Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Buying a home and don't know how anything works

miss direct said:
I am at a bit of a loss now as to what to do.
Should I just suck up the cost of getting a new carpet/floors for the living room, stairs, and hallway?

What about this potential radon risk? There is some sort of retention scheme but that will drag things out even longer.

Am I supposed to be "chasing" someone? I'm so tired and feel exhausted at the thought of moving and having to sort out all of the things by myself.
Click to expand...
Radon risk is done as standard. What does it say the result is? I'd be surprised if there was a risk in Sheffield as radon is only normally a problem in areas with lots of granite and you don't get that in Sheffield.

I wouldn't splash out on carpets just yet in case the sale was to fall through as you'll lose the money. Get a carpet company ( or your friend?) to measure up and choose your carpet then arrange fitting asap after exchange of contract.
 
miss direct said:
I am at a bit of a loss now as to what to do.
Should I just suck up the cost of getting a new carpet/floors for the living room, stairs, and hallway?

What about this potential radon risk? There is some sort of retention scheme but that will drag things out even longer.

Am I supposed to be "chasing" someone? I'm so tired and feel exhausted at the thought of moving and having to sort out all of the things by myself.
Click to expand...

I think the bolded bit pretty much sums up most peoples' experience of buying/selling their home, sadly - it often involves paying people a lot of money to do stuff that doesn't happen in a timely fashion with little feedback unless you stomp your feet at them a bit.

I'd like to move but I just get completely deflated and overwhelmed at the thought of having to co-ordinate it all and being in a chain - and finding somewhere cheaper and at least similar standard is going to be challenge in the first place. I could be here until I die simply because every time I think about the logistics of it I break into a cold sweat.
 
miss direct said:
I am at a bit of a loss now as to what to do.
Should I just suck up the cost of getting a new carpet/floors for the living room, stairs, and hallway?

What about this potential radon risk? There is some sort of retention scheme but that will drag things out even longer.

Am I supposed to be "chasing" someone? I'm so tired and feel exhausted at the thought of moving and having to sort out all of the things by myself.
Click to expand...

You’d have replaced the carpets anyway at some point correct? The kicker is you just have to do it right away. Get an interest free credit card and whack it on that along with any other appliances and unforeseen expenses after moving in. Then trash the card and ensure you pay it all off before the 0% is up. It at least let’s you spread out the cost.

Radon risk? No idea what that is.

Search results are back yes? Solicitor gone through them with you or seen them yourself? If no. Chase up that.

Once search results satisfied they may end up being more enquiries by your solicitor to your sellers and they will need to answer those questions. If they don’t know the answers or are taking forever to supply them you can say proceed without knowing. As part of final enquiries you should be trying to nail down exchange and completion dates. You know what you’re aiming at then.

At this point ensure your money is available and you’ve done a small transaction test to the account it needs to go too. Solicitor will confirm they received.

Then. I think you’re done. You’re almost there. It’s a case of really prestering solicitors now to get it over the line as they are the ones likely to be holding things up once the searches and enquiries are all satisfied.

Oh and turn your phone off silent with a nice loud ringtone (or assign a ringtone to your solicitors number) confirm from your solicitor what number they will be calling from. You HAVE to give verbal go ahead every time they want to try and exchange. That can’t be done over email.
 
Last edited:
miss direct said:
the whole area is at risk of radon gas, 5-10% of properties.
Click to expand...

Just looked this up and doesn’t seem to be a problem where I’ve ever lived according to that map link provided above so explains why I’ve never come across it.

As you say every property in Sheffield is effected. There’s no zombies walking around as far as I know in Sheffield so I wouldn’t worry about it. If it was a huge problem environmentalists would be up in arms.
 
miss direct said:
the whole area is at risk of radon gas, 5-10% of properties.
Click to expand...

You don’t have a basement right? I think that increases risk. I don’t know anyone who’s even thought of it tbh. I think you can get testers that will tell you if it’s an issue after a few months.
 
On the payment transfer, I would think miss direct would need to make payment to the solicitor by CHAPS (can probably be arranged by telephone banking or if not at a bank counter and is chargeable) as Faster Payments is subject to a daily payment limit of (I think) 20k. There may also be a lower limit when transferring by App vs Desktop internet banking.

Worth checking out what the score is now with your bank. You could avoid the CHAPS charge by sending it as several faster payments over a number of days but this obviously eats up time. It will be in the region of £20-30 I’d imagine.
 
I actually asked my bank the last time I was in. They said the payment should go through within a few hours and I seem to remember she said no charge.

I have all the search results and reports both in my email and paper copies solicitor sent me. They mentioned that they'd only just received the building management pack and would be going through that, as well as a couple of outstanding queries. So I should probably wait a few days to hear about those before asking anything about dates.

I guess I'll still be paying my rent on June the 6th.
 
miss direct said:
I actually asked my bank the last time I was in. They said the payment should go through within a few hours and I seem to remember she said no charge.

I have all the search results and reports both in my email and paper copies solicitor sent me. They mentioned that they'd only just received the building management pack and would be going through that, as well as a couple of outstanding queries. So I should probably wait a few days to hear about those before asking anything about dates.

I guess I'll still be paying my rent on June the 6th.
Click to expand...

Seems reasonable. As much as we hate conveyancers they are going through an unprecedented amount of house moves at the moment. Be reasonable but there comes a time when you know either yours or someone else on the chain is taking the piss. (E.g nothing is happening for weeks)

Give them a few days and chase and ask exactly what is outstanding. If any enquiries are outstanding ask what they are. If they are trivial say you’re prepared to proceed without the answer. Also ask about realistic exchange and completion dates. Ask if before July 6th is realistic to beat your next rent payment. It may mean exchange and completion have to happen on the same day or be very close and stress if it’s missed your left homeless as you’d have given notice to your landlord. If they think it’s risky then before august 6th at this point certainly should be achievable now and to be honest may give you that flexibility to get carpets etc installed while still renting. Assuming you can afford to do that.

ETA: thought we were further into may than we actually are. On or before 6 July should be achievable I reckon. Start putting the pressure on from next week to nail dates.
 
Last edited:
Good point. Yes, its a months notice so suppose it doesn't have to end on rent day. I have no deposit anyway so not a lot the landlord can do if he thinks otherwise.
 
cybershot said:
Seems reasonable. As much as we hate conveyancers they are going through an unprecedented amount of house moves at the moment. Be reasonable but there comes a time when you know either yours or someone else on the chain is taking the piss. (E.g nothing is happening for weeks)

Give them a few days and chase and ask exactly what is outstanding. If any enquiries are outstanding ask what they are. If they are trivial say you’re prepared to proceed without the answer. Also ask about realistic exchange and completion dates. Ask if before July 6th is realistic to beat your next rent payment. It may mean exchange and completion have to happen on the same day or be very close and stress if it’s missed your left homeless as you’d have given notice to your landlord. If they think it’s risky then before august 6th at this point certainly should be achievable now and to be honest may give you that flexibility to get carpets etc installed while still renting. Assuming you can afford to do that.

ETA: thought we were further into may than we actually are. On or before 6 July should be achievable I reckon. Start putting the pressure on from next week to nail dates.
Click to expand...
Last time I asked about dates I was scolded... but will ask again next week 😆
 
hash tag said:
Very true, but it's not just scams. Simply sending the money to the wrong place by getting a single number wrong could cost. Dearly.
Click to expand...

This is a lot harder to do now (accidentally at least) now there’s automatic cross checking of account name and number; scammers can of course ensure that the recipient account has a name similar enough that you might accept it - albeit a) they’ll have to do a lot more work on the proving identity of their fake account name to get it set up and b) they can only use it once (or at least only for scams targeting one supplier). Poor things.
 
Haven't posted on this thread coz I didn't want to jinx it but we have exchanged yesterday!
I can recommend these solicitors, they can a nice portal with all the docs and are very clear and prompt.
thepartnershiplimited.com

The Partnership Limited

We are award-winning Property Lawyers offering a fresh approach to conveyancing combining seven days-a-week availability and personal service.
thepartnershiplimited.com thepartnershiplimited.com
 
sleaterkinney said:
Haven't posted on this thread coz I didn't want to jinx it but we have exchanged yesterday!
I can recommend these solicitors, they can a nice portal with all the docs and are very clear and prompt.
thepartnershiplimited.com

The Partnership Limited

We are award-winning Property Lawyers offering a fresh approach to conveyancing combining seven days-a-week availability and personal service.
thepartnershiplimited.com thepartnershiplimited.com
Click to expand...

Are they reasonably priced? I will be looking for one soon.
 
miss direct said:
the whole area is at risk of radon gas, 5-10% of properties.
Click to expand...
I can't advise you whether to worry or not about this radon thing but, where i am is apparently 'high risk' so when i bought this place spent a few hours looking into it and decided that worrying about it was not worthwhile, for me.
You can see the map and read about it & what you can do if concerned on here UKradon - UK maps of radon

In my case i just decided that a whole host of other things were far more likely to kill me and haven't worried about it since.
 
cybershot said:
If searches and queries are practically done and your a cash buyer with no mortgage paperwork to sort I think asking about potential dates shouldn’t be an unreasonable thing to ask. You’re approaching the home straight.
Click to expand...
I will give them till Tuesday before I start emailing again.
 
Another boring question :D (Some people on urban might be more relieved than me when I get the keys...although then I'll just migrate to other posts!)

The flat comes with an outdoor storage room. I'm really pleased with this as I can keep my bike and maybe things like plastic boxes there. Looks big enough for three bikes. However, when I did the second viewing the other day, the owner's brother, who was there, said it doesn't lock because the key broke in the lock. No idea if there is another key. Is this something it's worth asking about, or another thing to just suck up sorting out myself?
 
I dont think it has a key stuck in it, at least I couldn't see one. Its the sort of thing that would cost very little in Turkey but I can imagine costing loads here. I need it done fast as otherwise there's nowhere safe to keep my bike.
 
I think it (changing the barrel of the lock) can done by a competent DIYer depending on the lock, my mate certainly has done it at his house. Like everything involved with DIY you need the relevant tools and knowledge of how to use them!

(Edited for clarity)
 
Last edited:
For the
miss direct said:
I dont think it has a key stuck in it, at least I couldn't see one. Its the sort of thing that would cost very little in Turkey but I can imagine costing loads here. I need it done fast as otherwise there's nowhere safe to keep my bike.
Click to expand...
peace of mind get all the lock barrels changed to new keys, including the store. That way you know there are no stray keys in the hands of strangers. The locks need to meet the British Standard your insurance company is going to insist on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Shippou-Sensei
Let’s get to know each others butter
2 3 4
Replies
115
Views
2K
Shippou-Sensei
Shippou-Sensei
Hollis
  • Poll
What is your home TV set up?
6 7 8 9 10
Replies
291
Views
5K
Puddy_Tat
Puddy_Tat
T & P
How long are home alarms supposed to be allowed to go off for?
2
Replies
31
Views
1K
High Voltage
High Voltage
cupid_stunt
My new home & project - tips and advice welcomed!
2 3
Replies
70
Views
3K
equationgirl
equationgirl
NoXion
What the hell is this light fitting called, and how easy would it be to get a new one?
Replies
5
Views
314
spitfire
spitfire
Back
Top Bottom