FTB - first thing to do after getting the keys to the property

TheJP

anotheruser said:

dimbo61 said:

The Extra costs will hit you once you move in !

TV licence, Broadband set up fee, Setting up energy account, water bill, Council Tax, buying essential items for your new home, repairs you come across !

Paying rent in your old place till your tenancy is up and maybe Council tax, bills for 2 properties 😭

If you can do so I would go shopping at B and M, Wilko, Home bargain, Toolstation, Screwfix and B and Q and replace Every single bulb with LED bulbs. Save yourself £4-10 per bulb within 12 months.

Wow - who says these costs will be extra in the beginning?

TV Licence - transfer from old property / don't buy (you'll have a few months before they start sending letters)

Broadband set up - Most are remote set ups / free.  If you take your service with you, it will be free 9in my experience).  Those that charge are not worth your business.

Energy account - Wait for the current energcy company to send you a letter.  You won't know who currently supplies energy so nothing to do there and doesn't cost anything (just make sure you save money to pay the bills).

Water Bill - find out who the supplier is.  Call them to close your old account and transfer to new - no cost.

Council tax - call the local council and say you've moved in.  No cost there.

Define "essential" - most will have essential items already if moving from rental.

No need to pay loads of rent - make sure your completion date is close to the 30 day end of tenancy notice period.

LED bulbs don't flatly outrigfht save £4 - £10 per bulb per 12 months...  the price for them varies wildly.

I guess the unknown is weather the OP already pays for this via rented accommodation (although these could have been included in rent) or has been living with parents. So it all could be new to the OP and can be a bit of a shock especially energy costs. 

My first mortgage payments in both houses I've bought have been between £200-300 more in the first month due to initial interest.

Exodi

cannonballdaze said:

Check all is as was stated on the disclosure form. I found the toilet didn't flush properly and other untruths.

To be honest, I wouldn't even bother for anything less than the house having fallen down.

What exactly do you expect to achieve? Will you be instructing your solicitor to pursue litigation against the previous vendors for breach of contract, because the toilet doesn't flush properly?

Plus I really don't know how you think about this. If the toilet was faulty before you exchanged, you should have noticed and your offer should have allowed for this - caveat emptor. If the toilet developed the fault after you exchanged, are you suggesting the vendors subsequently sabotaged the toilets flush mechanism?

Exodi

Oh yes, to the OP - first thing would be to change the locks.

If anything, just for peace of mind. It just feels uncomfortable knowing that someone else has a key to your house otherwise.

dimbo61

Well I have moved 6/7 times and have been hit with some or all of the costs I mentioned.
My brother bought a house in 2008
It needed work doing before he moved in so we collected the keys and inspected the property and locked the front door on Friday.
Over the weekend someone entered the property and removed the Gas boiler.
No break in so No insurance claim.
Could Not prove there was a boiler in the house as No proof
So change the locks for Insurance approved barrels with or without Turnlocks 

Debt

Sprinkle salt into the corners of every room. It might sound naff, but crystals dissipate negative energy and you don't know what has happened in the house previously. 

Murphybear

When we bought our dream bungalow, only a short distance from where we living, when we got the keys we rushed to the property and just walked around it with big grins thinking “this is really ours”.  Then we walked around the big gorgeous garden surrounding it and picked our own raspberries with bigger grins 

Woolsery

Murphybear said:

When we bought our dream bungalow,  we got the keys we rushed to the property and just walked around it with big grins thinking “this is really ours”.  Then we walked around the big gorgeous garden surrounding it and picked our own raspberries with bigger grins 

When we took possession of our scruffy bungalow and its surrounding acres of chaos we thought "This looks like a long job!"

Thirteen years and no money left later, we can confirm it was, but that feeling of "This really is all ours" hasn't gone away.

All for the price of a crappy 1930s semi in the city too. Of course, there were a few snags....

powerspowers

cannonballdaze said:

Check all is as was stated on the disclosure form. I found the toilet didn't flush properly and other untruths.

The first thing I did in our new house was dash to the loo as we’d been sat in the car for ages waiting for the sellers to finish moving. The second thing I did was call the plumber as it was clear we didn’t have a functioning toilet and they’d just left it 🤢 

good luck OP!