r/HousingUK

Gratitude for owning a home alone, living alone and living in peace. Lets talk about it...

Hi all,

I am considering buying this property but I would like to ask your opinion on why it's not selling? It looks too good to be true.

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/72662651/

PS: New information thanks to a redditor - this property sold in 2023 for 176k.. which doesn't make any sense to me. Any idea why?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/a25517d3-2f2c-414d-9990-73aedeca280e

Thank you!

Is anyone noticing a lot of properties being taken off the market? Seems like sellers aren't willing to reduce the price which is a shame. Quite a few on my watchlist showing as taken off the market, which used to be unusual.

Hi all! I recently moved out of a rental property and the agent is asking for £600 to replace the entire countertop.

There is a stain from a pan only in one part of the counter. Additionally, there was a wall mounted wardrobe in a room with a leak on the ceiling (leak was already there when I moved in). So I removed the wardrobe from the wall. The wardrobe is fully functional but just not wall mounted anymore.

They have quoted me £600 to replace the entire countertop and mount the wardrobe.

Is this a fair quote?

Thank you all in advance :)

In this day and age how can the home buying process be so stressful?!

We’re meant to be exchanging and completing tomorrow, but our buyer’s solicitor has suddenly gone completely off-grid and hasn’t confirmed or replied to my solicitor to say whether everything is looking okay.

We’ve got investors buying our property, and we’re moving into a vacant house, so it’s a very short chain. Everything started back in January and we’re STILL waiting to move!

Now I’m potentially going to lose money on the van we’ve booked to move all our stuff, the whole house is already packed up and our mortgage offer is due to expire in just a couple of weeks. I’ve also used annual leave to get the house packed in time as it was only last week they said about the date. Eurghhhhh. I honestly don’t know how much more stressful this can get! 😩

Does anyone know of any petitions I can sign to get this changed? I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to go through this level of stress, and I feel like I need to metaphorically stamp my feet.

Having been looking on Rightmove, Zoopla etc…I feel totally overwhelmed by how completely clear and perfect some places look on the marketing photos! I’ve bought and sold before, but this time it just looks like expectations are higher.

It’s either pure, clear perfection or people getting made fun of on social media, for having a messy house…which basically is often just a bit cluttered!

Short of paying through the nose for storage, I am unsure how to achieve the perfection! Any others able to share their stories, tips etc…?

So i had a offer accepted and mortgage approved for a house 3 months ago now ive had probably 1 email from the solicitors and ive emailed them at least 5 times with no response at all beside once saying the searches are nearly complete which was over a month ago. The new laws expect me to give 2 months notice while renting which is fine if solicitors actually gave you a time frame or updates its ridiculous. Are they all the same or am i just unlucky?

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice from people who understand housing law or have experience with supported accommodation in Birmingham.

I’m currently living in women-only supported accommodation in Birmingham, and I’ve been having ongoing problems with other residents and the way my complaints have been handled.

There have been repeated breaches of the house rules, including cannabis being smoked in the property, men being brought into the women-only accommodation, overnight guests, excessive shouting and disturbances throughout the night, unhygienic behaviour in communal areas, harassment and intimidating behaviour from another resident which I had to report to the police, and other incidents that I’ve reported. In addition to this, when I first moved to this property, two residents who were living here at the time got into an alteration and one falsely accused the other of strangulation which did not happen and police were called.

The current residents have been causing issues ever since the last two moved out. One resident in particular has received many warnings, including a final warning for breaking the rules but the behaviour has continued. I was told she would be evicted but she hasn’t been. I’ve also reported incidents that have affected my asthma and my ability to sleep. Most recently, I was kept awake until around 5am because of another resident screaming and shouting, and I subsequently heard her making racist and ableist comments - called a racial group ugly and made fun of someone with cancer.

I’ve made multiple complaints to the housing provider and my support worker, but I don’t feel that they’re being taken seriously. There has also recently been an issue where my support worker told this resident that I had complained about her and had provided video recordings of her behaviour. Given the existing conflict, I’m concerned about the confidentiality of my complaints, a clear breach of data protection and, more importantly, my safety. This support worker also laughed while this resident badmouthed me and insulted me while sat outside my bedroom door. She didn’t try to deescalate and engaged in conversation with this residents as she spoke about me.

The situation is now seriously affecting my physical and mental health, and I don’t feel safe remaining in the property. I’m considering escalating the matter formally to the organisation above the housing provider and/or contacting Birmingham City Council to explain what has been happening and ask about my housing options.

My main concern is: could I put myself at risk of being evicted or losing my accommodation by making formal complaints to the relevant housing authorities/council?

I’m not trying to cause trouble. I just wanted to move so I could get my housing sorted and get better job opportunities in this town. Yes, I struggle with anxiety but I don’t let my circumstances get in my way. I have a first class degree, I have many passion projects, Ive freelanced and I genuinely have a plan. I don’t want to be stuck in this housing situation.

I feel so disappointed because this company brags about their reviews, supporting women and having firm rules, but I don’t feel supported at all, especially after what my support worker did. I’ve been a great resident too. I follow all the rules, I respect the household by keeping it clean, I’m respectful towards the other residents and their boundaries, despite their disrespect, I pay my service charge on time and I attend my sessions, and I don’t drink or smoke. No one has had a bad thing to say or complain about me, the others only have issues because I’ve reported their behaviour.

I’d really appreciate advice from anyone familiar with supported accommodation, housing associations, Birmingham housing, or eviction procedures. Is it generally safe to escalate legitimate complaints like this, and are there any particular steps I should take to protect myself from retaliation or being accused of causing problems?

Thanks in advance.

I hate my home.

I bought my first property 18 months ago. Everything seemed fine at purchase, survey included, but within three months I found out about a severe ongoing leak that had been damaging my downstairs neighbours for years. It’s a Victorian conversion, four flats. A structural engineer confirmed joist damage from the leak. Insurance wouldn’t cover it and even after getting a plumber out a few times the leaks just kept reoccurring.

I’d set aside £15k for furnishing and small jobs. Instead I ended up replacing the entire bathroom and kitchen because of the floor damage (they’re next to each other) on top of the structural work.

I couldn’t afford the bathroom or kitchen I actually wanted, and I’ve dealt with nothing but bad tradesmen along the way, so I’m not happy with either room. Neither looks freshly done to me. One builder stole a large sum of money from me. Several tradesmen made me deeply uncomfortable in my own home, from sexual comments/advances, one of them squeezing my bum to just being rude and dismissive.

I did find one decorator, just starting out, who charged me £1,500 to paint my whole 80sqm flat. Great price, great work. But I should have plastered first. Quotes for that were £5k+ and I couldn’t stretch to it, so now my walls are lumpy and textured under a nice coat of paint, and it just looks bad.

All told I’ve spent around £36k, including the £8.5k that was stolen, plus some furniture. There’s still so much left to do and I’m out of money.

I’m genuinely depressed about it. If I’d spent this much and ended up with a flat I loved, I could live with that. Instead I have an okay kitchen, an okay bathroom, lumpy walls, floors that need work, and a home that looks nothing like the ones I see online where people spent less and got a show home.

I know I’m lucky to own a home at all. But this whole process has left me with real anxiety, mostly from how unsafe some of these interactions with tradesmen made me feel in my own space. It’s soured the whole experience of owning my first place. I’m embarrassed by how it looks, and honestly also embarrassed that I’ve let it affect me this much when I know renovations are hard for everyone.

I don’t really know the point of this post. I just needed to say it somewhere. I know I’m not getting that money back, which means I’m stuck here longer than I planned. I’m trying to make peace with the money being gone, but mostly I just feel stupid for buying this place at all.

We were first time buyers last year and have added a decent amount of value to the house in a short space of time. We have had an initial valuation from a few estate agents along with their marketing proposals. We never wanted this to be our long term home and are considering putting it up for sale within the next 6 months to a year. I don't want to live here for any longer than another 10 months max but am anxious about putting the house up for sale for the following reasons:

1. potentially not finding somewhere else we like

2. What if we find somewhere but our house takes ages to sell

There are not very many houses coming up in the areas we are looking at within our price range...

Is it worth waiting on a property we like THEN putting ours up for sale or do we put ours up for sale and hope we find something?

Renting isn't an option for us

My house has been on the market now for around 7 weeks. It’s a nice decent sized 2 bed, private front (facing trees) end of the estate (no traffic going past) but the only downsides are the master bedroom is a bit on the small size and the garden is overlooked.

We’ve had 8 viewings with 95% of them providing feedback stating ‘love the house, love the area but wish to continue looking’. Our estate agent keeps advising it’s a buyers market and buyers are having the option to look around and take their time.

Worth noting we did receive an offer within the first week but it was £20k under the asking price. Understandably we declined.

I’m getting totally disheartened by this. But maybe I’m being naive, as this is my first time selling a house. Is normal? And is anyone else experiencing similar circumstances?

I recently tried to employ a conveyancing solicitor, standard protocol they need to see ID and run it through an authenticator to make sure you are who you say you are. In this case they used an ID authenticator from 'Legl'.

Legl has an in-browser thing that accesses your phone's camera and takes a photo of your ID, I used that to upload an image of my passport as directed. It failed. And again. I spoke to the solicitor, offered to show them my physical passports, they told me to keep trying the system. I did. Even tried with my other, dual-nationality passport. Same result. Eventually it locked me out, and I received this message from the solicitor:

>Owing to the search company’s confirmation that they consider your ID has been digitally tampered with – on both passports the ... Compliance Department has said that I must decline your instructions.

My phone is almost ten years old and has no camera filters enabled, the browser was accessing the camera directly. The solicitor, now very curt and terse - clearly suspects me of doing something wrong - said I'd have to speak to Legl about it. I tried emailing Legl and they told me they were unable to discuss it with me and I would have to speak to the solicitors. Who said I should speak to Legl. You see where this is going.

tl;dr sent in two forms of valid ID, offered no other option, Legl's computer said no, the company (and any other service employing Legl's ID services) has now effectively blacklisted me.

I'm fine, I just went with a different conveyancing solicitor who doesn't use Legl. But that's pretty fucking scary. Some bullshit quirk of Legl's algorithm insists you're doing something shady and there's no recourse, no real human will consider the situation, you're just locked out.

It's not just Legl - I got lucky with my solicitor but they all use these algorithmic or AI powered systems and any one of them could turn on you for completely black-boxed reasons and there's nothing you can do about it. Computer says no, bureaucracy says no.

Hi everyone, looking for some advice on how to handle an increasingly difficult situation with our upstairs neighbours.

My partner and I (plus our baby) bought a downstairs maisonette last year. We had to move out for a few months for major repairs (gas leaks, water damage), but we’ve been living here permanently for a while now. Since moving back, our neighbours have continually crossed clear boundaries:

* Driveway & Building Work: The driveway belongs entirely to us (confirmed in our deeds). They routinely tell their visitors to park on it. On top of this, they recently had building work done. We were completely fine with them getting work done, provided they didn't block access to our home or driveway. They assured us it wouldn't be an issue, but they went ahead and restricted our access anyway. When I questioned a guest being on our drive again recently, the male neighbour became aggressive, swore at me, and tried to intimidate me.

* Garden Boundaries: Our deeds state that we own the front portion of the garden, while they own the back, with a side pathway designated for their access. They treat our entire garden as their own leisure space, leaving worn tracks across it. During a recent party, they let all their guests occupy our section despite prior agreements.

* Property Damage & Intrusion: While we were moved out, they filled our shed with their own rubbish (which took days for them to clear when asked). Recently, I had to stop their child from hitting our wooden decking with a hammer while the father watched and did nothing. The child was also caught trying to break the padlock on our new shed while the father looked on.

* Water Usage: They have been plugging their hose into our outside tap (which runs on our water bill) to fill a 6ft pool, even during local hosepipe bans.

* Excessive Noise: Banging, crashing, and heavy footstep noise regularly starts after 8:30 pm and lasts past 11:00 pm, occasionally waking us up at 3:00 am.

Reasoning with them politely hasn't worked, and direct confrontation previously resulted in aggression. Since we own the property, moving isn't an easy option, but we can't carry on like this.

For those who have dealt with similar leasehold/maisonette neighbour issues in the UK:

1. What are our best options for securing our space (e.g. lockable tap covers, clear physical garden dividers/fencing)?
2. Should we involve the freeholder, local council environmental health team, or a solicitor at this stage?
3. How do we document or report the aggression and unauthorised use of our utilities without escalating things further?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

I’ve rented the same two-bed flat in Zone 3 London for 24 years and am now in a position to buy it. I have a mortgage AIP and my landlord and I have informally discussed me buying before.

I’m considering approaching him about a private sale.
Has anyone done this successfully? Does being a long-term sitting tenant give me any negotiating leverage, and are there financial benefits to the landlord from selling directly to me that could translate into a lower price?

Any advice on negotiating or pitfalls to watch for would be appreciated

FTB here and just curious how crazy a Monday/ Tuesday would be.

My partner and I are in our late 30s and bought a house in 2023. We are financially comfortable and love having our own place, but lately we're wondering if it’s all worth it.

We took on a large mortgage, and our disposable income for fun or travel has vanished. If it's not the monthly payment, it’s a bill for an unexpected repair. Saturdays and Sundays are entirely eaten up by an endless list of jobs around the house and garden. We have no time or money for date nights, and all we ever seem to talk about anymore is the house, the bills, and the next job that needs doing.

My parents pushed really hard for us to get on the property ladder, because that's how they managed to retire early and build financial security. But doing all this in the 80s was different.

We’re doing okay right now, but the stress of work declining or job loss hangs over us. We’d be eating into savings immediately. The margin for error feels incredibly slim. We are stuck in a cycle of working to pay for a house we only have time to maintain, with no room left to enjoy life.

We've had some serious conversations about selling up and going travelling for a year. We're both just feeling so.... bored.

Has anyone else experienced this burnout? Can anyone convince me that this is actually a good thing?

EDIT: I'm not complaining about cleaning the bathroom - more like fixing fences, replacing guttering, sanding, painting, installing flooring, etc.

ANOTHER EDIT: Monthly house costs (mortgage & bills) account for roughly 35% of our income, which I understood was quite normal.

I love my house, I love the neighbourhood and can honestly see me staying here for years, but…

My neighbours like to smoke daily. Sometimes it’s more than once a day.
But they go out in their back garden and smoke weed.

I’ve no issue with what anyone does as long as it doesn’t harm others.

Problem is, my house stinks. The smell barely gets a chance to leave before I see them lighting up again.

I’ve tried asking them to smoke further away from the houses. They replied that it’s their garden and they can smoke where they want.
This isn’t limited to nice weather, they smoke 365 days a year rain or shine.

Any ideas on what I can do?
I just want a nice smelling house

I am nearly 40, single. I live near London, it is so expensive. I know people will say move away but all my friends and family are here. Also if the government plans works out bringing economic growth to every postcode, then most places will become more expensive.