u/MotherEastern3051

Short version: Selling late mums flat, council as freeholder (council) have given a speculative figure of 15k for 'potential' works needed but have no fim surveys, quotes etc to back this up. I now have to disclose this to potential buyers despite having no firm info or timeliness from council. I am also concerned about the councils lack of transparency. No idea what to do or how I am going to be able to sell now.

Long version:

I am currently trying to sell my late mums leasehold maisonette flat and have found myself in a really stressful and worrying situation with potentially massive charges from the freeholder. England based.

A prospective buyer contacted the freeholder (the council) to ask if there is any upcoming planned maintenance work in the next few years. The council has responded to this person to say that yes there potentially is a body of works, and that if all elements are deemed to be required, the total estimated cost would be just shy of £15k. The flat is only worth £75k. The council only made me aware of this via email shortly after they gave this information to the prospective buyer. The flat is a maisonette in a block of 4, with 2 of the other being council flats and the other one a housing association. The figure they have given is 25% of estimated costs for potential works including a new roof, repointing, chimney removal, any asbestos removal, and prelims. £60k total for the block for this seems absolutely insane to me.

The predicament I am now in is as follows:

- The freeholder has reached a specific figure of the cost of potential works that the might need to be done/started in the next 2 years.

- Upon me asking the freeholder for more information on how this has been reached, they just say its am estimated figure from the internal assets team that has come about from rolling stock maintenance review.

- The freeholder is also being extremely vague and non committal about why they think those works might need to be done, how they have reached those costs and when any work might start. They have also not gotten any assessments or surveys regarding the necessity of the work or any independent quotes.

- The freeholder/council has said that their repair and maintenance service is now 'in house'. When I have queried whether this means they will be following an open procurement process and getting independent quotes they keep not responding.

The position this leaves me in is that I am trying to sell the flat, and have to now make any prospective buyers aware of the possibility of works that may cost up to £15k. However, I am unable to tell them any firm or reliable information on how this figure has been reached and the likelihood of everything they have put as 'potential' needing to be done.

This is making me so stressed as I am desperately trying to sell the flat, have already turned down an offer (although I would have needed to tell them anyway now) and have no idea how I am meant to sell it now with so much uncertainty and such a big scary price hanging over it. The council are being absolutely useless.

It would be great to know what questions I should be asking of the council. In particular what obligations they have to now carry surveys etc in a timely way so that I can progress selling with more certainty and firm information to give, especially given they have given essentially a member this £15k figure with no firm info to back it up. Secondly, what obligations they have to follow an open procurement process and appoint someone independent to do any needed works. The fact that they have said their maintenance and repair service is 'in house' makes me thing its basically a way of paying themselves obscene costs. Thank you for any advice at all anyone can offer.

I am currently trying to sell my late mums leasehold maisonette flat and have found myself in a really stressful and worrying situation with potentially massive charges from the freeholder. England based.

A prospective buyer contacted the freeholder (the council) to ask if there is any upcoming planned maintenance work in the next few years. The council has responded to this person to say that yes there potentially is a body of works, and that if all elements are deemed to be required, the total estimated cost would be just shy of £15k. The flat is only worth £75k. The council only made me aware of this via email shortly after they gave this information to the prospective buyer. The flat is a maisonette in a block of 4, with 2 of the other being council flats and the other one a housing association. The figure they have given is 25% of estimated costs for potential works including a new roof, repointing, chimney removal, any asbestos removal, and prelims. £60k total for the block for this seems absolutely insane to me.

The predicament I am now in is as follows:

- The freeholder has reached a specific figure of the cost of potential works that the might need to be done/started in the next 2 years.

- Upon me asking the freeholder for more information on how this has been reached, they just say its am estimated figure from the internal assets team that has come about from rolling stock maintenance review.

- The freeholder is also being extremely vague and non committal about why they think those works might need to be done, how they have reached those costs and when any work might start. They have also not gotten any assessments or surveys regarding the necessity of the work or any independent quotes.

- The freeholder/council has said that their repair and maintenance service is now 'in house'. When I have queried whether this means they will be following an open procurement process and getting independent quotes they keep not responding.

The position this leaves me in is that I am trying to sell the flat, and have to now make any prospective buyers aware of the possibility of works that may cost up to £15k. However, I am unable to tell them any firm or reliable information on how this figure has been reached and the likelihood of everything they have put as 'potential' needing to be done.

This is making me so stressed as I am desperately trying to sell the flat, have already turned down an offer (although I would have needed to tell them anyway now) and have no idea how I am meant to sell it now with so much uncertainty and such a big scary price hanging over it. The council are being absolutely useless.

I'm feeling very proud that I just remember to do this. I keep my Lush stuff in a drawer in my bedroom which gets insanely hot in weather like this and I learned the hard way last year! I have two Hayl massage bars and two Bitzers that are now safely in the fridge!

TLDR: accepted an offer based on the buyers being residential and not landlords, but pretty sure they have lied and are landlords. Any advice on what to do?

I'm currently selling a flat and have been clear with estate agents that my strong preference is to sell to people who want to live in the property, not to landlords or flippers. It is a very poor area and has an issue with landlords buying up affordable properties and there being lower than average numbers of locals on the property ladder. I had a couple of offers after about a week on the market, one from a small family that is sadly not proceedable yet, and another lower offer from an investor/landlord which I rejected. Last week I accepted an offer for the asking price for a couple the agent said are planning to downsize and live there. However, they also said they are mot selling their current property so it didn't add up. After some extremely light companies house digging, it turns out the couple are joint directors of a property management buy to let company, and they don't even live anywhere near the city the flat is in. So obviously I suspect they are lying and are in fact buying it to let it out. The agent may have told them I was looking to sell to residential buyers, or they might just know that that's what sellers might prefer. Now that I've accepted an offer, would it be stupid to challenge this and how would I approach this with the agent without sounding like a snooping busibody?

TLDR: accepted an offer based on the buyers being residential and not landlords, but pretty sure they have lied and are landlords. Any advice on what to do?

I'm currently selling a flat and have been clear with estate agents that my strong preference is to sell to people who want to live in the property, not to landlords or flippers. It is a very poor area and has an issue with landlords buying up affordable properties and there being lower than average numbers of locals on the property ladder. I had a couple of offers after about a week on the market, one from a small family that is sadly not proceedable yet, and another lower offer from an investor/landlord which I rejected. Last week I accepted an offer for the asking price for a couple the agent said are planning to downsize and live there. However, they also said they are mot selling their current property so it didn't add up. After some extremely light companies house digging, it turns out the couple are joint directors of a property management buy to let company, and they don't even live anywhere near the city the flat is in. So obviously I suspect they are lying and are in fact buying it to let it out. Now that I've accepted an offer, would it be stupid to challenge this and how would I approach this with the agent without sounding like a snooping busibody?

TLDR: How complicated or not would selling to one half of a divorcing couple (reliant on selling their house so chain) be? Risk it and wait or less to cash buyer landlord?

I'm currently in the process of trying to sell my late mums flat (England). The flat is fully clear, requires a lot of modernisation but is fundamentally a good property in a safe area, with a decent sized private garden, drive and garage. It's also at the lower end if the market (less than 100k) in a very traditionally working class area. It's been on a week and a half now and had a decent amount of interest (for what seems to be a slow market) with 6 viewings and 2 offers, of 6% and 10% below asking price. This leads to my conundrum. One of the offers is from a landlord who wants to add it to his 'property portfolio' and is a cash buyer who has said he can move quickly. The other offer is from a single parent who is currently in the process of divorce and trying to sell their current place, along with finding a new smaller place to live with their young son. The Estate agent has said they don't consider the single parents offer as proceedable and advised us not to accept or negotiate further due to how long it all might take. As well as accepting an offer they are happy with, apparently the other parent has not found an onward purchase yet and both the husband and wife rely on the sale of their current property to have funds for a new place. I have accepted neither offer yet and we may well get other offers in the coming week/s, but my massive preference would be to sell to the single parent rather than a landlord. My reservations are how long it might take for them to be in a position to be proceedable and the potential for added complications of it being a divorcing couple. The flat I'm selling does need a fair bit of updating and what also worries me is the risk of us waiting for then and then them being scared off by survey results anyway as there are likely to be a range of little things that come up that a landlord might be potentially be put off by. Nothing major but things like ventilation needed in the loft, more sockets putting in and potentially some electric works. Does anyone have any advice based on similar experiences or general pearls of wisdom?