Questions to ask the managing agent before you buy a flat

When you buy a flat, you're not just buying four walls and a front door. You're buying into a building, and someone manages that building on your behalf. That someone is the managing agent, appointed either by the freeholder or, if leaseholders have taken over the running of things, by a residents' management company.

The managing agent holds the answers to questions your solicitor's standard enquiries might not dig into deeply enough. They know what's been spent, what's planned, who hasn't paid their service charge, and whether the building has had any nasty surprises lately. Getting those answers in writing, before you exchange, is one of the most useful things you can do.

Your solicitor will raise formal enquiries with the seller's solicitor, and a leasehold information pack (sometimes called an LPE1 form) will come back. But that pack is only as good as the questions asked and the honesty of the answers. Sending your own written questions directly to the managing agent, through your solicitor, adds a second layer of protection. Some agents charge a fee to respond to additional enquiries, so budget for that, but it's almost always worth it.

Ask for the last three years of certified service charge accounts. Not just a summary. The full accounts. You want to see what the building has actually been spending money on, whether the budget has been consistently underspent or overspent, and whether there's a healthy reserve fund sitting there.

The reserve fund (sometimes called the sinking fund) is the pot of money leaseholders pay into over time to cover big future costs like roof replacement or lift overhaul. If it's almost empty, that's not automatically a dealbreaker, but you need to know, because the next major works bill could land on you.

Ask specifically what the current reserve fund balance is. Ask whether the level of contributions to that fund has been reviewed by a qualified surveyor recently. A well-run building will have had a reserve fund study done, sometimes called a stock condition survey, that sets out what the building needs over the next ten to twenty years and what needs to be saved to cover it.

This is the question that can save you tens of thousands of pounds. Ask the managing agent directly whether any major works are planned, in consultation, or under discussion for the next five years.

Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, leaseholders must be consulted before a landlord or managing agent spends more than two hundred and fifty pounds per leaseholder on any single set of works. This is called the Section 20 consultation process. Ask whether any Section 20 notices have been issued in the last twelve months and whether any are anticipated.

Also ask whether any works have been completed in the last two years that haven't yet been invoiced to leaseholders. Works can be done and billed later, and you could exchange contracts not knowing a bill is coming.

If the building has cladding or fire safety issues, ask specifically about those. Ask whether an EWS1 form has been obtained, what the outcome was, and whether any remediation works are planned or ongoing. This is a genuinely complex area and the law around building safety has been evolving quickly. Confirm anything you're told with your solicitor, because the position may have changed since this was written.

Ask for a statement of the current leaseholder's service charge account. You want to know whether the seller is up to date. Arrears don't automatically transfer to you as the buyer, but a building where one or more leaseholders routinely don't pay creates cash flow problems that affect everyone.

Ask how many leaseholders in the building are currently in arrears and what the total arrears figure is. A managing agent may not always answer this in full detail, but asking puts it on the table.

Ask whether there are any ongoing disputes between leaseholders and the freeholder or managing agent. Disputes can end up at the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and they can drag on for years, creating uncertainty and legal costs that get passed through to leaseholders.

On insurance, ask for a copy of the current buildings insurance schedule. Check the sum insured looks reasonable for the size of the building. Then ask whether there have been any insurance claims on the building in the last five years and what they were for. A string of escape of water claims, for instance, tells you something about the state of the plumbing. One large claim for subsidence tells you something else entirely. You're not necessarily walking away based on the answers, but you want to know.

Ask the managing agent to confirm the unexpired lease term on the flat you're buying. They may direct you back to the title documents, which is fair, but it's worth asking.

Lease length matters enormously. Most mortgage lenders want to see roughly seventy to eighty five years remaining on the lease when you apply, and they typically want thirty to forty years left at the end of the mortgage term. Each lender sets its own minimum, so check with your broker.

If the lease has fewer than around eighty years left, extending it will cost more because of something called marriage value. Marriage value is the share of the uplift in the flat's value that the freeholder is entitled to when a short lease is extended. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes a provision to abolish marriage value, but as of September 2026 that part of the Act is not in force and has no confirmed start date. So if you're buying a flat with a short lease, marriage value still applies and the extension could be significantly more expensive than you expect. Get a specialist leasehold solicitor to advise you before you exchange.

The good news is that the rule requiring you to own a flat for two years before you could claim a statutory lease extension was abolished from thirty first January 2025. So you can buy and extend straight away if you need to, which gives you more flexibility.

Put your questions in writing and send them through your solicitor. That creates a paper trail. If the managing agent gives you a verbal answer that later turns out to be wrong, a written record is far more useful.

Be specific in how you phrase things. Don't ask whether there are any issues with the building. Ask whether any Section 20 notices have been issued. Ask whether any works costing more than five thousand pounds in total are under discussion. Vague questions get vague answers.

If the managing agent is slow to respond or evasive, that's information too. A well-run managing agent should be able to turn around standard enquiries in a reasonable timeframe. Persistent delays or incomplete answers are a yellow flag about how the building is being run.

Finally, use HM Land Registry to check the basics yourself. For seven pounds you can download the title register for the flat, which will confirm the lease length, the freeholder's identity and any charges registered against the title. The free property search on gov.uk will tell you whether the property is freehold or leasehold and give you the title number. It's a small thing, but it's a useful starting point before you spend money on anything else.

Here's a practical list to give your solicitor or to adapt into a written enquiry yourself.

1. 1Can you provide the last three years of certified service charge accounts?
2. 2What is the current balance in the reserve fund or sinking fund?
3. 3Has a reserve fund study or stock condition survey been carried out, and if so, can we see it?
4. 4Are any major works planned, under consultation or under discussion for the next five years?
5. 5Have any Section 20 notices been issued in the last twelve months, or are any anticipated?
6. 6Have any works been completed in the last two years that have not yet been invoiced to leaseholders?
7. 7Is the current leaseholder's service charge account up to date, and can you provide a current statement?
8. 8How many leaseholders in the building are currently in arrears, and what is the total arrears figure?
9. 9Are there any ongoing disputes between leaseholders and the freeholder or managing agent, including any cases before the First-tier Tribunal?
10. 10Can you provide a copy of the current buildings insurance schedule?
11. 11Have there been any insurance claims on the building in the last five years, and what were they for?
12. 12Has an EWS1 form been obtained for the building, and if so, what was the outcome?
13. 13Are there any planned or ongoing fire safety or cladding remediation works?
14. 14What is the current unexpired lease term on the flat?