MARKET WATCH: The £15,000 flat with fees of £9,300 a year (and not surprisingly, no one will buy it) | Mail Online

MARKET WATCH: The £15,000 flat with fees of £9,300 a year (and not surprisingly, no one will buy it) | Mail Online

Here's a bargain that's too good to be true: a modern one-bedroom flat in affluent Summertown, in north Oxford, up for sale at £15,000, with the vendors so keen that they may contribute to the management charges.

The catch? The flat – in a development restricted to the over-60s – has service charges of £775 a month, or £9,300 a year.

It is these charges, say estate agents Breckon and Breckon, that are putting off buyers and making this otherwise desirable residence virtually unsaleable.

The flat in Charles Ponsonby House, run by the Wyndham Housing Association, has been on the market for more than a year and has recently come down from £25,000.