Owning your own home

What bastards, I thought our vendor was bad for leaving a single wardrobe behind

I'd be dubious over the commitment of your solicitor at this stage, they might feel that their job is done now you have completed.

There’s graffiti all over the bedroom walls and dog shite on the carpet

WTF indeed! Must be something about not doing ^this mentioned in the paperwork, surely you didn't specify that you'd like graffiti and shit everywhere when you bought the place?

Place might have been broken in to.

Or at least, that's what the previous owner might say.

Pick to poo up and mail it back to them at forwarding address.
Just enjoy your new property, clean paint and fix everyting yourself. Not wort the stress of following it up formally.

have the last laugh and smear your OWN poo on the wall.

Change the locks asap. And certainly before you try and take any action against the sellers.

Just a thought; is the house in SE London? If so, I might have spotted the old owner at the weekend.

https://twitter.com/sparkes/status/1061200722186985472?s=21

Good grief...It's in Romford (please refrain from saying I got what I deserved by buying a house in Romford...)

I hadn't considered it. Locksmith now coming first thing tomorrow morning. Thanks ;)

I asked the tiler for a quote for just the bathroom, thinking I'd do the kitchen myself. He's come back and said he'll do both for £900 rather than £1,100 now. I'll probably go with that.

Was meant to be exchanging yesterday. There was last minute scrabbling about getting documents for proof of funds that the solicitor had told us our existing documentation wasn't sufficient but did tell us what would be so when we got replacement documentation Wednesday but on exchange morning were told the replacement documentation wasnt sufficient, cue my other half spending most of the day trying to satisfy an overly nosey solicitor.

Final result was that we think we have now satisfied that requirement (admittedly quite late yesterday) but we dont know if we have because the solicitor has gone MIA and we dont know if the paperwork was good enough or if we exchanged. Completion was meant to be next Thursday. have no idea if thats going to happen now or if thats going to shift.

I definitely feel a bit of a moany complaint is coming on.

We've just exchanged contracts, completion is set for 26th November.

2 months and 1 day end-to-end, from the start of the search to getting keys.

I'm very happy, but that's probably because I have not had the first mortgage debit yet.

Thats crazy quick! Congrats! Think mine was 4 months in total but it felt like an eternity.

I'm into my last week at my current place, so much to do to the next place, I sense the next 12 months are going to be hectic ones.

Just taken my first meter readings since moving in day, do these look high? They seem high to me

20th August
Gas - 5868(20)
Elec - 06375

17th november
Gas - 5915(05)
Elec - 06758

One bed flat, gas boiler and hob, electric oven. Barely cook. Both work full time.

Gas looks ok, maybe electric a little high? Many devices on standby during the day etc?

We got a dehumidifier that we run alot, probably 5-6 hours a day on average. Was hoping it wouldnt cost too much but it seems its a very wet flat and it never reaches target humidity

Congratulations!

We did ours Friday with completion set for 22nd.

Fully moved in now. The house came complete with two satellite dishes and four tv ariels (3 installed inside the loft), yet none of the aerial leads have a signal.

It’s a right mess, can any body recommend a person / company who can come and sort this sort of thing out in Essex?

Dehumidifiers are expensive to run - that and tumble dryers. You can look it up online to see average usage for different appliances.

Congrats, feels good doesn't it!

I like how the time between exchanging and completing seems to be quite short in the UK. The seller we've bought from wanted to keep the house over the winter so we won't complete until March. Fairly common for completion date to be 2-3 months after exchanging here. Irritating as I'd quite like to move asap.

Dehumidifiers are expensive to run

They cost something to run, but you get payback in a place that feels dry and warm.

I found the problem with the place I've bought.

Now I know why the sellers couldn't stand it and are moving on.

The broadband is ADSL only and caps out around 12 Mb/s. No cable, no fibre.

Damn.

The rule of thumb is that an appliance that is rated at *x*W will cost £x if run 24/7 for a year.

(See: https://energy-advise.com/2011/09/23/how-much-does-it-cost-to-use-a-100-watt-bulb-for-1-hour/ )

I just bought a new dehumidifier (the only one was 30+ years old!) and it's rated at 265W. Putting that on for 6 hours a day 6 months of the year = 265/4/2 =~ £33

Oof.

We had that in our new build we bought in 2013. 20mbps capped adsl.

Moved out in November 2015 and they got Hyperoptic 1gbps to the home installed in the following January.

Tears were shed.