Buying a house (and renting)

So it turns out we were evicted from our last place under a false premise as the section 21 notice stated they wished to re-occupy, now it is on the market for 125% the original rent (£1250pcm) before the date we were even due to leave according to our notice period (we instead issued our own notice and left as fast as possible). Which means it is surely not possible for the landlord to actually have occupied it during that time (a matter of weeks)? The property in the photos is in exactly the state as we left it - including the damp patches.

This cost us thousands of pounds, including £1025 rent and £170 in council tax serving and paying 30 days notice for a property we were mandated to leave, as we were bound to that by our contract.

Surely it is illegal to include false statements as part of a legal instrument like that? I know some landlords try to evict tennants by claiming they made untrue statements in the course of their tenancy such as stating what their income was, for example or having a pet when one was not allowed.

We are going to get some advice from CAB about that as we think we might be owed restitution, the move cost us thousands of pounds and all they wanted was more bloody rent! We knew it was a strawberry floating lie and here it is.

It is also potentially a case of revenge eviction because over the course of 3 years we politely pointed out their property was being damaged by a leak but this was never properly repaired.

We took care of the property and paid rent on time for three and a half years, we actually did this all properly and through the agents, there was never a single issue raised of our conduct in any way.

These buy to let landlords are absolute and utter banana splits.

Really sorry to read this, GG, but regrettably I am not surprised. Especially in our area of the country.

strawberry floating hell GG. I hope you manage to get some cash out of those shady bastards.

Sounds plainly like an unfair eviction to me, hope CAB gives some helpful advice and sorry to hear you've had to deal with this gecko!

Yeah that's pure bullshit, I'd be absolutely fuming. Hope you get some form of compensation for the situation, landlords absolutely should not be able to get away with this kind of thing

That does sound awful. Make sure you keep a copy of the new rent advert so you have proof over what happened. It's totally shitty.

Green Gecko wrote:buy to let landlords are absolute and utter banana splits.

Liked and retweeted.

I am struggling at the moment to justify renting a new place with my girlfriend. I just can't get over the feeling that we will be committing to another 12/14 months in rent, when right now we are not tied into to anything and have the flexibility to do things quicker or slower (I am in a rolling contract and my GF 'lives' with her sister)

My view is that if we want to be together, then why not just find and buy somewhere we like, and we can do that in our own time. Be that in the next few weeks, months or year.
For her, it continues a feeling of being in limbo - not quite living with me (there is no space) and living with her sister. Which seems really unsettling for her.

I really don’t know how to approach the subject with her, as it seems that we both want the end goal but have different approaches to it.
It also doesn't help that I am now putting the brakes on renting a bigger place after pushing for it - I must be incredibly frustrating to be with.



And fwiw I am frsutrated at all the moving parts to this entire* strawberry floating process





*which I dont really want to go into right now (but should) as I dont know what it all is, and there is so much to think about...AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Does she want to buy with someone else instead?

Kezzer wrote:I am struggling at the moment to justify renting a new place with my girlfriend. I just can't get over the feeling that we will be committing to another 12/14 months in rent, when right now we are not tied into to anything and have the flexibility to do things quicker or slower (I am in a rolling contract and my GF 'lives' with her sister)

My view is that if we want to be together, then why not just find and buy somewhere we like, and we can do that in our own time. Be that in the next few weeks, months or year.
For her, it continues a feeling of being in limbo - not quite living with me (there is no space) and living with her sister. Which seems really unsettling for her.

I really don’t know how to approach the subject with her, as it seems that we both want the end goal but have different approaches to it.
It also doesn't help that I am now putting the brakes on renting a bigger place after pushing for it - I must be incredibly frustrating to be with.



And fwiw I am frsutrated at all the moving parts to this entire* strawberry floating process





*which I dont really want to go into right now (but should) as I dont know what it all is, and there is so much to think about...AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

I personally don't think buying a house together without living together properly is a good idea. It's a huge commitment, far better to try it first in a rental property in my opinion.

That's not a growth wrote:I've been informed that the mortgage provider aren't willing to lend on the flat I'm trying to purchase until the cladding is removed from the top 2 floors of the building - and while this work has started it wont be finished until around Feb.

Need to speak to my solicitor, and then the broker is going to see if other providers might be more lenient but it looks like this might be the end of the road for this journey for me. I'd be surprised if the seller is willing to wait that long, and they could probably find a cash buyer in that amount of time.

The market around here is terrible, and there's nothing on rightmove I even want to have a view of let alone think is worth pursuing. And the rental options are terrible too. I think I'm going to be stuck at my mums for quite some time, unless I get a better paying job - as this is already one of the cheaper areas in the country. Pretty strawberry floating gutted, I really wanted my own place and this seemed a pretty good way to achieve that. Guess I'll just have to see how the next few days go, and go from there.

These last few weeks I picked myself from this point, and approached things from the point of "what's the best I can afford" rather than trying to find something that I really desperately like.

I've had an offer accepted today. It's a 2 bed terrace house, small yard at the back. Small kitchen, but it's connected to a dining room so at least I'll have space for a table. It's in a different area then I would like to live in, but not terrible. Got local amenities that I want within walking distance, but not that close to my friends unfortunately. It needs quite a bit of work doing to it, but mostly cosmetic, so I need to research a load of DIY stuff but I'm making progress there. Have to sort out the walls, floors and ceilings in each room but I think I can manage. It's already been damp treated, so at least that's one thing I don't need to worry about but I'll see how the survey comes back. Probably want to change the boiler and bathroom asap.

Bit of a daze really. I'm glad, but it's little bitter sweet. I am glad I wont have any of that maintenance charge bollocks, however. That was certainly a compromise with the flat.

Hello all.

If anyone is due to remortgage in the next 6 months to a year. I'd seriously consider remortgaging NOW.

I'll tell you what I've just done.

I am on a 2 year fixed rate currently from Sept 2020 to Sept 2022. I have a buy out clause of £1300 to end/change mortgage. As of Sept 2021, it reduces daily, the closer to sept 2022, the less it'll become, so if i were to end in August 2022 it'd only be like £80.

My current interest rate is about 1.6 % and I have about £120K left on the mortgage. I pay a lot per month, about £770 as I only have a 15 year plan.

Interest rates are at an all time low right now so I've done some research and here is what I've managed to lock in for my new mortgage.

I've gone to First direct and got an interest rate at 1.09% and locked it in for FIVE years.

I have also hugely extended my mortgage term, from a 15 year term to a 40 year term.

And here is why.....First Direct have UNLIMITED overpayments, it's not just 10% per annum, its as much as I want to overpay.

You know what that means? I have a direct debit of less than £300 a month going out, and I just overpay whatever the strawberry float i like. I'll likely continue to pay about 700-800 a month, but if in the next five years I need a larger cash flow, or lose my job, or hell decide to save for another deposit, this mortgage is minimal.

Here is another thing, I have managed to 'LOCK in' this rate of 1.09%, but I have agreed to not start it until as late as possible. ie, April 2022. SO that £1300 charge i'd have to pay for moving is about £600 instead.

A catch is I had to pay £490 up front to lock this mortgage in, however I genuinely think I've made the right decision. I'll pay just over a grand, which is what some people pay anyway just to remortgage to have a mortgage of complete flexibility with a super low interest rate for 5 damn years. Sure the economy could go a little worse and interest rates lower, but in all honesty, I think mortgage interest rates will slowly rise back towards 3% over the next year or two. Come 2026, if things stay normal I could be on a super low interest mortgage compared to my peers. I know I know, a lot of trying to judge the market and IF's but all predictions right now are for them rates to go up again.

If you've less than a year on your mortgage, I'd check your documents and see what it costs to buy out, and then do some research on remortgaging. Of course to do something like I've done, you'd have to make sure you get an account with unlimited overpayments, which is quite rare, but first direct do it right now, and they're competitive, so why the heck not check it out?

Luton man left shocked as his house is ‘stolen’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-59069662

First 15 minutes of You and Yours is well worth listening to this bizarre story. Provides a lot more detail to the story and interviews Reverend Mike Hall and plays back the telephone recording of "Mike Hall" speaking to the conveyancing solicitor.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0010nt4

Worse than the scam is how unbelievably dismissive the police were to the crime. It's fraud on a serious amount of money which is absolutely a criminal offence but it seems like the police kept saying its a civil offence until the BBC started investigating.

The worst thing about that situation is the guy will almost definitely not get his house back, and instead will likely get compensation from the Land Registry. Legally, whoever's name is on the property at Land Registry, owns it, no matter how it got there.

Given that the house was sold under value, I suspect the buyer might have been on it too.

On a related note, the Gov has an alert system where you can register to get alerts anytime there is significant activity in relation to your property: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Is it normal for a flatmate to let their other half stay over for 1-2 weeks or more at a time even though they are sharing the same room?
This is happening to me once. Every 6-8weeks.

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Is it normal for a flatmate to let their other half stay over for 1-2 weeks or more at a time even though they are sharing the same room?
This is happening to me once. Every 6-8weeks.

It's poor form not to discuss this with you beforehand and if they're staying over for that long they really should be contributing to bills at the very least.

Tomous wrote:The worst thing about that situation is the guy will almost definitely not get his house back, and instead will likely get compensation from the Land Registry. Legally, whoever's name is on the property at Land Registry, owns it, no matter how it got there.

Given that the house was sold under value, I suspect the buyer might have been on it too.

On a related note, the Gov has an alert system where you can register to get alerts anytime there is significant activity in relation to your property: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

I imagine if you're trying to fraudulently sell a house you want to do it quickly before anyone realises rather than get market value for it, so I doubt the buyer was in on it.

Absolutely horrific case though.

Tomous wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Is it normal for a flatmate to let their other half stay over for 1-2 weeks or more at a time even though they are sharing the same room?
This is happening to me once. Every 6-8weeks.

It's poor form not to discuss this with you beforehand and if they're staying over for that long they really should be contributing to bills at the very least.

Is your housemate over at their other half's for 1-2 weeks at a time as well?

Tomous wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Is it normal for a flatmate to let their other half stay over for 1-2 weeks or more at a time even though they are sharing the same room?
This is happening to me once. Every 6-8weeks.

It's poor form not to discuss this with you beforehand and if they're staying over for that long they really should be contributing to bills at the very least.

Thank you
I spoke up and got £50 off them. But I don't think it is normal for people to let someone stay for so long. Maybe it's because I don't have much experience with sharing so I haven't come across this before.

Ecno wrote:

Tomous wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Is it normal for a flatmate to let their other half stay over for 1-2 weeks or more at a time even though they are sharing the same room?
This is happening to me once. Every 6-8weeks.

It's poor form not to discuss this with you beforehand and if they're staying over for that long they really should be contributing to bills at the very least.

Is your housemate over at their other half's for 1-2 weeks at a time as well?

Never due to her work she can never go away for that long so only he comes down. He lives in Newscastle so he comes down to London say once every 6-8weeks and usually stays for over a week but she always tells me it's for a few days.
She also just told me he plans to visit over Christmas from 20th Dec to 4th Jan. Although I'll be home up north for most this time it still actually annoys me that she thinks it's ok to let him stay for that long.
I am considering asking her to make the stay shorter because it isn't normal imo.