Owning your own home

Were not seeing any houses come up for sale there that look remotely attractive. We went to see a couple before lockdown that were under whelming.

not a bad place if you like golf and ostentatious displays of wealth

Perfect for the aspiring lfgss-er.

Lolz. Would rep.

I’m in

Lol

Yeah ran up from leytonstone through it the other day and couldn’t say I immediately saw the appeal. It’s pretty footballers wives. There is some lovely countryside etc I suppose. Just felt a bit of an odd place

https://twitter.com/sandybatchelor/status/1262038309456547840

Keep meaning to post a link to this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193464012319

The joy it brings is wholly disproportionate. When you get into the rhythm and flow of using it, it's magical.

Keep meaning to post a link to this:

Looks a bit small to live in.

Anyone here rent their London home out to enable an immediate move?

Any recommendations on agency? I’d quite like to just give them my keys and not hear about any repairs etc.

Am not having much luck using the search, although I know there have been many conversations about the following: I am looking for recommendations for loft conversion in London (East) We're in a Victorian terrace. I am planning to knock on a few doors locally, but thought I might try here first. I am already in contact with Absolute Lofts and Simply Lofts, so would be interested to hear of any experiences with them . Thanks so much.

I'm sure you have, but just in case: Have you checked whether you're in a conservation area?

No, but I am reading about it now, thanks @Oliver Schick

I was working on the assumption that the ubiquity of conversions locally would mean that we be permitted to build something similar, and expect planning permission to be granted.

Or am I missing your point? :)

I was working on the assumption that the ubiquity of conversions locally would mean that we be permitted to build something similar, and expect planning permission to be granted.

Not necessarily. A conservation area may have been introduced partly in response to people doing all sorts of unsightly conversions, with the legacy alterations left in place but no new ones permitted.

If you're in a conservation area, you'll usually be fine if you don't plan to have any windows or dormers out front. They tend to be permitted to the rear (a conservation area's main purpose is to preserve a coherent streetscape), but rules about dimensions and other aspects vary.

All that said, there are plans afoot to make residential extensions easier following concerted lobbying by certain groups, which judging by the way it's been reported so far will be a total disaster, but as far as I know nothing's happened about it yet, and I don't know how it will affect conservation areas, if at all. And you may well not be in one.

Thanks for the info @Oliver Schick I will raise it with the architect and the surveyor.

Judging on what's going on round here at the moment, I would be surprised if we were in a conservation area. There's currently a block of flats being built on a tiny plot of land (an unused garden essentially) on the end of our victorian terrance. I have no idea how that got past LA planning.

you should fairly easily be able to identify if you're in a conservation area from your local council planning website

I'm not sure how far east they go but I used Dan James http://www.danjamesconstruction.com/ for mine. Mine was a bog standard conversion in a victoran terrace with no special requirements.

I was in general very happy with them and would use them again. Had some issues with the architect who I didn't particularly rate but it's possible I wasn't clear enough and they were sorted easily enough.

However, I know that @brokenbetty didn't have as smooth an experience with them although I think hers was a bit more complicated than mine.

I heard some worrying tales about Simply Lofts when I was looking so didn't bother with them.

I also got a quote from this guy http://www.loft-conversion-specialist.co.uk/ Has a decent reputation in the area but didn't use them so can't personally comment.

EDIT: I'd spend a bit of time on your council planning website seeing what did and didn't get approved, get an idea of possible size, inspiration for plans, etc. I found that very useful

There's also a lot of loft conversion businesses on Instagram/pinterest. You can then find the people they did the work for and get reccos that way

Conservation areas are mainly about stopping demolition and ugly accretions on existing buildings. It often happens that quite modern buildings are built in them. The alternative would be pastiche, and that's not really the point of designating the conservation area in the first place, as pastiche can look worse than something that's clearly intended to be different. That said, I can't remember ever seeing such a modern addition to a c.a. that I liked, but that's just me.

As Tenderloin says, it's easy to find out. There are maps on every council's web-site that show you the designated area down to the exact house. It's an essential step that you need to do first.

The surroundings are great.

I think it's because there are comparatively few late-Victorian properties and loads of early 20th Century stuff, which just doesn't tend to look as nice or classy (or maybe I should just say "traditional" and accept it's a matter of taste).

Yeah - I’m tempted to explore more but I was getting tired by that point so headed back through Woodford. The couple who’s house we’re buying have bought a big boi in Loughton with a lovely garden for similar money but that just feels too far out for me

Anyone got a recommendation for a removal company? Thanks

Pegler

https://www.peglerremovals.co.uk/

We got them to do packing as well. The only single complaint from the packing and removal are the apostrophes they put on all our boxes of book's.

Unacceptable