Owning your own home

Heavy stuff on plasterboard walls is a piece of piss now I’ve found Geefix. Night and day compared to expanding or anchor bolts.

Give it a go. It’s harder to install but a million times better.

https://www.geefix.com/

Tried this today... super fun using a 1" auger drillbit. The Geefix was really easy to install and feels rock solid.

However... I'd advise a 6mm exploratory hole first. One of the locations I was drilling was actually a joist. No Geefix needed as it was already good. Kinda patched up by inserting the Geefix circle into the new hole and screwing all three holes into the joist, but would've been cleaner just to have the centre screw considering it was anchored by the joist.

Or a stud finder?

.

Found the invoice; was just under £2k but that was tacked onto a trade order from a bespoke kitchen supplier for a client. So I have no idea if the discount came from quooker or the supplier writing it off because their margin was that much higher on the oodles of stuff they made and supplied.

Become garage king

My dad knows a French guy who back in the 80s or something wanted to invest in property but didn't have enough money to buy anything in Paris. Instead he bought a garage. Then another. Then another. Can't remember how many he has now or what the French for passive income is, but it turned out to be a good move.

That's true.

Also I was randomly daydreaming about a similar situation to your double garage proposition a while back. Providing you think through the design you'll be able to chuck up a stud wall to separate them again easily enough.

Do it.

You should also get a massive domestic battery.

And strangely, a bag of cat litter?,

A futile effort to maintain a litter tray in the fireplace because one of the cats just pisses and shits straight onto the brick.

Garage detail - is one of these basically worthless?

"No 1 has a 99 year lease starting in October 1974 so it has 53 years remaining.
No 2 has a 999 year lease starting approximately 30 years ago in line with the flat leases so has approximately 969 years to run."

Based on a £20k value with zero ground rent, the short one would be about £4k to extend the lease.

Plus solicitor costs

That is stunning.

Reckon a bank would lend against it with that short a lease?

Might be a "computer says no" response, certainly for a mortgage. Might be different if you are just getting a personal loan. I could ask my sister? She works for a mortgage advisor and is training to be one herself.

I’d be obliged.

Could you borrow more on the house and buy the garage with that cash?

It'd be a home owner loan, which I suspect would be against the flat but for the garage if that makes sense? I'm just trying to get the shape of things really.

I'd say that the short-lease garage is worth less, question now is what to offer for them both.

a bank

HSBC?

Does it matter that it’s a garage for a lease like this, ie are your extension rights as leaseholder the same as for a flat?

Pass

It'd be a home owner loan, which I suspect would be against the flat but for the garage if that makes sense

I suppose there is an outside chance that the lender is assuming that the garage will come into their security net as part of the purchase? I always find these rules on loan purpose for top-ups odd because there is no way for them to ensure you don’t spend the £20k for ‘home improvements’ on a holiday...

OK. IANAL (perhaps you are) but I would not automatically assume that a garage lease has renewal rights beyond what you can negotiate with the freeholder.

This article suggests that you are ok extending the lease of a garage if it's done with an associated flat, but not without.

And as our flats are freehold that might be challenging.

They asked me what the last one was going on, and I said "a new kitchen", but zero checking was done.

Sorry if this sounds weird, but any chance I could see a photo of your radiators? Plumber is making reluctant noises saying it will end up looking crap, but I'm not convinced. Slightly crap would probably be a better outcome than rad behind the sofa.