Owning your own home

That's pretty odd looking but at least it's better than the stupid casement windows that open along the bottom. What's the rationale for those? We have them and they do an excellent job of funnelling road noise into the bedroom whilst failing to catch any sort of breeze.

You should have had a party wall agreement - you know that now though right.

Did your neighbour notify you under the act?

There's no penalty for not getting a party wall agreement so in theory it's straight to an injunction if they didn't consult you.

However, your neighbour has a duty of care under common law to put right the damage.

Courts take a pretty dim view of people who go ahead with work without serving notice then damage a neighbouring property. There's a precedent case (Roadrunner Properties Limited v John Dean) where the judge was determined that the building owner who did the work wouldn't benefit from not serving notice, so decided that the burden should be on the them to disprove a link between the damage and the work instead of the other way round (which would be the normal position at common law).

All that said - talk to your neighbour, explain what's happened, ask them to pay for it being inspected and made good. Neighbourly relations are important. But if they refuse to play ball that stuff is good to know.

most buyers won't like those aluminium ones

This is true. Sash would be better for resale unless you do it very very well.

I have no idea, but so many windows (nearly all windows) are horrible...

We were never served notice.

I spoke with the council planning dpt and tried to get hold of the owner but property is rented and currently up for sale.

Also spoke with solicitor at the time - seeing as I couldn't get hold of the owner there wasn't much to be done. The party wall act really isn't that straightforward and I struggled to quite figure out what our possibilities were. I don't plan to be here that long (another 2 yrs max) but I guess just a bit concerned that there could be some issues.

I'll try and get hold of the owner again. Personally I'm inclined to take photos, skim and paint it

Grey aluminium windows are officially now dated. I know this to be true because Barratt are putting them in and by the time Barratt cotton on you can be sure a fad has passed.

In 5 years time the middle classes everywhere will be laughing at how 2010 they look and ripping them out. See also: Beech laminate flooring, multi-coloured kitchen tiles, high gloss kitchen cupboards etc.

You forgot exposed OSB!

Am I too late to post a picture of my wood burning stove and join in #HowHotIsYourFlue?

My flue is so hot right now.

Hot flues in your area, online and ready to chat.

Man-Flue

Bunch of fluesies

There's a major building refurb going on the house behind mine. Lesson learned is ALWAYS get an agreement in writing, don't agree anything verbally.

Just moving into new flat and need to sort out internet. The options available are vast and I've no idea where to start.

I can get referred by a friend who has Sky and get a discount. Then there are Black Friday deals. The infrastructure in the building is BT so whoever I go with has to have an account with BT apparently. Had thought I could just get internet and then rely on my Chrome Cast and freeview etc but wondering about the Sky deal now.

Any recommendations on internet/internet and tv deals? Does anyone have Sky and is it worth it?

I can recommend Sky broadband (non-fibre) as being pretty decent as far as providers go. I had it in my old flat and used to get about 15mbps through a bog-standard BT line which I always found plenty fast enough for streaming/gaming, but I was close to the exchange so your experience might vary. I used to watch Sky/Netflix/Iplayer through the PS4 and other services via a Chromecast on a 43" tv without any speed issues whatsoever.

The Black Friday deal is good. £15pm with unlimited downloads for 12 months (which is the minimum term of the contract) including line rental. If you don't have any obvious need for something super-fast that sounds decent to me. If the BT line in your flat is active they'll usually be able to get you hooked up within a few working days in my experience.

OK, thanks, sounds like Sky may be the way to go.

My seller just pulled out a few weeks before exchange of contracts. For fuck's sake

Whatever you do, sign up for a short contract and be prepared to switch every 12 months and keep getting cheap 'new customer' deals rather than ripoff renewals.

Shit, sorry @BleakRefs

That sucks balls. Sorry to hear it.

Shitstains sorry to hear that.

Major downside with Sky is having to use their router.

Ohhhhhh, I'm about to put an offer in on a four bedroom terraced house in Catford. Garden and multiple sheds! Now this question probably comes up every week but can someone recommend me a friendly diligent solicitor?!? Much excite!

Caroline Sherry at Glazer Delmar in East Dulwich. Say Matt Ashton recommended you.

She's brilliant.

Cheers, I'll hit her up!