Barbican Living
Selling
Selling a flat in the Barbican has its own particular complexities.
The lease is rather different from standard leases of normal flat developments. It has extremely complicated service charge arrangements which take some understanding. Most leases were sold under legislation to do with Council properties so the form of lease often seems to buyers’ solicitors to miss out crucial protections for buyers, although in fact the relevant provisions are in statutory form. But this can be confusing to solicitors who are not familiar with the system specifically applying to the Barbican.
In the past, many of us were fairly casual about getting consent for alterations. Nowadays, buyers’ solicitors expect to see permissions for anything which was carried out, and that includes permissions from the Barbican Estate Office as landlord, and from the City Planning and Building Control Departments as regulators of planning and building regulations. In recent years, the fact that the estate has become listed has meant that getting necessary permissions is seen as even more important.
When you come to sell, you may find that you don't have all the necessary permissions. This may not relate to your period of ownership, but may go back to work done by a previous owner. The buyers’ solicitors will still require the necessary permissions, and you are responsible because you take over liability for things done (or not done properly) in the past. These are problems which may need to be sorted out before you sell.
The sort of things that were often done without proper permissions are: taking out the Garchey, covering up ventilation flues with new cupboards, putting down wooden flooring, or redoing the bathroom or toilet without getting the necessary City approval of the altered plumbing.
I have been guilty of this myself. When I refurbished my flat many years ago, my architect did submit the plans to the Barbican Estate Office, but we neglected to actually get them to sign a licence document or confirm they had approved the works when they were done. So I had to jump through quite a lot of hoops to get the paperwork right a couple of years ago. In fact, I had to get builders back to open up the wall in my bathroom to show that the connections to the soil stack had been made properly, and that proper solder joints have been used for the hot and cold water connections. I had to satisfy the Barbican Estate Office and also the City's building regulation people. I did it because I know how difficult it is to sell flats nowadays without everything in order, so I want to avoid any problems when I come to sell. If you are in a similar position, I advise you to do the same.
