Owning your own home

Ooh, that looks great. Completely understandable that posh tiles nock the price up but the warner ones are just 6x6 chunks of red and black quarry tiles that were never intended to be high-end.

Nice one Andy.
That's reassuring.

We too have a biological time bomb. Le/La duexieme.

trainer library?

We got them to agree to a penalty clause, so they had to pay us if they over ran. Which worked.

Lovely job!

Yeah. They offered that as standard to us.
£500 back for every week run over.

Probably why they set the deadline at 12 when it sounds doable in 6.

The trainer library has paid for the house...

Whats the ball park figure?

About £60k

are you wanting to use new tiles or reclaimed? We had a very similar job (red and black quarry tiled path)
done but it was at least 6 years ago. We suppliued tiles and had other stuff done at the same time so not sure what the path cost was, but very happy to recommend our guy so you can get a quote. We are N15 if you want to have a look at the work.

Cheers, good point. I'd prefer to do it more amicably with some actual dialogue but if the council can't be arsed then fuck them. If I don't get anything by the end of the week then a letter to the Mayor and Burgesses it is.

Here's one for you leasehold / freehold experts.

We've got a building site next door. They've passed planning permission and they're constructing. Freeholders are objecting on the grounds of decreased light, which is fair because it will seriously impact our quality of light.

The Freeholders lawyers are aiming for compensation for this. Should any of that money make it back to the Leaseholders - the ones who are ultimately suffering from the lack of light - or is this considered to be a financial impact on an investment?

our resident knight of light in 3... 2...

Sure, pm me his details and I'll ask for a quote. We'll probably go with new over reclaimed but I'm happy to buy the materials first.

Schweet. Concrete stumps? Oz equivalent of pier for a pier and beam foundation?

If you haven't checked already I think the first step could be to look at your lease to see if it specifies that light is reserved to the freeholder.

The principles involved are a bit long winded but I had a google and the following article, especially point 1, explains the issues behind it (albeit from the freeholder's perspective - i.e. trying to encourage freeholders to remove leaseholder rights. It's written by an actual lawyer, just to show I'm not talking complete bollocks).

http://hsfnotes.com/realestatedevelopment/2016/07/27/tenants-and-prescriptive-rights-to-light-five-tips-for-developer-landlords/

This suggests tenants can claim their own rights to light when the lease allows it and that they can also claim a proportion of compensation payments.

That's really interesting. Thanks dude. I've checked our lease and I think based on my reading of the hellish run-on-sentence we do not have a leg to stand on:

"[the freeholder] shall have power at all times without obtaining any consent from or making any compensation to the Lessee [...] to erect or suffer to be erected on any such adjoining opposite or neighbouring land any buildings whatsoever [...] whether such building alterations or additions shall or shall not affect or diminish the light or air [...] enjoyed by the Lessee or other the tenants or occupiers of the Flat or any part thereof"

Feels like I'm pretty fucked on this right?

Hearing that you are having a 2-bed, 1-bath loft conversion done for £60k including dropping the ceilings makes me think that the cost estimation for the remodelling work we're looking at (extending lounge, adding a new porch with an en suite over) is ludicrously overpriced at £130k (independent cost estimator used by architect). Anyone in the trades able to look over the plans and tell me what they think, please?

Yep. That wording would prevent you as lessee from acquiring a prescriptive right to light under section 3 of the Prescription Act 1832. It would also mean that the freeholder's right to damages in lieu of an injunction would be pretty limited, as the value of the reversion is unlikely to be affected much by any decrease in natural light, but that's a matter from them to argue out with the owners of the building plot and wouldn't really concern you.

Very clear, thanks man. The fact that our Lease says that light isn't anything to do with Leaseholders means that the discussion effectively turns into an argument between two freeholders about the respective values of their individual investments. Appreciated.

Someone I know is having a kitchen extension done on a 3-bed house in St Albans. Adding 40sqm but it's costing over £100k.

Moneygun.gif

my dad just spent £100k on about 1sqm extension to enlarge the bathroom a bit... (also internal remodelling taking a wall out, new kitchen, bathroom, boiler and underfloor heating etc. )

That's.....quite a lot of money.

yeah. he'd been waiting about 35 years though.
it took more than 3 months, lots of internal work, just not a whole lot to show for it in terms of additional area!
he's pretty pleased with it and it makes him more happy and comfortable (and it's not like he's really saving for anything else.)

~£15,000 quote to finish my flat off. If I decide to ok that, presumably I can remortgage for outstanding mortgage amount plus the 15k?