Owning your own home

Yep just a leaseholder. Cheers for your reply.

@Howard is bang on with the difference between clueless and evil, and is also bang on with the Section 20 process. If they didn't send you notice at least 30 days in advance of this bill, they're breaking CALRA and you can slow things right down. It might not stop you having to pay but it may give you more time. Did you get the notice of major works? Did you get an opportunity to feed back?

Looking into new vacuums. Not having Dyson and while I loved my old Henry it's a bit cumbersome round my new place so probably looking at an upright.

Shark? Any others to consider? If shark then are they all much the same? I don't have pets and only a couple of actual carpets so I don't actually think it'll need to do much heavy work...

Does anyone have any experience with the section 5 process whereby leaseholders have right of first refusal to purchase the freehold of their building when the freeholder is looking to sell?

We live in a block of 80 flats, many of which are rented out, and I’m on a chatting in the hallway basis with maybe two of my neighbours. I’m wondering if it’s best to canvass for other interested leaseholder-occupiers first, or whether I should get in touch with a solicitor myself. Some of the horror stories upthread about bastard freeholders have convinced me that this is something I should pursue! Has anyone been in a similar situation?

I'd suggest trying to see if at least 50% of the long leaseholders in the block would be interested in chipping in to acquire the freehold. If you can't get at least that many people interested then going to see a solicitor would be a waste of money.

If you can get enough people interested then it's worth getting a 1993 Act valuation done before committing to exercising the 1987 Act right of first refusal. Sometimes it's cheaper to go down the collective enfranchisement route.

My last 3 Dysons don't compare to the Shark I bought last year. I got the AX910 and you end up using it in all of the ways they show in the promo vids. I use a separate handheld for the stairs so the only reason a pet version might be good is they have the driven head attachment for the handle.
Pros

1. Quiet (half the noise of Dyson)
   
2. Front roller cleans hardfloor and all the way up to skirting
   
3. It has LED headlights
   
4. Lift away works great, to either use the nozzle or get the roller under sofas
   Cons
   
5. Small collection chamber
   
   

My issue with the Sharks is the weight - they're like twice as heavy as the Dyson.

I've been looking at a variety of houses recently and a few of them have basements. All are typical terraces dating back to about 1900-1910

The basements seem to be a corridor type clear area going from front to back equivalent to where the hallway above is and then the rest of the house footprint has about 3-4' of rubble or similar and then 1-2' of clear space below the ground floor.

How come they were built like this? A coal cellar and couldn't be bothered excavating the rest? Does the rest of the stuff have any structural purpose or can it be cleared out relatively easily?

Given its probably going to be only me using it I don't think the weight will be a big problem.

Also. Fuck Dyson

Coal cellar would be most likely. Is there an external hatch to it?

The structural danger in doing more clearing depends on your foundation type. I'm guessing you have shallow brick/concrete footings? Is the existing cellar space already below the foundation footings? If so, tread carefully!

I imagine the rubble was simply a cost-effective way to build? The clear space above the rubble was deliberate in the same way you'd design a crawl space nowadays (easier to level, easier to access, etc).

I've seen one with what looks like a chute but most of them haven't had an external hatch. I haven't paid that much attention to the ones I've seen other than a bit of curiosity about why they were designed like that.

I'll have to take a photo next time and have a proper look at it.

My place is like that. 1900's terraced. Half-width cellar. We have a coal chute, but it's been concreted over externally.

My (Victorian) house has the same basic design as loads in our town, plenty of which have basements and cellars. Ours appears to have just ~1ft of air and then solid dirt under the floorboards - I’m curious about why no coal store at least... Could it have been external? Detached and on a hill if that makes a difference.

Coal cellar is most likely

concreted over externally.

This happens a lot.

Also bear in mind the area around the hatch tends, in my experience, to be block and beam construction therefore point loading = bad idea.

Wow this house search lark is fun.. someone died in here didn't they.

Quite possibly. Or lived in it shortly before shuffling off the old mortal coil. But if your house is pre-war there's a damned good chance at least one person has died in it. Probably not quite as recently as they have in that place though.

Does the rest of the stuff have any structural purpose or can it be cleared out relatively easily?

Yes, it's probably holding the rest of the house up. It can't really be cleared out relatively easily, it can be removed and the basement converted to a full one but it's expensive.

Our flat is a ground floor one in an 1865 terrace and has exactly this, but it's more earth than rubble. Our coal chute is still there as is the cover at pavement level.

I once heard a brushing noise outside and went to the door to find an elderly couple brushing the coal hole cover with a wire brush so they could take a photo of it. Apparently ours is a good one. They live up north and come down to London on the train to 'spot' coal hole covers.

Nowt as queer as folk.

The ones with the smoke stained polystyrene tiles on the ceiling are the best

Those tiles are a death trap and very illegal - if there is a fire they not only make it spread quickly but fill rooms with poisonous gas while raining molten polystyrene.

I remember them well from the house my parents bought in Hertfordshire in the 80s

Along with open fireplaces and that ceiling mounted pulley thing you used to dry your clothes. And cars that never started.

Fuck me thats dark

this property is ready for new owners to make their mark

Fuck me estate agentese has reached a new low.

@amey wanted one of those the other week. The clothes dryer, think he's holding off on the car purchase for now.

At least one person.
Maybe more.

Once used a coal chute to break back into my house after I'd woken up outside my house to the sound of the front door closing.