Fraser Bond offers a wide range of flats to suit every lifestyle and budget across the UK's top locations.
With a flat you are buying into a building, not just a property. Two identical flats on the same street can differ by a hundred thousand pounds on construction type alone, because lenders treat some blocks differently. And the costs that hurt are not the ones on the particulars: a major works bill needs consultation only above £250 per leaseholder, and everything below that arrives without warning.
Ex-local authority, large panel system, deck access, concrete or timber frame, and anything above the height at which a lender wants a survey. These do not change how a flat looks and they change materially who can lend on it — which sets both your purchase and your eventual resale.
Three years of actual expenditure rather than the current estimate, the reserve fund position, and any works already at consultation stage. A section 20 notice already issued is a liability you inherit, and it is far cheaper to find now.
Height and storey count against the 11 metre and 18 metre thresholds, registration where it is a higher-risk building, and whether the lease was a qualifying lease on 14 February 2022 — because that protection passes to you with the lease.
Our fee is paid by the seller or the landlord. No buyer fee, no tenant fee, no registration charge — and no reason for us to be quiet about a building with a problem.
Buying to live in, buying to let, or renting. It changes which buildings work: a flat that is a fine home can be a poor investment, and a block that lets well can be hard to sell.
Lease length, ground rent, service charge history, reserve fund, planned works, construction type, building height and safety status, and whether there is a communal heat network.
A homebuyer survey looks at the flat. Most of what goes wrong with flats is in the block: the reserve fund, the section 20 pipeline, the managing agent, and the freeholder. We ask for the management pack early rather than at the point of exchange.
Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 a landlord must consult leaseholders before carrying out qualifying works that would cost any one leaseholder more than £250 including VAT, or entering a qualifying long-term agreement costing any one leaseholder more than £100 a year where the contract runs beyond twelve months. Fail to consult properly and recovery is capped at those figures unless the tribunal grants dispensation.
Two consequences worth understanding. First, the threshold is low, so almost any meaningful works programme triggers consultation — which means a block with no section 20 notices in three years has either been well maintained or has been deferring. Ask which. Second, everything below £250 per leaseholder needs no consultation at all, and a series of smaller items can add up to a substantial year without a single notice ever landing.
Construction type moves value in ways the particulars never mention. Ex-local authority blocks, large panel system construction, deck access layouts and some non-standard concrete or timber frame systems all attract lender restrictions — some lenders decline outright, some cap loan to value, some require a specific structural report. Height matters too: a number of lenders treat flats above a certain storey count differently, particularly in ex-local authority blocks.
None of that makes such a flat a bad buy. It often makes it a well-priced one, and the discount can be real value if you are buying with cash or with a lender who is comfortable. What it does mean is that your buyer pool on exit is smaller than your buyer pool on entry felt, because the same restrictions will apply to whoever you sell to. Price the exit, not just the entry.
Buildings at least 18 metres or seven storeys with two or more residential units are higher-risk buildings. They must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator, they require an accountable person and a safety case report, and building work is subject to the gateway regime. Below that, the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 apply from 11 metres or five storeys.
A large number of modern blocks run on a communal heat network, and until recently the residents had almost none of the protections that gas and electricity customers take for granted. That changed on 27 January 2026, when Ofgem began regulating heat networks under the Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025.
Operators must now treat consumers fairly, provide a written contract covering charges and complaints, meter and bill transparently with at least an annual reading, maintain a priority services register and support vulnerable households, and observe restrictions on disconnection in winter and where children, elderly or medically dependent residents are present. The Energy Ombudsman is the approved redress body, and back-billing is treated as a last resort limited to twelve months.
For a buyer this is genuinely useful. Ask whether the block is on a heat network, ask for a year of actual charges rather than an estimate, and ask who the operator is. Heat network unit costs vary far more than mains gas does, and on a small flat the heating charge can be the single largest line in the service charge.
Since 1 May 2026 section 21 is abolished, all assured tenancies are periodic, rental bidding is banned, and rent in advance is capped at one month. Rent can rise once a year on two months’ notice and you can challenge it at tribunal. A pet request must be answered within 28 days. Deposits remain capped at five weeks where annual rent is under £50,000.
Two things specific to flats. Your landlord does not control the block, so repairs to common parts, lifts, entry systems and communal heating run through the freeholder or managing agent and can be slow — ask who to report to before you need to. And where a landlord has failed to comply with licensing or has evicted unlawfully, rent repayment orders now run to 24 months, doubled from twelve.
It is the consultation a landlord must carry out before works costing any one leaseholder more than £250 including VAT, or a long-term agreement costing more than £100 per leaseholder per year. Without proper consultation, recovery is capped at those figures unless the tribunal grants dispensation. It matters on a purchase because if a notice has already been served you inherit the resulting bill. It is entirely discoverable in advance through the management pack — ask for it early rather than at exchange, and ask specifically what is currently at consultation stage.
Usually the building rather than the flat. Ex-local authority construction, large panel system blocks, deck access layouts and certain concrete or timber frame systems all attract lender restrictions — some decline, some cap the loan to value, some require a structural report. That shrinks the buyer pool and prices follow. It does not make the flat a bad buy, and the discount can be real value. But the same restrictions will apply when you sell, so price the exit rather than just the entry.
Start with height and storeys. At 18 metres or seven storeys with two or more residential units it is a higher-risk building and must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator. From 11 metres or five storeys, the Building Safety Act leaseholder protections apply. The critical question for a buyer is whether the lease was a qualifying lease on 14 February 2022, because that status attaches to the lease and passes to you — and if it was not, the remediation exposure is uncapped. Ask for the EWS1 or PAS 9980 assessment and any remediation programme before you offer.
Who operates it, what a full year of actual charges came to, and how the charge is apportioned. Since 27 January 2026 heat networks have been regulated by Ofgem, so operators must provide a written contract, bill transparently with at least an annual meter reading, maintain a priority services register, observe disconnection restrictions and offer access to the Energy Ombudsman. That is a real improvement on the previous position. But unit costs still vary far more than mains gas, and on a smaller flat heating can be the largest single line in the service charge.
No. If you are buying, our fee is paid by the seller. If you are renting, tenant fees have been banned in England since 2019 — no admin fee, no referencing fee, no renewal fee, and if anyone asks you for one it is unlawful. What that means practically is that we have no reason to be quiet about a building with a short lease, a thin reserve fund or a remediation programme, because we are not paid more for getting you into it.
