Hi,
FTB so not sure if this is normal. I am buying a flat and just got back the searches etc from the solicitor.
The seller is taking the radiators with him, and I saw that it would cost around £1000 to buy new radiators for all the rooms.
Is it normal for sellers to take things like radiators? I was kind expecting them to stay/be a part of the flat and didn‘t expect buying radiators to be an additional expense…
Forgive the slightly clickbait title but I wanted some perspective on how to negotiate a situation.
We’ve been looking for a specific type of property for abut 6 months. We’re being picky but also don’t really have a deadline. We’ve lost out on a few properties though so are feeling a bit frustrated.
Very little has come up recently until last week. Great property, on paper ticks all our boxes. However the agent can’t seem to get viewings/entry for 2 weeks (tenanted, stupid I realise), after which we’ll be away for 3 weeks. I could see it being gone by the time we return.
How mad would it be to offer without viewing it, subject to a successful viewing? I think there’s a rightful point of us not being taken seriously and just pulling out when we do view. But I can’t sit here knowing full well it’ll probably be gone by the time we’re back from our trip and do nothing.
Noisy neighbours fun at night time
I live in the Uk in a semi detached house. I live next door to a couple in their early 30s. They’re nice, abit weird and keep themselves to themselves. They’ve lived there for about 3 and a half years and decided to knock every wall down in the house. When I say we can hear everything, I mean everything. Opening and closing cupboard doors, putting dishes away, opening and closing microwave, going up and down stairs, shutting doors, talking, coughing. I could sit in my bedroom which is at the front of the house and tell you exactly where and what they’re doing in their house. Over the past few months, at nighttime and in morning can hear them having sex. They’re in the back bedroom and our bedroom is in the front. I’m not sure if it’s the noise of the headboard or what but it vibrates to our bedroom and is so loud. Obviously the more effort he puts in the more banging and loud it is. I’m honestly sick of it and have a baby on the way, I’m 28 weeks pregnant. We’re not in a financial position to move either. Mentally I’m struggling and don’t like coming home or living here. To add they also own the house. We’ve spoken to them before about their tv being too loud to which they were nice enough to turn it down and get a loud bar so we no longer hear that. Any ideas as I’m at my wits end…..
Good afternoon all,
I need some advice please!
Has anyone’s mortgage been rejected because the property is near the river? I’m buying a flat and I have been told that there is a flood risk so my mortgage application has been rejected. However, the property is a considerable distance from the river and there’s a retail park between the property and the river.
I also checked the flood risk in the area on the gov website and it says it’s low. Should I find a new lender or let the property go?
thanks in advance!
England
I overpaid for a flat in 2022 (the market was mad at the time) and then probably spent too much on a renovation for it.
I'm also in the process of a lease extension, so another £6-10k on top 🎉
Now there's an identical one on the same estate, going for £30k less than I paid for mine originally, though in need of full renovation and with a 90 year lease.
The key difference is that the other flat is immediately next to a noisy pub, and my partner insists that this is why the other flat is not selling and losing value.
I was planning on selling in the next few months so we can buy a house together.
Do I just need to take it on the chin that I'm going to lose a lot of money if I sell now due to the other flat lingering on the market? Like somewhere in the region of 20-30k
The alternative is keep living here and hope the market improves, or become a landlord to try and claw some money back before selling further down the line...
For context, I have purchased a leasehold flat as a first time buyer with no chain and the property is currently unoccupied. It's now coming towards 14 weeks and i still have no idea when exchange will be. My solicitors do respond to calls and emails but always give vague responses that never actually tell me anything. for example the last response i got was
'We are in receipt of the further replies to enquiries from the seller’s solicitors. I will be reviewing and reporting to Adam in respect of the same as soon as possible to confirm if they are all now satisfied to proceed, or if any remain outstanding'
This response is all well but its all I've heard for weeks, queries were first raised 7 weeks ago now and every time my solicitor sends more the sellers solicitors reply within 24-48 hours but it then take my solicitors over a week to even review them.
I feel like I'm losing my mind waiting, everywhere online tells me due to being a first time buyer etc i should've been moved out after 8-12 weeks.
Is there anything i can do as I am constantly worried the sellers will get fed up and pull out and i cant explain how important this flat is for me and my daughter.
We are in the process of buying a house - family are helping a lot with deposits. We need 50k total.
Just called a solicitor and am stressing.
Me and my partner have saved 20k gradually over the last year.
I had cash savings of 6k that I put in my account within the last couple of months.
My Mum has gifted 3k, my brother 5k - this money is also their own cash savings that they have recently deposited also within the last couple of months.
In the stress of bidding, our EA asked to send us a screenshot of our deposit money - and I asked my mum and brother to send that money into my account. Offer got accepted (yay) but I’ve spoken to a solicitor who has basically said they need 6 months proof of that money being in our accounts (which it isn’t).
My partners parents have enough money in there accounts to give us 30k - it’s been in there for more than 6 months.
Have we fucked it - I’m so stressed that this looks bad.
Are we able to just get my partners parents to gift us 30k - and me and my partner provide our ‘safe’ 20k deposit.
Not sure if this is the right sub, but wondering if anyone has put a static caravan on their driveway?
Trying to keep it brief, I bought a static on a holiday site in 2021 (second hand, van is now 9 years old, so not dilapidated or anything). Have since realised how shocking the industry is and no longer want to manage the static as a holiday let or pay the ever increasing fees to do so. But also don't want to let them have the van back to make an insane profit on, I do love the van and the space it has.
So my "cunning plan" is to demolish my garage (that is currently useless as it floods every time it rains) and take up that space and half my driveway with the static that I can then use as extra living space, a hobby/craft room and retain the bathroom in it as we only have one bathroom in the house.
Has anyone done this?? It appears that I don't need planning permission as it would be an ancillary garden structure, but I can't find any reference at the council specifically relating to statics. They won't speak to be about it unless I pay them a planning consultancy fee (which I guess I may have to do) so I thought I would see if anyone else had any experience with this?
Other info: house is a semi detached on an unadopted road and the current garage is detached from the house, but roughly the same width as the caravan, so the only difference in size of structure in that position is that it would be about twice as long. House is owned by myself and I will hopefully have paid the mortgage off in full by the time I move it (inheritance).
TIA
Edit: house is in England, West Cumberland and Furness council.
For context: I am a foreigner, and this is my first time buying a property in London.
My question is: how tf do you handle this? I was tremendously shocked by how estate agents work here, starting from the call to arrange a viewing. I can understand people asking for my full name, phone number, email, etc., but then asking whether I live alone or with family? It may seem tolerable, but when every other estate agent asks you that and then tells you: Ehh I can’t book your appointment without you answering those questions... it really starts to annoy me.
That is the first part that really frustrates me. But when it came to viewing properties, I was also overwhelmed by the incompetence of the majority of agents. Don’t get me wrong, some of them are fine, but at least 50%( if not more) can’t even answer basic questions. For example: What is the total area of the property, including the garden? I don’t know... When was the last refurbishment done? I don’t know... Who lives next door? I don’t know... Seriously, just fuck off and sit in the office if you know nothing about the product you are selling.
I understand that my budget(300k) is small for London, and the agents might not be that prestigious, but it is still a huge amount of money that my family earned and I care where I will live for the at least next 10 years. If you think I’m being too nitpicky, then you definitely don’t appreciate the value of money.
Overall, I’m curious whether I am the only one with these thoughts. I am currently making offers, so I would really value any advice on how much you can bargain in London.
Thanks in advance!
We are buying a property partly with an inheritence . It’s partly been held up for investigation into historical tax possibly owed by the deceased. The solicitor handling it all has aid it will probably take until July until the HMRC have completed investigations, possibly less and possibly more but unlikely . It’s working out our house purchase will probably complete beginning of July so we are under pressure to have alternative funds ready in case we don’t get the inheritance arrives in time . We can’t get a mortgage as we are close to retirement (tried this ) so a financial advisor we are using has said a bridging loan is only option . It’s going to cost us with fees and first month or twos interest about 5k , we need an extra 50k to buy the house .
Because of the bridging loan , the solicitor we are using for our house purchase who to be fair so far has been very good , has now sprung upon us that she’s not qualified to handle a Bridging loan so we would need to get another solicitor to handle this part of the purchase . It’s turning into a bit of a potentially very expensive nightmare , with the rest of our inheritence we were planning to use for improvements being swallowed up in fees .
Anyone got advice ? We have held off applying for the bridging loan so far , as soon as we apply, we will start the ‘fees’ rolling. If only we could find out when the HMRC will finish investigations but the solicitor handling that has been very uncooperative (a big and expensive corporate solicitor) and told us we will just have to wait .
We sold our house, moved in with family to make ourselves chain-free, and thought that would make things easier… famous last words 😂
House #1 fell through after surveys threw up issues (that was a whole saga in itself).
House #2 we had an offer accepted, but the sellers have spent weeks/months unable to find anywhere and we’ve been stuck in limbo waiting.
While all that was dragging on, House #3 came up, we fell in love with it, and have now had an offer accepted on that too (subject to survey)… so this is now our THIRD attempt at buying a house 😵💫
I know sales and purchases fall through all the time, but honestly this process is so stressful and emotionally exhausting.
How many people here have had a sale or purchase fall through? What happened in the end? Did it work out better, worse, or did it just cost you your sanity? 😂 I’d love to hear some real stories because right now I feel like we’re living in a property soap opera
Hi! I have two cats and am currently flat-hunting in London. I'm concerned that regardless of the Renters' Rights Act measures on pet ownership, most of the placers I'm viewing have multiple people coming to see them and prospective landlords will simply pick somebody else if they know about the cats. Do I have to tell landlords and, if so, when should I do that? Thank you for any advice!
First time buyers (Scotland) here and we completely fell in love with a house built in 1910. It’s full of charm and original features, and a lot of work has been done to it recently. The home report was basically perfect apart from one tiny issue, so we were feeling really positive.
We went for our second viewing today and my husband climbed into the attic… only to find chewed-up insulation, fabric and what looked like mice and/or rat droppings scattered around. There was also evidence of them having been in the kitchen cupboards. The home report was written 8 days ago and the surveyor stated there was no infestation or issues in the attic, no mention of rodents throughout the report.
We questioned the owners and they claimed they had no idea, which honestly surprised us given how obvious it seemed.
Now I’m spiralling a bit because I have a genuine phobia of rodents. Is this just something that comes with owning an older house? We really want a home with character, but I’m wondering if we should start looking at newer builds instead.
For anyone who’s dealt with this before, how difficult is it actually to get rid of mice/rats from a house and attic? Is it usually manageable or does it become an ongoing nightmare?
I (28F) am advertising for a lodger on spare room, and am not allowed to say female only? I have to say female preferred? Even though the law allows you to discriminate on sex for lodgers, you have use ‘preferred’, to pretend you’re not discriminating, receive messages from men which is a waste of everyone’s time, only to choose a female anyway!
So I’m 4 months into this house purchase, just found this out and it’s sent me into stress mode. The main issue is the property was previously a 3 bedroom, then they got a loft conversion 18 years ago with a staircase and dormer structure while merging two of the bedrooms downstairs into one to make a bigger bedroom. The trouble is as they don’t have planning for the loft conversion meaning the property can now only be classed as a two bedroom. The property was listed as a 3 bedroom with a price reflecting that. I spoke with my surveyor and he has told me I’ve been misled and that I should try to negotiate a lower price. I’ve tried and the seller won’t budge at all. The house needs a fair amount of work and I feel like it’s no longer worth it. Really tempted to pull out but not sure it’s the right choice
Edit
An indemnity policy and statement of truth has been offered but that still doesn’t change the fact it was incorrectly listed as a 3 bedroom instead of a 2.
The seller claimed he had a completion certificate after having building control come and check it over but can’t find it and unable to obtain a new one.
The surveyor also thinks he’s lying, the seller said he didn’t need planning permission for the works but the surveyor says this is highly unlikely
I have not lived in Stockport for a while (you can probs guess why from my name) but I have been wanting to move back for around 2 years now. One place I have always kept an eye on was Reddish (mainly the south area south of that ghost station) as it was a quick and nice walk to where my family are through the Vale, but house prices there for whatever reason has sky-rocketed up in the last year or 2 and it seems much, much harder to actually buy a house there now, much more than other areas in Stockport (albeit the other areas was a bit more expensive at the time). Just curious why this is?
After moving into a property I discovered that the neighbour has a right of way through the garden. There is a clause in the tenancy agreement stating that the landlord must provide freehold conditions affecting the tenants use of the property. The neighbour is now asserting control over the garden and stopping me from using it as a private space despite the tenancy including “all grounds”. I have a dog so it means I cannot use the garden as a secure space. Right to unwind as in the first 90 days?
This is just a frustrated, stressed rant.
First time seller, buying a new build and selling to first time buyers.
Things have been progressing along well, contracts signed by both us and our buyers. Due to complete on Tuesday.
Two weeks ago, our buyers solicitor raised a query with a boundary issue that was to be expected.
We own an ex council house, so leasehold, but the deeds show the neighbours path diagonally crosses our front door then straightens down our path.
When we were purchasing, our solicitors raised the same query and an indemnity policy was put in place.
Both mine and my neighbours front gardens are fenced off and separate, with our own separate pathways leading to our front doors and have been since 2013. Before that, they just didnt have a fence separating the two, but both homes used their own paths and the neighbours have never tried to claim the area in front of our door.
As the prospect of an issue was considered to be low, an indemnity policy and declaration of longterm use without issues from the couple we bought off was enough for our sale to go through.
So when they raised this, our solicitor reminded them of the insurance in place as well as the fact it has been used independent of each other for decades.
All seemed to be going well. They let pur buyers sign their contract etc then on Monday this week, they decided they don't like that there is an excess on the policy and instructed us to get a new one without an excess.
My solicitor has been unable to find any without excess, in fact, all other quotes have had higher excess.
We are now waiting to see what the buyers solicitor will accept.
Just feeling frustrated at this last minute roadblock and can't help but feel their solicitor is being opportunistic waiting until now, knowing we must complete and will be desperate.
We basically had a few viewings and only have 2 offers coming in very low - £25k below our asking price. We have found a property we love which we offered full price a couple of weeks ago. Now that we have these offers realistically we can no longer go full price on the one we want to buy and unluckily, the sellers also now just received offer above asking price for theirs so our chance is slim. We are basically not in a huge rush to move yet and can wait once the market stabilise especially given we do not have a mortgage now but will need one to buy a bigger place. Our agent has bene basically telling us to accept the offer as he said houses that fit our criterias will come on the market in June/July. Are we missing anything or financially sensible in the current market for us to stay put? Agent said it does not cost us anything to accept the offer not sure if that is true?