Owning your own home

Ask the ones that you liked.

thanks :-)

it is extremely cheap because the developer (+ mgmt scheme) still owns 2x flats and has to chip in too! I fully expect it to rise when we take control

also, given the builder's warranty we dont have to contribute a vast sum to a sink fund etc. it is mainly insurance, communal electricity, gardener etc.

Has he got building insurance set up? That’s the first thing I’d want to check with him, as it’s a significant expense that he can’t cover using his family’s labour. It would be worth asking what his longer term intentions are for the management arrangements. I speak from experience when I say that managing a property is a time sink, if you want to do it properly.

I have a breakdown of the expenses and ~60% of it is buildings insurance. I believe he has set it up

I did see window cleaners turn up around 3 months ago too... as well as some guys to come service the sump pumps (we are in a maisonette with bedrooms on lower ground floor)

I would give him a break, it sounds like he has his hands full. He’s not a professional managing agent by the sounds of it, so he won’t have proper accounting systems set up. Longer term, you’ll need to think about how you want to go on when you take over. We set up a management company, of which I am a Director, and appointed a professional managing agent. Not all agents will take on small blocks but I can recommend some that do.

The constant mantra of 'we need more homes, we need more homes' is simply nonsense.

It's not nonsense, it's true. And don't take it from me, take it from Shelter:
https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/629533/How_do_we_build_more_homes_-_Feb_2013_2.pdf

There are complicating factors like the homes that are available being in the wrong places as @Brommers points out but for years not enough homes have been built in Britain.

I would've loved to use Ecology, but they wanted to be the funding/insurance across both sides of our semi-detached build which wasn't acceptable. Have you looked into Buildloan/Buildstore options too? Ecology are meant to be better (service, no quibbles, etc).

We were building well above SAP credentials, we used passiveHouse modelling software, but an equivalent experience exists for SAP too... ask your architect, or jump in yourself as it's just an excel sheet really!

In fact, definitely try and do it yourself for SAP as I think you can always get over the line by 'topping up' your SAP points with PV, or water recovery, etc? Check out SAPeasy, or head over to the buildhub forum for more expert advice from people that have trodden the same path as you.

@ioreka not sure where you're based anymore but we used Neil Fox from Fox contracts for the lead work. SE6 based. 20 year guarantee and a proper craftsman (great attention to detail. Surprisingly reasonably priced.

Anyone got a recommendation for a cleaner in SE23?

No, it's not true, and I've read all that rubbish from Shelter et al. Don't fall for it.

The homes available aren't 'in the wrong places', it's the economy that's been mismanaged to constantly cause over-centralisation and depletion of other areas, essentially the same problem that happened in the so-called first 'industrial revolution'.

Housing policy must change, too, to make it impossible for people to just sit on housing and do nothing with it, e.g. letting it go derelict.

Yeah unfortunately this is my experience, loads of cowboys/people who dont care. But when you find a good one you just stick with them.
Is it worth creating a forum approved trades person thread?

Questions from a reluctant landlord:

We're in the process of moving new tenants in, but the credit check has come with no evidence of enough income to cover the rent,as one of them is self-employed with no tax returns etc...

They have proposed a guarantor, but we've no experience with those, even if we understand how they work in principle - What are the pitfalls here?

We manage the letting ourselves, if that makes any difference.

(inb4 slumlord / toryboy etc...)

I actually have come to hate working from home as the norm, hope we work out some kind of balance that suites me (2-3 days in the office).

Ditto basically. Other half's constant video calls and inability to moderate his voice in our 1 bed with no doors has gone from being a mild irritant to being quite annoying.

It's almost like we need to buy a house.

We're off to Scotland next week on holiday, going to stay up there and work for at least a week but given we've got the use of two places with decent broadband in Edinburgh and Innerleithen and we will actually have our own rooms with doors to work in - and the riding is fantastic - I suspect it may end up being longer.

Then when we come back to London I may volunteer to return to campus sooner rather than later if only to get out of the flat and for my 15 minutes each way commute to Mile End which actually I really miss now.

it's the economy that's been mismanaged to constantly cause over-centralisation and depletion of other areas, essentially the same problem that happened in the so-called first 'industrial revolution'.

This is true, but even if there was the political will to fix it (there isn't) or the money (there isn't that either) how long do you think it would take?

Also it's not just about money. Many people in the south don't want to live in the north not for economic reasons but cultural ones.

I agree very much on derelict housing but are the numbers really there to fix the problem? I don't think so.

And I don't agree that Shelter talk rubbish. They are highly respected experts on housing and ending homelessness and housing issues.

This is true, but even if there was the political will to fix it (there isn't) or the money (there isn't that either) how long do you think it would take?

Not long at all. A couple of years at the most. Compare this to the immense speed with which London has exploded in the last two decades.

Also it's not just about money. Many people in the south don't want to live in the north not for economic reasons but cultural ones.

That's not a factor worth considering at all. If different people live somewhere, the culture will adapt. And I don't accept the very southern-centric idea that somehow the North is to looked down upon like that.

I agree very much on derelict housing but are the numbers really there to fix the problem? I don't think so.

They are. There are hundreds of thousands of empty properties around the country. Thousands of buildings at risk. With a few exceptions (the biggest heritage cases) fixing up existing buildings is quicker and cheaper.

And I don't agree that Shelter talk rubbish. They are highly respected experts on housing and ending homelessness and housing issues.

They talk just the same rubbish that everyone talks who accepts the false premise that there isn't enough housing. There's a conceptual sleight-of-hand here--of course, 'housing' must be that which is fit to live in, and many empty houses are not, so technically they don't count as 'housing'. That they can be fixed up means they are easily potential housing, though.

I'm very much afraid that I don't rate Shelter's 'expertise' in this at all. I could say more, but I won't.

Watford Junction, so unfortunately pretty much diametrically opposed to SE6! Good to know these people do exist, though

Is it worth creating a forum approved trades person thread?

@Tenderloin possibly! These days I'm not much of a forumengererer so I doubt I could give much of a read on whether this would have a high or devoted uptake (especially from knobheads like me who don't even really live in London any more (I'm still within the M25, I promise guv!)), but it'd certainly be useful

We're obviously not going to agree on this but you should read this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38893772/housing-crisis-why-not-use-empty-properties

200,000 empty homes are not enough to fill a gap which needs 250k a year.

As that article makes clear, you also can't make people live in places they don't want to live (often for very good reasons).

I'm very much afraid that I don't rate Shelter's 'expertise' in this at all. I could say more, but I won't.

I was luckily told this very early on and knew from #boatlyf that damp is a real nebulous prick. So when we moved back into a house I started running an informal experiment, asking people of differing trades what their thoughts were on the same 2 sections of damp - I've had different answers from every single one. It's bananas

Pete, I've read all of this stuff. Just to give you an example:

John Bibby from the charity Shelter explains that this is usually for economic reasons, such as local industries closing down.

"Often its because the houses are in places where there aren't enough jobs, where actually those homes aren't really needed that much," he says.

The feeling is that there is little point spending money on empty properties if no-one wants to move to the area where they are.

"So this is not just a problem with needing more homes," John adds. "We need to have more homes where people actually want to live."

This is, quite simply, a fallacy.

My point stands.

Also, my point about Shelter isn't even tangentially related to the point of view attributed to Michael Gove on 'experts'.

How bad is Ipswich? Anyone lived there?

How bad is Ipswich?

Yes

You're arguing opposite points. Housing needs are centered around where the jobs are, in this case predominantly London. You're saying we should spread the need around to where there's more empty and affordable housing, Fox is saying that isn't realistic.

Anyone struggling for housing in the South can't just move to Country Durham to buy a place for £60k cos they may not be able to find work there and they may not particularly want to move to a village on the opposite end of the country.

Yes

thought that might be the case. Had a look around about 15 years ago...

It is related because you're doing exactly what Gove does - you have a fixed ideological view then ignore the facts on an issue and keep telling other people they are wrong and so are the experts.

This isn't the first time either, it's a pattern.

Your point doesn't stand because I could link to 50 articles on how the solutions you propose are the solution aren't the solution, but I can't be bothered and you'd ignore them anyway.

Much easier to ignore you.