Buying a home and don't know how anything works

[steveseagull]

My seller is up shit creek financially so she has been on the case. She has persuaded my solicitors to do a same day exchange and completion on Tuesday.

No chain here at all. Can anything go wrong?????

 

[UnderOpenSky]

My seller is up shit creek financially so she has been on the case. She has persuaded my solicitors to do a same day exchange and completion on Tuesday.

No chain here at all. Can anything go wrong?????

Sounds great

 

[Elpenor]

Decided to go for level 3 building survey for peace of mind. However I don’t want to pay for it until the chain is complete. Mortgage lender has given me their surveyor email address; any harm in delaying. I can always get an independent survey done if necessary.

The valuation has been done separately.

 

[Thora]

Is level 3 the full structural survey? Is it an old house you're buying?

Personally I wouldn't spend any more money until the chain is complete, the survey will only take a week or two to book and get back so very much doubt the solicitors would be ready to exchange before then anyway.

 

[Elpenor]

Yes I believe level 3 is the full structural.

House is 1980 or so. I suppose that I’m a bit paranoid about there being something obvious I’ve missed that the surveyor won’t, plus I’ve mainly lived in Victorian houses.

I said level 3 largely as the mortgage advisor was insistent I had to decide now on what type of survey. I am not prepared to pay for anything until I know the chain is formed. I only got the mortgage sorted this week as the rates are creeping up. The fee has been added to the loan so that’s not spent yet.

 

[Thora]

We only had level 2 on a 1950s house but that still commented on the roof, windows, drains etc.

 

[Elpenor]

Mortgage offer approved after Tuesday’s meeting

Fixtures and fittings form received from vendors too. Must find out if they’ve actually found somewhere to buy

They’re taking a rather large light fitting which I wasn’t keen on (so presumably they’ll need to replace with a pendant - I should ask that this is done shouldn’t I?)

Also a pulley system drying rack attached to the landing / stairs ceiling. Are these any good? I’d have thought mould could be an issue, I have a tumble dryer anyway for when I can’t dry outside.

Also a pan rail in the kitchen (perhaps it works with their pans?), and some wall mounted shelves in the small bedroom / study.

Happily they’re leaving the curtain poles, the bathroom and kitchen blinds, but not the curtains.

All in all about what I expected and bar the shelves and possibly the drying rack I’m happy with that. Praying that I have normal sellers, all seems good so far!

 

[miss direct]

The pulley systems are excellent. There was one in the house where I was lodging in Sheffield - things dry quickly (heat rises) and you can keep it out of the way. Wish I had one now.

 

[Elpenor]

Pictures of the things they’re taking for your curiousity My friend has commented that the shelf the phone is on is an ideal height for lines

 

[Elpenor]

I’ve had a chance to read the property information form now. All fairly standard except that the boiler (installed 2010 before the vendor bought the house) doesn’t have a post instalment building control certificate and the original installer has ceased trading . The boiler has been serviced this year.

I see that it’s possible to obtain retrospective compliance and that’s something I could ask the vendor to arrange but should there be an issue with it then the entire system may need to be reinstalled so it’s your classic can of worms

On a practical level, is this going to be an issue? My gut feeling is if it’s been installed 12 years and serviced this year, not to worry anymore about it unless this will cause issues with the mortgage. By the time I come to sell there’ll be a new boiler anyway - and gas boilers are being phased out fairly soon I may have had an air source heat pump fitted anyway.

Decided that I’m going to ask the vendor to leave the drying rack and shelves and offer them a ton in chattels to cover the cost of replacement. Will save them the hassle of them removing / making good and I think I’d find both useful

I think I’ll need to call the estate agent on Monday to find out what the chain is looking like. I have just had a panic that the mortgage offer may expire before there’s a chain

 

[Boudicca]

Decided that I’m going to ask the vendor to leave the drying rack and shelves and offer them a ton in chattels to cover the cost of replacement. Will save them the hassle of them removing / making good and I think I’d find both useful

I think when you fill in the fixtures & fittings list, the tendency is to exclude all the things you might want to take. In the event, it's often more trouble than it's worth to take them and they get left anyway.

 

[5t3IIa]

Re: fixtures and fittings. Our prospective place has a built-in fridge and a garage with electricity where the vendor had a fridge freezer. The f&f says they’re leaving the built-in but no mention of the ff in the garage… We have an ff which we’d put in the garage sooooooo suppose we should ask them to dispose of their ff in the garage, right? There is an expense attached to getting rid of these things. This is the only thing we’ve thought of to ‘demand’

 

[colacubes]

Re: fixtures and fittings. Our prospective place has a built-in fridge and a garage with electricity where the vendor had a fridge freezer. The f&f says they’re leaving the built-in but no mention of the ff in the garage… We have an ff which we’d put in the garage sooooooo suppose we should ask them to dispose of their ff in the garage, right? There is an expense attached to getting rid of these things. This is the only thing we’ve thought of to ‘demand’

Yep. Get them to confirm they’re taking it away. It probably won’t cost loads to get rid of if your council do a large item collection (it’s £25 here), but it’s hassle you could do without.

 

[Elpenor]

Looks like my purchase will go quiet until my sellers find their own place. Done all the legal stuff that can be done for now - not starting searches until the chain is complete - and mortgage offer is good till September.

 

[Sue]

Re: fixtures and fittings. Our prospective place has a built-in fridge and a garage with electricity where the vendor had a fridge freezer. The f&f says they’re leaving the built-in but no mention of the ff in the garage… We have an ff which we’d put in the garage sooooooo suppose we should ask them to dispose of their ff in the garage, right? There is an expense attached to getting rid of these things. This is the only thing we’ve thought of to ‘demand’

When I bought my flat, they offered to leave the (frankly hideous and huge) cream leather sofa and I was like...no that's fine.

They did leave their (leaking) fridge which I ended up having to dispose of though.

 

[komodo]

If it was me I’d offer to buy (cheaply!) the clothes rail and the IKEA kitchen hanging rail.

 

[Leafster]

They’re taking a rather large light fitting which I wasn’t keen on (so presumably they’ll need to replace with a pendant - I should ask that this is done shouldn’t I?)

When I bought my place I didn't think to ask about the light fittings. The previous owners took all the ceiling fittings and just replaced them with hanging wires and bayonet sockets on the ends.

They also took the curtain poles too!

 

[BoatieBird]

Ours was an ex-rental and they took everything out, but they did leave a massive turd floating in the toilet

We cleaned our boat to within an inch of its life, set the burner so all they had to do was strike a match to get it going, and left a bottle of fizz in the fridge.

 

[BoatieBird]

5t3IIa just to let you know that the freezer parts of some fridge-freezers stop working at cold temperatures, so if the garage is unheated you might want to keep an eye on it

Fridges and Freezers in the Garage | Whitegoodshelp

Did you know that putting a fridge or fridge freezer inside a garage or other outbuilding may be a very bad idea? This article explains why..

www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk

 

[moonsi til]

When I bought my first house the vendor tried to sell me curtain poles, roller blinds & garden hoppers for a stupid amount which I declined but I did buy a small summerhouse for £100 which on hindsight there was no way they were taking but also I liked having it so it was money well spent. When I sold the house on the fixtures & fittings curtain poles & blinds were left behind as they fitted the windows. I also left with permission gorgeous teal velvet curtains, a huge bathroom cabinet & an IKEA triple Pax wardrobe plus the usual champers in the fridge & logs for burner & as much info about the house as I thought helpful. I didn’t charge for the summerhouse.

At my new home they left fitted blinds, curtain poles, a huge mirror & a range cooker which wasn’t fully working but that was fine as I had no cooker so it did until new one was bought. They also left some useful garden furniture & bits n bobs.

 

[A380]

Re: fixtures and fittings. Our prospective place has a built-in fridge and a garage with electricity where the vendor had a fridge freezer. The f&f says they’re leaving the built-in but no mention of the ff in the garage… We have an ff which we’d put in the garage sooooooo suppose we should ask them to dispose of their ff in the garage, right? There is an expense attached to getting rid of these things. This is the only thing we’ve thought of to ‘demand’

When we brought the house from a lady who had gone into a care home we spoke directly with the sellers - her daughter and divided stuff into four.

Stuff we didn't want but that was worth them selling (she had this quite new Oak dining room table and chairs set, it wasn't my taste at all but was worth a bit.)

Stuff we wanted and would buy - a sofa and two chairs, the divan base of a bed, a TV a washing machine and fridge freezer. I went on the local gumtree site and looked at similar stuff and offered them money based on that, from memory I think we gave them £250 for the whole lot.

Stuff we didn't want to buy but that we would use for a bit to save taking it to the tip or getting a house clearance company in, mostly some storage units, wardrobes and shelves. I've got rid of most of these six months in but they were useful for a bit.

Stuff we didn't want and wanted them to get rid of before we moved in.

We did this face to face, after an introductory e-mail, and I have just arranged to do similar with the people who are now (hopefully) buying our house.

 

[Elpenor]

I like your approach moonsi til - having dealt with some awful buyers and sellers during previous transactions I hope that the folks I’m buying from are as helpful and reasonable as you were

It all seems good so far, hopefully we all keep following the golden rule and it will all work like clockwork. I’m pretty happy with the selling agent and solicitor up till now.

 

[5t3IIa]

We write further to previous correspondence in the above matter and still await hearing from the sellers solicitors with a copy of the building regulation completion certificate for the loft conversion and an up to date boiler service certificate [....] We will of course let you know once we have responses to all outstanding enquiries to enable us to report to you with documents for signature

Sounds.... promising? Not sure at which point we need to get 'excited'? I mean, we are not decluttered or packed and only own three empty boxes.

 

[scifisam]

When I bought my place I didn't think to ask about the light fittings. The previous owners took all the ceiling fittings and just replaced them with hanging wires and bayonet sockets on the ends.

They also took the curtain poles too!

I did a HA homeswap many years ago and they took the fitted blinds. The weird thing was that the windows were really odd sizes - I eventually had to get some cut to size - and since they were swapping to my old flat I knew there was no way they'd be able to use them there. They wouldn't have been able to sell them on or anything either, and they would have had to spend a good couple of hours taking them and the fittings down, so they put in extra effort and got nothing out of it.

People are just weirdly miserly a lot of the time.

 

[moonsi til]

5t3IIa you are the get more boxes & start packing stuff you don’t use stage I reckon.

Are you using proper removals? I was planning that for my last move for first time then I ended up having to put things in storage which happened over weeks so did the move just 3 of us due to covid. I so wanted the removal experience!

 

[5t3IIa]

5t3IIa you are the get more boxes & start packing stuff you don’t use stage I reckon.

Are you using proper removals? I was planning that for my last move for first time then I ended up having to put things in storage which happened over weeks so did the move just 3 of us due to covid. I so wanted the removal experience!

Well, I absolutely don’t want to actually move it ourselves with a rented van lol but not quite launched into the research for the removals or packers and removers yet. Can you imagine? Just sat about while someone wraps your crockery? Bliss.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Do people actually buy boxes and stuff? Seeks a weird thing to do, but yet no idea how to pack everything without doing this. In fact I've no idea how to pack full stop. Seemed chaotic enough when I moved from a room in a shared house to our current place.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Do people actually buy boxes and stuff? Seeks a weird thing to do, but yet no idea how to pack everything without doing this. In fact I've no idea how to pack full stop. Seemed chaotic enough when I moved from a room in a shared house to our current place.

You can hire nice big (and more importantly, stackable) crates.

CRATE HIRE UK • Moving Crates Rental Home & Office • London & UK

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www.cratehire-uk.co.uk

Tip - The actual hire cost is cheap, they get you on a delivery charge. So, find a mate with a van/large estate car and pick up yourself

 

[danski]

I bought loads of cardboard boxes for my records and had loads left over so used those. They were good as not too big so as to be mega heavy when full and double walled cardboard so very strong and stackable.

 

[colacubes]

If you’ve got an active local Facebook/Next Door group for your area it’s worth asking on there if anyone has boxes - there’s always people offering them locally here.