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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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Reclaiming mortgage early repayment fees
hello, I hope someone can help me, and I hope that this is in the right forum. Recently, whilst moving home I wanted to port my mortgage over to my new house. I was aware that my solicitor had to be on my banks panel, so emailed a solicitor asking if they were on the panel. They replied saying they were, and so I…
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Redrow won’t submit a Section 38 to the council, so they can continue charging maintenance fees
I live on a Redrow development in Cwmbran, south‑east Wales. For the past five years we’ve been paying ever‑rising maintenance fees to a company called FirstPort, who in turn hire Community Property Care to carry out the general maintenance. Overall it’s little more than a shoddy grass‑cutting service, but that’s a story…
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Certificate of structural adequacy
The surveyor of a house we are buying has suggested we hire a structural engineer to provide a Certificate of structural adequacy. The house has been underpinned in the past, but the surveyor did not comment on any signs of current subsidence. Is this normal to get a certificate?
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Change of address when between homes for months or years?
Hi, I have sold my house, and I have a temporary address (friends). However, changing my address has got complicated. DVLA - they say you don't need to if you are temporarily away eg Uni, but not about being between homes. If I change DVLA, then I will need to change vehicle insurance - and vice versa. I am currently…
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Sold Primary Residence after a period of absence - CGT help please
Hi, We bought our home in 2004 but moved house in 2022 (I needed to get a more suitable property due to my disability). Our old house was in need of some repair, so there was a year or so where work was ongoing, followed by another 2 1/2 years where it was on the market and just not selling (due to the downturn in local…
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Should estate agent have done checks?
My FIL is buying a flat that is currently rented out but the seller said that the tenant is moving out soon as his contract ends at the end of May but he wants to move out earlier. I used to be a landlord so I know all the risks associated with this. We have found out through the TA6 forms and the survey report that the…
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Service charge falsely advertised
I had an offer accepted on a flat in November 2025, with an advertised service charge of £1400/year. Today I have received the documentation from my solicitor including details of the service charge, which is shown as £1800/year. This is the first time I have seen this figure and this has not been mentioned to me at any…
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Responsibilities of being a director of a freehold
So still considering buying freehold for our leasehold block of flats, still worth it with new legislation? Regarding directors, we need two. What are the responsibilities of the role?
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Selling part of flat to my mum without conveyancer.
My husband bought a flat for my mum so she could move nearer us before she sold her own flat which was difficult to sell. My mum has been living in the flat near us for a year and now she has sold her flat she is keen to buy 50% from my husband which has been the plan from the start. In hindsight we should have asked the…
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Removing Charge from deeds
I am looking for some help as to removing a Charge from Land Registry records. Several years ago, we loaned our daughter some money and on legal advice, placed a Charge on her property. We would now like to write off the loan and have the Charge removed. Is there a simple way to do this ourselves or would it need a…
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Shared ownership & staircasing assistance!
Good morning all, new here and have read a fair few posts in regard to staircasing stamp duty! I think I may have got my maths correct but not 100% and its driving me round the bend so a little confirmation would be massively helpful! I bought my property at a 50% share for £112475 in 2021 during the covid Stamp duty…
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renting furnished or unfurnished for 6 months or so
Hi looking for a nice flat for around 6 months possibly a slightly longer makes sense to me to go furnished, due to time frame. however, does anyone think i'm limiting the market unnecesarily? i mean could i just buy a roll up mattress on the floor and a cheap chair table/desk which i wouldnt even take with me at the end?…
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Utilities and moving house
I will be moving shortly ,at the moment I have different suppliers for my gas & electricity , but I want a new supplier with dual fuel when I move house . I am totally confused as to what the procedure is to arrange this change of supply whilst having a supplier from day 1 that I move in . A, do I have to keep my current…
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10% Share of Shared Ownership
I’m looking at purchasing a shared ownership flat at a 10% share (fully aware of the pros and cons). Has anyone successfully secured a mortgage on a 10% share with a 10% deposit. This is marketed by the housing association, but in initial conversations with a mortgage broker it sounds like it would be difficult to get a…
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Communal flats/ freeholder question
unsure of which forum to put this in I am The free holder of a house, split into four flats. Two of the flats are on a v long leasehold. we share the communal space and bills etc one of the flats I own is the ground floor, the other the basement. the communal hall lights have gone and I think need fixing, but my basement…
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Plumber charging £225 for blocked toilet
we told our landlord the toilet was blocked so he called a plumber who is charging £225. There was a large lump of toilet roll stuck in the toilet and excrement. We have received another quote of £150 + VAT. Are we liable to pay the whole £225? We didn’t choose the plumber nor did our landlord try to minimise costs by…
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Neighbour's extension - boundary window
I live in Milton Keynes, England. My neighbour has a planning application in for a single-storey extension, which includes a window (red circle) right on the boundary with my property (red line). My concern is twofold: privacy (direct overlooking into our front garden/property) and the risk that a boundary window could…
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Aggressive buyer Exchange issue
Please advise. My first sale fell through 2 months ago, was for the full asking price and no post survey quibbles. Then down the chain collapsed. New buyer immediately offered a big whack under asking. EA pointed out unreasonable in the circumstances and so raised it a bit. This 2nd survey said roof old but not leaking.…
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Buyer's buyer pulled out - what now?
I'm in a 4 length chain where I'm buying a vacant property, selling to someone, and they were selling to a first time buyer couple. It's about 5 weeks since I accepted the offer, and their first time buyers "broke up and can't get the mortgage" (ahem). So my buyers lost their buyers. I'm due to get a call on Friday from my…
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New house unoccupied prior to taking possession
Just wanted to see if anyone had any practical things we may have not thought about regarding taking on a new house that has been vacant for (we think) 6 - 8 months before we move into it. Ex rental, was on the market from just early January with no tenants and we believe the last set left before Christmas time. I know we…
