Owning your own home

Banks still get squirmy about shorter leases even if you have a share of freehold (I guess there's a chance that the other freeholder may try and block extensions, etc). The mortgage is on the leased flat, not on the freehold.

@stevo_com It's not a huge amount of money but it is a very straightforward process as it's two identical leases being varied in the same way with no consideration due, etc. All of the quotes seem to include reviewing the lease for problematic clauses, etc which I'm not that fussed about as this when done when the flat was purchased.

@stevo_com It's not a huge amount of money but it is a very straightforward process as it's two identical leases being varied in the same way with no consideration due, etc. All of the quotes seem to include reviewing the lease for problematic clauses, etc which I'm not that fussed about as this when done when the flat was purchased.

Any solicitor is going to want to do their own due diligence.

Can I just say, estate agents can be right cunts.

That is all.

Life pro tip- try to avoid being home when roof repairs are going on. Our new impromptu skylight courtesy of the roofer dropping a 30kg roll of lead through the roof, loft and ceiling, about 15ft away from where I was sitting at the time.

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That'll buff out.

Hope your roofer is good at plastering.

True, but it seems surprising that this costs as much as conveyancing (which involves a contract review plus much more).

that this costs as much as conveyancing

More competition for conveyancing gigs has driven costs down to the minimum before the CBA.

That chartered surveyor, are they London based? Our lease is down to 90 years so me and oop stairs neighbour going to buy the freehold from rubbish giant housing association

Whoah! Proper looney toons manoeuvre...

Jason Mellor at Maunder Taylor.

Not sure if location is relevant, I only spoke to him over the phone.

Looks like I can save over £350.00 through bulb. Does anyone have a code I can use?

bulb.co.uk/refer/samw8408

Cheers! Will give it a go soonish!

I just used this by the way

If anyone feels like using mine...

https://bulb.co.uk/refer/danielbulbd8062

Thanks for this. Just signed up under my partners name!

Phew, what a week. Now moved into our new house. No major issues, dishwasher broke down immediately but hoping a few youtube videos will help. Project list is long but manageable. First is getting a builder in to build a small flat in one end of the ground floor. Previous owner had an office there but we don't need the extra space and the money should come in handy. Went and bought a lightly used kitchen from a guy today for peanuts so that's sorted but need to do some electrical work and a bathroom. Fun but hectic times!

Apparently the survey on our place went fine, but the survey on the place we want to buy has thrown up a few issues that might be quite expensive, e.g.

• The need for a new fuseboard (definitely) and a rewire (probably)
  
• Damp in the kitchen which means a DPC is probably necessary
  
• Some repairs to the roof
  
• Wet rot in a bay window meaning a replacement is probably necessary (though this is not listed as an essential repair)
  
  

If the vendors tell us to jog on it might put the place out of our budget.

This is quite annoying.

New consumer unit is a must.
Rewire is a pita to do after so consider doing that.
DPC not the right solution for most things, cross that off.
Roof may be susceptible to patching up.
Bay window can be made good with filler and painted over, not great but can easily last for another 5 years or more.

Edit - in short, if it's a place you like and foresee being there for many years, those issues shouldn't rule it out.

That's good for a bit of perspective, thanks.

The estate agent mentioned the fact that our offer was "subject to the survey, of course, after which you might need to renegotiate" so many times that I think he and the vendors must have discussed and been prepared for this possibility. Either that or they were trying to encourage us to get too far down the line to back out.

We definitely like the place, we're set on moving there, but don't want to feel like it's a burden or a money pit. There are things we would like to do with it that we may not be able to if we have to spend too much.

The bay window is one of the big box ones, so I'm not sure if it's just one pane and frame that needs replacing, but the surveyor said £400-500 which suggests it's not the whole thing anyway.

What's a very rough estimate for a rewire of a house with three stories? I think that's what would make us wince.

Why does it need rewiring. My parents were told years ago the house needed rewiring, never bothered doing it zero issues. Ours appears to have much of the wiring from the sixties when it was modernised, again no problems.
I’d also want to know why it needs a new fuse box.
(IANAE)

I lasted nearly 10 years before replacing the windows that were highlighted in my survey.

Admittedly the repairs went from rot hardener and filler at the start to duck tape at the end so it ended up being fairly vital.

I lived in a flat with 60s wiring that was due for a rewire and it caught fire, due to the insulation on the wiring degrading and creating a short inside a wall cavity.

Damp in the kitchen which means a DPC is probably necessary

Don't take a surveyor's word on this - you need to find out what is causing the damp first. It is very unlikely there is no DPC. More likely it is breached / damaged, or water is coming from elsewhere

Wet rot in a bay window meaning a replacement is probably necessary (though this is not listed as an essential repair)

Depending on how it is built/ type of window, it's likely there are specialist repairers. But again, it depends on what is causing the damp.