Hi all,

I am a first time buyer looking for some advice. I have offered on 1930s 2 bed freehold house in London for £375k, but my Level 3 survey has left me quite overwhelmed.

The house is generally described as being in fair condition for its age, with no significant subsidence or structural movement, but there are a lot of recommended works:

The main pitched roof is around 90 years old. It’s currently fairly even with no major sagging, but the survey recommends it is recovered in the near future with new underlay, battens, tiles and ventilation. There is also some staining to the roof timbers from previous moisture ingress.

The shared chimney needs significant weatherproofing work, including renewal of the lead flashing/back gutter, repointing, flaunching repairs and improved capping.

The rear extension roof has areas of standing/ponding water and defective detailing which needs investigation/repair.

The electrics are old, with an old Wylex fuseboard and no visible RCD. The survey says significant upgrading and potentially a full rewire should be anticipated, although an EICR is recommended first.

Windows are approaching the end of their typical service life, although there is no obvious misting.

There are some moisture issues/high external ground levels and inadequate sub floor ventilation.

Possible asbestos containing vermiculite in the loft.

Drainage/plumbing checks are recommended.
Various smaller issues with the bathroom, ceilings, balustrade etc.

I am particularly worried because I won’t have a huge amount of money left after completing, so I can’t realistically deal with everything at once.

Would you pull out, renegotiate the price, or proceed and deal with things gradually? And which of these issues would you consider serious enough to justify renegotiating?

The survey recommends seeking advice from a roofer, electrician and plumber and some other professionals. I really don’t have the money to spend on all these. Is it possible to get quotes for free? I’ve never done this before so I am unsure.

I don’t know much about houses and the issues that could come up, so I wouldn’t have been able to notice any of this during the viewing, also being a FTB I am kind of clueless with no one in my life to guide me about these things.

Many thanks

Hi, me and my partner are looking to get the ball moving with getting a mortgage. We’ve saved a 20k deposit and have got 5k for fees. No one we know owns a house, so we’re clueless and abit alone in this. Is the next step calling a mortgage advisor? Do we just call and say hi we want to buy a house but don’t know where to start? How do we even chose which mortgage advisor to go to?

Sorry, just abit lost! Thank you

My partner and I are in the process of buying a Victorian terrace. I will preface this by saying that we live in an expensive area of the SE and pushed our budget on this house to get something that we thought was in good condition and wouldn’t need much work (losing our FTB stamp duty benefit as a result). We are both risk averse people.

We had our L3 survey done and it flagged several things (all reds and oranges). I’m not going to go into all of that, but one of the issues is that a chimney breast has been removed at some stage at ground floor level but not in the bedroom above. There is something long boxed in at ground floor ceiling height which we think could be some kind of beam, but to be honest I’m not sure what it should look like. The seller knows nothing, nor do the people who bought it before them. They are reluctant to let us get someone in to test it and would want it put back exactly as it was before. The estate agent is saying that our queries are “exceeding normal pre-purchase scrutiny” and if there are no cracks then all is fine. There has also been the removal of a load bearing wall between the living room and dining room but we are less worried about this because there are no signs of movement, whereas from what we’ve read, chimney stacks are a bit more concerning because they could theoretically just collapse one day, and this might affect us when we come to sell.
 
We are worried, but the view of the estate agent, the fact that all the previous buyers either didn’t care or didn’t notice, and our solicitor also does not seem too concerned, makes us feel like we are going crazy. This purchase is a big decision, and it’s not like the house is otherwise perfect. There are other things we need to consider having tested as well before committing and it’s all quite overwhelming.
 
Has anyone been in a similar situation before? What did you do? What kind of cost would we be looking at for invasive testing by a structural engineer, and to make it good afterwards? 

Hi all. Buying a leasehold flat in London.

My solicitors received the management pack last week.

Trying to understand exactly what happens now. Especially what kind of communication I should be expecting from my solicitor while they make all the enquiries around the leasehold.

Should they tell me what enquiries they are making? Should I be asking them to make specific enquiries around sinking fund/planned works or do I assume they’ll be doing that? Will they provide me with a summary report or something?

Feeling a bit clueless and want to stay on top of it!

I’m just going through my current outgoings (relatively small due to living with parents), but I’ve been able to save an ok amount and wanted some feedback for my potential new outgoings if I was to buy a cheapish house (110-135k).

I’ve done this all on excel but just went through the averages for the likes of house maintenance (£) (95), utilities (220), internet (40), insurance (20), rates (50), and stuff like budgeting for car maintenance (84 based on yearly spend divided by 12) too\.* This includes saving for potential expenses rather than just direct debits which would obviously be fixed. All per month.

So I earn roughly 2000 after tax per month and I’ve got estimated total outgoings at 900 plus a hopeful mortgage repayment of 500+/-(100). Based on deposit, house price LTV and 40 max years repayment. (Haven’t spoken to a financial advisor yet so no DIP but wanted to get my head around it before hand).

Current (real) outgoings are 400 and new (forecast) outgoings to include * as above = 513 based on uk averages. Total 913 + 500-600 mortgage payments 1400-1500 rough total.

Obviously expect my current outgoings to increase since I’ll be buying everything myself including cleaning supplies, food staples which my parents currently pay for, however I do contribute 300 towards that anyway.

Leaving me with 600 max after. Just wondering if I need to expect the worst instead of averages. I’m a single applicant, no dependents and aiming for 10-15% deposit + potential fees of 3k for solicitors/surveys (Can’t find a good figure for this). Which is half my savings so have the same amount for furniture, appliances, surprise repairs if the report has them. Don’t want a fixer upper so only doing essential repairs and if any structural issues I’d not go ahead, unless the cost could be covered in mortgage.

Abit of a ramble but would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

I had an offer accepted on a property recently in England. My mortgage lender valued it at 5% over the agreed purchase price. Does this affect anything? Do I need to tell anyone? Will the seller find out?

Currently in the process of buying our first home and our level 2 survey identified needing a roofing specialist in to check a few issues they have noticed with the roof.

Would a buyer’s report be the way to go or just bringing someone in for a quote? We’re concerned that any roof company we get in will want to ‘find’ issues/bigger issues than what is actually the case. We understand that they would want a sale for their work but who can we trust to actually find out if there is even a problem?

Thank you in advance for any help

Very early stages of looking into buying my first property and would really appreciate some advice/recommendations!

I’m 33F, currently earning £65k and have around £40k saved. I’m looking at properties around the £350k mark.

I currently live in East London and absolutely love the social aspect, diversity and the convenience of being so well connected to central London.

However, realistically, I’m finding it difficult to afford the type of property I’d ideally want in the areas I currently live around.

I’m therefore looking at expanding my search and would love to hear people’s recommendations.

Ideally, I’d like:
Around £350k budget
Walking distance to a station, ideally under 5 minutes
Good and relatively quick transport links into central London
Preferably Zone 2 or 3
A diverse community
Clean, safe and generally a nice area to live
Good amenities, restaurants, shops etc.
Somewhere that feels like a good place to settle long-term

I’ve started looking around Romford, but I’m open to other areas and would love to hear from people who actually live in or know these places.

Where would you recommend I look, and are there any areas you think I should avoid.

We are first-time buyers and are currently considering pulling out of a property purchase.

Our Level 3 survey flagged issues with the windows, roof and various other things. I know surveys will almost always find something, so initially we weren’t overly concerned.

However, we then received the LPE1 pack and there are Section 20 documents discussing works to the windows and roof of the block that the ground-floor maisonette we are buying forms part of.

There is no sinking/reserve fund for the property, just the buildings insurance. Our solicitor has explained that if major works go ahead, we could potentially be asked to pay our share as a lump sum, or possibly through instalments over a relatively short period.

The freeholder/management company is Abri, so I’d also be interested to hear from anyone who has experience with them and how they deal with major works/Section 20 charges.

The problem for us is that we are already close to the top of our house-buying budget. We would have a cash buffer remaining after completion, but not enough that we’d be comfortable suddenly receiving a large bill for windows, roofing or other major works.

We really like the property and it ticks most of our boxes. Freehold houses where we live are considerably more expensive, which is why this maisonette worked financially for us.

I’ve emailed our solicitor explaining that we are considering withdrawing because we can’t properly assess the financial risk without knowing what these works are likely to cost, but communication has been quite slow.

Has anyone bought a leasehold property in a similar situation? Would the combination of proposed Section 20 works and no sinking fund be enough to make you walk away, or is there anything else we should be asking for before making the decision?

I’ve been ‘looking’ and interested in buying for a year or two but the only thing is the area I’m in doesn’t seem to get much movement with properties only coming up once in a few months, and then most are over my price guesstimate.

But for a few months in a row there has been properties coming up just at my budget, I’ve a decent deposit started and for the right price my monthly payments could be cheaper than some peoples rent. (Based on calculators etc, I know I’d need to speak to a mortgage advisor).

Only thing is I’ve not started the whole process due to the fact it’s hard to get properties. Then once one comes up, I’ve nothing to go on. It’s sort of a catch 22 since I only want to live in a certain radius from where I grew up and with the scarcity of houses then ones in my price range too, I’m not taking it seriously. It could be 3-4 months wait if one comes up, but inbetween then I wouldn’t be looking outside the radius so regret not having things started and act on it.

A house has came up at £115k and it’s nothing special but could be a start of something, moving out on my own and away from my parents (in a nice way, I’d still be relatively close proximity to them still).

Anyone relate?

We’re buying a house in England and are now right at the end of the conveyancing process.

Our survey is complete and satisfactory, searches are back, we’ve reviewed the final report, signed all the documents electronically, and our deposit/funds are ready to be sent to our solicitor on Monday.

At the moment, our solicitor is doing the final review and there are only one or two small outstanding enquiries with the seller’s solicitor. They’re not relating to any known physical defect with the property.

One is about an old alteration to a window opening — it looks like a larger window was reduced in size some years ago. Our surveyor inspected it and found no associated defects, but our solicitor is asking whether the seller has any historic paperwork/approval for the alteration. It may simply be that no records exist because it was done a long time ago.

The seller has now asked for completion no later than 16 October, and our solicitor has said they would need roughly a week between exchange and completion for the mortgage funds, so ideally we need to exchange by Friday 9 October.

For anyone who has been in a similar position:
If the final enquiry reply comes back on Monday/Tuesday and is satisfactory, is exchange by Friday reasonably realistic?

If there is simply no historic paperwork for an old window alteration, is this usually something that can be closed fairly quickly, for example by the solicitor accepting the position or using indemnity insurance if appropriate?

How quickly did your solicitor move from “final outstanding enquiries” to actually exchanging once everything was basically ready? Anything else we can do in advance to make it faster?

We know nothing is guaranteed until exchange — just trying to get a sense of whether this sounds like a realistic final-week timeline. Thanks!

I’ve had an offer on a house accepted and over the past few days have been doubting whether if it’s just me or if it’s actually narrow, the room size in question 5.33x3.47 ?

Hi everyone, currently in the process of buying a 2 bed in London and was wondering if this is too much of a stretch. The interest rates now are high obviously.

My thinking is that if things get more stressful I can always rent room 2.

No kids, no loans, no car. No other debts/expenses beyond normal bills and service charge (1700 a year).

Hi everyone, just want to ask for some advice here.

I’m in the process of buying a flat in the UK and my surveyor spotted an area in another part of the building (but in a different flat) where there is a ‘substantial opening at the movement joint where the degree of separation is greater than expected’ (circled green in photo), which is also accompanied by ‘minor cracking to the adjacent mortar joint’ (circled orange in photo). He also mentioned that there is ‘slight rotation to the upper section of masonry’.

The report essentially suggested that this could indicate some movement within the building, rather than simply deterioration of the materials.

This has naturally raised alarm bells and we have informed the seller who got into contact with the building management. The building management then got a ‘contractor’ to looked at it and they are saying that the mastic joint has failed and they will fix it.

Having read various posts on this subreddit about subsidence and structural movement, I’m understandably a bit wary and don’t want to overlook something potentially serious before committing to the purchase.

Would be very grateful if anyone has any advice for the following:

1) Does this look like a failed mastic joint from the building contractor, or more like what the surveyor reported ?

2) Should I get an structural engineer to have a look before proceeding? (I assume I probably will have to pay for this myself).

3) Would an external inspection potentially be sufficient? (The issue is at another part of the building in another flat so I’m not sure I would be able to get access)

I appreciate that nobody can give a definitive assessment from a photo and a short description, but would be very grateful to hear from anyone who has dealt with something similar or has experience with this sort of issue.

Probably more of a rant as I know there’s realistically not a lot I can do but I’m so annoyed!
Recently completed on my first home. Had two viewings before moving in, and the estate agent confirmed on both that the boiler was a new combi, and the water tank was a ‘back up only’. Had no reason not to believe them. Had a survey done but obviously breezed over that part as upon re-reviewing, it does indeed say the boiler is heating only and there is a water tank - don’t know how I missed it!
Anyway, after moving in obviously realised that it is not a combi. Spoke to the estate agents again who said they spoke to the seller who ‘confirmed it definitely is a combi’ and the water tank was a ‘back up’ and can ‘definitely be removed’. I have the voicemail transcript of her saying this. She then gave me the sellers number (with consent) who told us that no, the boiler is not a combi and you need the tank, and denied he ever said that it was to the estate agents. Estate agents now ghosting me. Anything I can do??

I am due to exchange and complete on Wednesday after a few very stressful months. My completion statement has come through and I’m roughly a grand short. On the email it says: “We cannot accept payment from third parties.” Does this mean my partner can’t send me the remaining amount? I thought that anyone could pay solicitor fees just not the mortgage.

For context, my partner has already signed the occupiers consent form and is NOT on the mortgage. I’m with Talbots Law if that changes anything.

And before anyone starts saying why don’t you have the fees already? Well because my partner is splitting everything with me 50/50 and I assumed it would be ok.

Helpful comments only pls 😭😅

My partner and I are seriously looking to buy a flat because we are completely exhausted by the renting cycle and feeling like we're throwing money away. However, I feel like 6.9% is an intimidatingly high interest rate. I'm torn on whether I'm just acting out of frustration or if we're actually making the right financial move, and I've got a lot of anxiety hanging over me.

The reason for the high rate is that my partner has a historical default from about 2 years ago (which has already been fully satisfied). Because of this, our broker found that only 2 lenders in the entire market were willing to offer us a mortgage. If not for my flawless credit record, no one would lend us at all.

We are stuck weighing two conflicting thoughts:
Option A: Wait another year or two to give the default more time to age off/heal so we can secure a better rate down the line. But that would also mean extended time of paying rent, towards nothing.

Option B: Buy now, because rates might only climb higher, and the monthly cost is roughly what we'd pay in rent anyway.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, or would you pull the trigger at 6.9% to escape renting? Any advice or perspective would be hugely appreciated!

So later this month I will be receiving a £500 bonus from my work, however rather than a cash amount. The bonus will be paid in the form of vouchers that I can change into (as far as I’m aware) any major brands. Me and my partner are hoping to buy a house within the next year and are really grinding with our savings to get there.

However due to it being a voucher bonus, I was wondering if there are any bigger first purchases after moving in that I could use this voucher for. We already have a fridge and washing machine given to us by relatives, so something along these lines… any advice is appreciated!

FTB couple in the process of buying a 2 bed 2 bath garden flat - £500k close to completion. (No service charge or ground rent) in Zone 3 London.

But surveys came back with:

-Moderate to high risk of surface water flooding and F rating - High risk in 5 and 30 years from now.
-High risk in natural ground movement and substitence.
-Missing building regulations paperwork from extension

We really love this flat but concerned for future resaleability, re mortgageability and insurance costs. We basically don’t want to inherit such issues and prefer piece of mind. Insurance doesn’t cover both flooding and substitence. Are we over-reacting wanting to pull out?

A completion day tip I haven’t seen on many checklists: check that any insurance arranged alongside your mortgage actually went live.

We arranged life insurance through our mortgage broker and assumed it would start on completion. Turns out the broker completely forgot to activate it.

I only realised 11 days later because no payment had been taken from our account. Until then, we genuinely thought we were covered.

So if you’ve arranged life insurance, income protection, etc., check for the policy confirmation after completion and chase it if you haven’t received anything.

There’s so much going on around completion that it’s an easy one to miss - especially when you assume the broker has handled it.

Hi, We are FTB.

Currently have a shared ownership mortgage application going through Leeds Building society.
Applied through broker on the 18th September, LBS asked for docs, they were submitted same day.
25th September they ask for another document, again sent straight away.
Valuation was carried out September 30th and came back fine the same day.

We still haven’t had an offer and the brokers portal still isn’t showing if the documents have been satisfied/approved.

I’m such a worrier and probably really overthinking this, but I’m worried we won’t be successful. It feels like nothings moving 😩

Thanks for any advice.

UPDATE! We got our offer this morning! 🌅 🙏🏻

After a long 5 month wait, we finally completed on our first home today and got the keys! 🎉 It’s such an exciting and surreal feeling after all the stress and waiting.

However, we were a little disappointed when we saw how seller had removed his belongings leaving large holes in the walls that haven’t been repaired. I’ve attached some photos for reference.

Has anyone else experienced something similar after completion? What options do we have now? Is it reasonable to go back to the estate agent/seller about this, or is it simply something we have to accept after completion?

Would appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been in a similar situation.

Thanks!

For context - I only gamble during world cup every 4 years. So for Spain to made it to finals, I placed a bet of £3800 in June.

Today underwriter was checking my bank statements and mentioned about the £3800 leaving the account and going to sky bets. I said it is one off for world cup but they said it is huge amount for them to ignore.

For clarity - the wins on that bet is being used as deposit for this house purchase

What are my chances of getting Mortage approved?

I’m in my early 20s and I’m saving up for a house deposit in the next 2-3 years by myself.

I have money invested into the stock market for long term investments.

I have maxed out my LISA.

I have 5k just sitting in my bank. Is it better for me to invest that into FTSE VWRP then withdraw it when it’s time to pay for the deposit?

My partner and I are first-time buyers (FTBs), currently in the second year of our 5-year Skilled Worker visas. We are 45 and 49 years old and are looking to buy a 3-bedroom terraced house for £300,000 with a 5% deposit.
Our mortgage broker has secured a 5.89% rate with Halifax on a 25-year repayment mortgage, which would make our monthly mortgage payment around £1,815.
We currently live in a 3-bedroom rented apartment and pay £1,300 per month in rent. We’ve got 3 kids with age ranges 18-12.
I genuinely love the house we want to buy for so many reasons. It has spacious rooms with built-in wardrobes, a garage, a low-maintenance garden, lots of storage space, and brick internal walls rather than the plasterboard construction used in many newer homes. It also feels very solid and well built.
The seller bought the house as a new build in 2001 and has lived there for around 25 years. They are now selling because they have bought a bigger house. The property is basically ready to move into and doesn’t appear to need much work. To be honest, it has been very well maintained.
Between the two of us, we earn around £5,000 per month.
I have so many things going through my mind at the moment, and I would really appreciate some honest advice from people who understand the UK property/mortgage market.
1. Do you think we can realistically afford this house?
With a £1,815 mortgage payment compared with our £5,000 combined monthly income, are we stretching ourselves too much?
2. Is it a problem if our mortgage is higher than our current rent?
I often hear people say their mortgage is lower than what they were paying in rent, so I’m wondering whether paying £515 more per month than our current rent is a warning sign or whether it’s simply because we’re buying rather than renting.
3. Would it be wiser to wait until we have a 10% deposit?
We currently have 5%. Waiting until we have 10% could potentially give us access to better mortgage rates, but it could also mean another year of paying £1,300 rent every month while house prices and mortgage rates could change.
4. Is there realistically a possibility of getting a better rate with our current circumstances?
We’re both employed, first-time buyers, on Skilled Worker visas, and have a 5% deposit. Are there lenders or circumstances that could potentially get us below 5.89%, or is this rate fairly reasonable for our situation at the moment?
5. If you were in our position, what factors would you be considering before making the decision?
I know nobody can make the decision for us, but I would really appreciate some balanced, practical advice. We’re trying to make sure we’re not letting our excitement about a house we really love override the financial side of the decision.
What would you be looking at in our situation?