Owning your own home

I know this question comes up a lot, but forum approved solicitor?

my homebuyers survey is hot garbage. wont be doing it again, i tried to learn from last time and general consensus.. but fell for the O/H insistence on peace of mind

I have this same issue. Was doing some looking up online and the suggestion that I haven't tried yet is to spread your urine over the grass instead.

There was no detail of whether you should go in a bucket and then spread it or apply directly. I'm sure you can work out the details

This is the slippery slope to voting Tory

cleaning... lawnmower

Think I’ve found the problem.

Not sure about the forum solicitor but we've been using a guy called Gethin @ Knights in Chester. Not london based but has been super on it and responds to email quickly which is better than the vendors solicitors. Fuckers went on holiday for 2 weeks and didn't tell anyone

don't want to lol but went through the same thing. Luckily the o/h forgot all about it so seem to be getting through.
Valuation came back all good

What’s the best way to diligence planning matters during a purchase?

We have had an offer accepted somewhere and the potential to extend the ground floor (side return) is fairly important to us. Neighbours recently did almost exactly what we want (including rebuilding the party wall) so I have some confidence there.

If there is a precedent set on the same road then you will get planning unless you’re trying to do something crazy.

Just be nice to all your neighbours when you move in and they might not object

If it's an extension you may well be able to do it under permitted development rights without getting planning consent.

I have a fox who digs up the flower bed in my front garden and shits in it/on the garden wall every day...

We put in an offer on a flat on Sunday, the EA told us that another person had offered and our offers "were close". He asked for our "final offer" which I found a bit daft but we added like 2k to our initial offer and sent it back. He called back later and told us that the seller had decided to not accept either offer and was going to continue showing the flat. The EA tried to encourage us to offer more to persuade the seller. We declined because that sounded like nonsense.

He emailed us today and told us our offer had been accepted, but on the phone told us that the seller was keeping the place on the market for another week and they're pushing us to try and get surveys and stuff organised in a real rush.

Is this a common thing? It sounds to me like they've accepted our offer, unless another offer comes along, which is a lot like not accepting an offer?

Until you exchange (and technically I guess until you complete) the seller can do what they like.
You have no rights in England as the buyer.

Yeah, I knew that there was always a possibility another offer could come along after ours had been accepted. I just didn't imagine that the seller would be courting more offers quite so actively after accepting one.

Sound like dicks.
As do the EAs.
I would anticipate an unpleasant purchase experience I’m afraid.
Good luck though.

You have no rights but that's particularly cunty, it's pretty standard for the property to be taken off the market once an offer has been accepted. I wouldn't be organising any surveys whilst it was still listed.

And to agree with above. I'd be pretty wary about going ahead.

Not very common but yeah they're allowed to. Nothing is binding until exchange as lowbrows said (although it is locked in at exchange).
Sellers/ agents normally stop advertising after accepting an offer but that doesn't stop the gazumping process, they're just being up front about looking for a better offer...

Stirling Ackroyd did something very similar to me on the first place we put an offer in on (and ultimately didn’t get). I knew half of it was bullshit too and it was all a game. They were utter cunts.

I wished I’d kept increasing my offer and gone along with it a bit just to waste their time too.

I had somewhat similar. They kept the place on the market until the mortgage survey was done and then were slow on taking it off. I got the impression the estate agent wasn't pushing it that hard but it was still online.

We ended at a bit of an impasse where I was refusing to instruct a surveyor or have my solicitor progress the deal until it came off the market and a panicked estate agent convinced them to take it off.

Just say your offer is withdrawn unless the property is marked as Sold STC by EOD tomorrow?

If they're serious about your offer surely they comply with that?

Yeah, that's what I assumed would usually happen. It's definitely made me want to retract my offer, I just don't want to do it purely out of spite. I'd prefer the spite to make a good decision more enjoyable.
What in particular would you be wary about? I'm not very aware of all the ways they can ruin my days.

Sorry to hear that. How did it pan out in the end? Did the place just get a better offer?

Doesn't sound like a good precedent for the deal, I agree.

We're currently in the process of buying a house that was advertised as freehold... Is there a point where this is confirmed by the solicitor? So far I'm only taking Rightmove's word for it.

Yeah, this is something we're considering. I assume even if they agree to do this, they'll go ahead with viewings but I guess it reduces the likelihood of even more people trying to see it.

Fuck em. Do they want to sell their house or not?!