Owning your own home

A lot of them do offer a packing service. I imagine if you rang a few and explained the situation, some might be agreeable. Maybe with additional insurance for arse covering. In fact, it would make their Covid avoidance protocols even easier.

here's mine

1 Attachment

i think they're called "Bailiffs".

If you've got the cash, rocket van

I've just had a removals company with a packing service. I reckon they'd have no issue with no-one being there and it would probably be easier for them.

Using them to move my sister in law in a couple of week. My housewarming present to them (they were going to try and do it all with 1 car and a toddler). Will take that as a trial run, then maybe use them for ours.

Aha, cycled past their premises in Walworth every day for 2 years, totally forgot about them. Will give them a call and see what they quote out of curiosity.

I can just get a van and take the ferry, but it’s looking at about 800-1000 for rental and ferry costs, plus fuel, and I need to isolate when I get back.

I have a fairly specific question regarding dormer Loft conversions. We have one along the length of our roof with two windows about 6 feet or so apart. The Space between the windows has not been converted and and still has the original rafters in place, meaning it can only be used as under eaves storage. Is this a common feature of dormer conversions, and is it in principle possible to Cut the rafters and convert that space too? Thanks so much and sorry for wrong use of roofing terms;)

Thoughtful present, saving their sanity!

My place has only got a Yale lock at the moment so could do with adding a 5 lever deadlock or whatever it is that is required for insurance.

Any particular brand that is recommended and any recommendations for locksmiths in North London? Cheers

Banham are £££ but great quality/security.

If fitting a deadlock I'd look at getting one with a thumbturn on the inside. You don't want to risk being locked in if someone accidentally deadlocks it when leaving. It might be a requirement of insurance due to fire regulations.

More potentially stupid questions:

Conveyancing - L&C has given me a quote for a solicitor along with my decision in principle. Wondering if I should do my own research shopping around etc which seems sensible to me - but the ease of having someone that the broker has worked with to make things smoother. Wondering if anyone has used them or had a similar broker/solicitor relationship. Aware solicitor in Scotland plays a slightly more prominent role so very keen not to balls up.

Arranging viewings: we are looking to head up for a few days and check out areas and view properties. What is the process for this? Not dealt with an EA since we rented out flat in 2014 but assume just call each one up and try and get to view properties at times across the days, with time left between to drive? Or is there a more efficient prudent way?

Thanks as always

Cynical head they’re recommending a solicitor because they get a kickback / slice not because it’s easier or smoother. After three house purchase and two sales and the FiL going through the “this is who we recommend fubar” I’d always use a proper solicitor I chose, close to where I live.

Get the home report and read it in detail before the viewing. Anything marked as a 2 or 3 you should look at closely. 3 means you should be ready to do the work right away.

Get your solicitor ready to "note interest" on your behalf as soon as you think you might want to make an offer.

Pay lots of attention to the area. Especially public transport connections and roads/bike paths. Some bits of the burbs have excellent bike path provision and are a joy to get to. Others are very much the opposite.

Can't tell if you mean there is one full width dormer or two separate. If the latter - if it's in a conservation area or a listed property (?) the LA may have required a less dominant / more appropriate roof design for the property. Out in suburbia it is absolutely de rigueur to add a full width dormer box on the back of victorian/1930s terraces and semis using permitted development rights. So in principle totally possible subject to planning/ structural/building regs.

similar broker/solicitor relationship

Every day is a school day - I only just discovered this...

So. Solicitors cannot work with every mortgage provider. Yes, this was news to me, as in the past I have presumably just got lucky and the stars have aligned.

If you do use a separate solicitor, make sure they can work with the mortgage provider!

If you go with L&C's kick back I mean recommended broker, you won't have to worry about this. You might have to worry about other things.

but the ease of having someone that the broker has worked with to make things smoother.

They're getting commish. The only advantage is that you can try and use them to beat up the solicitor if they're shit. But it won't stop them being shit.

Avoid and use someone you trusts recommendation.

A shit solicitor is a headache and puts you in a weaker position at every turn.

A friend used L&C and told me to steer well clear. He didn't give specifics, but I trust his recommendation. I similar used a broker recommended solicitor in the past, and they were dog shit. So just because they can work with the lender, doesn't mean they'll be any good. YMMV

I'm planning to use MyHomeMove as recomended by @Velocio as I like the look of the service and their quote came out £600 below what I had on my finger in the air budget sheet. They also ask the mortgage provider of the AIP on their quote form, which I assume is to rule out the incompatibility issue mentioned above. But you could always just mention the lender when getting quotes elsewhere. That some won't/don't work with others, was news to me too.

Thanks for replying. Sorry should have made that clear, it's one full width dormer at the back of our flat, although one half of the dormer is not going down to the very bottom of the roof. That's why I thought it was so weird that the room height the dormer creates hasn't been fully used as indoor space. I'll look into it because it would be very nice to have the additional space.

They're getting a kickback.

The entire chain is about referrals - every business involved in buying and selling property will pay for the opportunity of new business. As a rough calc they will accept 10-20% CoS so this is what you should be negotiating if you go straight to the provider.

The interaction between broker and solicitor is minimal so far as I understand. The broker has already put the mortgage in place.

There is a relationship between the bank/building society and the solicitor and they tend to have lists of approved solicitors. These tend to be pretty wide ranging lists so it isn't that restrictive. The same was also the case when doing a lease extension and other stuff that impacted on the mortgage.

On the one time my solicitor (my recent purchase) wasn't on the approved list for the lender thy had a relationship with another solicitor who was on the approved list and it made no actual difference.

TL:DR pick whoever you want.

Thanks everyone for your help as always, my normal approach is just take a punt after research with what I think is best but there seem to be so many moving parts and it's such large sums involved it's really getting to me.

I suppose then next natural question is does anyone have any recommendations for Solicitors & Brokers in Scotland (Falkirk/Edinburgh)?

I've had ESPC recommended before but given they charge £300 I then started to try and find fee free brokers (L&C were recommended by a few colleagues) so started down the rabbit hole.

@Cupcakes kindly recommended a solicitor previously so I'll probably call them today and see if they can help a hapless buyer.

Personally I've used L&C a couple of times and had no issues. Saying that mine was a very straightforward mortgage (salary and that's it)

I know I've griped before but L&C (after reading glowing forum reviews) were fucking shit to deal with for me. Great sales person then immediately transferred me to useless case worker who repeatedly lied about progress, lied about what she'd done, lied about what she had submitted / what she needed etc etc. House nearly fell through were it not for, oddly, a really decent estate agent who massaged the sellers (probably literally tbh). We were both self employed which no doubt made it trickier but it took over 6 months to complete if I recall with a 45% deposit - yeah, offered start of Feb, completed last day of July.

we used a great broker when we bought a flat in london but the guy we used left and the ones i dealt with afterwards seemed a bit wide-boyish

someone recommended L&C for when we bought our house in manchester. i was on a zero hours contract and had a business with less than 2 years accounts and they found us an ace deal with natwest (i think). they even found the deal, then said 'wait until monday' and the rate went down a bit more.