Lease for tallest building up for sale

THE lease for Wales’ tallest residential building, whose stunning penthouse overlooking Swansea Bay has never been lived in, is up for sale, it has emerged.

For £6.7m the buyer will acquire the lease for 291 flats at Meridian Quay, which comprises the 29-storey Meridian Tower and two smaller blocks alongside it.

The buyer will acquire 45 unsold apartments as part of the transaction. These constitute £5.5m of the £6.7m asking price – working out at an average of just £122,000 each.

Chris Hope, senior partner at Dawsons, which is handling the lease sale, said these flats were valued collectively at £10.3m in April 2015.

Mr Hope recalled marketing Meridian Quay off plan in July 2006. “The scheme was virtually sold out within four of five days,” he said.

But when developer Carillion, which has gone into liquidation this month, completed the £70m scheme in 2008 the housing market was buckling.

Mr Hope said the 45 unsold flats would yield an annual rent of £660,000, and that the buyer would also earn £62,800 per year in ground rent for the whole development.

The buyer of the lease, which has 142 years left on it, will be responsible for the condition of the buildings, fire regulations and insurance and – along with the scheme’s management company – will need to take on ongoing and outstanding schedules of work.

Mr Hope said: “We need to find out from Carillion what has been carried out and what needs to be carried out.”

He said around 75 per cent of Meridian Quay’s 291 flats were rented out, with the remaining 25 per cent owner-occupied.