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There are many freehold and leasehold flats throughout the UK that are not on the ground floor of the building but are considered walk-ups because the only access is via stairs as there is no lift. You might find that it is more challenging to attract buyers for this type of flat compared to those with lifts, but this guide shows how you can still hopefully get a quick and fair offer.
- Deciding to sell your flat without a lift/walk-up
- Reasons why buyers may want your flat without a lift
- Potential difficulties with selling a walk-up flat
- Should you sell your flat without a lift as is?
- Getting your walk-up flat prepared for sale
- Four methods for selling a flat without a lift
- Frequently asked queries about selling flat without a lift
Deciding to sell your flat without a lift/walk-up
There are millions of flats located throughout the UK, and they can be available in many different types of buildings, ranging from blocks of flats to single units above shops, and more.
If your flat is not on the ground floor of the building and can only be accessed by using a staircase, then it is considered to be a walk-up unit. These units can be found in many locations and the other important element is that there is no lift in the building to use as an alternative.
There is an interesting discussion on the website Reddit about selling a flat without a lift and how the value is affected – it may be worth a read.
Guidance issued by the UK government, known as the building regulations Part M, says that blocks of flats should use passenger lifts as the primary mode for vertically transporting residents up and down the various stories of the property. These lifts must be designed with space for pushchairs, wheelchairs and for a specified number of passengers who will stand.
Depending on the size of the block of flats, it’s possible that the building will need to have more than one passenger lift. For example, any building that has three or more floors is recommended to have at least a single lift, and this increases to a requirement for two passenger lifts in those blocks of flats that have at least 30 individual housing units, according to the website for lift company Tower Lifts.
There are other laws and regulations that might affect how many lifts – if any – are required to be installed at the property where your leasehold or freehold flat is located.
If your flat is not on the ground floor of a building, yet there is no lift and it can only be accessed by stairs, then you might face some extra hurdles in securing a buyer. Keep reading to learn about the various pros and cons associated with trying to sell a walk-up flat, as well as advice from LDN Properties on the best way to attract a fair and speedy offer from a buyer.
Reasons why buyers may want your flat without a lift
When you are preparing to sell your leasehold or freehold flat without a lift, it can be useful to learn about the reasons why some buyers might be more inclined to make an offer.
In this section of the guide, you’ll find some of the main explanations for why a walk-up flat can still be attractive to prospective buyers, even with the lack of a lift in the property. Knowing about these reasons can help you to promote them to buyers and hopefully encourage an offer.
Top floor: If you are the owner of a penthouse flat on the top floor of the building, this can be very appealing to some buyers who will like the fact that they won’t have any potentially noisy neighbours living above them. Along with the better views from a higher floor, this can be enough to attract interest in your flat.
Greater security: Related to the previous advantage of a top floor flat, some people view flats that aren’t on the ground floor as being more secure, particularly in buildings where a key or other type of secure access is required. For those homeowners who are looking for more security with their property, a walk-up flat could be an option that they will consider.
Easy access: Even though your flat might be a walk-up without a lift, if access is relatively easy, meaning it only takes a few steps to enter the property – such as a flat located on the first floor of a building – then some buyers could overlook the lack of a lift as an issue.
Potential difficulties with selling a walk-up flat
Selling any type of property requires several steps and one important element is learning about the possible hurdles with trying to attract buyers.
Below you’ll find some of the most commonly cited reasons why potential buyers have lost interest in flats that don’t have a lift in the building. Having an understanding of these drawbacks can be helpful in learning why your home might not be selling quickly.
Difficult access: Perhaps the main reason why a walk-up flat will be harder to sell is the fact that it can only be accessed using steps. This can create problems for several reasons, including making it much harder for the next owner to bring furniture into the property, and effectively preventing someone with serious mobility problems from living in the flat.
Roof problems: A higher floor flat can be more susceptible to damage as the result of storms or heavy rain compared to a flat that is located on the ground floor. Some buyers might worry that your flat could suffer a leaky roof or other issues from such adverse weather.
Heat issues: Heat rises, and the higher up in a building your flat is located, the more problems it might have with insulation and heat levels throughout the year. This could be a major concern for buyers, and it might be enough for some of them to lose interest completely.
Should you sell your flat without a lift as is?
Regardless of whether you are selling a new build flat or many years old, it’s possible that it could have some type of structural issue, such as dry rot, damp, a damaged roof or other factors that buyers will view as a major problem.
In such a scenario, you will have to make the decision about whether to invest time, effort and funds in fixing the problem before you attempt to find a buyer for the flat.
The reason for attempting to correct the issue before selling is that it would prevent a situation in which a potential buyer would reduce the price they offer for your flat by the amount of money that they estimate it will cost them to fix the problem if they were to own the property. Spending resources on addressing the flaw before selling prevents this outcome from happening.
But there are many homeowners who will not have the funds or time available to pursue such work, or they simply might just want to sell their flat "as is" without fixing the problem.
If that applies to the sale of your property, don’t worry about not being able to attract any decent offers from buyers. You could get in touch with a quick home buying company, such as LDN Properties, as they are experts are making swift and fair offers for purchasing almost any category of freehold or leasehold properties, including flats that do not have lifts.
Getting your walk-up flat prepared for sale
Once you have committed to selling your property, an important step is making sure that the flat looks in its best possible condition because this can have an impact on how fast it sells, as noted by the HomeOwners Alliance.
With the exterior of your property, you should consider applying a fresh coat of paint to your window ledges and fixing any broken glass. If you have access to any yard or other green space at the building, you should also remove weeds and mow the grass. First impressions count when selling a home, and potential buyers are likely to see your flat as much more valuable if the outside of the building is in good condition compared to a poorly maintained property.
The same is true with the inside of your flat, meaning you should clean every room and remove as much clutter as possible, because this will make the unit appear larger and worth more. If you have any pets then you should keep them locked away from visitors during viewings, where people interested in possibly making an offer on your flat will get to tour the property.
These are simple and no-cost or low-cost steps that won’t require a great deal of your time but can have a noticeable impact on what prospective buyers think about your flat, including whether they will lose interest altogether or want to make an offer to buy it.
Four methods for selling a flat without a lift
One of the most important choices that you will be required to make when selling your leasehold or freehold flat without a lift is which method you’ll use for finding a buyer, whether that’s using an estate agent, selling to a quick buyer, selling via an auction or selling without any assistance.
There are pros and cons involved with each of the four methods, for example it will take possibly more than a full year to find a buyer when you’re selling on your own, whereas if you sell to a quick home buyer then you could complete the sale within just a matter of weeks.
Write down your main aims with selling, such as your goal selling price, whether you can accept paying any commission to a third party, and how long you are willing to wait before selling. Then compare all of these important details against the specifics of the four methods as outlined below, and this should guide you toward the choice that best pairs with your own needs.
Using an estate agent
Selling to a quick buyer
Perhaps the most rapid way to sell your walk-up flat would be contacting LDN Properties or another quick buyer, because these companies can typically finalise the process of buying most homes in just a handful of weeks, and that includes the time it takes to exchange contracts.
Quick buyers are able to move so swiftly because they already have the funds needed to purchase your flat, with no need to wait many weeks or months to first get a mortgage to cover the cost of the transaction. If one of your main priorities with selling your flat is completing the process as speedily as possible, then you should get in touch with a quick buyer.
These companies also won’t reduce the price they offer for your flat just because the building doesn’t have a lift. That’s because they are known for making fair and fast offers to purchase practically any age, condition, location, shape, size and type of home, whether that’s walk-up flats, houses located near a cliff, properties with old wiring, flats with a high service charge, barns, guest houses, prefab homes, flats with squatters, homes with chancel repair liability and many other varied examples.
The honest quick buyers will also never charge homeowners any commission when buying their properties, which can help you if you’re trying to lower your total selling costs. That compares favourably to estate agents or auctioneers who will charge potentially high fees for a sale.
Selling via an auction
Another way to sell your flat without a lift is through an auction, where people will have the chance to place bids of ever-increasing value on your property. This can be a gamble, because there’s no certainty about the final sale price you’ll be able to get, and if you don’t receive any bids on your flat then it will be deemed unsold and you’ll have to try again with finding a buyer.
Auctioneers will handle most of the work required for selling your flat, including the development and advertising of the listing, along with hosting the auction. For all of this effort, they will charge you commission, based on the price at which your flat sells. This is taken out of the eventual sale proceeds, which will add to your total selling expenses.
That’s why you need to choose a reserve price – the lowest price at which you can accept the sale of your flat – that should produce some profit from the sale, even after the auctioneer has debited their commission from the proceeds. Choosing a reserve price that’s too low might result in you only breaking even on the sale or even creating the risk of selling at a loss.
Some auctioneers could be open to charging you a lower rate of commission or having the winning high bidder pay for some of your costs, so you might want to ask if this is feasible.
It’s also not a very swift way to sell your walk-up flat, because you’ll be waiting for several weeks or even longer after you list your property for sale and before the auction occurs. If you are able to sell your flat at the auction, the winning high bidder will then often have at least 28 days to sign all of their required legal paperwork and complete their other required steps.
Beware that some auctioneers might give the buyer even more time than 28 days for finalising all of their mandatory tasks. But other auction houses could be willing to set a shorter deadline than 28 days, so it is always worth asking about this possibly with individual companies.
Selling without any assistance
If you sell without any help, this puts the onus on you to handle every task from the initial creation and marketing of a listing through to scheduling viewings and fielding offers.
This is a time-consuming series of tasks and it can also be stressful, so you should only consider it if you have succeeded with selling a walk-up flat in the past, or you have a suitably qualified friend or family member that might be willing to help you out at no charge. Otherwise, you could be facing more than a full year before you’re able to obtain a serious offer.
Just as buyers who make offers through estate agents can rescind them before contracts are exchanged, the same is true when you’re selling without any assistance. If that happens, you’ll have to begin again with trying to find a buyer, adding more delay to the overall timeline.
The benefit of selling solo is that you won’t be required to pay commission to an auctioneer or estate agent, which helps to lower your costs. But you could get the same advantage, yet secure a much faster sale, by contacting LDN Properties or another quick buyer that will promise to not charge you any fees and also typically finalise the purchase of your flat in a few weeks.
Top queries and answers about selling a flat without a lift
Homeowners thinking of selling their flat quickly can have some questions to be answered, ranging from the types of property that can be sold through to selling a top floor flat. Here are some questions we’re asked about selling a flat without a lift:
Your top questions when selling a flat without a flat
If you are the owner of a leasehold or freehold flat that is not on the ground floor of a building and it can only be accessed by walking up steps, this is considered a walk-up flat. These properties do not have a passenger lift on site, and this factor can sometimes make it harder to attract an offer from a buyer, although it will not be impossible to sell your home.
One of the main reasons why a walk-up flat can be more difficult to sell than a unit in a building with a lift is the potential access problems. It can be much harder to bring furniture into a flat without a lift, and if someone with mobility issues is interested in potentially buying your unit, the lack of any way to get a wheelchair up and down to the flat could be a dealbreaker.
Even if your flat is in a building that does not have a lift, you might still find it possible to attract interest from some buyers. For example, if you own the top penthouse unit in the building, you’ll find that there are a few people who are primarily looking for this type of property. Also, if access only requires walking up a few steps, the lack of a lift might not be a major factor.
Yes, even if your flat without a lift is suffering from a structural problem such as damp, dry rot or anything else, you don’t have to spend any time, effort or funds on fixing the issue before attempting to sell the unit. Instead, contact a quick home buyer like LDN Properties because they are experts at making fair and fast offers to buy homes as is in their current state.
There are several low-cost or zero-cost actions you can take to make your flat more attractive to buyers, including cleaning all of the rooms in the property and removing any clutter, because this will make the flat appear larger and worth more to buyers. Outside of the flat you can also take steps to improve its appearance, for example giving window ledges a new coat of paint.
If you sell your walk-up flat through an estate agent or at a property auction, these methods will charge you commission that will be deducted right away from the eventual sale proceeds, which will add to your selling costs. But if you sell on your own or you sell to a zero-commission quick home buying company then you will not have to pay any fees and get to keep the full proceeds.
Your speediest choice will usually be selling to a quick buyer like LDN Properties, as these companies have the financial ability to purchase homes immediately and complete all of the required steps, including the exchange of contracts, within a few weeks. Selling on your own, via an estate agent or at an auction can all take many months or sometimes even longer.
