Mortgage on ex-council block

[jfis89]

Hi

I’m after a bit of advice on the likelihood of mortgaging an ex council flat in London. I haven’t viewed it yet but the flat is in a 3-storey block of 12, with shared deck access to the front door. From what I can tell from sales history fewer than 50% of the flats in the block are privately owned. I’m aware a few of these are red flags for lenders.

How small a field do you think i would Ben looking at in terms of lenders willing to mortgage such a flat? The lease length isn’t an issue.

Thanks

[Sarnie]

Very small.

The shared deck access is the issue.........it's possible though dependent on the rest of the details........

[Sir Bagalot]

Your biggest issue buying an ex council flat is the service charge.

Family I used to know bought an ex council 2 bed flat. A while later the block on a new roof and new windows. Service charge for that year was £29K. That was 10 years ago.

2-3 years back I looked at an auction ex council flat. Buried in the paperwork was some items... 18 months down the line was window renewal. 4 windows was a shade over £4K