Owning your own home

I know there has been some love for Tado on here before, but I should warn anyone thinking of going in on the system that there is no way of expanding the network if the TRVs are too far from the bridge. Drayton Wiser do a smart plug that can act as extender for the TRVs, Tado have no such equivalent.

I think I've gotten a working system now by moving my bridge to a Powerline in the kitchen, but it's been massively frustrating previously, with the furthest TRV in the kitchen constantly losing connection. The bridge was previously in the room next to the kitchen so not miles away. It's also possible that another bridge for the catflap was interfering.

Fucking smart homes.

So Carpet right are a bunch of crooks? Not entirely surprising to me, but more details would be useful for me to ward off the missus who was eyeing samples from them today.

The carpet is good, everything else less so. An abridged list so I don’t get too angry before bedtime -

• 3 weeks became 12
  
• No choice in fitter (supplied) but an independent
  
• tons of damage during fitting: some stuff you can accept, this was beyond the pale
  
• damage “wasn’t us” and “fitters not us” (despite not having fitters details)
  
• Just block your number and stop responding to email / Twitter / etc after a period of time without resolution
  

How bad are you talking? I’ve had decent success with a dried out footstool by cleaning thoroughly, sanding it back with 320 grit sand paper, and then conditioning with a wax solution.

Bit like manky feet, really.

One thing if you can afford it pay for decent underlay no matter what carpet you get. Makes the world of difference imo

Your local council might provide a asbestos removal service if you pay council tax.
City of London will collect 15m2 per household per 12 calendar months if paying council tax.

No comment on you door.

Cheers, that sounds a bit shit. Apparently they even neglected to send us one of the samples we request, so not a great sign.

@konastab01 yeah underlay always.

@horsee1 will take a look at that cheers but probably still got to pay someone to remove it?

Is there a forum-approved paint for front doors?
Want to repaint ours and found a colour we liked but the reviews were pretty awful...

I am not an expert but what I understand is; If you’re careful and don’t break it you should be able to take it down yourself? Paper suit and a good dust mask with appropriate filters would be good. Dispose of ppe as asbestos waste.

The guidance on the service in London is that it needs wrapping in thick poly sheet and labelled as asbestos for them to then collect it.

I also have a garage that is clad in cement board that I guess contains asbestos, also a bit wary of taking it down myself but got a company to come and take a sample for testing last week and the dude they sent just walked in with a hammer and started smashing at the wall.
No PPE, no special extraction or anything. Also, I was standing right there. Not that cool but also it made me feel like if that’s how they go on I’d be up for carefully removing the material myself.

I’ve not got the result yet but it cost £180 with the vat. I’m sure I could have found it cheaper (Quick google search reckons testing available from £90) but I was already on the phone to the company trying to get a price for them to collect it so...

Though they’ve not given me a price yet, they said they’d charge the same to take down and dispose of as they would just to collect and dispose of. When they come back with a price I’ll let you know for reference.

This is a long post already but thought I’d better say; I’m not looking to play down the dangers of asbestos or looking to encourage anyone into putting their health at risk with DIY asbestos removal. Just sharing my limited experience of it so far.

@horsee1 thanks that is really helpful. So in the hundreds region. I still rent but in my search when sharing a potential place the first thing people point out is an asbestos garage. Seems like people put a lot of emphasis on it when if it can be fixed for that much, in the grand scheme of a house price it isn't that much at all? Or is that naive/blissful ignorance?

I think with that garage would get it removed first then, then look at making it less unattractive and getting a decent secure garage door for my bikes

I removed and disposed of an asbestos roof a few years ago, it's really not that bad, you buy the specific PPE and masks from somewhere sensible, take your time and try and minimise any breakages, if it is dry, spray it with water first as that stops a lot of potential dust.

We had quite a lot so we got a specialist skip in to take it away, from memory it was about £1200 for 5 tonnes. Everything had to be double wrapped, but thankfully in a skip this just meant laying out two rolls of thick membrane and making it into a big parcel after it had been loaded.

Getting it off the roof certainly wasn't a fun job, but I have done worse...

Seeing as the crowd-sourced rice cooking advice went so well, please can I see your wall-mounted letter and key holding solutions?

New electric garage door was installed today. Definitely hitting middle clas and middle age when this is going to be the highlight of my month.

Unless the log burner arrives early then there could be some competition

I love my roller electric door, does your have smartphone control? I refused to pay the £400 they asked, then found an aftermarket one on Amazon for £25 which works perfectly.

Looking at buying a place, I would rather be outside of London and own a house but jobs dictates. So we're looking at flats.

I hate the idea of a leasehold as well as the potential of there being big issues with the building that require fixing and having to pay up. Strangely if I needed to spend thousands in a new roof on a house (freehold) it would somehow irk me less as it's 'mine'.

Probably being naive as I don't know anything about leasehold but what are the general things to look out for? is a Victorian house converted into 2 flats an easier lease than a purpose built multistory?

Is a 100 year lease satisfactory?

Muuto fold shelf for me

Is a 100 year lease satisfactory?

If it's got 100 years left before the lease expires, yes. Worth extending sooner rather than later though.

But also waiting until the new leasehold reforms come into play in 2/3 years time before extending... (If it's currently got 100 years)

Maybe. The government has made a lot of promises about leasehold reform but the Law Commission paper makes clear the difficulties posed by Article 1 of the ECHR, the relevance of which is unaffected by Brexit.

I wouldn't touch anything in a block of flats while the EWS1 is a thing.

@sam_w cheers that's helpful. Then did you get a roofer in for a new one?

I lived in a Victorian house converted in to two flats. The freehold was shared between the two flats, or I owned the freehold with the upper flat as leasehold, I can't remember exactly, but effectively all costs involving the outside or shared entrance were shared and this was specified in the deeds. It would be a pain of the upstairs owner didn't want to pay their half, but we always got along ok on that front. As the other owner was a landlord it was often fastest to get stuff sorted and charge them half.

The quality of the conversion left a lot to be desired, but that's another story.

Probably being naive as I don't know anything about leasehold but what are the general things to look out for?

Yes - you need to look at the frequency and quality of maintenance. You need to understand the management set up and do a bit of digging on whatever parties are involved. You need to understand the composition of the block - who the people are and their situation and any trends.

If it is block you go for then you are aiming for somewhere that is well maintained but not gold plated where in-it for-the-long-haul residents have good input in to what is being done but don’t hold the process hostage or manipulate it.

is a Victorian house converted into 2 flats an easier lease than a purpose built multistory?

A two up two down conversion can have an upside in terms of control and if you find a good one with good residents it would probably be ‘better’ than a purpose block. There are risks in that the composition can change completely if the co-owner moves for example and if circumstances change and there is financial trouble or disagreements. Obvs technically the build will be ‘worse’ than most purpose builds but they are more desirable so you are more likely to benefit from any house price rises.

There’s some fairly well documented examples of the ups and downs on here, velocio, dammit, bleakrefs, fox, spotter, myself have all highlighted some of the risks.

100 years at the mo is fine, you should probably aim for share of freehold with 999 year lease but don’t need to die in a ditch for it.

Just to add to Howard's comments, specifically around management of the leasehold, you should make sure your solicitor asks for:

• Accounts of the management company
  
• Whether there is a sinking fund for periodic repairs (and how much is in it)
  
• Date last repairs to common parts and exterior were done, what was done, how much spent
  
  

I would avoid anything involving joint freeholders unless you're going to be one of them as it is a living nightmare.

If you hope to buy the freehold at some point you should check that the building qualifies for collective enfranchisement, probably by asking a surveyor as in my experience solicitors can get this wrong.