Priya had been renting in South London for six years and had finally saved enough for a deposit. Her shortlist had narrowed to two very different properties — and her gut kept pulling in opposite directions.
The choice
Property A was a two-bedroom Victorian terrace in Peckham. Original fireplaces, high ceilings, a rear garden that backed onto a railway line. The kitchen was last updated in the 1990s. The roof had a recent survey noting "early-stage issues with the chimney stack." Asking price: £395,000. Estimated service charge: none (freehold).
Property B was a two-bedroom flat in a new-build development, completed in 2022. Glossy, energy-efficient, zero maintenance for the first few years under the developer's warranty. The EPC was an A. Asking price: £380,000. Service charge: £2,800 per year. Lease: 250 years.
Her parents told her new-builds were safer. Her friends told her Victorian houses were better investments. She didn't know who to trust, so she put both listing URLs into HomesToCompare.
What the AI surfaced
The real cost gap over five years
On purchase price alone, Property B looked £15,000 cheaper. The AI built out a five-year cost comparison. The service charge on Property B — £2,800 per year, with a 4% annual escalation clause common in new-build leases — would add £15,150 over five years before any maintenance budget. Property A's likely maintenance budget (roof, kitchen update, boiler service) was estimated at £12,000–£18,000 over the same period.
The gap was smaller than it appeared. The new-build's "safety" came at a cost that wasn't visible in the asking price.
The EPC gap in money terms
Property A had an EPC rating of D. Property B was rated A. The AI translated this into estimated annual energy bills: approximately £1,800 for the Victorian terrace vs £680 for the new-build, based on typical occupancy for a two-bed home in London at current rates. Over five years that's about £5,600 in additional energy costs for Property A — meaningful, but partially offset by improvements Priya was already planning.
The service charge escalation trap
Under buyer guidance, the AI flagged a specific question to ask: "Request the last three years of service charge accounts and any known future major works planned for the building." New-build service charge estimates are often set artificially low in year one and revised upward significantly in years two to four once the managing agent takes over from the developer.
Priya asked. The developer's management agent had already issued a note to leaseholders indicating a likely £1,200 uplift in year three related to communal area resurfacing. The real service charge in year three would be £4,000.
The chimney non-issue
The AI also provided context on the chimney survey note for Property A. It flagged this as a common finding on Victorian properties and suggested getting a specialist chimney survey (typically £150–£250) rather than a general building survey for this specific item. The note in the original survey likely reflected standard weathering rather than structural failure. It suggested using this as a negotiating point rather than a reason to walk away.
The decision
Priya offered on Property A. She used the service charge escalation evidence to negotiate £8,000 off the asking price on the grounds of the roof work needed. She commissioned the specialist chimney survey (minor repointing required, £900 to fix) and budgeted properly for the kitchen. Three years on, she's spent about £14,000 on maintenance and improvements — and gained roughly £60,000 in value in a rising market in which new-builds in the same development have been much harder to sell.
Comparing a Victorian property and a new-build? The numbers often look different once you model them properly.
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