Owning your own home

That was kind of the plan before, AirBnB the flat for 2yrs, buy new place, sell flat, reclaim duty, remortgage, but I did the sums and it's too risky, would only bring in about £3k net a year IF interest rates didn't go up and house prices didn't fall. The other downside of that is we'd have a higher LtV on the new place (and lower budget) which I assume would mean we might not get as good a deal (does this still apply over 25%?)

@chrisbmx116 that would be ideal, but as Howard says, I think we'd need a miracle to land a short term rental at the right time. That said, I did see a newly listed airbnb at a very decent price. Maybe if we had nowhere to live the OH might be able to stomach moving in with mum for a bit!

Cheers for clarifying all.

BiL trying to sell his house and has been told the buyer's lender won't approve without full fat survey after 30 min free survey from lender found 'movement' in the back wall.

60s build - 2 up 1 down, he's trying to sell for 300kish. Assuming full fat survey comes back agreeing is there a ballpark of damage? He's 'bricking' it and has no idea - survey didn't allude to costs.

2yrs ... sell flat

Pay cap gains...

Yep, that too, though only 6 months worth isn't it?

Could probably be avoided with a bit of jiggery pokery on when you nominate properties as your private residence, particularly if it was on the market but you were struggling to sell it ...

I think you have to live there for three months a year for it to count. Anyway, working this shite out is why I don't want two houses. 1 small flat has already caused accelerated aging.

You should be able to combine these two to cover both properties. Nominate new property at some point between 6 and 12 months (obvious caveat, I am not an accountant {actually that's not true, I am an accountant but don't have much to do with tax so I could be wrong}).

Periods that always qualify for relief
No matter how many homes you own or where you lived at the time, you always get relief for the last 18 months before you sold your home. It must have been your only or main residence at some point while you owned it.

You’ll also get relief for the first 12 months you owned the home if both the following apply:

it was being built, renovated or you couldn’t sell your old home
you lived in it as your only or main residence at the end of the 12 months
You get relief for these periods even if you nominated a different home as your main home.

a bit of jiggery pokery

You'd need to tread carefully. HMRC can make up their own mind as to which residence is primary, and can charge the tax, plus interest, plus penalty.

It's a minefield to the uninitiated (me). Just registered to pay my tax from when I let the place, which seems way more significant now than when I had the idea to fuck off to Cornwall for a year.

I’m in this exact situation as a buyer.

Bank’s valuation survey picked up movement and requested a survey to clarify the extent of it. We had a full fat survey done which said there was nothing to worry about but the bank won’t accept it, still waiting to find out exactly why.

The vendor had no issue when she bought the place and neither did the owners of the other 3 flats in the same building.

Pretty frustrating really, there’s no consistency at all. If your BiL can find another buyer with a different lender the problem may not be a problem any more.

True, hence keeping it on the market.
Although I'd opt for the not bother and just sell it. Who knows what property prices may do

Pay cap gains...

Assuming house prices remain relatively static, you'd pay little? IIRC the charge is on the value increase during the term/s that you did not live there.

Might be rare but that’s exactly what my pals did, nice place just round the corner from the flat they sold.

He said he'd thought of that - even a cash buyer but didn't want to as he said it felt underhand/unfair to the buyer :/

But, well... y'know...

Was it flagged when he bought the place? With ours, the seller sent me the survey she had done and the same movement was flagged pretty much word for word in her report but her lender didn’t have a problem with it.

So not underhand at all in our case. If it’s new and his house has actually developed structural problems recently I guess that’s slightly different.

How much would it cost to pay a plasterer to plasterboard and skim a smallish double bedroom (10'x10')?

About £250 ish.

Thank you! Any suggestions for someone who will do a nice job in Romford?

You might want to ask a plasterer that, instead of asking a random cyclist.

Yeah thanks for the reminder that only professional cyclists with no other interests or expertise frequent this forum. Truly appreciated.

@ Quincy

Are you quoting to do the job for £250 inc vat and materials ?

I'm Mcr based so no suggestions sorry.

Whenever I've had rooms plastered or skimmed, plasterers have worked off a day rate. At my brothers in Leeds we just had a guy in to quote for a skimming a room last week. Bit bigger than the size you quoted. His rate was £175 a day.

In my experience, a good plasterer will do one 'normal size' room in a day. That's what my 250 was based on. (ish = meaning a lil give or take, and factoring in maybe London tax)

Cheers for the advice :)

Can anyone recommend a South East supply and installer for Nest Thermostat?

You might want to ask a plumbering-reviewer that, instead of asking a random cyclist.