Unexpected Costs

Soon after purchasing her new London home, in a block of flats, a new buyer received an extra service charge demand of £25,000 which was payable within 21 days. The owner stated she was not aware that an external redecoration was about to take place and the high cost associated with it. She was advised by the Block Manager that this information was included in the buying information. She was legally liable to pay which meant the flat owner had no choice but to take out another loan to cover this cost.

• A Leaseholder was advised that she was not permitted to rent her apartment eight years after buying it. Precise clarification of certain clauses were not sought by the buyer during the buying process. This negatively impacted her financially, caused a lot of uncertainty with future plans, along with the personal and financial stress. 

A  first time buyer believed they understood the restrictions and conditions attached to their flat when they purchased it. As a result they relayed this information to the estate agent when selling years later. This information however was incorrect as it was not written in their lease. This omitted a large number of potential buyers and resulted in a financial loss, having sold the property less than market value.  

After buying their dream property, the new Leaseholder was advised they had to reverse an alteration that was made to their flat by the previous owner as consent from the Freeholder was not obtained. This was an unexpected cost of thousands of pounds by the new owner as well as extra stress and inconvenience. A non invasive visual inspection carried out by an experienced property manager along with an in depth analysis of the property documents could have highlighted these issues before purchasing and could also have resulted in a revised offer being submitted.

The new Leaseholder was issued with a substantial invoice for major works at the building. They had assumed upon purchasing they would be exempt from certain costs due to the location of their flat within the block. As a result of an assumption and not asking the correct questions they were faced with the financial liability of un budgeted future costs.

A non invasive visual inspection revealed a previous roof leak could not have been fully resolved. It was also found that an alteration to the property was made without the approval obtained from the Freeholder in the form of a Licence. These findings were presented to the vendors solicitor and a revised offer was made by the buyer. Based on the non invasive property inspection that was carried out the lower offer was accepted and the sale completed.