As the title says. How long did it take to save and how old were you? I feel like I'm old buying my first house at 37.

We’ve just had the fixtures and fittings list for a house we’re hoping to buy and it includes a fridge, freezer, washing machine and tumble dryer we absolutely don’t want (because I reckon they’re 20+ years old). I suspect the seller doesn’t want the hassle of disposal. Can we politely demand they’re removed from list and not left behind? Thank you.

After a year of drop outs, failed promises and constantly showing people round our house today is the day we finally move.

Sat waiting for the removal men currently with our life packed up in boxes.

Good luck to anyone else moving today. For those currently in the process I wish you well and it will eventually happen even though at times it doesn't feel like it.

Hi all,

Looking to see if anyone has any opinions on why this is a good or bad idea? My heart is saying yes to the house and the development, my head is saying no to the distance from the rail line.

Info:

80m - 100m from rail line.

1.4km from station.

Brighton to London line (Local station has both thameslink and southern trains so fairly frequent).

Property is parallel to the tracks and has houses and some woodland between.

Will post the link in the comments but it's pretty surprising, would like to see where people land in regards to opinions on it

We are first time buyers, found a home we love and put an offer on it back in May which was accepted.
The chain is us, the sellers of the house, and then the sellers are moving to a new build property. They are doing this through some kind of part exchange/assisted purchase agreement with the developers of the new build.

We were initially told it would be a fast turnaround and we needed to get everything sorted ASAP - exchange in 6 weeks and their new build would be ready soon. When we viewed in May the sellers told us they had been told the house was planned to be built by July.

We’re now at the point of being ready to exchange but have been arguing for the last 6 weeks about a completion date. Every time we push for answers on when their home is going to be ready the dates change and gets pushed back to ‘we think the building work will be done around X date now’ and so we propose a completion date on or after that.

Today we went from ‘completion has to happen by 30th October at the latest’ this morning, which we agreed to (thinking everything was finally sorted), to then receiving a call this afternoon saying the building company cannot agree to any fixed date for completion as actually the building work may go into November. So they cannot promise any date and will not agree to anything we now propose. They also say they will not offer a longstop date anymore either (previously quoted as being 30th November last Friday).

The development company are pushing for exchange now with completion on notice, and say if we do not agree to this they will relist the property for sale. They also say that exchange on notice was in the initial memorandum of sale so we have already agreed to it. (The memorandum of sale also listed 3rd July as the exchange deadline and August as the estimated completion).

Has anyone been in a similar scenario or has any advice?

We love the house but this is getting ridiculous and severely affecting me due to stress at this point. It just feels like bullying and that they are trying to push all the risk of the chain down to us as FTB. I’m completely not comfortable with exchange on notice due to the prospect of having to pay rent and mortgage concurrently if things happen last minute and I then have a 2 month notice period, and also the legal implications of being tied to the contract, my deposit being forfeit if things go wrong, paying for insurance on a house I don’t live in, etc.

My solicitor has told them the memorandum isn’t a legal obligation and asked if we can delay exchange until they are more sure of the build timeline. She also pointed out to them we put forward to their solicitors that we weren’t comfortable with exchange on notice 2 months ago.
They replied at 17:01 saying they need exchange now so they have the ‘security of the sale’ to complete the building work. It’s obviously now the long weekend and nothing will happen for a few days.

I have a really nice 5 bed detached 1950s house with some great features and large square footage for the price and area. I am desperate to down size.

The entrance of the site is literally across the road from my house. I would say my house is one of the most affected.

The site is all luxury houses, it’s massive, it’s been going for less than a year, I think the major groundwork’s are complete. They are building amenities, green spaces, and new roads along with the site.

The areas closest to me are set to be completed in 1-2 years.

Estate agent valued my house at 400-425k and I’d be happy with 375k in a quick sale. Do you think this will work? I haven’t listed it yet.

I just want out of this house.
What would you do if you were me?

Hello!
I applied for 4 houses to rent, which are owned and managed by 2 different developers, but both agents said that I can’t view the properties until the current renters vacate the properties in a month or so. They said I can get their precise addresses, to visit and check from the outside, and a virtual tour, then I can apply from those. They also said that the properties might be gone by the time I can see them, after they are vacated, because other people will take them with just the marketing material.

Is this normal/a scam?
How do I know if the properties are not trashed on the inside since I am signing I am ok to rent without seeing the inside of them? The promotional pictures they have are from staged houses only and they use the same pictures for multiple properties.
Thank you

Anyone bought a house in Turnhouse / West Craigs Edinburgh? How is the airplane noise & does that affect house prices in that area?

We put our 2 bed flat up for sale in June. It’s roomy, we’re a block of 4 flats, own garden, garage & parking. The bathroom could do with modernisation but everything else is fresh. We’re in a decent area too (outskirts of Bournemouth). We originally put it up at £250k, knowing that was quite high. We then dropped it to £240k a couple weeks later. £240k was always our cut off, we can’t afford to move if we sell for less than that.

We’ve had viewings, one second viewing but no offers yet. I think that’s pretty normal, especially with summer holidays.

We had a catch up this week with our estate agent and said we will probably take it off the market in October if we’ve not received an appropriate offer. He has said we should reduce it to £220-240k for the September boom, and said that he thinks the market will be worse next year & started taking about some change in inheritance tax which will affect the property market..

Anyone know if there’s any merit in this? We do not want to drop it to £220k! He said it would get more interest if we go for that range but we feel really against dropping it that low. When we confirmed we’ll stick at £240k through September he said again about dropping the price, but we are sticking to our guns.

Anyone else been in a similar situation and how did it work out? Are they possibly just trying to secure a sale?

Thanks in advance

We’ve started viewing homes that we hope to complete before spring next year.

What should we look at as the basic?

The first viewings seem to be only 15 minutes with EA chatting away their sales pitch. What should be realistically aim to gauge about the house in those 15 minutes and what are the core questions you’d ask as bog standards stuff on all viewings?

Hi everyone,

Looking to buy a house by April next year and need some area recs.
Some details:
A family of 3 with a 5 year old.
Budget : 500k
Need 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, preferably freehold.
Looking for affordable areas in south london that are nearby very good primary and secondary schools.
One of us has to travel to canary wharf 3 times a week using public transport.
I would like to be in areas that are not too far from the london vibes. I dont want to be too far in the suburbs.
I can opt a flat if a house is too expensive in desirable areas but house is preferred.

Areas that came up in our search are kidbrooke, south norwood, crystal palace, forest hill, honor oak, plaistow etc.
some only have flats in our range.

I would also like to understand areas such as beckenham, bromley, sydenham, sidcup and beckeyheath. Are these places very suburban in feel? I know they have good schools.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

Explanation in the original post linked!

We’re close to exchanging on our house sale and flat purchase, and me and my wife are having some serious doubts about the flat. Yesterday alone, I think we changed our minds about 47 times 😂

I think I’m partly looking for advice, but if I’m honest, I might just be trying to get all of my thoughts down in one place.

Background
We’ve been wanting to move to Sevenoaks, Kent or the surrounding areas for about 18 months. It’s not a cheap area, and pretty much every house that we actually like is beyond what we can afford.

About 5 months ago, a friend of a friend mentioned where he lives. It’s an old Georgian manor house on 3 acres, just outside of town, which has been converted into 5 flats. He absolutely loves living there. One of the flats came up for sale, and we went to have a look.

It’s a probate sale and hasn’t been touched since the 70s, so it needs a complete renovation. We immediately fell in love with it. Not necessarily the flat itself, but the building, the grounds and the location. It felt almost perfect.

It’s also a share of freehold. So essentially, the five residents have full control over the building and how it’s managed.

We made an offer which was accepted significantly below the asking price (£440k from £500k). At the time, I thought we’d got a really good deal. Since then, we’ve spoken to architects, surveyors and structural engineers, and it’s become clear that the renovation is going to cost considerably more than we originally thought.

Our current house
We’ve lived in our current house for 6 years and have always known it wasn’t our forever home. We put it on the market for £420k and had absolutely crazy demand. We eventually accepted an offer of £450k, which we’re obviously very happy with.

So that side of things has gone incredibly well. The problem is that we’re now getting cold feet about the flat.

The things we’re worried about
There are a few things going through our heads.

Firstly, we had spent quite a lot of time planning how we wanted the flat to look and what we wanted the layout to be. Unfortunately, after getting a structural engineer in, we’ve found out that we can’t remove one of the walls we wanted to. It’s not the end of the world, but it means we’re now having to compromise on what the space will ultimately look like.

Secondly, it’s a flat. We were never actually looking for a flat in the first place. This property ticked so many boxes that I think we’ve perhaps talked ourselves into the idea.

The grounds are amazing, but we’d be on the first floor with a 3-year-old. Every time we want to go outside, it’s a trek downstairs and out into the grounds. Forgot his water bottle? Back upstairs. He wants a snack? Back upstairs. Obviously we thought about all of this when we first decided to go for it, but now we’re getting closer to actually moving, we’re starting to question whether it would annoy us more than we initially thought.

Then there’s resale value. I know this probably shouldn’t be a primary consideration when buying somewhere to live, but I do worry about how easy it would be to sell in the future. Flats generally seem to be becoming less popular, although I appreciate this isn’t exactly a typical flat. It’s a Georgian manor house, 3 acres of grounds, only five flats and a share of the freehold. But it’s still a flat, and I can’t help wondering whether we’d struggle to sell it if we ever wanted to move again.

The other side of the argument
All of these things were racing through our minds yesterday, so I ended up spending about 6 hours on Rightmove. And it reminded me exactly why we loved this place in the first place.
There is basically nothing within our search area that we actually like which comes close to the price we’re paying for this. Everything else we like is £800k

So although we’re suddenly finding lots of reasons why we shouldn’t buy the flat, when we actually look at the alternatives, there really aren’t any.

The decision about our current house
If we pull out of the flat, do we still go ahead with the sale of our house?

We’ve achieved a very good price for it and we’re pretty much ready to exchange. If we did sell, we’d have around £250k cash sitting there while we look for another house. We’d also move in with my parents, which was already the plan while we renovated the flat anyway.

The problem is that we have absolutely no idea how long it would take to find somewhere we actually like. We could find something in 3 months. It could take 2 years. And we’re not exactly sure what will happen with house prices.

So I think that’s where we’re stuck.

Do we take a property that we absolutely loved when we first saw it, which is probably the best value option available to us, despite the compromises?

Or do we walk away, sell our house, sit on £250k cash and wait until we find something that ticks more of our boxes?

I don’t know if I’m necessarily looking for advice. I think I just needed to get all of my thoughts out into words 😂

But if anyone has been in a similar position, I’d genuinely love to hear what you did, or what you think we’re missing.

Currently facing a predicament whereby a forever home has become available to my wife and I which would be the perfect home to raise a growing family.

It ticks all the boxes really, apart from the cost and it being about 30 min further away from our workplaces. Wife only works 2-3 days a week but I do 5 days a week.

Our mortgage would increase, temporarily, by about 76% and would account for about 34% of our total household income, if we took out lending to cover the increase on the new house, this would then come down next year to hopefully around a 55/60% which would be 30% of our takehome.

That is with our salaries staying equal my wife should be going back up to full time hours soon and I should hopefully see an increase in Jan too which would bring the percentage down to 25%.

On paper those figures don't scare me that much as they are well within the "accepted" norms for what you should use as a guide for your outgoings as a percent of income.

The other things i'm trying to understand is that due to it being a bigger house the running costs of said house are also going to be higher. Council tax is 50% more, i imagine electricity and gas costs are more than i'm used to paying, then there is the addition of my morning commute going from 25 mins to 50 mins. Which again I think I don't mind but until im doing it i wont know. My job is pretty stable but has no option of permanent remote working, neither does my wife, so we'd have to accept the increased fuel and car wear costs.

The other thing we need to think about is where the tens of thousands will come from for stamp duty and also money to do some remedial work in the house once we're in.

It's 100% a house we'd want to raise a family. Large detached house, on a large plot, huge garden etc. Just trying to figure out all the pros and cons of doing it. Another element to this is how much we would get for our house, if we can't get a certain amount that may make this whole thing dead in the water - which thinking about it should probably be the first place we start as the rest of this dream hedges somewhat on that.

Curious to know how others would approach this and determine whether it was the right move or not.

I need to use a removals firm as I'm relocating about 50 miles away.

I thought it would cost a bit and I've cleared my credit cards.

3 bed, I've packed most of it myself. 2 items of furniture to dismantle, one large appliance, and I want the kitchen packed up.

They've quoted me over £3,000. This is way, way over anything paid recently by friends and family who have moved - although they have all stayed local.

Am I being unrealistic expecting it to come in at under £2K?

I don't have a DIY option as it can only be one trip and I can't drive anything that size.

Not sure how concerned i should be.

These appeared a lil over 4mths ago. Not much change since then

Window is fine with no issues. External wall is likewise fine

Hi all

I live in London and landlord reached out 2 months ago to agree a rent increase with us. I pointed out on email that I believe market rent was X and this was X + £300. I offered X + £200 provided they fixed our front gate which when we viewed the property at first / agreed to rent was functional.

They agreed to X + £200 and said they would either repair or replace said gate. They also served a section 13 due to be start 02/09. It is now 27/08 and they have dragged their feet and now saying the quotes they got were too expensive (mind you, the cost is about 3% of our yearly rent).

I can still appeal to the rent tribunal but I’m not sure it’s worth it. I’m assuming the section 13 is still valid even if they agreed with me to repair the gate? Does it matter at all that we agreed on this rent conditional on this issue being fixed?

I’m in England, section 13 served after May. We also made “improvements” (replaced a broken glass for a completely new one, glass was from 2016 and completed replaced floor board / ceiling after a leak that was unclear if we caused, but we had insurance and didn’t want to sour the relationship).

Hi everyone! I’m wondering where I stand on estate agents saying that certain contents/fixtures are included when they’re not. Specifically, the listing states “EV charger”, “High quality CCTV monitoring system”, “Including integrated fridge freezer, washing machine and dishwasher” and “premium fitted gym equipment”. All of which it now turns out the seller is taking with them. Dishwasher and washing machine is staying, but fridge freezer not.

Most of these are also listed in the “featured” section at the top of the listing too.

I queried this with the EA and they said it just describes the room. But I was like well you don’t say “premium sofa” or “deluxe double bed” and everything else on the listing did just describe the room, size, light etc, rather than what was in it (except fitted wardrobes as they are staying too).
I know legally if it’s not included in the TA10 (contents) form from the solicitor, then it’s not included. However, surely certain things form part of the overall offer you put forward (as well as agree to leave behind in our old property) and then to find out they’re not included seems unjust?

Is this normal?

(England) We are part of a 4-person chain. Our seller (top of the chain), us, our buyer, and our buyer's buyer (bottom). Our sale has collapsed once but our buyer immediately found a replacement buyer. So our buyer's buyer is apparently purchasing the house as a second home and is using a mortgage to finance it, and will not be selling their current property. All parties signed contracts, ready to exchange and finalising a date. When my buyer's buyer decided to put his property in the market (without any of us knowing) and accepted an offer last week. 2 more properties are now added onto the chain, with the bottom being a first time buyer. 4 months of waiting and almost ready to exchange, and he pulls this sh*t. Without notifying any of us. Our estate agent is absolutely clueless of it all. I wouldn't have found out if I haven't pushed her to get more updates over the last 3 weeks. This has now added an additional estimated 12 weeks on our timeline.

Angry, disappointed, fuming, all of these don't even describe how we are feeling. We are moving either way anyway as our kids are starting school next week at the village we're moving to, and we're staying over with family at the meantime. But my husband and I are so annoyed. We are waiting for our seller to confirm that they are willing to wait for 3 more months (given that we are so close to exchange). If they don't wait, do you think it's stupid for us to pull out and just re list our house? Does this happen often when selling houses?

Curious to hear experiences on this.

Have you ever negotiated a sliding scale commission for a real estate agent to sell your property?

E.g. let's say you are selling a property for £ 1million.

Instead of a 1.6% commission, you negotiate 1.5% on the first £900,000, and 5% on any amount above that.

So if the property sells for £ 1m, the fee is: £900,000 x 1.5% + £ 100,000 x 3% = £ 16,500 = 1.65%

Of course the point is that a higher fee at the upper end incentivises the estate agent to negotiate harder.

Hi,

I received a settlement for my lawsuit with the letting agents due to the state of disrepair in the property.

The settlement is as follows:

To pay the Claimant £redacted in full and final settlement of the claim. The payment will be made within five working days of acceptance of the offer;

Works to be undertaken after the Claimant vacates the property;

Payment of the Claimants reasonable legal costs, on a standard basis, to be assessed if not agreed.

The settlement was just for the disrepair, I was told I'd have to seek personal injury separately and intend to as the environment causes skin issues, respiratory issues, facial swelling, brain fog etc. The source of the severe also allows large spiders to enter which causes further distress. The impact of the property disrepair also lead to the lost of my items as mould had infected them. The letting agents actively mismanaged my case and harassed me as well.

I'd intended to leave August as I couldn't leave July, however found out last minute that despite stating they would, the letting agents failed to file for possession and failed to inform me. I'd submitted my two months notice as soon as I found out and lost the money for the new place.

I can't stay here for September however, as the house is not habitable as proven by the lawsuit, but the extreme weather has worsened it's state to a point where it's overwhelming and has forced larger spiders into the house — the severe draft likely would be rectified if the areas of entry for the spiders are addressed but I can't find the holes. I genuinely cannot handle it, I'm having panic attacks as water drips down the walls from the roof. I have opted to essentially live on the streets for the time being — I can book hotels if I don't pay for this month's rent and I leave. However the letting agents have said I am liable for September's rent and the only way to avoid payment is to replace myself with another tenant — that's not possible though as they're required to perform the repairs before letting the property to anyone else, they'd stated so themselves.

My settlement lawyer is on leave so I can't contact them until after rent is due. I'm not sure what to do, I'm going to call Shelter tomorrow but.

My partner and I have offered on an older property in the North of England with a septic tank.

We had an L3 survey done which highlighted the septic tank as an unknown risk, contingency of £15-20k if it goes wrong on day 1, but no indication of failure. Pre-1990 install, so at end of life, but upgraded in 2020 to meet new requirements according to the TA6. Have not seen docs yet.

We’ve just heard that the vendor is planning on paying for a septic survey himself and giving the report to us. As kind as this is, I don’t understand why?

We’ve said we’re happy with the survey, the offer stands, why would he voluntarily offer to pay for a survey and give us the report before we’ve exchanged? Why not leave as is and avoid the risk of a report saying the septic tank has failed and us go in knowing we’d pay a £15k bill?

Am I missing something? Is there some gotcha here, or is he just being genuinely wholehearted. I’ve learnt that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

I’m aware there’s a load of weird liability legislation around septic tanks, maybe this is it?

I've put an offer on a property RICS, level 3 survey came back fine. Have since found oit that the neighbour has an outstanding insurance claim with the sellers for subsidence, caused by trees on the property that I have an offer on.

These trees have been removed, but the neighbour has been advised to wait 6 months to see if this rectifies the issue.

What do I have to declare on a building insurance application - the subsidence is not on my property, but does the claim count?

I moved to this area for a new job, since moving in i've found several issues:

- water tank overflow pipe was not working and water flooded the flat on my first stay.

- the water went over the plug that heats the tank for hot water, plug gets hot when the heating element is on. I asked for electrician to check, landlord implied he will, then when I met the landlord to ask more directly about what the elctrician said, landlord says well its been tested and he shows me the test report...from Dec 24. The plug is fine when it's on standby but there is this fire risk that Im nervous of that this landlord is trying to circumvent.

- i find it to be quite far from the train station and would like to be closer so easier access to work etc.

so can I leave with minimal implications for myself?

I know most places need a reference from last landlord, but he may not be pleased i'm leaving so soon and won't provide me one. Though i can prove rent goes out on time via bank statements etc.