Advice on this house please

elsien

Steppy1234 wrote: »

Not sure what I'm asking to be honest, feel like I need to find her a good house and I don't want to be taking the earache if anything goes wrong.

Any advice would be very appreciated

Although you are helping, it is her house, her money, and her responsibility. She needs to be doing the checking to make sure everything is ok (with your support, but on the understanding it is ultimately her decision) including the relevant surveys. She needs to be clear on that, and if things do go wrong that's down to her and not to you. So step back when you need to and let her make her own (hopefully not too expensive) mistakes. Because if she can't, or wants someone else to blame, she's not ready for the responsibility of home ownership.

elsien

PasturesNew wrote: »

Cooker looks to be plugged into a regular socket.... didn't think you could do that. I thought that a "full sized cooker", in the main, drew far too much energy if you had it all on full blast, than a regular plug could take, so you need to ask somebody who knows about these things... or one might pop up in this thread soon.

Mine (gas cooker) is plugged into a regular socket. It was acceptable at the time it was put in but would be recommended to be changed now. I recall that when I looked at putting an electric cooker in, that was one of the sticking points as it would have needed additional wiring through to the RCD box and a bigger unit. So that's definitely something to bear in mind.

spadoosh

I had lots of plans as a first time buyer. My saving grace for failing with most if not all of those plans is that my decision to buy was placed solely on the question "if everthing goes wrong and nothing goes to plan, will i be happy to die in this house". It was a little bit more complicated in that happy to die meant living to a ripe old age and having a family grow up in it.

Its good because it meant ive got a mint house, its bad because my house is that good i cant find a better second/third house that offers as much value.

A house becomes a home when you love it, a home becomes a prison if you get stuck in it and want to get out. Limiting the likelihood of wanting to get out (ie her being amenable to staying longer than 5 years) would reduce the risk of you getting ear ache.

Steppy1234

It's her decision at the end of the day, but she is out of her depth when it comes to housing and is practically clueless. At one bit she thought if she didn't move into the house she bought straight away, she wouldn't need to pay any bills and save some more money for decorating.

In this day and age do first time buyers ever buy the house they really want or buy a house based on circumstance? I've never lived in a house that I would say I loved, even now, but they have all been good houses of circumstance and I would have happily lived in everyone of them until I rolled off the earth.

I'll have a good look at the cooker tonight, it's been rented, I know they need gas safety for rental, do they also have to have a certificate for the wiring? Would it pick the cooker plug up as a problem?

quantumlobster

With electric cookers, generally speaking the hob needs special wiring, but the oven is fine to run off a regular 13A socket.

elsien

Steppy1234 wrote: »

In this day and age do first time buyers ever buy the house they really want or buy a house based on circumstance? I've never lived in a house that I would say I loved, even now, but they have all been good houses of circumstance and I would have happily lived in everyone of them until I rolled off the earth.

Not sure first time buyers (unless loaded/bank of mum and dad) ever buy the house they really want. I didn't 15 years ago because I couldn't afford it, and I still can't afford it now. I'd have to win the lottery first.
But although the area is run down and definitely not desirable or up-and-coming, I've been safe and happy here. I'd love a proper garden but my little patch of lawn and flower beds at least get me outside.
You look at what you can afford then decide your personal priorities within that. Mine was space over location, other people choose the other way round.

need_an_answer

The kitchen is the weak point of the property.

I cant see any extraction and its been fitted with basic units although good to see there is a gas cooker you just need to find one to fill the gap!

if it were me that's the room I would concentrate on first if you purchased it,its been done to a basic rental standard but could be so much nicer

I would also be checking the floorings how it feels on the laminate and just what the issue may be with the floorboards in the bedroom,although easily fixed.

It looks like a good dooer upper in my mind.How much you spend is totally dependant on your daughter but it looks a good solid house.

no pictures of the garden?
is it typically rental needing a good chop back or did they just forget those pictures.

The fact that it has been rental should go someway in your favour,tenants usually report the major problems but they do sometime ignore mionor things so go round and check water pressure by turning taps on if you are able to.

Davesnave

It looks like a gas cooker to me with the plug-in bit just used to run the timer and maybe the ignition too.


Mind you there's a nicely non compliant extension socket just off the draining board and a dearth of sockets elsewhere in the house, so it's likely a rewire would be on the cards. Allow maybe £3k and do it before decoration.



Looks a bit of a bargain to my southern eyes. My first house, bought for £9.25k, recently sold for £340k.

Smodlet

I'm pretty sure that is a gas cooker so, while hardly ideal having a wire over naked flames when in use, it is not the issue it would be had they provided an electric cooker which does indeed need its own 30 amp circuit, not 13 amp as in normal power sockets.

You/your daughter need to find out what is causing the damp and how much it would cost to address the issue. It could be a loose tile on the roof, it could be a failed damp course. One is easily and cheaply fixed (drying out time and replastering/decoration aside) the other possibly more expensive and inconvenient.

At the risk of being controversial, may I say how incredibly lucky your daughter is to have a parent like you, OP? Perhaps a little too lucky if she is over 18 and still thinks she can blame you for her mistakes? Time she grew up, imho. What is she going to do every time a lightbulb needs changing, let alone a drain is blocked?

She needs to learn to stand on her own feet if she is going to become a home owner. Do you really want calls at 4 a.m. asking how to top up the combi boiler? Cut the cord, already; you will be doing her a favour, imho.

Steppy1234

Not controversial at all lol. She has rented for the last 3 years so not completely useless when it comes to the actual living in the house, just buying it that she is in the dark over. I'm her step mum, but she is like my own. Her mum is as much use as a chocolate frying pan so she looks to me for worldly advise and I try my best to help where I can.