Owning your own home

Anyone used Victoria plum for bath stuff? The talk of baths further up has prompted us to Reno our inherited bathroom from the previous owners

Not going sarf ov the river this time o'night, guv...

Looked at them. Plumbworld.co.uk seems cheaper.

Survey has just come back saying there is no sub floor ventilation at the back of the house (where there is a kitchen extension). There are a number at the front but for some reason none at the back. I am a FTB so this is all new to me. How important is this to have at the back? Is it just a case of adding a few airbricks? Does anyone know how expensive/ difficult it might be?

Thank you!

Probably only a real concern if there is evidence that the sub floor - presumably timber - is starting to rot due to the lack of circulation. And then your real problem is replacing the floor. Any super squeaky floorboards downstairs?

Adding airbricks won’t be a biggy if access is straight forward. Whether it will solve the problem if there is a problem is another question.

If the extension has been there some time and there is no evidence of sub floor damage then I’d put low on the list of concerns.

Howard's reply covers it well. A kitchen extension has probably blocked off the original airbricks, especially if it's a concrete floor butting up against the original footprint's timber floor.

We've just had the same thing, basically no air bricks, as a single front one was blocked, and the rears had been covered by a kitchen extension before our time, and the sub-floor was indeed rotten, and we now wish we'd pushed for a proper floor survey - vendor said no to an invasive survey, which is kind of understandable but perhaps should have raised more alarms.

If possible I'd try and find out more about the state of the floor, either with a full floor/damp survey (although you could argue that damp specialists will always find damp...not always the case but...) or at least a visit to the house with someone experienced in timber floors.

Message me if you want more details.

Thank you Howard. It’s only been there a few years and there is no movement in the flooring. Just not wanting it to be an issue when we come to sell and therefore take preventative action when we move in. Always hard to tell what is boiler plate wording from surveyor to protect themselves and what is important! Thank you!

Ah interesting that sounds painful. We are having someone round to look at a few other things so will get their views on that as well. Never understand why these points aren’t just addressed during the build itself! Really helpful response. Thank you

Never understand why these points aren’t just addressed during the build itself!

They might have been. Or it might be clueless people buying shit from cowboys. You get to roll the dice and gamble on which it was!

Welcome to home ownership :)

Ok we had exactly the same thing when we bought our house. The flooring level was wonky on the main house ground level so we were concerned that the joists were rotten. There was some evidence of damp so we assumed the worst but the owner said no to opening up the flooring and checking the joists. We knew that we were renovating soon after we moved in so just budgeted for it.

Turns out that the kitchen area (which seemed fine) was built up with no ventilation at all so the timber frame it was constructed on was totally rotten and could have collapsed at any time.

The previous builders who had renovated the house 15 years ago basically just cut corners and did it on the cheap.

It's hard to know how bad it is until you pull up the floor but clearly ventilation is very important. The rotted flooring smell apparently was awful when they opened it all up, but as I said it seemed fine from the surface.

Edited - 7 year gift rule exists, but subject to gifts with reservation of benefit.
And also gifts are treated as disposal for CGT purposes.

Used them for our wall hung toilet. It was cheap but looked a lot more expensive and has had a lot of complements. One of the areas where we didn't go premium but nobody has noticed :)

I would say go with them if they've got what you want at the right price, we've been happy.

Also capital gains tax as I understand it since it wouldn't be my principal private residence

Thanks. They are certainly cheaper and pretty much local as well

Thanks. That’s my thinking - my concern is whether the price for their suite for £700-800 is good value. Doing things cheaply and quickly is the aim here

If you buy a second house and don't rent the first out (say you just use it as an office or something) do you still get stung with more expensive BTL mortgages because it's not considered your primary residence? Or are mortgages more expensive only when you are actually letting the place out?

No, if you are looking at getting a mortgage on it, you can get it on residential rates, if you are to consider it as a secondary residence. They'll assess your affordability for running both mortgages and running costs. Assuming you can afford it, you can have unlimited residences (though lender dependent)

If you aren't going to rent it out, you shouldn't be allowed a BTL mortgage either, as the BTL mortgage is driven by the rental that they expect you to receive.

Simple BTL mortgages aren't actually much more expensive, but for these you would typically require a larger deposit, 25% or more, along with being limited by how much your rental income would allow you to raise.
In areas of London, due to the lower rental yield vs value, in some cases, deposits need to be 40-50%.

When you get to limited company/multi unit blocks/HMOs/Holiday lets/lower rental calculation BTL mortgages, they start getting more expensive however.

Also you would need to factor in 3% second home stamp duty, whether or not you buy it has a second home or a BTL.

Yes, correct, but you would be subject to capital gains tax anyway if you inherited it later after already having paid inheritance tax? The capital gains would be worked out from when you obtain the property, and then when you dispose of it.

Something to consider is that capital gains tax is paid after you sell, whereas inheritance tax you'll need to pay effectively before you are allowed to inherit.

Yes, correct, but you would be subject to capital gains tax anyway if you inherited it later after already having paid inheritance tax?

Yes. But if were to inherit my parents house today I'd put it on the market almost straightaway so the increase in value between today and when I sell would likely to be small and the CGT bill small too.

Something to consider is that capital gains tax is paid after you sell, whereas inheritance tax you'll need to pay effectively before you are allowed to inherit.

Apparently there are bridging style loans that deal with that and the interest can come from the estate but it does sounds expensive. if there is a very big estate.

The typical married couple who own a house will be able to leave £825k before any IHT is due which reduces the amounts a fair bit.

The bridging loans would still need to be repaid somehow, so may require a refinance or capital raising on the property that you have inherited. Bridging loans are expensive, and of course get complicated if you have siblings, or the will is more complicated than just direct to children.

If they added you (and any siblings) to be added to the deeds, then with the 7 year gift rule, you could significantly reduce IHT.

Not if the parents continue to live there and jellybaby and his siblings don't. If you give away a property on the basis you'll continue to live there it's a 'gift with a reservation' and it still forms part of your estate.

I was working on the basis that you might be added to the property, assuming your parents still want to continue living there?

Sorry, misunderstood you there. My parents aren't going to gift their house to me.

The bridging loans would still need to be repaid somehow, so may require a refinance or capital raising on the property that you have inherited.

Were my parents to die tomorrow I'd sell the house and use that cash to pay off the bridging loan. Probably. The remaining cash from the sale would then get distributed. Probably. I haven't read the detail of my parents will although I know roughly what it in it. It isn't just a sibling split so will be a little complicated.

At least they have a will.

Thanks for the correction, you are right, I've amended some of the above to avoid confusion.

I was looking into this recently but couldn't find anything definitive. My MIL is looking to gift a third of her house to her daughter. The daughter had actually been paying the mortgage for ten years but via the mother rather than directly. She also has two bedrooms exclusively for her use there.

I struggled to find anything definitive on whether this would be sufficient to classify it as a gift. Any pointers on where to look?

What if you charge them rent?