[Closed] Buying a flat in ahigh rise concrete (no cladding)

By highrise are you talking multistorey 20 floors type of thing ?

Had a mate lived in one, and to be honest its filled with the dregs of humanity. I found it to obe a souless place, lifts worked but smelled of piss all the time, the stairs were graffiti city, and not the banksey type. Crime was rife and at least in my mates block there were 5 drug dealers selling everything from heroin to cannabis.

Dont want to put you off like 😆

Concerns would be reinforcement coverage, level of insulation, and depth of piss in the communal lobbies.
On a more serious note, in the burgh? Is it in this gazetteer?
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What age is it? There were a lot thrown up in the 50s and 60s. Some of the panel systems are shocking in their construction quality. However they're still upright but way past their design life, which is not so much of an issue if they've been maintained well.

The other thing to be wary of is overcladding at the present time given the current issues many flat owners find themselves with.

As you say some lenders have an issue with over 10 floors. This is exacerbated when you let out as you should have a buy to let mortgage or permission from your existing lender to let. This reduces further your options for a lender and a good deal. Other issues that we have had include the management company and frankly ridiculous demands for work to the building.

Thanks all. It's 10 storey and no urine, mostly owner occupied by pensioners.

I wouldn't buy anything high rise. Leaseholders are facing massive bills regardless of cladding or not. A simple decision to retrofit sprinklers could end up costing you £10K+.

Full Member
Thanks all. It’s 10 storey and no urine, mostly owner occupied by pensioners.

Ummmm.....😆

Revs1972 beat me to it.

I see these appear in the auctions and are guided cheap for a reason. I wouldn't buy one as the service charges are a bit of a lottery. Not just fire safety but say if a crack appears in the structure, its going to cost a fortune to repair a 10th story or so issue.

Also, the freeholder wants to protect his investment and guess what the leaseholders pay. Or if there's 100 leaseholders and half pensioners, latter won't pay so guess who does....you.

Buy a freehold house you can schedule in your own maintenance and diy what you want. Our management company charge about 100 quid to change a lightbulb, in another block I own in, the leaseholders do it themselves.

@Poolman I suspect Scotland so likely to be freehold.

There's a lot of stigma around high rise local authority buildings, some of it warranted, but some of it not. The building I grew up in is still standing, over 50 years later, and is very solidly built. Many 50s/60s/early 70s council built housing is significantly better quality than much of the new build wave that followed. My childhood home has seen two subsequent waves of new building come and go; one lot lasted 12 years before demolition (early 80s, replaced mid 90s, the succeeding buildings are now marked for 'extensive redevelopment/demolition'). So; if the flat is very cheap, and the building of that older generation and sound, I'd say go for it. Could end up being a shrewder 'investment' than some 80s Barrat box.

A neighbour's son lives in a high up flat in the Barbican estate in central London. Incredible views, and it's worth millions apparently. And surprisingly spacious; none of the 40 square metre shoeboxes that are going up now. I'd live there in a heartbeat.

Money saving expert has some interesting articles on factor costs for shared properties, worth a look. Lift maintenance, for example, can be a costly affair and there are regular stories of astronomical bills for seemingly straightforward jobs.
If the local council are involved as well then things get hilarious really quickly.

Yes it's in Scotland and some of the 37 flats are owned by the LA.

We got a £7 k bill for replacement lifts in our block. A bummer at any time but our flat is ground floor. We never use the lift!

I’d be very warily checking out the management committee/ongoing maintenance charges and where the money went. I’d also be speaking with people who owned there and people who used to own there.

However once I’d seen the phrase “LA involvement”, I’d be seeking a very long smelly barge pole. new windows needed, they need to be the same in all flats and they need to be done all at the same time, we’ve put it out for tender and got an incredibly competitive and good value bulk deal, for a 2 bed flat it’s only £12000 each. That seems quite expensive to me, I’ve never seen any adverts asking for quote. I can assure you we have run an exhaustive and extensive advertising campaign and tender process and our preferred supplier has a very strong track record. I assume I can see a copies of the quotes etc. I’m afraid those are a commercial agreement between us and our suppliers and as such are not available to members of the public. Wasn’t there something in the paper a while ago that you’d paid a company to do the roof, it was expensive but it came with a 30 year warranty but had to be replaced after 10 years, was it done under warranty. I don’t have that information to hand but I can assure you it was an open and transparent process with a reliable and high quality supplier and that all stages we followed our exhaustive, complete and extensive process to ensure both value and quality. Then it’ll be no problem for me to get a copy of the invoices, warranty, inspection reports etc. I’m afraid those are council documents and as such not available to members of the public.

Properly maintained high rise flats are a wonderful thing. It’s not the design per se. Just look at the Barbican. I would, provided the management costs were clear.

Cheers again. Windows are new. Charges will be in the home report which I need to read.

It was built in 65 and has 2 lifts 😬

The other thing to consider is noise. Music travels around our 60’s concrete block in strange ways. Old ventilation with solid concrete with non existent sound reduction. Unless in our case you like Bob Marley on repeat for 16 hrs or heavy drum and Bass on a Monday night. From what you said though it’s more likely going to be Frank Sinatra.

Used to work for a company that had multiple 'poured' concrete buildings throughout UK built in the 70's.

Just before I left, 'concrete cancer' began affecting all the buildings at the same time resulting in cracking and disintegration of the concrete.

I understand in layman's terms that the reinforcing steel rods within the concrete eventually get rusty, expand and slowly force the concrete to crack and basically crumble. My concrete fence posts are currently doing the same thing.

Apparently one of the solutions was to connect a current to the bars, 9 volt battery anyone?
Just something to bear in mind and mitigate with any survey.

I had a friend who rented a flat for a very short while: freezing cold in winter due to drafts and wind tunnel effect in the corridors/stairwells, everyone could hear everyone's else's domestics/love making/TV, broken lifts, cannabis smell from someone below drifting through holes/gaps/ventilation.

Speak to a few residents and other flat owners.

Go in with your eyes wide open.

On a personal note-I would NEVER buy a flat.

I spent years visiting people in high rises in London up to 22 floors. I appreciate that they are likely cheap and that the cost is obviously a significant factor, but I don't believe humans suit living in tower blocks, it's a very solitary living existence, even the ones with a "communal" floor with community facilities. They're a bit of an anonymous living pod in a cluster of others. Obviously they will suit some budgets & living styles.

Spalling happens over time due to the washing out of alkaline salts in concrete which then results in the steel reinforcement rusting. It's inevitable, especially when the reinforcement is too close to the surface.
A former colleague wrote his PhD on poultice use in 1930s RC structures, although his real interest was in lime.
I remember that we did the first cathodic protection of a steel building about 25 years ago. And yes there was a 9V battery in a box. Successful though.

Yes it’s in Scotland and some of the 37 flats are owned by the LA.

Housing association surely? some of them are fairly shonky for splashing out.

There is a reason so many concrete flats subsequently had cladding put on. They were cold and expensive to heat. Often no gas either so it is electric heating.

Potential for huge repair bills and little control over costs if the LA is the factor. Another issue is that if the LA still has many flats in the block then they can end up being used for hard to house unsocial tenents.

Cheap living? If the location suits another option might be a private let in the block. Cheap with no potential big downsides.

In Glasgow the high flats were often junkie hangouts with the stairwells used as toilets. Many were made much betterplaces to live when CCTV was installed and there was a 24hr concierge for each group of flats. That is another ongoing cost to be paid by residents though.

If it was possible to make them attractive places to live at reasonable cost then Glasgow wouldn't have knocked so many down.

I've been in the block several times. It is well kept and nothing like the worst of high-rises (some of which I work in). I am told only a few flats are not owner occupied, and are LA not Housing association (same for all Edinburgh high rises I think).

It has gas heating and yes I know the concerns re insulation.

Apparently it’s an unusual (poured?) construction.

Loads of poured concrete blocks of flats going up in central Cambridge, up to 6 storeys I think.

I've been watching them build this lot out of the kitchen window for the last couple of years.

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If it was possible to make them attractive places to live at reasonable cost then Glasgow wouldn’t have knocked so many down.

If it wasn't possible then why would they spend a couple of hundred million overcladding so many of them?

Glasgow had the highest concentration of Multi storey flats in Western Europe in the early 2000's. There were 270 blocks over 8 storeys high. After the council housing stock transfer GHA demolished about a third of those and overclad aprroximately half of them.

The maryhill high rises have probably the fines views in all of Glasgow.... if you ignore the first few kilometres...

From what you said though it’s more likely going to be Frank Sinatra.

I'm a very considerate neighbour and only sing loudly on special occasions. Luckily I don't live in a high rise so I think this is fake news.

The maryhill high rises have probably the fines views in all of Glasgow…. if you ignore the first few kilometres…

You'd be wrong. Having been on the roofs of most of the MSF's in Glasgow I can absolutely confirm that the finest view is from the top of Viewpoint Place, Balgrayhill just off Springburn Road.

It's the highest point you can reach in the city.

Lived in one in Gorgie for many years and still let it out. Council control the central maintenance and heating, can by some big bills at time like roof repairs or lift refurbishment which can hurt but generally it's been okay. I did 15 years in mine from being a student with various noise issues upstairs and downstairs. The price I saw one going for recently was a very pleasant surprise so there is obviously still a growing market for them.

Mine was a bank repossession that was picked up cheap so it has worked out. I'd get another if it was cheap, wouldn't like to live in it again unless upstairs and downstairs neighbours were good, they can change very quickly too if it isn't owner occupied.

As per someone above, the noise can really travel. I went up one floor and banged on their door to complain about a party to find it was actually about four floors up. Never had any issues with people hanging about in them although the stair windows had been smashed last time I visited.

You’d be wrong. Having been on the roofs of most of the MSF’s in Glasgow I can absolutely confirm that the finest view is from the top of Viewpoint Place, Balgrayhill just off Springburn Road.

It’s the highest point you can reach in the city.

I stand corrected. I've cleared a few maryhill highrise flats and alwaysd thought that if they were made nice and the surrounding improved they'd be fantastic places to live. I actually thought MH was the highest set!

Update: I bought it!