Owning your own home

So when we do downstairs I am wondering the same thing - aesthetically we'd prefer smaller ones but if gas central heating is ultimately going to be done away with I don't want to have to rip up all our nice original restored floorboards to put in bigger rads...

FWIW the floor might have to come up anyway to fit larger diameter piping if you were to install a heat pump (which you probably won't, or at least, not on its own - on the assumption that your gaff is too inefficient at retaining heat to make one viable).

And then at that point you might be 'fuck it, it's time for underfloor heating and no radiators at all'.

We are going to move and replace an old radiator in our bedroom. Does anyone have any recommendations for a slim (projection from wall) and ideally flat fronted radiator? Online calculator says it should be 2000ish btu but we (I) don't like a hot bedroom so I'm willing to balance output and size.

I went for one of these in the kitchen: https://www.mhsradiators.co.uk/product-item/decoral-97/

Relatively small, high quality, low water content (the radiator is effective and it takes a lower volume of water to get it to temperature, meaning it's faster as well as cheaper to operate), and the builders found it a joy to fit (they called out that everything about it was a pleasure compared to the really cheap ones people tend to buy).

But for me it was just the clean looks, and that it wouldn't be on the floor as they chased the piping into the wall and behind the skirting board which makes sweeping and mopping effortless.

Does anyone have the expertise or know someone who could decipher this section 5a Right Of First Refusal letter from the lawyers of the freeholder?

Re thin-ish flat panel radiators, I'm going to take a punt on this and will report back.

To the people who've used London Door Company; ballpark what are we talking about including locks?

Cheers

Also wasn't there a hoover / vacuum cleaner thread somewhere?

I'm after some sort of compact portable thing to help quickly hoover mess my kids have made. It needs to be able to handle hair as my OH malts like a lab.

https://sharkclean.co.uk/product/shark-wandvac-system-2-in-1-cordless-vacuum-cleaner-with-anti-hair-wrap-single-battery-wv361uk-zidWV361UK

I bought one of these. https://www.screwfix.com/p/milwaukee-m12-hv-0-12v-li-ion-redlithium-cordless-stick-vacuum-cleaner-bare/480HP?tc=GB9&ds_kid=92700055256569560&ds_rl=1244066&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-4SLBhCVARIsACrhWLXmUJBYj3nZcIVkZN1JHWjV_yMVEe5ZUMj0ft3rXg9ZMiA38ZcmBCoaAuelEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

If that 240k is per flat it’s insanely high, if it’s across all flats in the block it’s a bargain. The value of the freehold is usually based on the net present value of the future cash flows from the ground rents across the block. If you look at your lease you can get an idea of what that might be for your flat at least, then multiply by the number of flats. You need to take into account any ratchets towards the end of the lease term.

Correct on both counts. Lease extension will cost money in addition to lawyer fees, based on a mutually agreed valuation. A good guide to the process here. We are going through this process at the moment.

How do you find it? The reviews aren't exactly glowing.

It suits my needs. I have a few other M12 bits so being able to swap batteries is handy. I use it for hair, dusty corners, and debris from minor DIY. We also have a Dyson cordless though, similar to that Shark.

Our house has a fairly small kitchen but the added bonus of a utility room,

the utility room has been untouched since the house was built in the 60s other than having a washer drier shoved in, that drains via a hose ziptied to the sink.

we want to get everything pulled out, the sink moved, tiled, the washer drier plumbed in properly, decorated, some ikea cabinets fitted and a worktop above the washer drier.

.. also we’d ideally do nothing ourselves, who do i call?

You're under estimating how big radiators will be required for heat pumps, manufacturers of boilers are putting too much money into hydrogen that'll be for sure next rather than heat pumps in old houses. The cost is going to be too prohibitive for most consumers for heat pumps and everything that goes along with it.

You will need to get lawyered up. I suggest putting letters through the letterboxes of the other leaseholders and getting a group set up so you can act together, and instruct a lawyer together. It might be that there is someone with legal experience in the block who will take a lead anyway.

Yeah I assumed the cost was per flat but actually I think it's for the whole freehold. Its a strange amount because there's 55 flats, 20 are owned by Hyde for affordable housing, that leaves 35 flats so why are they asking for 24 x total ground rent.

We have a residents WhatsApp group with almost all the flats in, the directors of the residents association has started talking to a lawyer I think. I'm not too bothered about the long term outcome because we plan on selling this place early next year anyway, we just don't want this to jeopardise that sale.

We have a residents WhatsApp group

out yourself as a cyclist

The affordable flats might still pay ground rent to the freeholder. My guess is from the freeholder's POV they would be on similar leases to the normal flats. Could be wrong.

One of the things to make sure happens is getting hold of copies of everyone's leases ASAP rather than guessing that everyone is on the same (or different) terms.

It’s not something I have come across before. It could be a result of the forthcoming leasehold reform act.

Edited to add: The Law Society has published a report on freehold valuation that explores the idea of ‘a simple multiplier’ of ground rent as a basis.

Having share of freehold generally makes flats more attractive.

That should be doable by a decent builder/kitchen fitter + maybe a decorator.

IG or my builder would be my first stops. I’ve know a good decorator but don’t know anyone down that way to do the work

Actually there’s a thread on here for recommended trades

Chap who owns the garages I’m interested has just sent over the documents, I now need to learn a lot more than I currently do about now buying property works form a legal perspective. Quite fast.

You should employ a solicitor if you haven’t already.

Well this is fun, just got a letter from the freeholder saying they've started a section 5a proposal to sell on the freehold. They've priced the freehold at ~60% the value of the flat meaning 1) it's too expensive to buy and 2) even if it we did buy it the flat may never rise in value enough to match the total cost before the heat death of the universe. So now we've got to worry about a service charge that's gone up 50% in 2 years for no apparent reason, a main boiler that we've been paying for maintenance on but turns out has been defective for 3 years, a whole new heating system being put in the building with roughly 4 more months left of work, and now an unknown buyer may tripple the ground rent and tank the value of the flat just as we want to sell it.

Get some legal advice on this whether the price is reasonable. I hesitate to offer my understanding as leasehold is a furiously complex business and a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. However I understood that the Right To First Refusal (where the freeholder has to offer you the right to buy the freehold before offering it on the open market) has a bit of technical gubbins in there to stop Freeholders from offering you the freehold at a vast markup, then offering it on the free market at much less. If they've over-priced it, that may help you out.