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3-bed leasehold flat

Maida Vale / Kilburn, NW6

Brent, London

7.2/10
Overall verdict

This is a real report we produced, shown in full. The exact address and unit details have been removed — everything else is exactly what a buyer receives.

Property Dossier · Leasehold flat

3-bed flat · Maida Vale / Kilburn

Maida Vale / Kilburn, Brent · NW6 · 3-bed leasehold flat, 2nd floor · 969 sq ft
Tenure
Leasehold~250 yrs · long
Council tax
Band D–EBrent · confirm
EPC
Bbeats 2030 min
Nearest station
Kilburn Park500m · Bakerloo
7.2/10
Overall verdict

Pros

  • Modern EPC-B build — comfortably beats the 2030 rental minimum; no retrofit risk
  • Good size for the postcode — ~969 sqft 3-bed with balcony; attractive to renters and families
  • Excellent transport — Kilburn Park (Bakerloo) 500m; four stations within 800m; ~20–25 min to the West End
  • Strong rental growth & demand — postcode rents up ~34% over 10 yrs; ~5.6% gross yield
  • Close to great park facilities — Queen's Park & Paddington Rec nearby
  • Long lease (~250 yrs) + very low flood risk, ultrafast broadband

Cons

  • Capital growth has lagged — this flat and its same-block comps have drifted sideways-to-down since 2018; the postcode is off ~15% from its 2022 peak
  • Expensive service charge (~£3,700–£4,000/yr) — plus heat-network charges on top; erodes the net yield
  • Leasehold, 2016-era — check for onerous / escalating ground rent and get the full lease pack
  • Community heat network (not gas) — heat costs can run higher and less competitive; check historic charges
  • On-street / CPZ parking only — no confirmed allocated space; Brent permit, competitive
  • High social-rented share nearby (~61%) + mid-tier crime (ASB flagged) — may cap the owner-occupier resale pool
A modern, well-connected Zone 2 flat with a long lease, EPC B and a solid ~5.6% yield — the income case is genuinely good. The honest caveat is capital growth: this exact flat and its same-block comparables have drifted sideways-to-down since 2018 (today's estimate sits around or below the £735k paid then), and the postcode is off ~15% from its 2022 peak. Underwrite it on rent, not appreciation, and pin down the service charge, ground-rent escalation and heat-network costs — those, not the headline, decide the real return.

Buyer's due-diligence checklist

Lease & ownership

Lease pack & ground rent
Confirm the remaining term (~250 yrs expected) and, critically, the ground-rent escalation clause — 2016 sat in the middle of the onerous / doubling / RPI-linked ground-rent era. Pull the title (£3) for the freeholder and managing agent.
Service charge & reserve
Get 2–3 years of actual accounts, not just the current demand. ~£3,700–£4,000/yr expected — check the reserve fund and any planned major works.
Heat-network costs
It's on community heating, not mains gas — check historic heat unit charges and metering (Ofgem heat-network rules); these can run above gas comparables.

Building & condition

EWS1 / building safety
Purpose-built 2016-era block — confirm EWS1 / Building Safety Act status, especially if above 11m / 5 storeys.
EPC B — no retrofit risk
Already beats the 2030 minimum; just confirm the 2017 certificate is still valid.
Aspect & noise
The block sits on a main road — check which way this flat faces and test road / tube noise on a viewing.

Neighbours & surroundings

Parking
No confirmed allocated space — check the Brent CPZ permit cost and hours for this exact stretch.
Resale pool
~61% socially rented nearby — understand how that affects owner-occupier resale vs mixed-tenure Maida Vale streets.
Rent verification
Confirm ~£3,400 pcm with 2–3 local agents (one agency dominates lettings here) and stress-test net yield after charges and voids.
Est. value · Jul 2026
£700k–£800k
Last sold £735,000 · 25 May 2018
~flat since 2018 · postcode −14% / 10 yrs · rents +34% / 10 yrs
Est. market rent£3,400–£3,580 pcm
Gross yield · est.≈ 5.6%
May 2018 This flat — sold £735,000
Dec 2022 Same-block 3-bed comp £795,000
Aug 2025 Same-block 3-bed comp £707,500
Jul 2026 This flat · estimate ~£750k

The flat

Lease length ~250 yrs
Long lease — but check the ground-rent escalation (2016-era). Verify the exact term for this flat.
Service charge ~£3.8k
Plus heat-network charges on top — the main drag on net yield. Pull 2–3 yrs of accounts.
Council tax
Band D–E — Brent (confirm the exact band).
Energy rating EPC B
Assessed 2017, comfortably beats the 2030 minimum. Served by a community heat network.
Size & layout
~969 sqft (90 m²), 3-bed, 2nd floor, balcony. Slightly larger than average locally.
Building
One of 15 flats in this core; part of a 75-flat development (2016–17). Lift, high-performance glazing.

The area · NW6

  • Kilburn Park Bakerloo · Zone 2500m
  • Maida Vale Bakerloo600m
  • Queen's Park · Kilburn High Rd Overground800m
  • Essendine Primary primary300m
  • St Augustine's CE High secondary400m
Capital growth lagging
Same-block comps up only low single digits over 4–6 yrs; postcode −14% over 10 yrs. An income story.
Crime
Medium (5/10); anti-social behaviour the flagged category. Review the police.uk map.
Wider context
Flood risk very low · ultrafast broadband · rents up ~34% in a decade underpin demand.
Tenure mix · immediate streets
Socially rented61%
Owned (mortgage)17%
Privately rented15%

Verify before you offer

1
Ground-rent escalation
2016-era onerous-ground-rent risk — get the LPE1 lease pack and check the review clause.
2
Service charge + heat costs
The real drag on net yield. Three years of accounts, plus historic heat-network charges.
3
EWS1 / building safety
Confirm the status for the purpose-built 2016 block.
4
Capital-growth reality
Same-block comps show sideways-to-down since 2018 — underwrite on income, not appreciation.
Where the price sits
AVMs span ~£699k–£825k, but the hard evidence is the same-block 3-bed comps: one sold £707,500 (Aug 2025), another £795,000 (Dec 2022). It paid £735k in 2018, so it's roughly flat over eight years while the postcode is off ~15% from its 2022 peak. The value case is stable-but-lagging; the return is in the rent.
Across this exact block, the same-bed comparables have grown low single digits over four to six years — well behind inflation. The income case is more compelling than the capital-growth case has been. Paraphrased · comparables analysis
Parking
No confirmed allocated space. Brent CPZ permit ~£105–145/yr (emissions-scaled); a low-car area (~0.4 cars/household) so on-street is more forgiving than most of London.
Sources · HM Land Registry (sold prices) · Bricks&Logic / TheMoveMarket / Zoopla (AVM, comps) · EPC register · Companies House (developer / freeholder) · ONS Census 2021 (tenure) · Met Police / Crystal Roof (crime) · Ofcom (broadband) · Environment Agency (flood) · Brent Council (parking). Compiled 22 Jul 2026. *Lease terms, service charge & EWS1 status to verify via the leasehold pack.
Public-record summary for orientation only — not financial, legal or survey advice. Value, rent and yield are modelled estimates, not registry facts. Verify the flagged items before relying on anything here. Prepared with BackStory.

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