Before you offer

Ask for the lease length in writing, not the round number on the particulars. Anything under eighty years starts costing real money to extend, and the premium climbs sharply as it falls.

Then ask for three years of service charge accounts and the minutes of the last two residents’ meetings. Major works are almost always discussed long before they are billed, and the minutes are where you find them.

Ground rent matters less than it did since the reforms, but escalating clauses still exist on stock built between 2005 and 2017. If the rent doubles on a fixed cycle, mortgage lenders will have a view, and it will be yours to deal with at resale.