Owning your own home

Solid brick walls - no cavity, unfortunately.

Where there’s a will etc

Good for you.

Enough is getting replaced already to want to avoid adding to the waste pile more than is necessary. Anything that can be made good, will be. I'm replacing the one in the first floor bathroom with a towel rad as A) Bainbridge kindly gave it to me and B) it allows me to get rid of the manky towel rail in there.

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Is that the wall of their house?

old school lol at this

No it's the side of mine. Legend Brommers just gave me a schooling in party wall law and it seems like it's probably a party wall under common law, as my deed mentions this, but not in regards to the party wall act. Didn't realise they were two different things.

Currently feeling very frustrated at our conveyancing situation!

Our seller's solicitors continue to be shit and slow. I got them to finally send over our Grant of Probate and responses to further enquiries by emailing the seller's agent suggesting that their client makes a complaint to their solicitors because their service is falling way below reasonable expectations, attached a copy of their complaints procedure and copied in their solicitor.

Low and behold this resulted in this stuff being sent over later that day - clearly not coincidence - but since then we've been waiting for them to send over further responses to enquiries and they've told the agent at least once that they have but our solicitor hasn't received them.

The seller's agent is actually being really helpful - makes sense, she's got more to lose than the solicitors. She was asked by the seller's solicitors to ask us not to do that again (lol) but told us she thought it was a good tactic. She has now suggested that we set a deadline for exchange to focus minds as the next step, and reduce our offer if exchange doesn't happen by that date. She has already told the seller that she doesn't think she'd get the same price again now.

However, due to previous performance from the other side and their solicitors, our solicitor doesn't want to commit to a timeframe beyond urging for replies to be sent to her urgently.

I appreciate her caution and I know it's not her job to advise on tactics, but if she doesn't give us some idea I'm flying blind and I don't want to burden her with an unworkable deadline.

So I'm starting to get annoyed with her now, especially as she's normally very responsive but seems to have gone quiet at my suggestion that we discuss this.

Thoughts?

Find another house, make it a two horse race. Your threats are empty until you have an alternative position.

She has now suggested that we set a deadline for exchange to focus minds as the next step, and reduce our offer if exchange doesn't happen by that date. She has already told the seller that she doesn't think she'd get the same price again now.

Also this collusion is properly weird (if understandable). Good for you though I guess.

This is almost exactly my experience with our purchase. Seller's agent was great and helped chase seller's solicitors.

Just keep ringing/emailing every day or every other day.

In the end calling the seller's agent helped the most.

Find another house, make it a two horse race. Your threats are empty until you have an alternative position.

Hah, yeah. You're right though. This one just came up on 'our' road, it's a no from me!
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/103894550#/

Characterful home

Yup. Wrong end of the road too.

Robbie's like an estate agent whisperer I swear, we actually get on really well with her. She's also buying a place at the moment so they have phone calls bitching about other people's solicitors, lol.

Good to know your experience is similar. I think the fundamental problem is I don't really know how to act on her suggestion (which I think would help) without pissing off our solicitor (which obviously wouldn't help).

Imagine how stressful it is spending time in that house.

Alpecin shampoo! Must be a cyclist.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1­03894550#
They repainted the outside to sell it... it was purple glitter previously, I kid you not.

Not nearly enough stuff hanging from the ceiling

200 or so gravy boats would do it I reckon.

oh yeh!

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5793379,-0.0416373,3a,37.4y,29.39h,92.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZ3hm0pLxpGj9c-hdJ2fK9Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

How much is it worth spending on decent door locks, and how many/what features are adequate considering the front door has glass panels and there’s a huge bay window right next to it?

Planning on replacing the outer door we share with the upstairs flat. Generic sized wooden front door with a decent sized letterbox.

Was expecting to pay £800 for the door itself. Then £500 for two Banham keyed-alike locks (one normal nightlatch and one thumbturn so we can double lock it at night but not be locked in in case of a fire). Plus another £300 worst case for fitting. Bargain of £800 each (plus probably another £100 on mutliple copies of the keys).

Just looking at the pictures makes me feel hemmed in!

I think they've lived there since the 90s so more key demographic :)

our neighbours gaff is up for sells if anyone wants to join our neighbourhood sex cult.

https://www.barnardmarcus.co.uk/houses-for-sale/property-details/SYD101602

Fuckin hell thats gonna need a hell a lot of redecorating to who ever buys that.

Loadsa room for pampas grass in the front. Looks ideal.

30 calls to barnard marcus today apparently.