Owning your own home

The agent always gets their commission

Woah. M8. Let’s have a bit of empathy for estate agents for once. Sometimes they don’t, people stay put or another agent sells it or it sells for loads less second time round.

Shit system stacked with shit-cunts.

Yeah.

We couldn't have been happier with our solicitor, they were pro-active, responsive, and communicated excellently. We went with a small local firm.
But we're out in the sticks in Herefordshire so unlikely to be of use to most of this forum

Our solicitor ghosted us for a month and finally replied to inform us that she'd forgotten she was our solicitor following a traumatic episode with a detached retina

100% this.

We had a good broker recommended by a mate. We went with their solicitor reco assuming that they'd be able to apply pressure to ensure they got their commission.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

Only ever go with a solicitor you know or who a reliable mate has actually said, "yeah they were really good actually".

So stressful having a shit solicitor.

Makes no difference where they are. All they're doing is sending emails, downloading documents, and avoiding phone calls.

That can be done from anywhere.

Definitely share if you rate them.

A mate used a Welsh firm for his London flat purchase.

"So stressful having a shit solicitor.”

100%
we are exchanging right now (believe it when we get the email) but have had all the positive emotions sucked out us and feel a bit flat, hoping that changes around the time my back and knees start to complain about the DIY i’m about to undertake...

That can be done from anywhere

Until you get the call on exchange day that they've misplaced the wet ink signed contract they insisted on (it happened to me). Being able to fixeh over to the solicitors with a new signed contract saved our exchange.

The solicitor I used is in Saffron Walden and smashed through my sale, including dealing with Lambeth shitcouncil in a few months.

It's still frustrating me that forum favourite Mike never got back to us after a really positive initial meeting (and also never replied to our follow-up email).

I have no doubt that his advice is great but I don't know why he won't let us find out for ourselves :(

Got this hole to the outside world in the attic.

Just wondering how to fix, I’m not sure that wall has a facia at all so maybe that’s the issue? It’s a small bathroom extension. Plumber who went up into the attic suggested expanding foam, but that sounds like a bodge.

No rain gets in as the tiles overhang. And it’s not causing any issues but don’t want any birds or wasps coming in (there is already an old wasp nest in the attic).

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When we bought this house our solicitor was actually very good.

Best bit was dealing with the bloke who bought our old house. He kept getting in touch with us about all sorts of dross after he had moved in.... Some stones in the shed, not enough paint on the wall in the hall, £12.50 he wanted for a key to be cut for the garage door.

Our solicitor wrote to him to stop bothering us and fuck off and die, even better the solicitors letter was free :)

Hahahaha sounds like a total clown.

This happened to me, my buyer complained about some spare tiles left in a cupboard and a heap of grass cuttings at the back of the garden. My solicitor took great pleasure in writing him a legal fuck off letter :)

if any company - broker / estate agent / bank - recommends a solicitor to you, be very, very suspicious.

Our was in a list of solicitors to use from Stanfords and could not have gotten any smoother.

TBF we sorta vetted them, and whether they’re accessible or not.

Steel wire mesh?

That's a shame! I wonder what happened? That's so far removed from our experience but obviously sucks.

It doesn't look all that easy to access and it's pretty small so I would go expanding foam. Although I would pack it with wire wool and/or some steel mesh as well just in case to put off any rodents.

If you do this a top tip is to wear at least two pairs of gloves as expanding foam is fucking sticky and you might need to mush the wire into the foam a bit.

Edit if there is some sort of ventilation requirement then just fitted wire mesh pushed to shape and then no more nails + some screws

I know the lfgss perfered solution will be making a CAD drawing of the gap and 3d printing a perfect plug, but idk what additional benefit it would give.

Does anyone have any advice for repairing / re-securing torn roof felt.
I've tried to use flashing tape, but it was useless and fell off.

I've tried to use flashing tape, but it was useless and fell off.

You can add a primer first that might help.

Depends on the application. Where is the troublesome felt?

There is this super sticky resin stuff with fibres in it that is advertised are repairing holes in flat roofs.

I haven't used it for that, but can confirm that it is amazingly sticky and fibrous(sp?) and would be confident in using it to stick the felt down and patching on top.

The only thing is it's so fucking windy right now!

When you buy a roll of fake 'lead' flashing it comes with a tin of sticky stuff. I imagine it might be suitable if you don't mind adhering the felt to whatever is underneath. You could attempt some kind of patch on top if you don't want that.

So we exchanged literally 10 min ago but fuck me were we thrown a curveball late on Friday afternoon that could have scuppered the whole thing which pretty much tipped both of us over the edge and resulted in yet another weekend of stress/anxiety and number crunching.

will spell it out later when I have time but the moral of this story is never assume anything and even when you check everything there is always something.

bravo

Looking forward to reading after you've had a lie down. Chapeau