Owning your own home

In process of buying a house with Bi-Fold - 3 panels. One of the panels has a cat flap. We do not have a cat and would want to get rid of it for aesthetic/ energy efficiency purposes. Anyone know how easy it is to replace one pane of the bi-folds (double glazed) and a rough guess at costs? In London and the doors are aluminium. Thanks all.

It might be cheaper to get a cat.

But then you'd have the moral anguish of whether it's better to keep an animal locked indoors or destroy your local wildlife.

Although you do then get to set up an Instagram for your cat.

It's may not be worth it. We had a sliding door latch mechanism fail this year and we could not open the door at all. The cost to carefully remove the pane, fix the mechanism and replace the frame on a 10 year old sliding glass door was 80% the cost of replacing the entire door. So we have a new door.

Pop round and smash the panel before you exchange, then ask for a viewing to measure up for curtains etc and go oooh look at that, you’ll need to replace that double glazing unit but no need for a cat flap when you do mr seller.

Or: plenty of online calculators (eg https://www.glasstops.co.uk/order-online/sealed-unit-rectangle.php)

It's never cheaper to get a cat.
The evil little tears.

Underappreciated

And that is how I passed that test....

Ahead of approaching my lender, is there a reliable way to anticipate roughly how much they would lend me on a remortgage while keeping the repayment amount the same (i.e. how the remaining term is affected)?

I currently have 17 years left and am on a capital + interest with 30% LTV (although I see that the current valuation is very low so think I'd benefit from a new valuation in order to keep in lower LTV bracket(s) with any remortgage).

As a starting point, assuming 30 years is the maximum term, would I be able to try and figure out the maximum amount I might be able to borrow before the repayment amount starts to increase? Or does a real person deliberate such things?

Essentially I'm planning to do loft extension, garden studio, new bathroom and other small jobs next spring. I do not know yet how much this is going to cost, but am in the process of getting quotes and would like to try and have an idea of the theoretical maximum funds I'll have available.

Just plug numbers into an online calculator and see what comes out. Won't be 100% accurate but should give you a feel.

Cheers. I've tried with this one and am getting a rough sense. Hadn't considered the bearing of interest rate, so will need to see what sort of low fixed rate offers are available.

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/mortgages/our-mortgages/mortgage-calculators/mortgage-payments

Edit: Seems as though my current lender's terms are up to 35 years, so I can use the calculator to figure out my rate tolerance.

Might be better off just absorbing the repayment penalty and getting a brand new mortgage at the best available terms that also includes the additional borrowing I want. Is that a thing? As in, can I negotiate a cash amount to be provided on taking out the mortgage?

What is your current tie-in period for the repayment penalty? Try a comparision tool as well as a calculator.

Might be better off just absorbing the repayment penalty and getting a brand new mortgage at the best available terms that also includes the additional borrowing I want. Is that a thing? As in, can I negotiate a cash amount to be provided on taking out the mortgage?

It is. Generally the mortgage company doesn't care that much about the previous mortgage so long as you have the property value to cover it.

I remortgaged a few years back and added extra cash for a loft conversion. So long as I had suitable LTV it was fine.

Might be better off just absorbing the repayment penalty and getting a brand new mortgage at the best available terms that also includes the additional borrowing I want. Is that a thing? As in, can I negotiate a cash amount to be provided on taking out the mortgage?

You can also often increase your mortgage (/take out a 2nd one with the same provider) too rather than ending yours early.

Other half did this yesterday as she's doing a kitchen extension and is only about 3 years into her initial 5yr fixed.
So she'll end up with, say, a 22yr 400k mortgage with 2yrs on the fixed term left
And a second, 25yr 50k mortgage with 5yr fixed

So two payments with slightly different interest rates, both from same provider.
At some point in the future she may consolidate them if it makes sense to.

Edit: Seems as though my current lender's terms are up to 35 years, so I can use the calculator to figure out my rate tolerance.

How old are you? This will determine how long they will give you.

Mortgage application sent a month today and not a sausage from the lender. Formal complaint being raised as this far exceeds the given time frame. Here we go...

Not even an agreement in principle?

Just checked. First chat with our advisor on 19th Sept. DIP on 24th, valuation survey on 2nd October, full offer on 6th.

Trying to find out what their normal fees are (my sister works in the firm doing admin so they waived fees for me).

Normal fees are £395 (195 on application and 200 on offer), but they are an NI firm and see London type mortgages as more profitable (they obviously get more commission from the lender) so could potentially be more likely to waive fees, depending on the size of the mortgage.

If anyone is interested, they have been stellar so far.

Yeah we have that, and by all accounts it should be an easy yes from them but an underwriter hasn't actually looked at it yet.

Also the lender's reason for being so busy was "Because we have the best rates"

fry.jpg

I would suggest ringing them and speaking to them and ask them to talk you through the process again.

Put it this way I heard from my mortgage advisor today that I have yet to pay a £75 'arrangement' fee to the lender, no communication at all until today when I asked what the hold up was.

Thanks for the heads up. I've already paid my arrangement fee with the lender which my mortgage advisor was very good at letting me know up front. Although I wish it was as cheap as yours :)

I have a roofer coming tomorrow... might only be a couple of grand to fix the various leaks... let's see.

Obvs involves scaffolding and multiple people... expecting a nice jump in the estimate.

Reply

Oh this was only part of it, goodness knows why they didn't just take the whole lot.