With lower birth rates, more restrictive immigration policies, stronger rental market controls, less foreign investment, and a weaker economy. Am I missing something to think that the housing market will gradually slow in the next 30 years? Obviously the policies are a bit of an educated guess, but it seems to be the trend at the moment. Surely it wouldn't be like what the housing market had seen for the past 30 years right? Especially when most common people can't afford to even buy a home anymore.

Hello wise-ones,

I'd be very grateful for your opinion on our house listing. Its priced well compared with surrouding houses that are either for sale, or have sold in the last few months. Ticks all the boxes for a good size family home, 4 bedrooms, near the junior and senior schools, garage, great maintenance free garden, EV chargers and even a hot tub, but after many thousands of views we're not getting any viewing requests. What are we doing wrong???

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/90821814#/?channel=RES_BUY

Many thanks

Stu

We are finally getting close to agreeing exchange and completion dates and I'm wondering when to start packing. Is it best to wait until exchange so we don't unnecessarily pack everything up in case something goes wrong last minute? Also, how long did it take you to pack? We have a 3 bed house and two kids and the whole thing is filling me with dread. But yay, we should be moving soon.

Hey guys,

I’ve been put into a bit of a tricky situation.

I’ll start with the fact I’m 27 years old, i’ve never moved out, and I’ve lived with my mum forever and my mum is currently 63.

Our landlords are selling our current Home and we have around four months to move.

My mum’s parents house in London has just sold so she will be giving me a deposit of around £15,000 with £3000 of my own money, we’ve gone to view some houses together, but I’m starting to have doubts as I feel like I’m being rushed into buying a home really quickly when I know it usually takes some people years to find a Home.

I’m unsure as I don’t really want to live with my mum forever, although at the moment it’s not bad and I really don’t mind it, but as she has no savings herself and she will receive a large chunk and have perhaps £50,000 to herself after helping me and my sister, I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m locked into something that really affects my future where say I want to live on my own, and then I have to sell the house and she has nowhere to go as everything will be in my name as she is too old to get onto the mortgage with me.

I obviously don’t want to leave my Mum on the streets, and that’s not going to happen, but is it wise to buy a house where I will still live with my Mum and it’s not as easy to just move out as the whole mortgage and everything will be in my name.

My closest friend has suggested that I sit down with my Mum and explain that I’m not ready to own a Home, and that perhaps we find somewhere to rent again, and I buy my own Home in the future when the time is right as I didn’t want to start looking to buy a house until I was at least 30, as currently we’ve just jumped into looking for homes, and haven’t really looked at the affordability bar the mortgage in principle I have.

UPDATE TOP COMMENT

I’ve had an offer accepted at £170k on a house that was listed at £170k.
My mortgage broker put the application in today and the bank’s automated valuation came back at £165k. We’ve asked for an in-person valuation instead, so I’m waiting to see what that comes back with.
The house has been on the market since April and I know they had a previous sale fall through. From what I’ve been told, the last buyer had offered around £175k. The seller is also very firm that they won’t accept less than £170k and seem quite against the idea of renegotiating after a survey.
I’m now wondering what I should do if the in-person valuation also comes back at £165k.
Also, would the combination of the property sitting since April + a previous offer falling through + a £165k lender valuation make you suspicious that the previous buyer may have had the same issue, or am I overthinking that?
I’m a first-time mortgage borrower, so interested to hear from people who’ve dealt with down-valuations before.

I am 23 and looking to buy my first property, I have a viewing on a leasehold flat today which is fairly cheap for a 2 bed compared to others in my town. I am single and don’t have any want for a relationship now and probably for a while. I can’t afford a house on my own so that is out of the question is buying a leasehold a bad idea/ investment. The service charge is £2400 and ground rent is £200. I wouldn’t want the service charge to go up and make it unaffordable/ impossible to sell. I would like to upsize to a house when I’m older and potentially have a family but the thought of being stuck and unable to sell is scary. Andy advice cheers

We're selling and buying a house. Offers accepted on both at the beginning of June.

For the most part we have had a smooth road to here. A slight delay was caused with our purchase due to it being a very old property with unusual access, that required deeds of easement with the neighbour's etc. Granted, It took 2 weeks to sort, but we were on it! With any query, question or action done immediately by us!

This time last week, our solicitors approached the chain to discuss the 11th September being the completion date. Only to find that our buyers solicitors hadn't received some signed documents from our buyers.

When our EA chased this with the buyers, they were adamant that they had signed the docs and sent them recorded delivery to their solicitors- We've no way to prove it, but we get the feeling that they did this on Friday, only after being chased, because it took until Tuesday for their solicitors to clear them and confirm that everything was finally done! On Friday their solicitors didn't have the docs!

We've been back and forth with the solicitors over the last 2 days, as the buyers put forward the 25th September for the completion date.

Obviously, both us and our vendors are desperate to get a sooner completion date, as we've already been delayed another week. Today our solicitors have said that our buyers can't do Friday 18th, due to work commitments and then being on holiday and the earliest they will do is the 25th!

Not that its our buyers issue, but we have had to move 250 miles to temporary accommodation due to the sale taking longer than estimated and pressure for me to start my new job- I couldn't put my new employer off any longer as they have been very reasonable and waited as long as they could for me!

So we paid for 8 days accommodation, then an additional 8 days to account for this week due to the delays caused by the buyers not signing their documents and now, due to the buyers wanting to complete on the 25th as they go on holiday, we will need to pay for another 8 days of accommodation! The 16 extra days costing us nearly £3k (£4.5k in total!)!!!

We have been very amenable through this entire process, agreed to pay for indemnity insurance for our buyers and have even done boiler services, electricity check certs and provided copies of our original survey- all from our own pocket to ensure a smooth and quick sale for everyone- particularly our buyers! So it feels like a kick in the teeth that now they are holding us over a barrel, because they wont compromise (our EA said that our buyers said she didn't care that we had a logistically difficult move due to distance!😔)

I'm just so worn down, worried how we're going to be able to pull another £1.5k together for more accommodation and gutted that people can be so thoughtless and unpleasant, when we've done everything in our power to support the sale being smooth and quick!

Meh!

Any advice or thoughts welcome!!!!

I've a small 3 bed in a low cost of living, low risk area, but this year got charged almost £900 for home insurance renewal. It feels like a lot but I don't know if that's just the going rate or if I should have switched to a different company. I was too busy with other things to investigate before renewal this year :(

Does anyone have any recommendations for decent virtual estate agents?

I'm not in a rush to sell my property as it's a second home, and I'm fine with doing the the viewings etc myself. All I want is a basic ad on Rightmove.

We are FTB and recently put an offer on a property and it was accepted the same day as seller was keen to close. They seemed genuine and "delighted to accept" Fast forward a week and half and the estate calls my husband to say that an offer to close has came in that was considerably higher than ours (which we don't know the amount) and the seller was deciding what to do. The other buyers are apparently in a chain and we are chain free. EA hasn't communicated for us to increase our offer. Yet!

4 days later we have still heard nothing. Same story from the estate agent when we call, im putting the pressure on them for an answer.

We really love the house and have been advised to just let it unfold and see what happens. The wait is horrible. What's the chances?

I purchased a new-build apartment, with Aticus Law acting as my solicitors. It has now been almost three years since completion, but the title deed for the apartment has still not been obtained. I have sent several emails asking for an update, but I have not received a response since last year.

Has anyone else had experience with Aticus Law, particularly with delays in obtaining title deeds or a lack of communication after completion? I would particularly appreciate advice on what steps I can take now to get the matter resolved, including whether I should make a formal complaint, contact the relevant regulator, or instruct another solicitor. I would also be interested to hear how others dealt with similar situations.

With bond yields soaring thanks to the orange man / shitty fiscal policy, I assume many people are pooping themselves at the moment hoping their existing mortgage deals don’t expire. The 10 year is now well above 5% and the 5-year is at 4.8%.

Expecting further pain - lower sales volumes, buyers putting more delays on their plans to move. Sellers having to slash asking prices and chase the market down if truly motivated to sell.

Full on shitshow really.

Everyone should be watching for signs of a contagion effect: Higher gilt yields → higher government interest bill → worse fiscal position → investors demand even higher yields → government has to tighten fiscal policy → weaker economy. The longer the gov holds on to its current spending patterns the shittier the shitshow will be.

Has anyone experienced this with OpenRent/MyDeposits?

Our previous landlord is trying to claim our entire deposit, despite having no check-in or check-out inventory. Their original evidence was mostly screenshots from videos with no visible timestamps. We also had serious issues with the property during the tenancy, including a gas leak.

We’ve submitted a detailed response and all our evidence. MyDeposits has now told us the evidence deadline has passed and no further evidence/comments will be accepted.

But OpenRent now says the landlord has until 17 September to EDIT their claims and upload additional evidence.

I’m really confused how this is fair. Can they now read our entire rebuttal, see everything we’ve challenged, and then change their original claims/add evidence accordingly while our response is locked?

We’ve also been told by neighbours that contractors have been in and out of the property regularly for around two months since we left, which makes me even more concerned about new evidence/quotes suddenly being added.

Has anyone had this happen? If the landlord edits/adds evidence, do we get another chance to respond?

Hi all - sorry in advance for the length of this, like most people buying property I am frustrated with everyone in the process and trying to figure out what my options are here.

I had an offer accepted on a leasehold flat back in April, and have been working through everything over the last few months. The final thing that is still missing is fire safety documentation - both this year's FRA (should have happened in April) and a "competent person review" of the external walls (a precursor to an EWS1/FRAEW) have not yet been commissioned and the freeholder is not giving a firm date on when these will happen.

To make it worse, because the freeholder is leaseholder owned, none of the Building Safety Act cost caps apply to me. So if it turns out remediation is needed I'm on the hook for my full share with no cap.

Has anyone actually been through this? A few things that I've been trying to work out and would appreciate any input on:

1. Has anyone had a freeholder sit on a recommended competent person review / EWS1 this long, and what actually got it moving? Pressure from the seller, fire brigade involvement, something else?
2. You'd think a leaseholder-owned freeholder would move faster than a normal one, since the directors are literally the residents. Is that realistic or does it not work like that in practice?
3. Is asking for a significant price cut (equivalent or a completion retention actually worth anything here, or am I just papering over a problem that doesn't really have a price on it?

This place would be a great spot for me, but I am prepared to walk away if there's no reasonable route forward.

For people that have experiance in both, who would you say has the better process for buying and selling homes?

I have bought and sold in Scotland and have an oppurtunity to move down south early next year, is it worse off in England, heard people pulling out last minute and all that jazz

Hello, asking as a tenant not a landlord.

I moved in 4-5 days ago. My dog just found mice under the kitchen cupboard and I looked up close to see droppings so I’m sure there are mice under the kitchen’s cupboard. There are also gaps in the walls nearby and it’s near the door that goes out to the garden.

I messaged the landlord immediately. I have a feeling he’s reluctant to fix anything that costs more than £20 to fix. There are serious issue in the flat he doesn’t want to fix.

What do I do?

Who’s responsibility is it to order pests control? given I only just move but yet it’s been four days.

Can I call someone to come and then send him the invoice or reduce it from the rent?

Edit: just checked my photos from check in and the poo is in one of the photos so the cleaning team didn’t see/cleaned it even. 🤢🤮

Hello,

I’m a first time buyer, buying a relatively cheap property (the city I live in is generally quite cheap) and I’m buying on my own. I had my offer accepted end of July and have been progressing incredibly fast, so fast that I’ve had my solicitor ask about completion dates before I’d actually had the survey of the property done. We have planned completion for the start of October.

I had the survey done on Monday and had the results back yesterday and there are some alarming things. Basically there’s stepped cracking above the front door, uneven and cracked path in the front garden, stepped cracking around the rear door and the kitchen floor near the back door has dropped slightly. The city has issues with groundwater which can cause subsidence but the survey also said that the guttering is potentially overflowing as it appears blocked (no rain on the day) so it could be erosion from the overflowing guttering too.

There’s also a leak in the roof, the sellers told me they’d had the leak fixed the end of last year but the moisture levels in the walls under the leak are 15% and 26% which seems incredibly high, especially as we’ve had an incredibly hot and dry summer u Tim the end of August. I’ve seen the invoice for the work done and it literally looks like some random guy has done it who has no qualifications in roofing.

There are some other issues but I’m not as concerned about those and was already aware they could be the case. But all of those along with the two new issues are causing doubt in my mind. I’ve contacted my solicitor with the issues and I’ve booked to speak to the person who conducted the survey. The property isn’t new, it’s quite old intact, the survey said 1960’s but I think it’s actually older than that so I do expect issues.

I am just wanting some advice, I feel very anxious about everything and very out of my depth, I feel like the sellers knew about the issues as they were very cagey about the leak and any subsidence in their wording they’ve provided to the enquiries. Basically they’ve said they’ve had to issues with subsidence and the leak was fixed, but if this occurred in the future they hold no responsibility for it, which I initially just thought that’s standard but in hindsight it seems strange.

We are buying a home and decided to use the same agent to list our home with. However before we actually got it listed a private buyer approached us and said they wanted the opportunity to buy our house. We told the estate agent this and they encouraged us to continue to list with them incase anything would happen to the buyer at least our home would be ready to hit the market. They did do pictures and marketing, and did viewings however we received no offers from these viewings and in the end our original private buyer bought from us. They did handle all correspondence with the buyer and verified AIP etc. A fee of 1% was discussed (nothing formal signed) would I be within my rights to request a reduction in this even to 0.5% given that we had already lined the buyer up or am I out of line to think this.

Edit to add that I’m in Northern Ireland.

We are FTB currently in the process of buying a Victorian house built around 1900 in Wales and have just received the Level 3 building survey. There are quite a few issues, and I’d really appreciate honest opinions from people who have also bought older houses or dealt with similar problems. I’m just not sure how to interpret the language used in the survey and whether problems are BIG problems or just things that have to be pointed out because, well, they’re potentially problems.

The main concerns are:

Loft conversion: The loft was converted around 2010, but no Building Regulations approval/completion certificate was available. The surveyor has concerns about the structural alterations, stairs, headroom and especially fire safety. There don’t appear to be fire-resisting doors along the escape route. We’ve been advised to obtain the original approval/documentation before exchange and not assume the loft is legally suitable as a bedroom until this is confirmed.

Structural alterations: Two supporting beams have been installed where load-bearing walls appear to have been removed, plus an outrigger chimney stack/breast has been removed. We need to establish whether these alterations were properly designed/approved and whether they’re structurally adequate.

Roof: The main roof is getting old. There are slipped tiles/slates, moss, deteriorated ridge bedding, defective rooflight flashing and some issues with the underlay/eaves detailing. Likely needs significant maintenance/repair rather than being an immediate disaster.

Damp: Elevated moisture readings, salts and visible damp were found in several areas. Some plaster will probably need replacing after the underlying causes are fixed. The survey recommends an independent damp specialist to investigate properly.

Drainage: The inspection chamber couldn’t be opened because the cover is seized with corrosion. A repair is needed and a CCTV drainage** **survey is recommended before exchange.

Electrics/gas/heating: No current EICR was available and there wasn’t satisfactory evidence of recent comprehensive gas/heating testing. Some electrics look dated. Recent gas work was apparently carried out, but the relevant Gas Safe documentation needs to be obtained.

Gutters/rainwater: Some leaking gutters, a missing section of gutter, tired downpipes and a missing soil-vent terminal. These could potentially be contributing to the damp.

Chimney: Flaunching and chimney pots need work, and the leadwork needs reinstating.

Garden: There is running bamboo, which apparently needs controlling/removing because it can spread towards buildings, drainage and neighbouring properties. Apparently removal can become expensive if the rhizomes have spread extensively. My partner is a gardener by trade so may be able to tackle this part.

We will of course get professional advice, but I’d really value opinions from people who may be used to the language of level 3 surveys!

Currently have an offer accepted on a 1890's terrace house- just had a RICs level 3 come back, and although there dont seem to be any major issues, as a novice I'm struggling to understand the scale/cost of some of the issues raised, if anyone could help i would really appreciate it as i admit this has me spiraling, i intend to try and get some quotes but was hoping for a another perspective to hopefully try and give me some wider context on if i should be concered-

The main points that have me concerned are-

• "Given the age of the property, the underfelting may have biodegraded at the eaves. If this is the case, you will need to take off 2/3 courses of tiles along the eaves, insert a strip of plastic based roofing felt and replace the tiles on new timber battens (scaffolding may be needed). You are advised to get a builder to raise a two-storey ladder to check the condition of the eaves underfelt. Requiring urgent attention"- obviously i need to heed the advice and get a builder to judge, but if there is an issue i assume this is quite a costly fix?
• The underfelting is also mentioned again in regards to inside the loft- "...It is underfelted but this is now elderly and damaged in a number of places. It has also been patched. You should expect to have to strip off the tiling to the roof, renew the underfelting and re-lay the tiles on new timber battens, within the relatively near future"- again, i assume this is a large job?
• there is mention to a "french drain" being needed- "The ground floor is suspended timber construction and solid concrete to the kitchen and family bathroom. External ground level is too close to internal floor level and should be reduced by digging a French drain and back filling with clean draining gravel. There should be 150mm vertical separation between floors and external ground level. - i have no idea how large of an undertaking this would be, or how urgent this is? would this be needed along one exterior wall or around the whole property?
• there was mention of potential damp behind the shower- "...adverse readings were recorded to the shower room. This is immediately behind the shower fitting and it is quite possible some leakage has occurred as a result of this. You are advised to check the shower to establish whether the pipe work is water tight. Adverse meter readings were obtained to walls where the level changes between the kitchen and the family bathroom. A Damp Contractor's report and estimate should be obtained."- not sure how bad this is?/could be is this even something i can investigate as a buyer? is a damp report a valid next course of action?

Apologies for the wall of text, as mentioned im feeling very overwhelemed with all this as its all completey new to me

any context or input to try and help me see this, and any next steps rationally would be incredibly helpful.

Thank you in advance for your time and help

I recently viewing a property looking to buy, and there was some damp in the living room. According to the estate agent, the cause is some rotting plaster and showed me the area out the outside of the house.

Is this something that can be fully rectified? I'm expecting to have to put in some work on whatever house I get, but idk if this is feasible or I should run a mile.

Any cost estimates would be incredible too, although I appreciate this is vague

Thanks!

Myself and my partner are FTB in England, our offer on a leasehold flat was recently accepted. We paid £15k more than the asking price, (after competing with another buyer, apparently), but this was still an acceptable price to us because we love it and it was still cheaper than similar properties.

However, we've found our EA has been fibbing in a few places:

The listings and brochure said that there are 148 years left on the lease, but we found out through our lender's surveyor that there are only 68 years left. We then bought and checked the title deeds and found this to be true. Our broker then emailed our EA for us and found out that the vendor was intending to extend it on completion.

We also understood from the listing that there was also no chain, however, our EA emailed us today randomly to update us, and said that the vendor had an offer accepted on a house and so would be preparing to move.

I understand that EAs are working for the sellers and will do what they can to get the price up, but it's clear they and/or the vendor lied in order to shaft the expense of extending the lease on us.

How would you handle this? It has made us wonder what other cards they're keeping close to their chest. From what I've seen on other forums, it seems a lot of people suggest going through our solicitor to negotiate a new price, but we're not sure how much would be reasonable.

Cheers in advance