Owning your own home

Your insurance company might help you out here - call them.

Ok, that does no harm I guess.

He's way ahead of you there!

Yes, of course.

My input here is largely in the manner of polite conversation.

I’m late to this, but in the current climate, I’d bite their fucking hand off.

Think we are going to.

Then we have to decide whether to buy immediately , rent for 6 months to a year or live with the in-laws for a few months.

Live with the in-laws!

Could work out brilliantly for you if property prices crash!! In-laws is a good shout, depends how well you get on with them, obvs...

My Building Management Co kept fobbing me off for months ( about 18 actually ) and it was only when I got the ombudsman involved that they finally fixed it. The longer they left it the worse it got - remind them that their neglect will end up more costly for them.

4 Attachments

Bloody hell. That’s horrendous

It was.

Ended up with 2 nice new shiny windows and a redecorated room.
But I told them they will be back again if they don't fix the cause of the ingress.

6 Attachments

Flat roofs are the work of Satan.

Christ that's bad

And how much were you paying to live in those conditions? If you're in London I expect a lot..

Could do, but it might take a while for the Brexit impact to filter through. Prices might well stay stagnant for a while.

I’m not living with the in-laws for a year!

We’re trying to get a place at a good price within the Brexit effect factored in. If it doesn’t work out we’ll hold fire until the new year. I’m guessing the market will be dire after Christmas.

Flat roofs are the work of Satan.

Use Kemperol. Job done.

I am paying a mortgage on a leasehold flat in a grade 2 listed old fire station ( SE18 ) and the windows had to be custom made to comply with 'like-for-like'.
The original pole is in the main flat.

That's terrible. We had a large patch of damp come through from a gully between two pitched roofs (rooves?) in our old flat. After 4 months of nothing being fixed I spoke to the agent and said I wanted £50 per month off the rent as we'd been unable to move in properly and £50 back for every previous month it had been an issue. He agreed, and I instantly thought I should have asked for more. They never fixed it while we were there and we moved out after 6 months.

The original pole is in the main flat.

No way! Well worth the trouble

Your insurance company might help you out here - call them.

Not covered on my policy, but they have put me in touch with the surveyors that they use.

Also, they're amazed that the managing agent has made this my problem to solve.

Also, they're amazed that the managing agent has made this my problem to solve.

Yeah I mean you don't own the building. You own the plumbing in your flat, so if that was causing the problem, then yeah you'd need to sort it, but it doesn't look like it is.

In my experience these things are usually dealt with via the buildings insurance, for which you've already paid for through your service charge. You can put in a statutory demand to see the details of the policy if you want.

So yeah, your managing agents are FUCKERS.

The managing agent has told me that I need to prove that it's building related, if so I may be able to claim against the buildings insurance. Onus is on me, they won't lift a finger.

I might call the managing agent for the flat above me, thinking about it.

Is your management company registered here ...https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/property ?

Decided we should go looking at houses, so we can have a better idea of what we’re looking for, what we can live with/without. First property we see is a probate property which is 5 bed, had an issue with a leaking water tank so water damage down one side of the interior, filled to the brim with stuff and needs a mass of superficial decorating stuff done to it, carpets ripped out and replaced, walls stripped and repainted, thorough deep clean throughout.
But it has so much potential as a fixer upper on the edge of the area that we want to live in, big enough for us to expand into if we decide to have another kid and a project that we’ll still be working on in five years time to make it just how we like it..
Haven’t even put our flat on the market but I’m already thinking of putting a cheeky bid in to see what would happen..

At the moment the market is full of people making bids when they haven’t sold their place first - you might be told to come back when you’re under offer

I’m just getting over excited. It’ll be snapped up by a developer who’ll split it into flats..