Owning your own home

Bear in mind that any depth you dig out will need drainage even lower, otherwise you'll end up with a smelly pond, rotting anything wooden or rusting anything metal

Used them twice with great results but not used them since Martin retired.

Not seen it in writing but had some verbal confirmation our buyers mortgage was approved, EWS1 worries be gone.

There's 2 flats for sale in my block so I'm hoping it means estate agents are confident the sellers won't need an EWS1.

Ladies’ Hosiery and Underwear v Parker

I take it this was a nosey parker? :)

They are great but the price is crazy...

Of course the landmark decision in Brinkibon Ltd v Stahag Stahl und Stahlwarenhandelsgesellschaft mbH really wins the case name contest. I spent hours practising how to say that, and still fucked it up the first time I reffered to the case in open court.

It's pretty easy if you know German. :)

It's also quite a boring word, despite the fact that because of its length and consonant clusters it probably seems quite exciting to native English speakers.

Needless to say, Germans also get fed up with such long words at times, which is why Stahag is undoubtedly a shortening of the original word, designed to make the company easier to refer to.

Anyone fancy a bedroom with a kitchen sink? I can't understand why they didn't include it in the pictures

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72982101.html?sc_id=30399198

the place we're buyings 'master' bedroom is on a different floor to the rest of the bedrooms, and currently has a mini fridge, kitchen sink and one of those free standing electric two-ring hobs you can get on a trolley, plumbed in with long piping so it can actually be moved around the room.

not quite figured out why tbh, theoretically it would be for a lodger, but the rest of the house wouldnt suggest a lodger was ever an intention

Might of been Covid isolating from the rest of the house?

but you would go through the effort of getting one plumbed in and neatly connected into the adjoining bathroom wall for that..?

Au Pair/live in nanny?

didn't you ask them/agents about it?

We bought a place with a loft conversion that has only a shower and not a full bathroom, which we found equally puzzling. Apparently, the previous owner thought he could sell it as a two bed two bathroom flat at a higher price...

I've seen that a few times. I suspect it's when they realise that there isn't enough drop for a soil pipe.

Granny/Granddad/mistress/family embarrassment member ?

Some local authorities take a pretty relaxed view on enforcement, and let people put bike sheds in front gardens without making a fuss about it. Strictly speaking you would need PP, but if people in surrounding properties have built bike sheds and don't have PP then you may well get away without having it.

I have a basement in my place, accessed by a hatch in the hallway that is roughly 80cm square. bikes fit through that easily, but it's a two-person job getting them in and out as you have to access the (6ft high) basement via ladders. anyone got any ideas on how I could make it easier to get bikes in and out?

I was thinking perhaps e.g. add a channel/runnel up the middle of the ladder so you can still walk in and out in the usual manner, but if you were putting a bike in or out, you could feed it in/pull it out with the wheels along the channel... this might make a one-person job... edit: could just put a scaffolding board down one side of the ladders, I guess. should be easy to pull it out/roll it down via one of those.... maybe...

Would it be possible to lower the bike down from the top by kneeling and then hang maybe the front wheel or the handlebars on something? Then go down the ladder and take it down the rest of the way?

Small update insofar as the landlords seem have capitulated (for now) without us resorting to threatening them with "Ladies’ Hosiery and Underwear" and other legalese.

Thanks all.

Some local authorities take a pretty relaxed view on enforcement, and let people put bike sheds in front gardens without making a fuss about it. Strictly speaking you would need PP, but if people in surrounding properties have built bike sheds and don't have PP then you may well get away without having it.

Southwark appear pretty relaxed. When it came time to do the one in front of ours, I had a wander around the nearby houses and took notes of the addresses with sheds to copy/paste the applications from the planning portal. Of the 15 I checked, not a single one had formal permission. I still went though the PP process (change of front elevation) and when I mentioned this to the planning officer, I could feel him shrug over the phone. His only comment was "Well, at least that will be one less thing to flag when you decide to sell the place." It came across more as a vague "they'll get their comeuppance" rather than a non-sequitur for some reason.

@aggi - just check the historic planning applications around you. That will tell you a lot about the council's attitude to bike shed enforcement.

Planning don't care much about structures that are 'temporary' and you can see over.

@citygent has/had an excellent system of pulleys for bike raising and lowering - but I'm not sure how transferable it would be to a basement hatch.

Take it widening the hatch and installing a simple staircase isn't an option?

In Europe it’s pretty common to have one of those ramps in apartment buildings where bikes are stored in the communal basement.
See a variable length ramp here from a German site: https://ukib.de/Variabel-einstellbare-Fahrradrampe-E-Bike-Treppenrampe-von-60-365-cm-Laenge

Well, looks like we're moving. Hello garage!