Owning your own home

Stripped back to galvanised, yes, wasn’t that bad as they’ve been wet half their life!

Fingers crossed you get a result, feels like a seller’s market at the moment though!

Not sure but going to have to stand on the stone bit of it. We shall see

Tbh i do think if you explain what you're doing, tell him you'll take responsibility for cleaning up and will send photos after he will be ok.

Apologies, I had that photo all kinds of wrong.

It doesn't look very safe to place a ladder on the porch roof. Not the easiest shape to put boards on the wall either. I'm not sure how much work you're having done to it though. If it's just replacing one pane then that's maybe more doable.

I'm sure cost is a factor but proper scaffolding would be much safer.

Scaffolders should be able to set up a platform above the porch. It'll need to bear the weight of it but just make sure they put something down to spread the load.

Neighbours out, using porch, stained window out. Pleasure watching these guys work

2 Attachments

"How did you get it out"

Oh hired in a cherry picker to get it out with ease.

Excellent. (that the window is being fixed, not sure about having folks stand on that porch roof)

Out of interest, what did the freeholder / building owner think about access?

are you sure your neighbour is not a member of LFGSS..?

My conveyancing process has now passed the 5 month mark. Someone please put me out of my misery.

Next time will be a proper scaffold up as luckily (unluckily really) having the roof done.

On the freeholder question, not sure. 5 flats all have a good title lease with the management company and are effectively directors of the management company. Management company then has a head lease with the freeholder who doesn't collect and ground rent and nobody knows anything about them or if they're alive. I've been meaning to upgrade my title from good to absolute but haven't got round to it. All the leasehold stuff confused me

I share your pain. flat first sold in November, if we don’t complete in a week or so it’s all for nothing. deal ends and our seller has lost patience as their own purchase is in jeopardy (there was no chain when we started this process) so the plug will likely get pulled by somebody.

Hold up is a insurance certificate from the 90’s for underpinning that our buyers lender wants to see but nobody has one, the irony being it’s irrelevant now as ‘historical work’ and we found a surveyors report from 2014 showing a year of monitoring with .0025mm movement and a recommendation for no further work/no issues.
Buyer goes often awol/incommunicado despite emails and calls from agent/solicitor/other agent nearly every day.
bored of this shit now.

Arg, that sounds horrendous, you have my sympathy. My offer runs out in 4 weeks, same for my buyer. Hold up for me has been a deed of variation which is being demanded by my buyer's mortgage lender, and being disputed by the owner of the rentcharge on my property. The whole rentcharge thing is such a scam.

The whole rentcharge thing is such a scam

I'd never heard of these until just now. Apparently "Rentcharges extinguish automatically on 21st July 2037 or 60 years from the date of which the Rentcharge first became payable, whichever is later." so hopefully not a problem for too much longer!

whichever is later
So about 2050 for mine then. :(

You can pay to get it "redeemed" (taken off) which would have been a good idea had I known about it months ago, but suggesting useful things is apparently not on the list of services my solicitors provide.

Just found some asbestos panels in our house which the (private) surveyor didn’t clock at all (having pointed out other potential asbestos issues) - obviously we’d have had to remove it anyway but now we’re delaying work thats been booked in for months cos we have to get rid of it.

Why do you have to get rid of it? will the other work you're having done disturb it?

Best practice when discovering asbestos containing material is to log its location and leave it in situ. Its safer not to disturb it.

Most is a ‘service cover’ that sits in front of the old pipework that is being changed, some is lagging on this pipework, it needed renovating too but obviously we’d rather get rid. Some floor tiles may have it, and oddly the high-level cistern which we are replacing may contain it too - who knew!

Its doubly frustrating as my partner specifically asked about potential Asbestos (ex LA 60s property) and was mansplained that ‘we should leave it to the experts and there will be no need for an asbestos survey’. And here we are 2 months later…

we should leave it to the experts and there will be no need for an asbestos survey

Who said this? Sounds like the recommendation was that you need an expert but don't get an expert?!

Land behind my house was being professionally surveyed today after being told by neighbours when looking to buy that the owner never wanted to sell. We only moved in a year ago and busted ourselves financially for "the view" can't decide if I'm really fucking angry or just want to cry.

Everyone seems to get there knickers in a right twist over asbestos its wild, what about all the fumes your breathing in from cars on the reg.

Absestos panels, remove them yourself depending what it is. Make sure they are wet so they keep dust down and wear some PPE or get a firm in and they will charge you like fuck.

Some of those things legally need a licensed operator to remove.

Where would you dump the panels?

Sorry. Are there any notices up on planning?

My parents bought a place that backed into a protected greenland. Local council passed planning permission for a multi story carpark. Took them to the high court over it and lost, almost unbelievable.

From my local council recycling centre:

Asbestos
Waste asbestos is accepted at all household waste recycling centres in Kent with the exception of the Sheerness site.

No more than 5 sacks (or equivalent) per month.

The asbestos must be:

double bagged or wrapped in heavy duty plastic sheeting
not sticking out from the packaging
no more than 10 feet (3 metres) x 5 feet (1.5 metres)
kept damp
Wear protective gloves and a face mask and do not break or cut it.

The asbestos container is kept locked for health and safety reasons. Please ask a member of staff on site to unlock the container for you. They will not be able to help you lift the asbestos.

For large quantities, or if you need someone to collect the asbestos, contact the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association for a company near you.

fair enough, that'd work for the sheets