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Bluefoxtim

Houses

By Bluefoxtim, in General Chat

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grth2004

grth2004

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, urban fox said:

Purchased a flat in London last December. Solicitors kept telling me that there was no cert for the windows, or part P cert for the electrical mods. I told them not to worry as i knew the vendor personally as i had been renting this property for the last 6 years to use a crash pad whilst working down there and i knew everything was sound and that she had the certs somewhere. I also politely informed them that as the electrical work was more than 5 years old and the windows more then 10, then these certs were not required. Every time i rang to enquire on progress they kept coming back to this as an excuse as to why they had done f**k all.

Solicitors are the biggest pain in the whole process. this mob took 4 months to complete a straight forward purchase. I knew the vendor personally, had agreed a price, no estate agents, no mortgage, etc and yet they still dragged it out. They even told me that it was due to not being able to get search results back from the LA due to covid. when i rang the planning dept of the local borough they told me they had turned it round in 14 days and that the report had been sent four weeks previously.  Never answered e-mails or phone calls and i did everything myself in respect of ironing out any issues over the leasehold with the vendor and their solicitors. In the end i had to threaten them with getting another solicitor to do the work, contra charging them for any costs above their original quote and reporting them to the ombudsman before they did anything. To cap it all off, on completion day, despite my asking on several occasions to let me have a breakdown of monies due and payment dates etc, they told me that they could not complete as i still owed them £135 for the land registry fee (which they did not actually submit i consequently found out until a few weeks ago, when i needed a copy of the registry entry for tax planning purposes).

I have vowed that if i am ever selling, i will make it clear to any prospective buyers that their offer will  not be accepted if they are using this firm.

Bloody hell , thought I had it bad but you just made me feel better. 
The house buying system has a huge problem with solicitors who are ripping everyone off big time. 
We are 12 weeks in and no chain either side , all problems now solved but the solicitors pretty much said because we were told  it would be 16 weeks to complete that’s what it will be no matter what. 
Even though I have to pay them £1700 they won’t work any faster , the system is definitely broken and needs regulating. 
 

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Wrighty22

Wrighty22

Posted
Posted

Put an offer in on a house and it was rejected, which as frustrating as it is I get it. However, the EA says it was because another offer was higher and they are in a better position than me. 

 

I am not in a chain and have money in the bank, can someone on here explain how there is a better position than me?

 

Also, my previous experience of EA is that you can make a second offer and increase it but I they didn't allow me to do this and just said they vendor has made their decision and I need to accept it. Personally I thought this was very rude.

 

 

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Guest bennytwohats

Guest bennytwohats

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, Wrighty22 said:

Put an offer in on a house and it was rejected, which as frustrating as it is I get it. However, the EA says it was because another offer was higher and they are in a better position than me. 

 

I am not in a chain and have money in the bank, can someone on here explain how there is a better position than me?

 

Also, my previous experience of EA is that you can make a second offer and increase it but I they didn't allow me to do this and just said they vendor has made their decision and I need to accept it. Personally I thought this was very rude.

 

 

Maybe a cash buyer? I’ve found dealing with estate agents is better if you just assume they’re all going to be bad experiences.

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Sly

Sly

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, Wrighty22 said:

Put an offer in on a house and it was rejected, which as frustrating as it is I get it. However, the EA says it was because another offer was higher and they are in a better position than me. 

 

I am not in a chain and have money in the bank, can someone on here explain how there is a better position than me?

 

Also, my previous experience of EA is that you can make a second offer and increase it but I they didn't allow me to do this and just said they vendor has made their decision and I need to accept it. Personally I thought this was very rude.

 

 

Estate agents are like vampires. 
 

Solicitors are like Dracula. 
 

Bear this in mind when dealing with them. You’ll do okay. 

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ClaphamFox

ClaphamFox

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, King of Gipsy Lane said:

I’m buying a new build in Wigston, anxious as you hear so many horror stories, is there a local company offering snagging service? it’s my first house I live in a flat at the moment and it’s a huge commitment for me and I’m worried that we end up with cowboy builders etc… 

Which housebuilder is it?

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Unabomber

Unabomber

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, King of Gipsy Lane said:

Clarence Fields , Redrow 

 

9 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

Don’t know much about Redrow, but I moved into a new Taylor Wimpey home last December. Very few snags and when problems have arisen they’ve sorted it immediately. Very positive overall. 

I think new builds have an unfair reputation. I work in the industry and it is all about quality and ensuring the buyer gets a great home. Most site managers take huge pride in their sites. Although saying that some are obviously better than others and some builders do go down the cheapest route with regards to suppliers, products and subbies. 

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Greg2607

Greg2607

Posted
Posted
22 hours ago, Unabomber said:

 

I think new builds have an unfair reputation. I work in the industry and it is all about quality and ensuring the buyer gets a great home. Most site managers take huge pride in their sites. Although saying that some are obviously better than others and some builders do go down the cheapest route with regards to suppliers, products and subbies. 

We moved into a bellway new build in Feb.  There were quite a few snags, but mainly cosmetic and they were all put right pretty quickly. 

 

My best advice is to make the site manager your best mate.  Make them enough tea and biscuits and you will probably snag a few freebies and materials off of them as well if you want to do stuff in the garden. 

 

I messed up installing a cat flap and he just gave me a new backdoor and fitted the cat flap for me for free. 

 

They all just want to please you so that you give a good review. 

 

 

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VLC86

VLC86

Posted
Posted
On 28/08/2021 at 08:39, Greg2607 said:

We moved into a bellway new build in Feb.  There were quite a few snags, but mainly cosmetic and they were all put right pretty quickly. 

 

My best advice is to make the site manager your best mate.  Make them enough tea and biscuits and you will probably snag a few freebies and materials off of them as well if you want to do stuff in the garden. 

 

I messed up installing a cat flap and he just gave me a new backdoor and fitted the cat flap for me for free. 

 

They all just want to please you so that you give a good review. 

 

 

Definitely depends on the site and company, not a chance would I have got that with mine.

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grth2004

grth2004

Posted
Posted

Hopefully I should get a date next week to move in a couple of weeks , it’s been 5 months of frustration mainly down to awful solicitors not doing there job. 
I have a friend wanting to buy his first house in a few months and wondered if anyone could recommend a decent solicitors as I can’t recommend mine. 
cheap as possible as he’s on a tight budget. 
any suggestions would be greatly received. 

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VLC86

VLC86

Posted
Posted

Thoughts on buying a buy to let? I’ve got money in savings that was ear marked to pay some of the mortgage off but Covid means we didn’t bother and remortgaged.

 

My other half isn’t going to be working much over the winter so we are considering buying something, renovating it and renting it out. I know stamp duty is expensive, and I know that it can be a pain renting a house out but any other thoughts would be great.

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ajthefox

ajthefox

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Thoughts on buying a buy to let? I’ve got money in savings that was ear marked to pay some of the mortgage off but Covid means we didn’t bother and remortgaged.

 

My other half isn’t going to be working much over the winter so we are considering buying something, renovating it and renting it out. I know stamp duty is expensive, and I know that it can be a pain renting a house out but any other thoughts would be great.

A friend told me the other day they've upped the minimum deposit amount to like 25% or something for a BTL?

 

Don't know how accurate that is but worth having a goose as it will obviously have a significant affect on what you can buy. 

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VLC86

VLC86

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, ajthefox said:

A friend told me the other day they've upped the minimum deposit amount to like 25% or something for a BTL?

 

Don't know how accurate that is but worth having a goose as it will obviously have a significant affect on what you can buy. 

Cheers, I’ll have a look at work tomorrow.

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Wolfox

Wolfox

Posted
Posted
43 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

Thoughts on buying a buy to let? I’ve got money in savings that was ear marked to pay some of the mortgage off but Covid means we didn’t bother and remortgaged.

 

My other half isn’t going to be working much over the winter so we are considering buying something, renovating it and renting it out. I know stamp duty is expensive, and I know that it can be a pain renting a house out but any other thoughts would be great.

I’ve had one for a while (just off Hinckley Rd area in town)

 

Mine was a result of moving out of a defined benefit pension scheme to follow a different job (no regrets on that point)…. I wanted to ensure another source of residual income other than the shitty pension scheme I was moving to…

 

Top tips

 

Work out where a property will

a) rent easily 

b) is in a good spot likely to appreciate

 

my money would go to Woodgate I think?


Ensure it has solid roof/ windows / heating system - everything else is significantly less expensive to fix

 

use openrent…. Don’t give a fat % to an estate agent as they do sod all for it (tried that and binned it)

 

I’ve dealt with four changes of tenant and always had a choice (dozens of responses always within 24 hours of posting an ad)…. Use your nose, make sure they’ll pass a credit check and away you go…

 

other than the odd call for broken heating or key broken it’s not really caused me any issues and I’d recommend it…. From a tenants POV I know they have all appreciated me as a landlord and I’ve asked all new tenants what they wanted for their home…. One wanted a new carpet, another wanted a washing machine and I simply sorted it out and have always been responsive and understanding…. Some tenants were more pleasant than other (the university lecturer was a pain in the arse at times), but, they’ve all paid rent and been ok…. I have promised myself to be phlegmatic when I eventually get a duff one!

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VLC86

VLC86

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

I’ve had one for a while (just off Hinckley Rd area in town)

 

Mine was a result of moving out of a defined benefit pension scheme to follow a different job (no regrets on that point)…. I wanted to ensure another source of residual income other than the shitty pension scheme I was moving to…

 

Top tips

 

Work out where a property will

a) rent easily 

b) is in a good spot likely to appreciate

 

my money would go to Woodgate I think?


Ensure it has solid roof/ windows / heating system - everything else is significantly less expensive to fix

 

use openrent…. Don’t give a fat % to an estate agent as they do sod all for it (tried that and binned it)

 

I’ve dealt with four changes of tenant and always had a choice (dozens of responses always within 24 hours of posting an ad)…. Use your nose, make sure they’ll pass a credit check and away you go…

 

other than the odd call for broken heating or key broken it’s not really caused me any issues and I’d recommend it…. From a tenants POV I know they have all appreciated me as a landlord and I’ve asked all new tenants what they wanted for their home…. One wanted a new carpet, another wanted a washing machine and I simply sorted it out and have always been responsive and understanding…. Some tenants were more pleasant than other (the university lecturer was a pain in the arse at times), but, they’ve all paid rent and been ok…. I have promised myself to be phlegmatic when I eventually get a duff one!

Cheers, I rented a house out for 6 months when we moved to Bergamo and I would never go with an estate agent- they do **** all other than call you if something goes wrong.

 

I’d probably try to get one localish to me I recon (Countesthorpe, blaby, maybe South Wigston as it’s cheaper) as prices In these areas keep trying up.

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