next service charges are due, and how much they will be (could be thousands).
Any permits such as parking permit
Buildings and contents insurance, which is payable from exchange of contracts.
Basic DIY materials such as tool kit, stepladder, torch, buckets, matches etc
Possible re-connection fees for gas or phone

 

[pocketseagull]

If it's a flat, look into when the next service charges are due, and how much they will be (could be thousands).

Service charge is pretty minimal tbf and the purchase is for a share of freehold which seems to be rare as hens teeth but may be an added risk?

 

[The Grockle]

I've got no experience of buying a flat but rented a flat in a block that was a converted house (Jimmy Tarbuck's house at one time)

It had a whole host of problems and the owners had shared responsibility, it needed a new roof, chimney needed replacing and lots of smaller issues then after the work was quoted at over 170k the balconies were condemned and needed removing, I hate to think what the final bill was as we moved out.

Our poor elderly neighbour hadn't bothered with a survey and was constantly stressed and in tears. It was heartbreaking.

I'm not sure if there's an ounce of useful information in my post but I'd get the most thorough survey you can afford because my neighbours were going through absolute hell for years.

 

[Zeberdi]

We are in the process of buying a new place atm. Everything including solicitor fees, stamp duty, search fees, surveys, land registration and everything for selling our house and buying the new one is around £15k.

a significant majority chunk of that £15k is presumably estate agent fees for the selling of your house (which the OP will not have if a first time buyer) and double the legal fees (which always include all searches, registration anyway) - ie one lot of legal fees for selling and one lot for buying so not really a helpful comparison for the OP ( - The OP wont need to pay nearly that if he is not in a chain (ie not selling). The estate agent fees furthermore can easily be up to 2% of value of sale plus sometimes ‘hidden’ extras not included on the quote such as brochure and ‘additional marketing’ - If you go with multi agency that could be higher.

As far as the OP‘s interest - it may be worth speaking to the solicitor to enquire if any other flat owners already have a share of the freehold then put in an offer for the freehold of the flat you are buying. It will be a more complicated and not a service a cheap online bucket shop conveyancing firm will provide but will save you from unscrupulous freeholders and high maintenance fees further down the road.

A straightforward purchase of a flat for a fully qualified local solicitor should come in as a fixed fee under £1,000 (inc all searches etc). I may be biased as I worked in a local conveyancing firm of solicitors for several years after graduating law school but I really wouldn’t recommend an online solicitor company, they were a nightmare for my buyer and nearly lost me my sale and purchase because they put his deposit into the wrong client account so wasn‘t there on the day we completed ! They also failed to respond to any of my solicitor’s letters and although an online service can streamline things they are useless if things go wrong. Also there is a lot of backwards and forwards of documents to be signed etc - if you use a local firm, it makes it much easier and safer to drop things off at the reception or chase them when things are going to slow.

Moving costs - depends on whether you are moving fully furnished contents from your existing property (ie the cubic footage of belongings to be moved) or starting more or less from scratch and also the distance you are moving, accessibility of the properties etc - you can box and pack everything yourself and either hire a Luton for a few hours (which will be much cheaper obviously even with the cost of insurance ) or book a removal firm for the day which could set you back anything from £250 upwards depending on the above but shop around for quotes and make sure they are fully certified and insured if using a removal firm.

 

[Justice]

Surely that's a cost to the seller ? Much like an EPC.

No the purchaser pays and normally depending on what I find let’s say a complete rewire the seller then deducts the cost of the work from the selling price. Sometimes if upgrades are under £1k say the seller may swallow it to push the sale on.
I did a recent one for a rather famous actor let’s just say he took an age to square me up. I had to speak to his team ffs.

 

[Live by the sea]

You certainly need a solicitor but you don’t have to go with a local one. Everything is done online these days so there is no excuse for regionally differentiated pricing. In Brighton their fees will be over inflated. Ring around for quotes. I would always pay for a survey and if it’s a flat then get the whole building surveyed as well as you will be liable for a portion of repairs. You also need to factor in stamp duty.

I would add ,pretty much all my experiences with online conveyancers have been poor . They have been slow to respond to the other side and often don’t seem to anticipate things. It’s also hard to get to speak to an individual, when I was chain chasing that was super frustrating.

Local solicitors tend to mainly know each other and matters are often dealt with much more swiftly. The 3 quickest transactions I did were all local acting for both sides . One was done in a week albeit cash buyer and vendor was going into rented .

Just my experience although I have done well over 250 property sales .

 

[Live by the sea]

The age of the property and type are very important here. A purpose built flat will have be very different to a house converted into flats. Old properties, including flat conversions, with solid walls can be very cold and expensive to heat. Modern flats can be pokey with small windows but toasty warm in winter. Flats built in the 1970's and 80's could have poor insulation and need new windows etc. The EPC will help but buyer beware.

A mate or connection in the building trade is invaluable when viewing property. They work on them all the time and know the weaknesses of different types.

A surveyor (work colleague) put me off buying a nice Victorian 2 bed terrace in Lewes by jumping up and down on the floors and declaring they were too 'springy' which meant the floor joists were loose which would be expensive to fix. I'd have never thought of that. But its the first thing I do when viewing a property now. If the owner or estate agent gets funny then beware because you should be able to jump up and down on the floor without it moving and indeed disturbing the people below.

Also watch out for walls made of bungaroosh in older properties in Brighton Lewes and Worthing. If they get too damp they can fall apart quickly and land you with horrendous bills. Google it if you're not sure, and good luck.

Absolutely with many purpose built block built in the 1970’s, 1980’s and up to around 1995 . Insulation very poor . You can often hear talking next door and tv etc . Bit like living in a hotel . I’ve had done first hand experience of this . I would never buy a purpose built flat constructed over the time period . Conversions have more character and charm & usually less neighbours.

 

[Normal Rob]

With no disrespect to anyone, I always find that on matters like these you get so much (scary) advice and feedback that you enter into a form of decision paralysis.
I don’t think I'd ever have moved had I read this beforehand.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Service charge is pretty minimal tbf and the purchase is for a share of freehold which seems to be rare as hens teeth but may be an added risk?

No it’s not. This is actually preferable as it means the leaseholders have control over the freehold and the management of the freehold.

 

[zefarelly]

Lucky they hadn't invented mobile phones in 1730

They didn't work in there In 2001.

I had an Omsung Pijin.

 

[Elbow750]

With no disrespect to anyone, I always find that on matters like these you get so much (scary) advice and feedback that you enter into a form of decision paralysis.
I don’t think I'd ever have moved had I read this beforehand.

It's all about having the right information to make a good decision. As others have said get a good survey and if there are faults then price them in. Leasehold ground rents, heating, maintenance and repair costs can all add up too. If a flat is cold, noisy and expensive to run then it should be cheaper, but estate agents and sellers will always try and max out the sale price.

Overall its much cheaper and better to buy your home rather than rent for ever, but there can be nasty shocks which are best avoided. OP was asking for advice on these extra costs.......

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

I have recently bought a share of freehold flat, my costs were:

EICR Report: 168
Homebuyers Survey: 540
Local Search: 181
Notice Fee for Share of Freehold: 120
Registration Fee for Share of Freehold: 160

I got the conveyancing done for free through knowing people.

I would ask the sellers Agent for recent accounts for the freehold/leasehold company, an itinary of any works that have recently been carried out on the building, or any anticipated substantial works that need to be carried out on the building within the next few years. Also if there is any deficit in the accounts that need to be made up.

A good solicitor would seek this information for you but if they do not ask them too as you might be able to chip a bit off the asking price.