House buying, renting & selling

✅ 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…

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…

Looked at a flat for sale and took some photos. The comparison between the estate agents website photos and mine was striking. Small print says some photos may be "staged" to show what the rooms might look like with furniture and different lighting conditions, but this was something quite different. The corner of the…

Hi All I live in a block retirement flats that has recently been taken over by Churchill Living. We have a legacy lease which I believe differs significantly from a standard Churchill living lease. Is anyone out there able to supply me with a standard Churchill lease please?

Bit vague on details but https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv8e33gdw17no

I have a shared slab open plan garden and they want to monoblock there half. What happens if i sell house? Google says i need written confirmation or bank block it if a buyer came along. A house did same that sold they had turned the slab no idea if they had any issues. Or if any of my side is damaged id worry about…

We put our house on the market in March after deciding it was time to move on and hopefully find the ‘forever’ family home. Fast forward to September and we hadn’t found the house and we were due to complete on ours. We made the decision to rent hoping it would be short term but the adjustment from living in a detached…

I viewed a flat on Friday that had been posted on Wednesday. Fixer upper, requires a proper survey to establish whether it's a Good Project or a money pit, but felt like the former. I'm expecting confirmation of funding next week, so told the estate agent I'd be in touch about the survey. Everything seemed okay and I…

We’re selling our four-bedroom townhouse in Bicester and have reached the point where we’d really value some completely impartial opinions. We originally listed at £425k, have since changed estate agents, reduced the price to £400k, changed the lead photo and updated the kitchen cupboards to give them a more neutral look.…

I have a detached Cotswold cottage, can't get it to an E EPC rating without spendings £20k+ I've done the minor alterations like, energy efficient lamps, TRV's, draught proofing, topped up loft insulation and the only other recommendation under £5k is to fit a Heat recovery system for mixer showers. This would cost about…

Hi All Looking for some advice as I am 2 years into this battle and becoming exhausted and running out of ideas I have lived in my home for 37 years and I put in the right to buy to my housing association 2 years ago. They sent an estate agent out to value my home and he went back to the housing association and told them…

Good morning. I have 81 years left until end of Jan 2027 and needs to extend my lease. I am thinking about informal route as I don't have much time left. Landlord is quoting for £420 to have a valuation but ones I have googled came back with £750 plus vat and upwards. My question is do I need two separate valuations?…

A friend is close to completing the sale of their property and the draft statement of account has been sent. The total charge is nearly £2,000 for a firm based in Wales that does almost everything online. This is in sharp contrast to the initial quote. Can I query the additional charges - is it reasonable to pay for…

The other one has disappeared and any posts I have made are not listed in either my posts or thanks. This thread is for things like: . Spotting pets in properties . Anything awful - decor, extensions etc . Quirky properties . Timewarp properties . Properties in serious repair and anything which is different and of interest…

I'm looking for advice on the best route forward. I live in a terraced property which sits lower than the neighbouring garden, so water naturally drains towards my boundary. My tenant neighbour has raised the external ground level directly against my cavity-wall extension, leaving only around 10 mm of my external DPC…

Hi everyone, I’m looking for some advice regarding a self-contained annex on our property and a sudden Council Tax complication. The Background: We bought our home 2 years ago. It has a self-contained annex at the end of the garden (own kitchen, bathroom, and its own separate address suffix), accessed via the shared…

Hi everyone, I have recently had an offer accepted on a two bed ground floor maisonette and started the purchase process and my solicitor has received the draft contract and ordered searches. we had another viewing today and something we never paid any attention before is that window of one of the bedrooms opens into…

Our family's experience of administering an estate that included a retirement property was far more difficult, costly and stressful than we could ever have anticipated. Before accepting either the inheritance of a retirement property or the role of executor, I strongly recommend obtaining independent legal advice and fully…

Hi everyone, I finally found a 2 bed house I love in Essex and intend on purchasing it. In the near future, I plan on converting the conservatory to a bedroom due to family requirements. I have done a Level 3 survey with RICS to assess the condition of the property and they have made several recommendations for urgent…

My friend is thinking of renting his flat to a neighbour's brother. His brother is in the UK on a refugee visa. He is an Iraq national and his home office travel document states that he has the right to stay in the UK until 12.08.2026 My friend is happy to rent to him and if he has to leave in August, he will put his flat…

There are a couple of issues raised in our recent level 3 survey. The first of which is that the property has been found to have cavity wall insulation, which no one has mentioned. I’ve only ever heard bad things about this. The second is “The damp-proof course to the front of the property is of bitumen type and is…

I am sending out my first Section 13 rent increase to my tenants (with whom I have a great relationship). The tenancy started on 18th September 2021, however they wanted to pay their rent on 1st of the month, so when they moved in they paid 13 days which took them up to and inc. 30th September 2021 and then they paid…