Owning your own home

So how do you get your title deeds if you don't have them?

(1950s ex-Council House)

Check with the conveyancing solicitors who acted for you when you bought the property. If they don't have them, then there's probably not a lot else you can do.

Next door one side have dissented to my party wall notice. Annoying and unnecessarily expensive.

That's not the best way to start your relationship with them. Had you spoken to them about it?

solicitors who acted for you

Feared you might say that.

The thought of engaging with that clusterfuck of incompetence for anything makes me want to cry.

If they don't have them, then there's probably not a lot else you can do.

Is it not possible to get copies from the Land Registry? I think I may want to do this.

Yeah and they were all smiles and "just pop the letter through the door and we'll sign it"

dissented

You mean they want their own surveyor?

Depending on what work you're doing, that's not entirely unreasonable.

Annoyingly expensive, sure - Not sure unnecessary though.

Removing an internal wall and placing a steel in its place. The steel will run the full width of the property replacing the 2 parts steels that are currently there and meet at a structural wall. The new steel will be placed on top of the existing steels fixing points.

It's not really much work at all.

When I had my loft done I was a bit pissed off that the neighbour's on one side pushed back and wanted to instruct their own surveyor, etc. In hindsight though I didn't mind too much, it cost more money but it removed most concerns about ending up in a dispute afterwards with claims that I'd caused damage that I couldn't confirm, etc

I would have preferred they went with a joint surveyor rather than the pricey one their mate recommended though.

It's jsut an annoying expense which I had £0 in my budget for.

Is it not possible to get copies from the Land Registry? I think I may want to do this.

You can get copies of whatever documents the Land Registry have on file. To be honest, it's probably not really necessary - while the Land Registry's document retention hasn't been that great in the past, I'd trust them to be able to hang onto any documents they already have. The benefit of having the old title deeds is to fill in the gaps in the Land Registry's documents.

I'm doing exactly the same thing, work starting this week.

Was extra spenny as each of the neighbouring houses have been split into flats so 4 x surveys, plus 2 x freeholders (no share-of freehold annoyingly) which pushed back work by 6 months.

I keep telling myself it's worth it for peace of mind.

Is there a forum recommended surveyor?

@somebody 's a surveyor. IIRC he works for a bank in East London. He hasn't been on here for a long time, sadly.

I've used this guy a few times. He's very old school but he's been decent when I've used him.
https://sites.google.com/view/north-london-surveyor/home

What type? Party wall?

Building.

@aggi thank you. Will speak to them but expect it is out of the area they cover.

Guy I used was cheap and thorough can pass on deets?

New windows... normal for windows folk to expect you to provide scaffolding, organise repair work to render and plaster and arrange disposal of old windows?

Any ball park thoughts on what to budget for the above... 1k scaffolding (2 story, 3 sides), 500 vendor repairs etc, 300 for a skip?

normal for windows folk to expect you to provide scaffolding, organise repair work to render and plaster and arrange disposal of old windows?

No. sounds like a load of hassle.

I'd go elsewhere.

Would be fantastic. Yes please.

Windows are normally installed from the inside

Suspect that because these are 2m x 3m panes of glass the options for getting them upstairs are a little limited...

@ChasnotRobert @Señor_Bear thanks for the comments, sounds like 'niche window supplier' is providing a truly bespoke service... will challenge them on it, and go elsewhere if need be

When I had quotes they gave me the option of them sorting it or me sorting it. If you're sorting it then on top of it being a hassle you run the risk of something not being in place and them blaming you.