Owning your own home

That would certainly be handy. I presume that can't be revoked, now that it's in both sets of deeds?

I believe it can by mutual agreement, perhaps lubricated with cash, but not unilaterally.

Finally getting around to ordering the bits to redo my kitchen. Seems my previous comments and questions on here were 7 months ago!

Anyone who has used IKEA carcasses: how do they interface with skirting boards, and what height feet should I be using? The blurb gives a height of 880mm for the base units, I've assumed this includes the feet as otherwise the finished units will be far higher than the standard (which I've read is circa 910mm).

Are there any special websites I should know about to compare asking price/sold price for different number of bedrooms in different areas etc?

Obviously there are zoopla and Rightmove but there are not enough similar properties in the immediate area, so I’m trying to compare to surrounding areas, taking into account price differences due to popularity etc.

Yea think so - 800 cabinet + 80 leg/plinth (skirting) + 30/40 Worktop = 910-920 which is standard work height. Bear in mind Ikea use a smaller plinth than others (more typically 150) and no “service void” behind so you need to make sure if you have any horizontal service runs they do so underneath (within the 80mm).

House price index is based on https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ukhpi/browse?from=2019-08-01&location=http%3A%2F%2Flandregistry.data.gov.uk%2Fid%2Fregion%2Funited-kingdom&to=2020-08-01&lang=en but doesn't go as granular as manually constructing data from right move and zoopla

Excellent, thank you. The only real service run is water and drainage to the dishwasher, but it's right next to the sink, which is staying in the position in which it is currently. So it should be manageable. (Electric required for dishwasher, cooker, hob and filter hood of course, but that will be underfloor and rise up the wall vertically in a chase - or so I believe is typical).

I may have to trim the backs of the cabinets to miss the skirting boards, though, as they are ~150mm tall.

I used a combination of downloading data from the land registry and then looking up specific sold listings from there on the zoopla's sold prices.

I downloaded all transactions from the postcodes (just the first half) to excel and filtered stuff of interest there

https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd/

Cheers, I was hoping someone might have designed a magic program to do that for me!

Thanks, I found that but I guess number of bedrooms is not a specific criteria for land registry.

Not that I found. To be honest I found it of limited use. The market moves fairly quickly so historic comparisons are not that useful and each property has a large number of factors.

The main thing I decided from it was the place I was buying was overpriced (the original price would have made it the most expensive unextended property on the street) but that was really only backing up what my gut was telling me.

Thanks, I'm just trying to work out what our offer should be on an OIEO property that I feel will go well over asking. It's very popular, only allowed viewings if you had an offer on your place so I expect to be up against quite a few other offers.

If you’ve been looking a while you’ll have a pretty good idea.
Try not to get too wrapped up in the estate agent/ viewing games. Easier said than done of course.

Roof drama continues.

So it's not a minor patch up... there's lead missing, battens broken and missing, a piece of rotten wood on the front, someone tried to make a concrete flashing and it has eroded, the ridge shares the same concrete and has eroded... and about 1/4 of tiles need either replacing or re-securing as they are chipped, loose, broken or missing. A lot of this was hidden on the inside by roof insulation being stapled to the joists and acting as a wicking layer for rain that leaked in so it spreads out and evaporates... that has failed now rain has been very heavy, and enough tiles have naturally shifted over the years (as they were not secured properly) - basically, yet another amateur patch up job on the house.

The patch up job needed now buys us 5 years or so, and is £6k.

All of which is a sunk cost as when it needs redoing the flashing, ridge, etc will all be done again and unless we choose the most expensive tiles when we fully redo the roof (Cornish or Welsh natural slate) then the tiles we buy now will likely be discarded in 5 years as we'll change material to something cost effective and durable then.

A full roof, new manmade slate tiles throughout is £16k.

The lease is clear... this is shared. I can barely afford the £16k, downstairs cannot afford even £1k.

So what now? There are of course personal circumstances, downstairs is owned by a couple who have split up, the woman living there is struggling financially and the partner is living in Brixton somewhere and stretched as he's still paying part of this place as well as wherever he is.

I feel like invoking the freeholder is fast becoming the only way to go here... because the lease is clear that the freeholder has power to force works and send us the bill either way.

But... the £16k full roof is now my preferred option. 5 years isn't long, £6k is too much of a sunk cost, both flats are worth less and harder to sell whilst the roof needs doing.

If I set up a slush fund and immediately put it in debt, I'm going to have to get a solicitor to draw up a legal agreement to compel them to contribute on a schedule, but my fear is that they just won't pay their share and that long term I will be out of pocket and having to go to small claims court to force them to cover their part.

It's all shitty... I now wish the lease was a simple everything above the 1st floor was my responsibility so I could just get on with it. Each day that passes requires me to check the loft, empty buckets, and set alarms every few hours to empty buckets if it is raining.

Did you contact Rocky? £16k is too much

Have you discounted the idea of just buying the freehold and re-apportioning responsibilities in the leases?

As in

Buy freehold
Grant roof to upstairs lease
Loft extension & new roof
Sell
Profit

Yeah, will take time to do the first few steps though.

I suspect the alternative option will take time as well, and will afford less control over the process and outcome.

I wondered if Freeholder’s existing buildings insurance will compel them to put in a temporary repair before sorting out major works.

Dunno though.

Agree on that there’s no quick and proper fix.

Spanish / chinese slate is a lot cheaper.

A rat came up our toilet, we had a plumber install a 'one way trap' that allows stuff to go down but not come up.

Freeholders seem to be able to get away with doing very little for the longest time. I know ours did before we went down the RTM route.

The stuff of nightmares.

Have you discounted the idea of just buying the freehold and re-apportioning responsibilities in the leases?

Unsure we can achieve this quickly, cheaply, or unilaterally if needed.

The roof could definitely be developed as neighbours ones are, so the freeholder would be a fool not to ask for the development value... this conversation would be too slow even if it were cheap - which it won't be.

As downstairs are balking at £6k (£3k they are liable for, there's two of them so only £1.5k each)... I doubt they're going to be up for this... I could do it... but if I buy the freehold, they are still on an existing lease and I'd need them to be involved for me to change both leases.

All of this takes time which I do not have.

So what I have done: Given the downstairs a full portfolio of photos and videos of the state of the roof, given them three options:

1. £6k overhaul to buy us 5 years, a sunk cost but cheap way to buy time
   
2. £16k full roof including the replacing of a joist
   
3. They do nothing, I involve the freeholder - who as per the lease will simply instruct someone to do the job he thinks it needs, and the bill to be sent to us (which is by far the most expensive option)
   
   

Oh, and I can't use insurance and neither can the freeholder... both state wear and tear is not covered and regular maintenance is implied - clearly this roof has not been maintained at all in the last few decades except by the fool who thought he could do it himself a decade ago.

in conclusion, feudalism sucks