snowychap Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 Leasehold first-time buyers: 'We're trapped in our own house' Quote "I just want to own my own home." Ashleigh Wilson, who's 27, thought she'd achieved that dream when she bought a place in Knowsley, Liverpool, four years ago. "I came to view the show home with my mum and I just fell in love with it." Four years on, she's in a home no-one will buy because of the strict rules on her lease - which charge her fees and stop her changing her floor tiles. A leasehold is when you own the right to live in a building but don't own the bricks or the ground it sits on. Now there's a consultation by the Law Commission on whether to scrap leasehold flats and houses. More than six million properties in England and Wales are leasehold, according to the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. And just under 40% of new-build homes sold in the last two years have been leasehold, the group says. ... more on link That's a quite astonishing stat, if correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted March 7, 2019 Moderator Share Posted March 7, 2019 4 minutes ago, snowychap said: Leasehold first-time buyers: 'We're trapped in our own house' That's a quite astonishing stat, if correct. Sounds about right tbh. An awful lot of the new build units have been multi-occupancy with associated annual building management fees etc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 3 minutes ago, bickster said: Sounds about right tbh. An awful lot of the new build units have been multi-occupancy with associated annual building management fees etc Ah, that makes more sense. I was looking at it in terms of new build housing estates with single dwellings so ignoring blocks of flats, &c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 20 hours ago, snowychap said: Ah, that makes more sense. I was looking at it in terms of new build housing estates with single dwellings so ignoring blocks of flats, &c. A lot of single dwellings were sold as leasehold. Not sure if the laws are now tighter but going back 10 years or so it was common for new estates to be leasehold My apartment is leasehold, but you expect that. Although in some plusher flats developments the leasehold is owned by the residents equally. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Xela said: A lot of single dwellings were sold as leasehold. Not sure if the laws are now tighter but going back 10 years or so it was common for new estates to be leasehold Sure, I understand all of that. I was just thinking of those estates where houses were sold as leasehold as making up that figure of just under 40% of new homes and why I was surprised. I think the point of the article is to say that it is increasingly common for houses on new build estates to be sold as leasehold. Factoring in new builds that ought to be leasehold (e.g. flats) was something I wasn't thinking about. Quote My apartment is leasehold, but you expect that. Although in some plusher flats developments the leasehold is owned by the residents equally. You mean the freehold in the second sentence, no? It's not just plusher flats - the flats in my mother's block (1970s ones) is leasehold but the leaseholders bought the freehold about 10 years ago. Actually, they didn't - the management company bought the freehold (and each leaseholder by virtue of their respective leases is a shareholder in that management company - and the share passes with the lease) but try explaining that to the bloke who is 'chairman of the board'. He still thinks and claims that 'we each (i.e. the leaseholders) own 1/nth of the freehold'. Edited March 8, 2019 by snowychap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Leaseholds should be abolished, it's an utterly parasitic concept. But ultimately you have a choice whether you buy a leasehold or not, I don't have a huge amount of sympathy (just a little) for people 'trapped' in them, they should have understood the consequences of buying one in the first instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Beginning the process again, though realising it's a bugger when you're no longer a first time buyer going. Having to sell too. I'm so bad at saying No, so when I've been calling estate agents to book in viewings, I think I must have registered my details so many times over and now have 3 valuations of my place booked in within a week, all nice people trying to get my custom. It's a nightmare. I assume it's normal, but I always feel guilty, about taking free advice, and then running off elsewhere. I'm very bad at being hard-nosed about this sort of thing. Freeholds only, obviously. There's one place literally a street over from where I cam currently which would be handy, but the freehold status is currently listed as unknown, which is both odd, considering the area is an estate full of properties all built at the same time I assume, and a minor red flag. Also, the land tax in Wales is an arse As my target selling price is only going to be a few thousand above a threshold, I've been wondering if negotiating to get the buyer to pay other associated fees for me - and then me selling the property just below the threshold is something that's done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choffer Posted April 30, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted April 30, 2019 (edited) Anyone got any advice on running two mortgages concurrently on two separate properties? I've a place in London but am looking to move to Brighton with the other half. I think the London gaff will appreciate more in value so ideally I want to keep it and rent it out. It's got about £160,000 left on the mortgage and I'm sure that I can get significantly more in rent for it than the mortgage payments so that would look after itself. If I wanted to buy somewhere else, does that mortgage liability just come off my earning potential when calculating my borrowing limit on the second house? Of course, I could just go speak to a mortgage advisor (and I've no doubt that at some point I will) but I thought the VT hive mind might be able to offer some sort of advice so that when I get the ball rolling, I don't sound like a total clueless plum. Edited April 30, 2019 by choffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 I had so much trouble when I had my leasehold property. Brought it when I was 22/23. 2 bedroom Flat and it was mint. Paid £107,500 for it in August 2007. 75 years left on the lease. Paid around £400 every 6 months in maintenance costs but I could do interior work without issue. The only gripe was that the economy crashed just after and property prices went down massively. Sods law. When we came to move after having the little man in 2014 I had a host of problems, mainly due to the lease length which was sitting at 67 years, apparently no one could get a mortgage on it because it had less than 70 years left on it. In the end I paid 10k to extend the lease by 90 years, so there was 150+ years on the lease, and I sold it for 90k. So I sunk in £117,500 for the property and made a loss of £27,500 in the end. Such a massive hit on it. Never again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted April 30, 2019 Moderator Share Posted April 30, 2019 8 hours ago, choffer said: Anyone got any advice on running two mortgages concurrently on two separate properties? I've a place in London but am looking to move to Brighton with the other half. I think the London gaff will appreciate more in value so ideally I want to keep it and rent it out. It's got about £160,000 left on the mortgage and I'm sure that I can get significantly more in rent for it than the mortgage payments so that would look after itself. If I wanted to buy somewhere else, does that mortgage liability just come off my earning potential when calculating my borrowing limit on the second house? Of course, I could just go speak to a mortgage advisor (and I've no doubt that at some point I will) but I thought the VT hive mind might be able to offer some sort of advice so that when I get the ball rolling, I don't sound like a total clueless plum. I've got two mortgages since last year. My parents live in one of the properties, so they're both on a residential mortgage as you can't rent to family. That was all factored into affordability. If you switch yours to a buy-to-let mortgage then they'll look at the rental value and factor that into the affordability i.e. if your mortgage is £1000pcm and the rental value is £1200pcm then you get +£200 on the affordability of your other mortgage. I used the opportunity to release some equity from the first property to pay the deposit on the second one. I took an extra £45k out and it only added about £80pcm to the mortgage. The downside, and it could be a big one, is that you'll pay extra Stamp Duty on the second property. As an example, if your place in Brighton costs £350k you can expect a bill of £18k for your Stamp Duty. Ouch! I managed it all through a broker recommended to me by a pal in the northeast. Never met the guy but he was incredible in arranging it all for me. I did the remortgage and the new mortgage both through NatWest, through him, and was delighted with it all. It was complex because of my folks being in one of the properties but he was able to navigate it with no fuss for me. Happy to introduce you if you want. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choffer Posted April 30, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted April 30, 2019 12 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said: Happy to introduce you if you want. Would be fantastic, thanks Rob. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dAVe80 Posted June 12, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted June 12, 2019 So at the age of nearly 39, after years of house sharing, renting, and sponging off which ever lass was stupid enough to let me sleep in her bed, I've become a real boy, and have bought a house. Paid my deposit yesterday, and given my solicitor the go ahead to exchange contracts. Should get my keys early next week! Eek! 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I’m about a week behind you Dave, mortgage all signed off just waiting on completion date, can’t wait. Its been a massive ball ache I can’t lie but it’s nearly sorted. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 had an offer on our house accepted last week, but the scene is dead at the moment. the properties that come on are trickling in, and there's very little value where we want to go. Decided against going too far out of cardiff, as we'd never get back in if we wanted to, but the bugger is seeing all that extra space in the more rural areas for much less money. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 1 hour ago, AVFCDAN said: I’m about a week behind you Dave, mortgage all signed off just waiting on completion date, can’t wait. Its been a massive ball ache I can’t lie but it’s nearly sorted. Oh mine hasn't been plain sailing either. I'm normally a pretty laid back chap, but I've lost my temper more times than I care to remember during this process. It took me three attempts to get a surveyor to look at it for me, and had told an estate agent they were one wrong word away from me pulling the deal, while I was trying to renegotiate the price after the survey was done. All sorted now though, and although I've got some work to do (gonna put a new kitchen and bathroom in straight away), I'm happy to finally get sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 One thing that has really stood out for me is just how much you have to chase for an answer from people/companies that you are paying a wedge to for their services. I would have thought good service was a given, how wrong I was! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 3 hours ago, AVFCDAN said: One thing that has really stood out for me is just how much you have to chase for an answer from people/companies that you are paying a wedge to for their services. I would have thought good service was a given, how wrong I was! Purely down to ever increasing workloads. I can guarantee the solicitors/surveyors/estate agents/mortgage advisors are dealing with more cases with less staff than they were 10 years ago. I look at my workload 10 years ago (same role) and i'd have to say it has increased five-fold now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Congratulations, I bought my first place in December, it's well worth all the hassle and having to put up with useless bastards in the end. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 13, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted June 13, 2019 My tenants move out on 23rd June. They had started being awkward and stopping viewings etc and moaning about me trying to sell the house even though I'd been way WAY more helpful and patient than I needed to. I gave them their 2 months notice and they immediately gave me their 1 month notice. So they're going and I should have a much better chance of selling the place with it empty. Will be able to take better photographs and have viewings whenever we need to. Downside is I'm facing at least a couple of months without rent to cover the mortgage. Which will be the strain. I'll have to dive into my savings to cover it and then top it up with what I make from the sale. Still quite scary though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilko154 Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 Does anyone know how a revaluation of your property works when remortgaging? I've renovated half of the house since moving in two years ago, I would imagine I have increased the value by £30-40k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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