What has the service charge done for three years?

Not this year's figure, which any seller can quote. The trend. A charge that has risen steadily is usually a building being maintained; one that has been held artificially flat is often a building storing up a bill. Ask for the accounts, not a summary, and look at what the money was actually spent on.

What major works are planned?

Section 20 consultation notices are the ones that matter, and they arrive long before the invoice does. A buyer who completes two months before a roof is scheduled inherits the whole cost. Ask whether any consultation has begun, what the surveyor's estimate is, and whether the reserve fund covers it.

The answer is frequently 'nothing planned', which is worth testing against the age of the building and the condition of the communal areas. Nothing planned on a 1930s block with original windows means the conversation has been deferred, not resolved.

What is in the reserve fund?

A healthy reserve is the difference between a predictable charge and a five-figure demand. Divide the fund by the number of flats and compare it to the likely cost of the next major item. If the gap is large, that gap is part of the purchase price whether or not anyone says so.

How long is the lease?

Above about ninety years, the length is a detail. Below eighty, it is part of the price: extension becomes materially more expensive once marriage value applies, and some lenders become difficult. Between those two, get a proper figure before offering rather than after.

If the lease is short, the useful question is whether the seller has already served notice. An extension in progress can often be assigned to the buyer, which saves both the wait and the requirement to own the flat for two years first.

Who manages the building, and who owns the freehold?

A resident-owned freehold with a competent managing agent behaves very differently from an absentee freeholder with an in-house manager. Ask other leaseholders if you can. Ask how quickly repairs get done. A building where everyone knows the manager's name is usually a well-run one.

Reading the answers

None of these questions has a single correct answer. What you are testing is whether the information exists and comes back readily. A seller who can produce three years of accounts, a note on planned works and the reserve balance within a day is telling you something about the building that no survey will.