Owning your own home

feel for you mate, it's so stressful trying to manage builders when you can't be there. hope you manage to sort it out and they find the original hinges

@AirTime - Cheers. Will find out when I get home.

Eek. I guess you don't have a demolition plan?

I guess that's a silly question.

Definitely. Afternoon, though? Busy in the morning.

Looks like the planning permission for my conversion/extension is actually about to go through.
It will still be a tiny flat, but cat swinging room will be hugely improved.

@tommmmmmm @rodabod am I right in thinking you've both bought round Leyton?

What's it like? Realistically what am I looking at price wise for a 2 bed with room to convert a loft/add extension?

I'm in Forest Gate, and bought something that sounds similar. The price for one that's habitable seems to be around £320k, though that will probably still have a downstairs bathroom, galley kitchen and stairs between the living room & dining room.

There are some I've seen with upstairs bathrooms or potential for them but they tend to go for a bit more.

Depends what part of Leyton you're in really. I'm not really keen on the area south of the station on the way to Stratford and I mich prefer to be closer to Walthamstow Village. That's my personal preference though. It's good to explore the area for yourself.

Further south is closer to Crossrail, four years away.

Not sure how you do it in Downham but we usually wait until the afternoon to drink in Hither Green anyway... :)

We're on the telly in the lunchtime game so depending on other peoples enjoyment of football, I can make the pub for 12.45 or after the game has finished.

Well - thought we did. They are now under strict instruction not to throw anything away ever until we OK it.

Bit of a wake-up. We're trying to keep as much of the modernist character of the place as possible as it has been largely untouched since it was built in '59 when it was pretty glamorous and all bespoke. Just need to change the builders mindset from re-build to re-furbish.

forum's favourite solicitor on the case.

Can someone PM me them?

Saw two places last night. One is meh.
The other I had on the list but didn't think it was big enough.
Foxtons talked me into seeing it. Oh boy, I'm in love. Getting Nic to see it on Sat.
It's going to end with another rejection isn't it?

Martin Browne @ Gisby Harrison

http://www.gisbyharrison.co.uk/martin-browne.php

I'm in south leytonstone. its a bit rougher than the posh bit, and whilst we could have afforded to buy in the posh bit, I thought (and still do) its less of a risk to buy south of the tracks - that area will be getting regenerated quite a bit in the forthcoming years, its a 12 minute walk to cross rail at maryland and its pretty likely that it will be generally done up and improved.

if you commute by bike then dont underestimate how useful it is to be in the olympic park in a few minutes, my commute is pretty car-less right until I leave victoria park.

I've noticed prices going up slightly this year - for a good 2 bed with a decent size upstairs bathroom its now 400-425k.

that area will be getting regenerated quite a bit in the forthcoming years

http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/wfnews/11861733.__600k_high_street_investment_approved/

@tommmmmmm @roboto @spindrift @princeperch

Thanks all - Yeah the only times I've been to Leyton are for Oceano or to go to see the O's!

I think our budget is likely to be 500-600k but I'm still waiting to hear on that exactly from a mortgage advisor (as we're first time buyers). Ideally I'd go for somewhere cheaper, do it up and put our stamp on it but her indoors isn't a huge fan of dust and rubble! It will also be in around 12-18 months so I'm allowing for upward price fluctuations.

@Eddiemon I have a question you may be able to help with. 2 yrs ago I bought a ground floor flat (leasehold). There is a flat above us and the owner of that is the freeholder for the whole house (thats our flat and theirs).
When we purchased we took out building insurance Which we have had continuously. We had an email from the freeholder saying they have purchased building insurance for the whole building and invoiced us for half the monies. There is nothing in my lease about this and initial phone calls suggest my mortgage co, insurance co and solicitors are happy/ non commital regarding me just having insurance for my flat. My question is does the freeholder have legal power to request I pay for building insurance? I want to tell the freeholder tough thet should have checked with me b4 buying insurance I dont need.
Cheers

Thankyou!

If the FH is going down that route then you are entitled to request a complete dilapidations and ongoing maintenance schedule for the fabric and common infrastructure of their demesne. Once appraised of this then you are also entitled to request that they are demonstrating fair value for any proposed shared maintenance costs (3 quotes etc.). An unexpected email demand is not demonstrating fairness.

worth reading up on LH and FH duties

Has anyone added a partner to their house deeds? Other than gifting them half your house I'm hoping there aren't any hidden fees or duties?

a suggested answer > http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/apr/06/transfer-house-joint-ownership

If anyone's interested in buying a two-bed in Grove Park then get in touch. I just spoke to the freeholder of my building and he's maybe selling some. There are 12 flats and two are sold so far, and he's maybe shedding the rest as tenants move out. It's a nice building for the money and selfishly I'd rather get nice LFGSS folk in than strangers... Around £200k for two beds...

Good local pub, too.

Sounds like a cool place. Do they have a diagram? We've got an architect involved and he's done a very clear diagram so hopefully this won't happen to us.

Speaking of which, we've got planning permission, the OK from the upstairs neighbours, final designs nailed down with our architect so for us the demolition should start early next week. Can't believe it's all finally about to happen!

We have a lovely south facing garden which we've split with the neighbours so that we can bash out the wall and bathroom at the end that currently block all the light, put glass doors and a big skylight in at the end and move the bathroom and toilet to the side so a new kitchen/diner flows down the whole length of the space.

Putting in some floor to ceiling glass with larch cladding (which is being mirrored in the fencing we've already mostly put up) for privacy and a sliding glass door out to the side return, as well as a sunken ofuro (Japanese bath) sticking out into the garden in a glass box to make it a bit more interesting.

Basic thinking is heavily influenced by modernist stuff, especially some buildings we saw in California such as the Schindler House. The aim is to get as much light as possible into the kitchen which will have a polished concrete floor and a lot of white, while the bathroom/toilet will be a lot more Japanese influenced, specifically by Junichiro Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows, so it will be much darker but with dappled light provided by the larch cladding to give a luxurious kind of feel: we're looking at using quite dark decorative micro cement on the walls but offsetting with exposed copper pipes and so on. Plus there'll be the view out of the bath of course, looking out onto our (already fairly well established) bamboo grove :)

Current feeling a combination of excited/totally bricking it!