Owning your own home

Cable ties and audaxes sound wrong, but the other advice is sound. Just because the electrics are old doesn't mean they need changing if they all work well.

The real test would be to get an EICR done which would probably set you back 130 notes.

It's not fun when Party Wall Surveyors then lawyers are involved. Also not cheap.

how intrusive are the works for the party wall?
did you discuss your plans informally beforehand and if so what indication did your neighbour give you as to whether he would be ok with it etc? to decline it straight up is a real pain, but essentially if you can't resolve it amicably and informally then you will have no option to go down the surveyor route and get an award drawn up which will cost you quite a bit of money all accounts. you'll have to use the surveyor they choose as well to avoid paying for multiple surveyors. luckily for me both sides agreed informally.
think yourself lucky though...the guy next to me at work needs 7 party wall agreements for a side return extension on a ground floor flat! what a headache.
i have never heard that you have to declare a dispute if you come to sell it, that doesn't sound right at all and sounds absolute rubbish.
out of interest did you submit planning application plans to your local council before speaking with your neighbour about your works?

here are my electrics as a comparison....

2 Attachments

So its pretty much ok but not great. I think I'll put a new consumer unit in and play it by ear regarding a re-wire. It shouldn't need one but a couple of extra outlets wouldn't hurt.

Not that intrusive to the wall itself, although there is also underpinning involved which is more intrusive.

We did discuss the plans informally beforehand, sent them architects drawings etc. Also mentioned way back that we'd probably need to get their OK on Party Wall stuff.

They have told us that they really have no concerns, issues or even questions about the building work, they just want to dissent so that a surveyor is involved. They have agreed to our choice of surveyor and one surveyor acting on behalf of both parties, which is good news and should hopefully make this less painful.

It seems nuts to dissent when you have no real objections but based on a lot of research last night they seem to be doing the right thing. A 'Party Wall Agreement' (which is what happens if they consent) is effectively an informal agreement and has no legal status under the Party Wall Act. A 'Party Wall Award' (produced by a surveyor) does. It is a legally binding document. Given the fact that houses on our road are worth a cool million now, and they own the whole place, our neighbour would be nuts to rely on an informal agreement.

Basically the law is an ass, not our neighbour. I suspect the Party Wall Surveyors Association or similar was very busy lobbying the Government in the mid 90's. I've seen the Party Wall Act described as being "designed by party wall surveyors for party wall surveyors". And for some reason Party Wall Surveyors can easily charge £150+ an hour, way more than we are paying our architect, structural engineer or contractors...

But as @Prole. says dissenting is an eminently sensible thing to do if your neighbour is ever proposing works to your party wall because they will have to pick up the entire bill and a surveyor being involved will only benefit you :/

(The bit about declaring a Party Wall dispute at sale was more me thinking out loud. As @Prole. also said it's just the terminology involved in the Act and as I said in reality there isn't a dispute, just a neighbour who wants things done by the book).

Oh and @AirTime yes we consulted thoroughly with all the neighbours before applying for planning permission. This was obviously one thing we did right as we had no objections and one letter of support. We have no idea who the letter of support was from, it's very mysterious! Maybe someone just liked the cut of our architectural jib?

http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/news/new-figures-reveal-londons-poorest-boroughs-show-highest-property-price-rises

newham winning, waltham forest 5th

olympic park and environs rejuvenation seemingly working

Our gaff has been on the market less then 3 days and there are two offers on the table at asking price.
I am kinda a passenger in this now, just letting the estate agent do his slimy thing to push the figure as far north of asking as each party can stomach.

I'm only 26, so staying as close to the Flat White economic hub as possible is paramount

Properties going for north of the asking isn't rare these days.

YBS are good but they are total fuckers for service.

Fine if you don't need to do much other than pay once a month, but if you need to change anything, they are beyond useless.

We've had to get them to listen to their own recordings to prove how incompetent their call centre staff are.

They made so many fuck ups with the rates when we switched to buy to let ther we've ended up on a good deal thanks to them having to honour a mistake made over the phone.

2 van loads down, more to go.

I'm not saying I'd recommend them - just they're who we're with and it makes it easier for me to make comparisons.

Sounds like you won out in the end, though!

We used a Micra. A van is probably more pleasant

where are you gonna move to?

There have already been a fair few fiat 500 trips while I was at work. There are a few of us and a lot of stuff.

Does this place have electric heaters around the house? I see what looks like a timer at the top.

I'm guessing one of the consumer units was a later add-on. It's possible that the tails that leave from the meter are split at one of the black boxes, and then feed both consumer units.

well done for consulting beforehand. i had a mate who didn't mention anything and naively submitted plans to the council. he didn't realise that the plans go up on their website which the surveyors monitor and then go round to the neighbours and scaremonger them into using their services. good luck with it all anyway but be prepared to stomach 1k + in the process.

It has normal radiators, afaik.

Hoping for Crofton Park, Honour Oak, Forest Hill, Blythe Hill areas.
Probably going to end up in Catford.

SE6 represent.

i wish i could afford Catford

I just spoke to YBS after they were mentioned on this thread, made me realise that my mortgage payment is way too high.

Just waiting for the Mrs to review my maths, but could save £161/month by hopping onto a 5 year fixed at 2.89%.