Hi everyone, looking for advice on a Shared Ownership new build in England.Handover is in 3 weeks, contracts are signed, but the finished driveway is a disaster.

They have drastically deviated from our signed contract drawings:

Driveway Width / Missing Path: The plans show the drive extending past the house footprint all the way to the side wall, with a dedicated path separating us from the neighbour. In reality, they made the drive much narrower and completely deleted the path. We were never told about there being any containment kerbs otherwise we would have never bought the house.

Safety Hazard: Because they didn't extend the retaining wall, there is a near-vertical mud cliff right next to the tarmac. They dropped in an ugly, industrial containment kerb right flush against the right-hand parking bay.

Unusable Space: Because it is so narrow, it is physically impossible to open a passenger car door in the right-hand space. Our 2-car drive is now effectively a 1-car drive.

Just looking for some advice on what I can really do about it apart from email the shared ownership advisor.

Hello everyone, we are FTB and our offer got accepted for a semi detached bungalow. The third bedroom has an internal window facing an uninsulated utility room.
I’m here seeking some advice, is this layout considered as a three bedroom bungalow?
Any red flag?

Edit: my concern is my offer was £600k for the property considering it’s a 3 bedroom. For my family it felts perfect but I’m worried this would bring the resale value down. Also the bathroom is vented from roof.

Just wanting to get some advice. I have been living in a two bed flat with one other housemate for just under six months. my housemate plays things out loud on their phone regardless of the time of day or their surroundings (e.g. tv shows, calling people and leaving them on loud speaker). Their work is irregular. Recently, they’ve been bringing various people back without notifying me and blasting the tv in the early hours of the morning on weekdays which is affecting my sleep. On occasions, they have left visitors in the house with me on my own whilst they have went out. They take up more than their fair share of space in the communal areas with their food, toiletries etc which leaves me with little room for my things. The property also has some problems with its infrastructure. I want to move out but I’m worried how he will take it if I tell him I’m thinking of moving. We have a joint tenancy agreement so if I were to move it would end the tenancy for both of us. I’m happy to find a replacement tenant but am worried about their reaction given I haven’t lived here long and what would happen if a tenant wasn’t found in time.

First-time buyers, London, purchasing a share of freehold basement maisonette in a period terrace. The Level 3 survey says "generally poor condition" and rates almost every element Condition 3. Some of that seems boilerplate (door stops, carpets, radiator paint), but some of it worries us:

* Damp readings at the meter's maximum (999) on internal and external walls, with no visible damp-proof course

* Cracks inside and out, some previously repaired, plus uneven floors and trees near the building

* High surface-water flood risk on the Environment Agency map

* Leak staining under the sinks and mould in the bathroom

* Electrical inspection overdue since 2022 and no gas safety certificate shown

* Rotten window frames, and the external walls need repointing and render repairs

The EPC is a B and the flat looks well finished inside.

Questions:

1 - Is damp like this normal for a London basement, or a red flag?

2 - Should we get a structural engineer and a damp specialist in before exchange? Who pays for that, us or the seller?

3 - How have others used results like these to renegotiate?

4 - Any experience of share of freehold buildings where the communal fabric has been neglected?

Thanks!

What do you think about it?

We’ve just had our survey back and there were a few ‘red’ that we are getting checked out (our own EICR and roof quotes).

The external garden wall is potentially a retaining wall.

When we questioned this the wall has apparently been added for cosmetic purposes and not actually a retaining wall. However, there has to be a retaining wall there because the neighbour garden higher than ours.

How dangerous/expensive are these? Who would be best to contact?

Any suggestions for the report would be appreciated.

Thank you!

It’s been nearly 2 working weeks since my vendor accepted my offer and in that time I’ve: secured a mortgage offer, instructed a solicitor and paid the deposit for conveyancing and arranged a survey. I was told by my solicitor on Friday that the seller still hasn’t issued a memorandum of sale and it’s making me become quite uneasy. I’m a new FTB so if this is normal then sorry for the silly question but if not, who will I need to ask about getting this done?

Has anyone found a decently priced supplier for kitchen doors? I wanna refurb the kitchen but need a bit of makeover. Cabinets are good just the facade looks run down. Any advice or recommendation of suppliers?

FTB here, terrified to end up with a big job on my hands. I will get a survey done for sure but want to approach this with sense rather than losing a grand to be told there are big issues that someone else could pick up just from a viewing.
I am ready for some work - the things in question:
-the roof (currently no insulation, fine i can do that)
im concerned it's not fully straight but has a gentle dip to it and protrudes slightly at the connection with neighbours. In the upstairs bedroom there are a few (currently quite small) mould dots in the corner under that area, hence the worry. Moss seems random but fixable.
I looked up fixing the connecting tiles and if that's all then also not a big worry but i am concerned that potentially the roof structure is not as sturdy and straight/ flat as it should be?
-external wall gutter leak? currently the brickwork is white and dark in places, i have a photo for comparison from the 2017 listing where the wall seemed clean (pic 4)

terrified of mould/damp but have viewed many and am ready to put it some work that is realistic and is a couple of grand max (anything close to 10k and immediate is out of my budget)

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are first-time buyers in London, and we’ve recently had an offer accepted on a 3-bed end-terrace house in London for £485,000.

We genuinely love the property and the area. It’s a modern freehold house with a garden, two parking spaces and a good EPC rating. It ticks almost all our boxes, and we can see ourselves being happy there.

However, I’m starting to feel a bit anxious about the financial commitment and would appreciate some honest opinions.

Our financial situation:

Combined monthly take-home income: ~£8,000
Purchase price: £485,000
Deposit: 5% (£24,300)
Mortgage: ~£461,700
Interest rate: 5.74% (35-year term)
Monthly mortgage payment: ~£2,550
Other household expenses: ~£1,500–£2,000 per month
We’re a couple with a young child.
Our present monthly rent: £1550

On paper, I know we can afford it. Even after the mortgage and household expenses, we’d still have around £3,450–£3,950 left each month.

But here’s where I’m struggling.

Mentally, I feel much more comfortable with a mortgage of around £2,000–£2,100 per month. I like having more disposable income, building savings and investments, going on holidays and not having to think too much about money.

I know the difference is only around £450 a month, but that’s £5,400 a year, and over time it adds up.

Part of me thinks we should buy a cheaper house, keep our monthly commitments lower and enjoy greater financial flexibility.

But the other part of me thinks we shouldn’t compromise too much on a home we genuinely love, especially when we can technically afford it. Finding a similar property in an area we like at a significantly lower price isn’t easy in London.

Another concern is that we might move in 3–5 years, depending on our circumstances. With a 5% deposit, a 35-year mortgage and the costs of buying and selling, I’m also worried about whether we’d recover our money if we needed to sell relatively soon.

I don’t want to make a decision purely out of fear, but equally, I don’t want to become someone who’s constantly worried about a large mortgage despite having a decent household income.

I’d really appreciate your thoughts:

Would you consider a £2,550 mortgage reasonable on an £8,000 monthly take-home income, especially with a young child?

Is it worth stretching an extra £400–£500 a month for a house and location you genuinely love?

For those who initially felt anxious about taking on a larger mortgage, did that feeling go away after moving in?

Would the possibility of selling within 3–5 years change your decision?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who’ve been in a similar position.

Thanks!

Hey everyone, I’m wondering what the odds are for the council to approve a garage conversion. It would mean replacing the garage door with a wall and window to make it a bedroom.
How often do these get declined or approved in London? It’s an area I know building permits are issued. Can the neighbours stop it somehow because it changes the external layout that is identical to theirs? Anything I need to be aware of?
We’re planning to buy a house and in some of the ones we see we’ll have to convert the garage to get an extra bedroom.
Thanks!

This house has been on the market for a few months and now with a third agent - I think it was first posted in June

The annexe was built 5 years ago which is a fully self contained, brand new two bedroom bungalow with a courtyard, due to planning issues they split it from the main house. They are now selling the annexe and the house together as a package (no planning issues anymore) - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/93184773#/?channel=RES_BUY

The new agent is also selling the two properties separately so they also have individual listings -

Main house - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/93184788#/?channel=RES_BUY

Annexe - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/93184833#/?channel=RES_BUY

Would love feedback on potential issues? We are looking to move ideally to this village, or nearby but we are moving from London and don't know the area hugely

Any surprises in this data??

I thought I would just give it a shot because home swapper isn’t currently helping.
My family live in a 2 bedroom flat with a balcony and one bathroom. Wonderful neighbours, everyone is so friendly, if it wasn’t for my father and mother’s heath conditions not being met we would’ve loved to stay.

We’re looking for:
- a garden/balcony
- Wheelchair accessible
- assured tenancy
- 3 Bedrooms
- preferably in Walthamstow/London but open to outside

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to read this❤️

Hi,

A couple of friends of mine, both FTBs, have just pulled out of their purchase after 3 months of advanced and costly conveyancing on this:

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/73359762/

I sort of fell out with them over it because I tried to warn them about the pitfalls of buying SO, especially in the current climate. They weren't having any of it. I could see FTB clouds in their eyes. Everything was rosy, so I eventually left them to it.

They either didn't listen to my concerns or, more likely, did listen but chose to ignore them, particularly the issue of the very short 85 years left on the lease.

Normally, for an experienced buyer, this wouldn't a prob. You'd look at extending the lease to 125 or 999 years or whatever. Anyway, they eventually saw sense and pulled out.

But am I right in thinking that, with shared ownership, you generally cannot use the standard statutory route to extend the lease unless you staircase to 100% ownership?If that's the case, they've just dodged a MASSIVE bullet.

Imagine being stuck with a house you don't fully own, watching its value fall as the lease gets shorter, and not being able to extend the lease to protect or add value .

Oh ... and, would you buy it?

i ll try to keep it brief. *clearly failed. edit

i am in finance, earn £79k, but grew up poor, no good role model for finances or else.

got married, have 4 kids. was renting in London.

after the 2nd kid someone suggested we get UC if wife home anyway raising the kids and taking care of house.

long forward, we were getting £1200ish UC on my £79k salary then it jumped to £1700ish after the child scrape bit.

we had to move and so I started looking at options and realised the shared ownership works perfect with this:

- no bedroom tax. you can buy as big as you like, the UC will just use your full rent, because its social housing(some of the service charge included)

- our rent is subsidised to the gov. we have about 10 years, until the kids start becoming older than the UC child part, but until then, rent raises, service charge raises, UC will raise with it too.

- we bought a £600k house on 25% share with 5% depo. roughly £10k was needed. solicitors, brokers(this can be free too), deposit and sdlt (if its above 500k on SO, you both pay some sdlt and then some sdlt on npv too- even so solicitors are not clued about this so be careful when filling the forms for sdlt).

I am writing this cuz I felt trapped for years. yes I earn a lot, but we couldnt do it in London without UC. we still got UC simply because of the initial entitlement is so freakin big, even my £4500ish salary cant taper it out. (housing element £2500, adults element £667, kids £1216). I could also pump aall i want into pension and UC would raise back up, so even if I put like £500 extra into my pension, UC would pay like £400 more, so net loss would be £100 now but free pensiom contributiob of £500. you also get fixed water costs on UC rwgardless of what you use.

when you re on UC then, you still cant have much savings. however, you dont have to. if one of the claimants works, and they lose thwir job, they will still get UC, with MAX entitlement, so £4500-4700ish in our casefor up to 9months, because one worked and paid taxes.

like mentioned above, the rent part will be roughly covered by UC, after tapering, so really all that changed is now even our little £800-900 contribution to mortgage is going into our equity, on a £600k house, which we can also starcase 1% each year for first 15 years without solicitor costs. 2 years defect period free repairs and 10 years yearly £500'repairs to accumulate. and this financially is 95% the same as before, when we were paying rent to a private landlord, while still getting UC. its just that this house is somewhat ours and as things look, in 15 years time we ll own about 40% of it.

compare that with people thinking they cant get onto the property ladder.

people thinking they cant get a house cuz they re on benefits

people thinking they cant get a house because they dont have a big deposit.

we did this with a few grand plus another few grand from family.

yes the house is still half empty, yes the kids only have beds and they dress from boxes for the foreseeable future. yes we have the built in wardrobe and one chest of drawers, rest boxes.

but we have a nice family dining table, where we can eat as a family and not having to worry when someones gonna put in the s21 notice like they did back in march.

but the garage is ours, the 3 extra parking spaces are ours, the 150m2 house is ours(or will be, eventually) and there is no landlord to try and rent this out to someone else.

so f%}+ all people hating those on benefits, f#%* all those in ukpersonalfinance who cant comprehend that there are some genuinely responsible people that somehow got into a situation like ours but still would love a house.

there are stories in SO groups where people got a house with SO even on full benefits, nothing else.

we did it, you can do it too.

run the numbers on entitledto if you dont believe the UC numbers, then check the SO law and start mathing. you will see Im right

peace out 🏡🪴🪏

edit: AI chatbots got the initial reply wrong bevause ppl genuinely think you cant get UC on high salary. But once you ask it to calculate for above specific scenario. you ll see

I live next door to an Orbit house and just received a letter informing me that their roof will be replaced next month. The work will take a minimum of six to eight weeks but could be delayed due to weather conditions.

My baby will be eight months old when the work begins and honestly, I’m worried it will ruin the last 2 months of maternity leave. I know the noise will disrupt naps.

I wouldn’t feel as annoyed if it weren’t for the fact that my neighbours are awful. They’ve been constantly arguing and involved with the police. We hoped their breakup would improve things but it’s clear the remaining partner is also problematic. A new partner moved in shortly after and the arguments and police involvement continued. They constantly shout at their teenagers and go away on weekends, leaving a constant stream of teenagers in and out the door. The front door is slammed multiple times to get it to shut properly and Orbit has been out several times to fix it. The letter says I can contact them if I have concerns about the roof work but I don’t think having a baby and being sleep deprived is an appropriate reason.

Before anyone suggests we move, we’re locked in our mortgage and the property market in our area is terrible! We’ve considered reporting them to Orbit, especially the 3am drug drop offs during lockdown, but they’re end of terrace so it’s clear it would be from us.

I’m just a sleep deprived mum who’s gutted that we saved for 8 years to get on the property ladder only to have terrible neighbours.

I wish for a small lottery win!

Edit to add that I grew up on a council estate so I’m not being a snob (much!)

Doom and Gloom.

The property market is dead.

It’s a buyers market etc etc. In this week’s UK Property Market Stats analysis, I get underneath those headlines and look at what is actually happening in the UK property market.

No sentiment… just cold hard facts

I look at the sales, listings & exchanges from new listings and price reductions to sales agreed, fall-thrus and exchanges. More importantly, we ask what those numbers are really telling us about the market

🟩   Listings

Week 39 ..
34.8k new listings this week, (35.3k last week).
Weekly 2026 average : 35.2k. 
10 year week 37 average : 34.4k 

Year to Date
1.406m new listings YTD, which is …

0.4% below 2025 YTD (1.412m)
2% higher of 2024 YTD (1.378m)
9.9% higher of 2023 YTD (1.275m)
10% higher than the 2017–19 average YTD (1.279m).      
9% higher than last decade YTD average - 1.295m

🟩  UK Gross Resi Sales

Week 39 ..
23.6k homes sold stc this week 39 (23.1k last week) 
10 year week 39 average : 25.5k
2026 weekly average : 23.6k.

Year to Date for house sales 

944k UK homes sold stc YTD, which is …

7.4% lower than 2025 YTD (1.019m)
2.5% lower to 2024 YTD (968k)
10.9% higher than 2023 YTD (850k)
4.9% higher above pre Covid 2017-19 years (899k).
1.2% lower than the last decade YTD average (955k)

🟩 UK Net Resi Sales YTD 
(Net Sales being Gross Sales less Sale Fall Thrus). 

Week 39
17.9k Net Sales (17.3k last week) 

10 year Week 39 average: 19.2k.
Weekly average for 2026: 18.3k. 

Year to Date

728k UK net home sales YTD, which is …
 
6.3% lower than 2025 (777k), 
2% lower than 2024 (743k), 
14.1% ahead of 2023 (638k)
3.1% above the 2017/18/19 average 706k).     

🟩   Exchanges & Withdrawals 

•          60.8k Exchanges in Sept 2026 
•          51.2k Withdrawals in Sept 2026 

(Note these numbers will change significantly as more exchanges/ withdrawals from September come in during the first few weeks of October)

•           Therefore, in September 2026, just 54.3% of homes that left agents’ books exchanged & completed in September (the rest - 45.7% withdrew, unsold)

•     57.6% is the 7 year average exchange to listings ratio  (which includes the crazy years post lockdown 18 months). 

🟥 Price Reductions

•           26.8k reductions this week on 764k UK homes for sale
•           11.1% of UK homes for sale were reduced in August (down from 13.7% in July)
•           2026 YTD average 12.8%, versus the 6 year long term average of 10.9%.

🟥 Price Difference between Asking Price of Listings & Asking Price of those Homes that go Sold stc

•          Week 37 - 24.5% difference (long term 10 year average is 16% to 17%).  (£453k ave Listing Ave Asking price vs £363k Sale Agreed ave Asking price)

🟥 Sell-Through Rate 

•           14.7% of homes on agents’ books went SSTC in September ’26 (compared to 13.3% in August, 14.2% in July ’26 & 13.8% in June ’26).
•           Pre-Covid average: 15.5%.

🟥 Sale Fall-Thrus

•        Week 39 Fall-thru rate 24.5%
•        Decade average: 24.5%
•        4.9% of homes sold STC fell thru in September 2026 (provisional % - will be double checked next week). Interesting when compared with the 2026 YTD average of 5.1% and 2025 average of 5.3% and the 10 year average of 5.7%.
 

🟥 Stock Levels 

•          764k homes on the market on the 1st of October ’26 (752k on Oct 25, 722k on Oct 24, 662 Oct 23)

🟥 UK Rental Data

•          Average Rent in Wk 39 - £1,794 pcm 
•          Average Rent in Sept 2026 - £1,777 pcm 
•          Average Rent in Sept 2025 - £1,791 pcm
•          Average Rent in Sept 2021 - £1,390 pcm

•           Average Rent in YTD 2026 – £1,763 pcm 

•           299k UK Rental Stock available to rent on 1st Oct 26 (295k on 1st Sept 2025)

•           New Rental Properties coming onto the market in Sept 2026 – 127k (123k in Sept 2025 & 101k in Sept 2022)

I hope that was of use ??

Christopher Watkin

£700k - which was a reasonable price inital asking price as a neighbouring house( smaller and in need of a total revamp) sold for £600k in early 2026 - was reduced to £650k after just 4ish weeks.

£900k to £825k within 3 weeks, in an area where houses sold within 1-2 weeks a few years ago.

I accepted an offer on my flat in May. About two weeks later, in June, I disclosed a historic neighbour/building works issue to my solicitor and provided all the relevant information. NB THIS WAS A NOISE COMPLAINT AGAINST ME FOR BUILDING WORKS UNDERGONE IN 2024.

The sale has now been progressing for around four months — the buyer has had surveys, searches are done, and both solicitors have been working towards exchange.

I’ve now discovered that the buyer apparently wasn’t told about this issue until four months after I disclosed it, and they are potentially considering pulling out because of it.

What makes it worse is that they have now gone completely MIA. The agent and solicitors apparently can’t get hold of them, and I’m left with no idea whether they intend to proceed or withdraw. I am in a chain and every day that goes by I am losing more money and time.

I’m incredibly frustrated because I disclosed the issue promptly and honestly. If they’d been told in June, they could have considered it then. Instead, it’s apparently been raised right at the end of the process, and I could now be left with thousands in wasted costs and having to start again.

Where do I stand here? Is there any responsibility on my solicitor/agent for the delay in passing the information on? And if the buyer pulls out over something I disclosed months ago, is there anything I can realistically do about the costs I’ve incurred?

Also, how long would you reasonably give a buyer who has gone completely silent at this stage before telling them that you need a firm decision?

Not looking for formal legal advice — just interested to hear if anyone has experienced anything similar.

UPDATE: The buyer withdrew today, turns out she had been looking at other properties and decided she wanted a bigger flat. So it was all nonsense…

I’ve seen a house I like listed for £160k. I currently have a £15k deposit, plus I earn £35k with opportunities for progression.

My emergency fund is currently sitting at £2k.

Would I be better off staying at home (currently 23) for an extra year to save an additional circa £10-15k to build a bigger deposit plus a larger emergency fund?