My neighbour has wanted to sell up for ages. Her flat is above mine, and is virtually identical. She’d held off for about nine months, because there’s a problem with the roof. The solution was identified last autumn and a plan put in place to fix it this spring. The block will be swallowed up with scaffolding for three months when work begins.
My neighbour didn’t want to wait that long. So she put the flat up for sale last December. She’ll have to put several thousand in a trust of some sort to pay her share for the roof repairs. She needed a quick sale. Because it’s hard to sell a flat that has been swallowed in scaffolding. It’s off putting. And the lease is down to 84 years. For practical purposes, she’d need to sell before it before it gets down to 82 years. But even at 84 years, there are mortgage providers who won’t lend.
She did have a buyer. About six weeks ago. The For Sale sign turned into a Sold sign. And then, almost as quickly, she didn’t have a buyer. The Sold sign was swapped back for the For Sale sign. Did the works put them off? Or the short lease? Or both? I do not know.
As of today, no mortgage providers are currently lending. For good reason. There’s no doubt where the economy is heading, and house prices will head in a similar direction. Lending money against a sale price that will turn into a property with negative equity within weeks is not responsible lending. Estate agents are not actively selling properties either. It’s hardly ‘essential’, in the short term. A double whammy for buyers and lenders.
I suspect my neighbour – along with thousand upon thousand of other home owners looking to sell – is completely screwed. She’s cannot sell for several months. It’s unlikely she’ll sell this year. If she tries to sell within the next year or two, she’ll take a big hit on her desired asking price. A very big hit, I’m sure. She will also probably now need to extend the lease, which will cost her a tidy sum. She would have done well to have extended it jointly with me, but that ship has passed.
My lease has over 174 years to run. Which will make it a ton easier to sell when the time comes. However, I have no great desire to sell at the moment. We’ll tolerate the building works when they come. We’re happy at Chez Denness.
The Mexile 