Owning your own home

That would seem a reasonable expectation.

We were grumpy.

Yeah. I figure the guy wasn't super into it but I'm now quite excited by the Royal system and how it will look. So silver linings.

Replacing kitchen windows with nice new upvc and replacing the back door with solid wood and sorting out the warped frame, which would be kitchen close to done...

Be careful fitting doors at this time of year, you need to make sure they are matching the moisture content of the house and let them breath if possible before painting them otherwise you can end up with them warping. Definitely don't paint one side first and leave the other bare.

Did you look at Vitsoe? I preferred it to Royal System but not found a combination in either system that I'm sold on yet.

@Fahrgestell was talking to me about Vitsoe - I just find the site/ordering process super unintuitive and confusing. I saw the Royal system in twentytwentyone and it caught my eye

Hardwood doors being fitted, so I need to make sure I paint it straight away - anything else's?

Try the Vitsoe shop, just south of Regents street. They are a lot easier to understand when you see the stuff and they will send you loads of designs if you send them dimensions and a picture.

The problem they have is covering all the possibilities while keeping it as simple as possible, it's worth sending them something and see what you get back.

I can understand the interest in the Royal System, just the cost of the shelves put me off as I want a lot of shelves.

Try to have the door in the house for a while before you fit it, it helps to get it adjusted to the moisture/temperature of the house. There are a lot of variables but moisture vapour permeable paint helps make things easier.

Wondered if someone could help me here please.

My mother is in the process of buying a new house and selling her existing house. Multiple buyers have pulled out of buying her current house at quite late stages. So, she is too far down the line and too attached to the new place to let it go - and I'm not going to try and persuade her otherwise.

She's using a pension pot my Dad left behind so she's not mortgaging the new place and has no mortgage on the other place. My question is around Captial Gains and the worry that if she keep her current (soon to be old house) for too long and then sells will she be hit by Captial Gainz?

She has also mentioned renting her current (soon to be old house) out if it stays empty for a while - which I am sure would be she hit by the Gainz.

I've tried making sense of a few things online (gov.uk etc) but it sort of baffles me and trying to relay it to her is even more complicated. Anyone who has a good links with clear info on this sort of thing or any advice on who I should talk to to get some concrete info that would be great. Thanks in advance.

AIUI (and I'm not an expert) you have 18 months grace as long as the old property is empty. I think it gets more complicated if you rent it out during that time.

After that 18 months you only pay a proportion of the CGT liable based on what proportion of the time the property was not the primary residence.

So if it's been a primary residence for 20 years and then secondary for 1 year (past the 18 month grace period) then you'd only pay 1/21st of the CGT liable upon sale. (The calculation is done in months not years...)

@Greenbank thanks mate. thats the kind of summarised info I need - really useful. I'll try and back that up with my own research, but I really do find it baffling. I'm trying to arrange a meeting with someone to give her some solid advice as well - thanks.

@diable yeah agree need some proper advice on this, I'm just trying to get as much info as possible and try and distill it to give her some facts to work with. Its the renting out bit which concerns me as I think that'll make things far more complicated.

Her house is in Dorset in a little town called Sherborne, I'm not totally sure why people are pulling out last minute. Whether its the current market in this area (not a huge demand possibly) and the price bracket but out of three buyers that put down offers and went quite far through the process they have pulled out for various reasons all of which sounded odd at that late stage.

Thanks again. Much appreciated.

Cool, might be a good way to do it. We pretty much selected the people we chose based on quality rather than price, so might not necessarily be best for you as you're not looking to stay more than three years (I didn't know that). But always good to get more quotes/talk to more people I think.

A dreamy house in Walthamstow has just had a price reduction and I'm trying to think how in this world I might be able to afford it :'(

link plz

http://www.stowbrothers.com/Property/Residential/for-sale/London/Upper-Walthamstow-Road/TSB26472893.aspx?platform=hootsuite

Needs a rug

not really my cup of tea but they've done well to conceal the soil pipe from the loft out the back. as for the decor in the loft ----->>>>>>

a mil for a semi in walthamstow? am I reading that right? you can do a lot better in better areas for that money in my book

In excess of £1m. FFS.

Can't argue with £500psft though. If you need somewhere that size you don't have a lot of choice. As a couple you'd rattle around in it though I reckon.

Just worked it out, £464 psft to be accurate.

Decent location too. Wood St isn't bad at all.

Beautiful house, I was very skeptical when I saw the price and the outside but it's pretty special.

Yeah, to be honest I think it's pretty good value. Look at the stuff in Walthamstow around the £700k mark and its pretty dog. That gaff is pretty special.

Going to torture ourselves and view it this weekend :'(

You've been in yours how long?

Nice - that's my fave residential road in 'stow. Places don't often come up on that street. Been snooping around there for the last decade or so.

kitchen's a bit odd and they've spent a few quid on the extension... However, as you say, lots of stuff around the £700k - £800k mark is just awful and that one is quite different.

Yep - 18 months to sell to avoid CGT, but since the market's unlikely to rocket in the next 18 months that may not even be a thing.

She'll have to pay 3% extra stamp duty as she's buying a second home but she'll get it back when she sells the old house.

8 months :P