Owning your own home

You’d have to have a burning desire to live in a freezing cold shed

accurate

Carpets (stair carpets).

The only stair runner I like is from an etsy seller. Will I be able to find a carpet fitter to fit it? (I mean, do fitters typically fit carpets they aren't supplying?)

.

Yes, when my mum moved flats she took her carpet with her and had it put in her new place. Think she found someone on checkatrade.

That’s live laugh lovely. Imagine the giggly Prosecco parties you could hold there.

fuckin hell a half a million for that. Jesus wept.

the "cheap" part of guildford too

I still feel uneasy/anxious/ paranoid about the fact I don't have closure on what happened with my builder (shit cowboy, awful job, incomplete, delayed). Many of you will know about it from posts on this thread and the how do I kitchen/bathroom etc thread.

Paid 90% of the bill. Said not paying last 10% and I'd like 15% back to cover fixing it with someone competent coming in. He came back 2 months later with an email that was written by his wife with no subject. It says you owe the last 10% and made up another amount of extra costs (35-40% of job) which he didn't ask for when sending me the original final invoice.

He's also admitted to not paying his subcontractors and sent me their details and invoices. I also don't have the EICR as electrician not been paid. Part of me wants to write to his plumber and say he has enough to pay you, here is why I am not paying him the last 10%.

I am probably not going to pursue the 15% I'd like back via small claims as I didn't in writing give him a chance to rectify which a court would look for. I might though and I spoke to a property solicitor off the record about it for best part of an hour. But, and this is what my first point was about, I am now anxious he might come after me (legally - unlikely) or me/ my flat physically (again extremely unlikely as that's a crime - but he knows where I live (I also know where he lives)). I am a bit of an anxious person at the best of times. Don't the thought looming over me that there is a 0.0001% chance I might get a brick through the window..

I think it’s incredibly unlikely that the builder will lob a brick through your window or whatever. By asking for the full amount etc they’re covering their back and just trying to pressure you more. Not acting that way is in some way accepting culpability

Honestly I think the best thing for your mental health and general wellbeing is to just draw a line under this whole sorry affair and try to move on.

What @Tenderloin writes - For the sake of your mental well-being, taking tht 15% on the chin could well be the best bet.

I was fucked over by a trade relatively recently, and after chasing around trying to recover some money, I drew a line under it and felt better about it almost immediately.

The likelihood of actually seeing any money back in your pocket is low in any case - winning court cases is (relatively) easy - getting money from someone that is behind limited companies can be fraught.

I wouldn't worry too much about any correspondence from the builder, unless it specifically mentions a court case number, or is from the courts. In which situation, a letter denying any further claim, and possibly a counter-suit (as, fuck it, you'd be gong to court anyway).

The builder does not have an automatic right to rectify any works.

I can almost certainly reassure you the builder has written off what you owe him and won't pursue it in any meaningful way but at the same time you won't get anything back off him either.

cheers appreciate it and all the past support and advice. Good to vent

Edit: oops one for the DIY thread

Another warning sign re the seller who couldn't tell their arse from their elbow; they don't have a ladder to go up to the loft and they have not been up. No worries, we are bringing ours, I will make sure the surveyor knows that. I will bring them a ladder if I must.

The seller's line on the loft sounds somewhat odd to me - never been in loft when owned house? I would get the roof checked, preferably by a builder/roofer. Re surveys and box ticking when I last employed a surveyor I stressed that I wanted the roof checked before engaging him. He agreed. But then did box ticking referred to by a wise poster upthread - said there was an access issue to corners - not true - and that couldn't see properly/reserved judgement. Bloody useless. Roof turned out to have two leaks and signs of these two areas being deliberately obscured were very clear to anyone with a bit of nous/due diligence. I would get up in the loft with anyone doing the survey and take a powerful torch. Many bike lights suitable of course. Good luck.
My opinion of surveyors is very low after my experience and that of a neighbour - he found multiple roof leaks on moving in - none had been spotted by his surveyor.

The seller's line on the loft sounds somewhat odd to me - never been in loft when owned house

If it's not boarded then there isn't much point in going up. Particularly if there's no loft ladder it can be pretty awkward to climb in and out.

Keep seeing them on the local FB groups with locals recommending them. Not used them myself but seems they have grown and maybe learned quite a bit even in the last year or so. I had made a mental note to use them if the need came up.

If it's not boarded then there isn't much point in going up. Particularly if there's no loft ladder it can be pretty awkward to climb in and out.

maybe but I'd still make sure I checked it out in the way I said.
and is the seller saying they didn't check it out when buying?

it's not unknown for sellers to play the innocent/ignorant.
I well remember asking some sweet old lady whether the nearby sewage farm was an issue.
she'd lived there for decades but still said "what sewage farm?".

(A pal of mine who had lived nearby alerted me)

Turn it off at the stop cock and see who complains 🤣

This whole article was a bizarre illustration of how the other half live.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/21/upsize-downsize-why-the-covid-property-race-for-space-went-sour-for-homebuyers

It's weird that the housing market created a generation of people that end up in a £1.4 mm house but worry about the repayments on a £290k mortgage.

Dream home, yet really cant afford it and stress about it.

A friend has just bought a house, previously owned by one family for over 80 years, that no one could remember being in the loft of, with no hatch or other means to access.

He had to cut a hole in the lath & plaster to DIY insulation up there.

You probably could walk in to it via nextdoor's loft though

Cry them a river. Really household finances should be a GCSE.

That article is peak Guardian.

If you go to Streetview, it look way better before they painted it.

(also side entrance that not obvious in picture)