Property Dossier · Leasehold flat
2-bed flat · Acton
Acton, Ealing · W3 · 2-bed, 2-bath mid-floor flat with balcony, built 2017 to 2018 · about 839 to 883 sq ft
Tenure
Leaseholdabout 244 yrs left
Council tax
Band EEaling
EPC
Bcommunity heating
Nearest station
East Acton500m, Central line
5.9/10
Overall verdict
Pros
- Excellent transport for Zone 2 East Acton on the Central line about 500m away, Acton Central and Acton Main Line within walking distance, and quick access to the A40. Around half an hour to Tottenham Court Road.
- Modern flat with genuine tenant appeal Two bathrooms, a balcony, high performance glazing and an EPC of B, so running costs are low and it lets easily.
- Very long lease Roughly 244 years left, so no extension worries and no problem getting a mortgage on lease length alone.
- Quiet cul de sac with a park outlook Tucked off the main road facing a protected open space, which the council has confirmed keeps its protected status.
- Strong rental income for the price Around £2,400 to £2,550 a month, which works out near 6.5% gross at £450,000. That is well above most of London.
- Long term regeneration nearby Old Oak Common and the wider West London schemes could lift the area, though the timing has slipped to the early 2030s.
Cons
- Major fire safety work underway on the building majorA 2026 application covers removing the aluminium cladding, replacing insulation, rebuilding brickwork and fitting missing fire barriers inside the walls. Who pays is the single biggest question here, and it may also affect getting a mortgage.
- The price has gone nowhere since 2019 It sold at £512,500 and comparable flats now trade around £460,000 to £500,000. The whole block is down roughly 12% over a decade.
- Ongoing costs are meaningful Service charge around £2,900 to £3,050 a year plus ground rent near £450, and both can rise.
- A large block is harder to steer 82 flats means decisions are slower and one owner has little influence, which matters most when a big repair bill is being decided.
- Solar panels are not the win they look like They cost money to maintain and the benefit often does not come back to leaseholders, who still pay the upkeep.
- The A40 is close Traffic noise measures moderate by day and low at night, but worth judging in person, along with air quality.
On paper this is a good rental buy: a large modern two bed in Zone 2, EPC B, a very long lease and a yield near 6.5% that most of London cannot match. The problem is the building rather than the flat. There is an active project to strip the cladding, replace insulation and fit fire barriers that were either missing or wrong, and until you know in writing who is paying for it, you cannot know what this flat really costs. A bill of £20,000 is survivable, £75,000 is not, and the difference is entirely down to paperwork you can get hold of before you offer. That is also the likeliest reason the asking price sits below the flats around it. Treat the fire safety answer as the deal, not a detail.
Buyer's due-diligence checklist
The fire safety work, before anything else
Get it in writing that this flat owes nothing
Ask for the external wall survey from August 2025, the current fire safety certificate lenders ask for, the full repair specification, and above all the funding agreement. Is the original developer paying, is there government funding, or is the bill going to the flat owners? Make written confirmation that no contribution is payable by this flat a condition of your offer, not a polite question.
Check you can actually get a mortgage
Ask which lenders have recently agreed loans on flats here, whether any have been refused, and whether the building is currently accepted while the work is going on. Speak to your own lender early. This can stop a purchase dead.
Any bills already issued
Ask for copies of any formal notices about major works, which is the process a building must follow before charging owners for big jobs. If notices have already gone out, the cost may be closer than it looks.
Costs and ownership
Three years of service charge accounts
Plus the current budget, the savings pot balance, and any arrears. Confirm the ground rent and how often it rises. If the charge is nearer £6,000 than £3,000, the numbers change completely.
Ask about the solar panels
What do they cost to maintain each year, what do they actually generate, and does any of that benefit reach the flat owners or just offset communal costs? Get the figures rather than the sales pitch.
The heating scheme
Heat comes from a shared system rather than your own boiler, so you pay whatever the scheme charges. Ask for recent heat bills and how the price is set.
The flat and the area
Confirm size, bedrooms and parking
Sources disagree between 839 and 883 sq ft, and on whether it is two or three bedrooms. Get the floor plan. Also do not assume a parking space, since the original scheme gave most spaces to neighbouring buildings.
Visit for noise and air
The A40 is close. Daytime traffic noise measures moderate, night time low, but go and judge it yourself with the balcony door open.
Get a newer energy certificate
The current one dates from April 2018. Ask whether a more recent assessment exists.
Est. value if fire work is covered · Aug 2026
£460k–£500k
Last sold £512,500, January 2019, as a new build
down about 12% since 2019, in line with the rest of the block
Est. market rent£2,400–£2,550 pcm
Gross · net (est.)≈ 6.5% · 4.8 to 5.2%
Jan 2019
This flat — new build, only sale
£512,500
Oct 2024
Another unit — similar size
£500,000
Mar 2025
Another unit — similar size
£497,500
Nov 2025
Latest in-block sale
£470,000
The flat
Lease about 244 yrs
A 250 year lease running from 2018, so length is a non issue. Ground rent around £450 a year, and worth checking how often it rises.
Service charge confirm
Recent listings in the block show roughly £2,900 to £3,050 a year. Get the real figure for this flat plus the savings pot balance.
Council tax
Band E, Ealing, somewhere around £2,000 to £2,600 depending on the year.
Energy rating B
Assessed April 2018. No mains gas. Heat and hot water come from a shared estate system with solar panels, and glazing and insulation are rated well. Running costs were put at only about £286 a year on 2018 figures.
Size and layout check
Recorded as 839 to 883 sq ft, mid floor, with a balcony and two bathrooms. Sources disagree on two versus three bedrooms, so ask for the floor plan.
Who runs the building
A management company set up for the development in 2016, now run by resident directors after the developer stepped back in 2021, with a professional block manager involved day to day.
The area · Acton W3
- East Acton 500m
- Acton Central 1.1 km
- Acton Main Line 1.4 km
- Local free school 500m
- Local academy 800m
Setting
A quiet cul de sac next to a protected open space, which the council has confirmed keeps its protected status, so the green outlook should stay.
Noise
Traffic measures moderate by day and low at night, better than you might expect this close to the A40. Old Oak construction will be a long backdrop.
Crime
About 93 crimes per 1,000 residents, rated low and marginally better than the Ealing average.
Other
Flood risk very low. Around half the homes in the immediate streets are socially rented, reflecting the older blocks nearby.
Verify before you offer
1
Who pays for the fire safety work
Written confirmation that this flat owes nothing. Everything else is secondary to this.
2
Mortgage acceptance
Check which lenders currently lend here while the work is underway, and speak to yours early.
3
Service charge and savings pot
Three years of accounts. At £6,000 a year rather than £3,000, the investment case falls apart.
4
Size, bedrooms, parking, solar
Get the floor plan, confirm whether a space is included, and ask what the panels cost and return.
Where the price sits
At £450,000 you are around £536 per sq ft, against a building average nearer £567 and recent sales of £470,000 to £500,000 for similar flats. On the face of it that is good value. The honest reading is that the discount is probably the fire safety work rather than a bargain nobody noticed. If the liability is properly covered, £430,000 to £450,000 is defensible. If the seller cannot answer the question clearly, start meaningfully lower, nearer £400,000 to £410,000, because you are the one carrying the risk.
The drawings show cladding removal, insulation replacement, brickwork rebuilding and new fire barriers inside the walls. This is a genuine building safety project, not routine maintenance.
From the 2026 planning documents
Parking
No listing for a flat here mentions an allocated space, only secure bike storage, and the original scheme gave most parking to the neighbouring older blocks. Assume none unless the agent confirms otherwise in writing. Car ownership locally is low, so tenants are unlikely to mind.