Never Mind The £17.5 Million Price Tag, This London Flat Has A £65,000 Service Charge

In the latest installment of the growing monster that is the London property market, a luxury flat opposite The Ritz Hotel has gone on the market for £17.5 million - with a £65,000 per year service charge on top of that.

A studio flat recently went on the market in Islington for £737-a-month in rent that was so small it offered the tenant the chance to do the dishes in bed, but this is surely at the opposite extreme.

The five-bedroom apartment is spread across 4,000 square feet and features a 31.6 f00t long drawing room, a formal dining room and a large kitchen.

But on top of the price-tag, the owner will have to pay a £65,000 service charge a year - which is two-and-a-half times the average UK salary, though we somehow doubt the person buying it would earn the UK average salary.



They will also have to fork out £1,000 per year on ground rent.

It will be good news for George Osborne if the flat fetches its asking price - with the buyer having to hand over more than £1.2 million in stamp duty.

There's one piece of good news for the buyer - the leasehold lasts 999 years, so you may be able to turn into your family seat for the next 25 generations or so.

The estate agent also boasts the building has "24 hour porterage", which we think means there are porters manning the entrance all day.

The apartment sits on the upper floor of a Grade II listed six-storey Italian Renaissance style building at 160 Piccadilly.

Its master bedroom suite is the size of a conventional one-bedroom apartment, with twin dressing rooms and his and hers bathrooms.

There are are a further four bedrooms - three with en suite bathrooms - and a guest cloakroom and a shower and bathroom.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/10/london-flat-goes-on-market-17-million_n_5477807.html?ref=topbar

in contrast:


Islington Council Bans This Amazingly Small Flat From Being Rented Out



A tiny London flat, billed as a "modern studio apartment" that was rentable for £737 a month, has been taken off the market by Islington council after inspectors ruled it was too small to comply with legal requirements.

The flat, on Kember Street, was billed as having a reception, kitchen and bedroom, when they are all part of the same room. It was snapped up in less than 16 hours after being listed on property website Rightmove, but the local council later stepped in.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/06/islington-flat-council-rent_n_5458473.html

The housing market in London is completely out of control.

The small flat looks like the room i slept in while in the army - the bed is bigger and the mattress comfier than the thin green plastic one i had though.

I didn't have a table, chairs, cooker either.

BigAndy9 wrote:The small flat looks like the room i slept in while in the army - the bed is bigger and the mattress comfier than the thin green plastic one i had though.

I didn't have a table, chairs, cooker either.

But you didn't have to pay nearly £800 a month for it.

Sassy wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:The small flat looks like the room i slept in while in the army - the bed is bigger and the mattress comfier than the thin green plastic one i had though.

I didn't have a table, chairs, cooker either.

But you didn't have to pay nearly £800 a month for it.

Can't remember what i paid - it was too much though.

I guess it's all relative eh?

BigAndy9 wrote:

Sassy wrote:

But you didn't have to pay nearly £800 a month for it.

Can't remember what i paid - it was too much though.

I guess it's all relative eh?

Not relative when that is the cheapest thing going. We will end up with no-one being able to work in London, it will just be a place for millionaires to live. If people move out the train fares are horrendous. With so much being bought up by the very, very, rich and property developers it is a problem that has to be tackled.

Sassy wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:

Can't remember what i paid - it was too much though.

I guess it's all relative eh?

Not relative when that is the cheapest thing going.   We will end up with no-one being able to work in London, it will just be a place for millionaires to live.   If people move out the train fares are horrendous.   With so much being bought up by the very, very, rich and property developers it is a problem that has to be tackled.

Your ideas are?

BigAndy9 wrote:

Sassy wrote:

Not relative when that is the cheapest thing going.   We will end up with no-one being able to work in London, it will just be a place for millionaires to live.   If people move out the train fares are horrendous.   With so much being bought up by the very, very, rich and property developers it is a problem that has to be tackled.

Your ideas are?

Confiscate the property that is being left to rot by property developers, do it up as reasonable sized flats and let is at affordable prices.    Find all the brownfield sites that are laying waste and do the same to them.   Set reasonable rent levels and enforce them. We always used to have that and rents have gone through the roof since it was stopped.