Owning your own home

I guess the difference here is that they already know that the survey has a relatively high chance of making them bail.

On that basis it seems worth saving some money.

Depending on cost etc. I'd say go for it.

Our survey didn't reveal anything useful. But the water flood risk area map was large enough to include another property that we looked at, and it showed that house was in a danger zone. If we had gone for that house that info probably would have made us pull out.

I'm by Epping forest, reasonable size gardens - there are leaves everywhere. tbh I have been raking the garden and sweeping everywhere else, I just assumed this is why people bought leaf blowers. I thought this might be a place to ask the question. Soz.

Mostly thats actually for @Fox I suppose

Anyway I bought a Stihl one to go with the chainsaw and hedge trimmer ;)

Stihl is real.

I got a free leaf blower as part of the deal Ryobi did at Christmas when I bought the impact driver.

I've used it a couple of times because our front yard gets absolutely inundated and if you're careful you can blow dry leaves off the slate chips without blowing the chips around. It's really frustrating if you're shit at using it like I am though.

I just spent the best part of an hour raking and shovelling wet leaves off the drive into bin bags - a blower is tempting. They’re not even my fucking leaves but blown over from the other side of the road!

Pretty sure I posted something similar last year tbh.

Is it ok to blow wet leaves back into the road from your drive?

I think so - we have a massive council owned ash right on the boundary that dumps this time of year. We push them all back onto the street.

plumber in today servicing boiler and moving a rad. he discovered water ingress at the front of our property in the underbuilding area. lovely stuff. that’s today’s #4figuresurprise dealt with. love too be a homeowner

(thankfully it seems like it might be covered by my buildings insurance so I’ve got the insurers surveyor coming out to take a look. plumber reckoned the culprit was likely a cracked pipe)

The other option is wait for a sunny day so the leaves dry a bit and then get the lawn mower out. Chop them up and they are neatly collected in the bag.

You will look odd mowing your drive/path though.

the EA has put me in touch with the surveyor with the intention to buy the report off him.
Has anyone bought a survey like this before? Is it a sensible way of saving a few quid?

Brave move by the EA.

I’d suggest to the surveyor to reappraisal the place on a discount. So you get a new survey for a reduced rate. And presumably any of the insurance based protections you might, although I’m not sure how useful these are in practice. We just did this.

Get a good builder round. Check to see if you can get a buildings insurance quote online.

wait for a sunny day so the leaves dry a bit and then get the lawn mower out.

Trolololol

Oh dear, we've started talking about moving again. Only moved here 2 years ago, but quickly realising any money to spruce the place up is probably throwing good money after bad in that it has maybe a 5 year lifespan until we outgrow it and we probably should have just borrowed a bit more in the first place. Already at the ceiling for our road theoretically.

No need to apologise, just find them a bit triggering partly because they're normally so bloody noisy!

I hope you have a plan for all the leaves you have blown into a pile.

I can see that owning anything made by Stihl would bring one joy.

Are you happy there? Is it primarily your home or an investment? Could you extend it?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/vent-axia-acm100t-21w-in-line-bathroom-extractor-fan/53730

This pulls the bathroom door open slightly.

have a massive council owned ash right on the boundary that dumps this time of year

Has it started to suffer from ash dieback yet…?

Is it primarily your home or an investment?

Can it be both!? We always thought it was probably a 10 year house at most for us. Since moving in the list of changes we'd like to make, or have to make has grown, but most of them are not gonna increase value, just make us more comfortable. We wouldn't be here long enough for general price rises to pay for them. Same logic applies to a loft conversion .

I have to admit it doesn't meet our needs in a few ways, especially as we're using it differently/here all day now. Wheeling a muddy MTB through the kitchen because there's no rear access for example doesn't do wonders for domestic relations.

*Edited because humble brag

Ooh - I don't know.

That's a shame - it's a big old thing; that article makes it sound inevitable.

Anyone got a Miele C3?

We've got a big old London plane just over the road from us - easily 6 stories tall. These things look daft but make getting the leaves from piles into bags a million times easier: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garden-leaves-grass-collecting-grabber/dp/B01MA6H1W3

Yes. A C3 C3 Powerline Total Soloution. No complaints yet. Unlike the Bosch I had before, it hasn't let the Magic Smoke escape.

Hah they look hilarious but useful, significantly cheaper than a blower too.

We got a new ride on mower this year as the old one that we inherited when we bought the house died. New one is doing a great job of collecting the leaves and slightly chopping them which will dramatically decrease composting time too.

We also have the biggest Stihl backpack leaf blower which is pretty awesome too.

Was tempted by the backpack one for full ghostbusters vibes but thought that was overkill.

The surveyor will sell us the original report (conducted 2 weeks’ ago) for 50% of the original - so around £750. Legally it’s the same as instructing him ourselves and he says we can call him “as many times as we like” for help/advice. He’s a friendly chap so when you consider the whole package it’s a no-brainer if we do put an offer in. Plus he said there’s a 4-5 week wait for surveys at the moment.

It turns out the seller conducted a report into the wall/ceiling cracks in summer LAST year which the EA sent us after I asked about subsidence.
There were some recommendations and judging by the state of the property none of them were followed up.
It appears to say there’s only a little bit of subsidence...
How concerned should we be?
The report also reveals there has been a leak above the second floor bathroom for at least 18months which has got considerably worse. And the damp basement.
The seller has estimated repairs/remedial work between £200k to £300k.
The previous buyer was told this but then bailed after the full survey...

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