House buying, renting & selling

I posted a little while ago about someone selling her flat and continuing to live in it as a paying tenant. Now I hear that she is engaging a solicitor to draft a tenancy agreement that gives her a secure tenancy - owners not able to evict her. I'm pretty sure myself that this isn't possible in the private rental sector am…

hello. I am new here - and hope I can get the correct advice as getting nowhere with the councils involved I own a place in city A together with my spouse I had to move to city B for work - I am renting we are paying council tax in city A and I am paying council tax in city B. Is this correct? Am I underpaying or…

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…

My brother and I have inherited my dad’s estate after his death last year. Probate has been granted and IHT has been paid. The net estate (after IHT and some cash legacies) consists of a house valued at £600,000 and £300,000 in cash and equivalents. The will divides the estate equally between us. There is no mortgage. My…

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…

Anyone ever managed to do this? On moving its all a rush, seller moves out, you show up, they chuck you're stuff off the lorry. No time at all to clean the house when its empty. One idea (but not sure if removal company will go for this) - move out on completion day, removal company store stuff overnight, we get someone in…

Hi, I'm buying a house and need some advice. The seller is buying a new build and has requested: A 7-week gap between exchange and completion. My deposit to be released directly to them ("as agent") to pay for their new build's fixtures. I'm very concerned about the risk. If their new house is delayed and they default on…

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 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 I'm after a quick bit of help please. We've lived in our older house about 8 years and our semi-deteached neighbour is doing up the vacant house next door to be sold. He is now rebuilding his fence around his garden including our fence that divides our gardens(we will be paying him). He has discovered the existing fence…

a relative who is down sizing currently in a small rented house had a offer accepted on a flat couple months ago subject to contract. She had a level 3 survey done ( it’s a period property) bought up wood rot & damp issues & the roof needs maintenance but no sinking fund. She has reduced her offer which they were( prices…

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…

If a tenant moves into a property on 10 September, what is the earliest they can leave, assuming they serve a notice to end the tenancy on their first day?

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?

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…

Hi, the farmer whose field borders my property has kindly agreed to give me a small portion of land (approximately a quarter of an acre) providing I pay all the legal costs involved. I don't think there's any need for LA searches and there are no restrictive covenants or easements. Bearing in mind that our combined legal…

Hi, before I go down the Google rabbit hole, has anyone investigated in insurance to cover being a student housing guarantor. If so, any recommendations of where to go would be warmly received. I'm guarantor for my daughter, but was interested in seeing if there was a way of mitigating any risk to the tenancy. Thanks 

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?…

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…

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…