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Martin Lewis Blog: 'House offer accepted, now they want £20,000 more! What should I do?'
A passer-by stopped Martin in the street recently to ask his opinion on her house buying dilemma. You can check out his view in a video he posted: Martin Lewis: 'House offer accepted, now they want £20,000 more! What should I do?' What would you do? Stand your ground? Walk away? Pay the extra? Negotiate? Tell us your…
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New to the House Buying, Selling & Renting board? Start here
✅ This board is for... * Questions about buying or selling a home * Questions about renting a home * Questions about being a landlord 🚫 This board is not for.. * Debating the state of the economy * Debating house prices in general * Political debates Note: In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place…
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Tenancies in Eng/Wales: Guides for landlords and tenants
post 1 This thread is intended to provide information to both landlords and tenants relating to Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales. Updated April 2020 to include the Coronavirus Act 2020 and July 2020 to include the Electrical Safety Standards Regulations 2020. Topics covered: Post 2: Repairing…
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EICR Certification when selling a buy-to-let property
Good afternoon, I am currently in the process of selling my buy-to-let property after my long-term tenants (since 2017) moved out in April 2025. The buyer's solicitor has sent my solicitor a series of questions one of which is to share an EICR certificate. I had an electrician recently do the various checks and the EICR…
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Burglar Alarm on selling house - Scottish law
Currently selling Dad’s house as executor. House has a burglar alarm but this was disable a few years ago due to my elderly parents getting in a panic when it went off during the night even though not set. We’re not removing it but do I need to get it connected again?
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Undecided where - move to care for parents
Hi I would appreciate some advice on where to move to. Recently my parents (in their late 80s) need a lot of support. They live in a small town near Derby in their own home. I want to move nearer to them within about an hour’s drive and have sold my flat in Herts and looking to buy a house further north, so that I am not…
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Second home council tax reduction
I am having to sell my holiday home as I cannot afford the enormous surcharge the Council have put on second homes. The one advantage of putting it on the market is that the Council tax surcharge is lifted for 12 months. If it does not sell is there any reason I cannot take it off the market after 12 months and then put it…
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potential scam on rent charges
hi all I would like to give some Facts of a potential scam that is going on in my area. I would like you to read it and raise awareness in case similar happen to you. * In 2015, my wife purchased a property in south east England, registered solely in her name. The title includes a restriction known as a "Deed of Rent…
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Leaseholder Section 20
HI, hope someone can advise please. I have a leasehold flat (block of 43, lived here for 5 years) and have just been served a section 20 for "Urgent" works from the management company. OK I understand that I get 30 days consultation but three days later I receive an invoice (based on estimate) for payment within 15 days.…
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Land Registry questions
Hi everyone The Land Registry is here on our Forum to help answer its customers' questions. If you have a question pop it on here and it will do its best to help. Related on MSE: 50+ House Buying Tips Free First Time Buyers' Mortgage Booklet 2018 Remortgage Guide 2018 Ultimate Mortgage Calculator
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Renting out privately or via an agent
Can someone give me the brief pros and cons of renting out a home privately vs using a management agent? A family member is considering renting out their home whilst they live abroad for a year and they think it's a simple task to do it privately and get one of the family to manage it for them. I'm not so sure that's the…
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CGT
Can someone help please we are selling our second house and we will have to pay CGT. We had in 2012 a large decking area with pagoda installed at the cost of as I can remember about £8500, but I do not have a receipt I have tried to contact the builder but he has since gone out of business?.
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2 weeks final rent
I have an unscrupulous landlord. When I checked with him in email where to pay final 2 weeks' rent to double check payee details are still correct, he gave me a totally different detail to what is in contract, and when wanted to set it up in bank the payee name is incorrect. I was advised by bank and result of online…
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never seen this before
A residential property in our area is been offered by an established estate agent with an asking price of £245000 . It also advertises the fact that it has already received an offer of £200000 and anyone wishing to offer more should do so in writing. Anyone ever seen this type of sale before and also if the displayed…
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Is this planning approval in1974
The house we own had an extension (less than 3meters) in 1974. We have the original plans with the stamp from the council on. Is the stamp approval of the plans? (Although today you can build an extension less than 3 meters) Or is the stamp, to say they checked the extension?
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Instant cash sale house
Hi, I'm looking into various things at the moment, and Im wanting to try getting a couple of offers, with no strings attached, to buy my house outright, rather than going down the usual estate agents route etc. I do have genuine reasons for even considering it, and need to get some idea of the difference in valuations etc.…
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Is The Market Really That Bad
We have decided to sell one of our properties in the South East. Were in no rush to sell and all the agents have come in at the same sort of value. We have decided to go £50k below the lowest valuation just to ensure viewings etc Having spoken to some local agents it sounds like its quite tough out there. Is this just the…
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Gifted Deposit Bankruptcy Check outside the UK - Worried!
Hi all. Posting here as I'm deeply concerned (hopefully wrongly so). We are buying our first home in the UK, my french-native mother-in-law gifted us a sum to help with the deposit. Here's the impasse. Lender wants confirmation that the giftor (french) has passed bankruptcy checks (or the french equivalent). Lender says…
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GIFTING MONEY TO HELP WITH DEPOSIT
My daughter and SIL are buying their first house and I am
gifting them £6000 to help with the deposit. Can someone tell me why I have to jump through so many hoops
to gift them this money. I have to provide to their solicitor the following: My last six months payslips The last six months bank statements from the account…
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Websites/Companies Buying Homes for Cash
Hello I'm considering moving house in the next 6-12 months (my current home is a first-time buy so this will be the first time I will be selling and buying a house) so naturally have been doing some research - e.g. market values, average selling times, typical fees etc. A few google results popped up with websites and…
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Approved Inspector not responding
I live in a Victorian conversion. The downstairs neighbour (who also owns one room at my level of the house) is doing extensive building work. A couple of months ago they removed most of the external guttering and pipework. I asked that it be replaced ASAP but they've been fobbing me off. I now have water coming through…
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Survey report points - maintenance jobs?
We arranged a Level 2 survey to be carried out and the report came back very positive; the property is structurally sound and nothing is falling apart or requires urgent, major work. There were a few minor issues and I'm wondering if I would be right in thinking that all the things below are just things we should absorb…
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Share of freehold bought without consent of freeholder?
I live in a shared house with 3 leasehold flats and I and other leaseholder A share the freehold 50/50. The remaining leaseholder B tried to buy the share of freehold twice but was not successful as they changed their mind (and I was not happy to accept their changed request either). I had not been impressed with B's…
