Buying a house (and renting)

Been approved for a mortgage despite being on zero hours/rolling temp contracts etc for the last two years. Great news because I wasn't expecting it, and they're willing to lend far more than the budget I was hoping for so bonus.

The place we've found has been up for two days and we can't get a viewing because there's 80 people already booked.

Bunni wrote:Been approved for a mortgage despite being on zero hours/rolling temp contracts etc for the last two years. Great news because I wasn't expecting it, and they're willing to lend far more than the budget I was hoping for so bonus.

The place we've found has been up for two days and we can't get a viewing because there's 80 people already booked.

Rock up there and pretend you're one of the couples who have booked ?

Wait outside for a couple to walk up, ask them their names, explain that your sorry but their viewing had to be cancelled last moment then go in pretending to be them.

Burn the place to the ground and then nobody can have it.

Turns out none of the credit agencies think I’m on the electoral roll despite having votes many times from my current address. Unless they’ve not matched up my new name after getting married (I sent in the renewal paperwork last week, I’ve still not changed it on everything because it’s a strawberry floating hassle)

Mortgage offer is given at 20% deposit because of my temporary contract and ‘something wrong on my credit file. Everything financial is big green ticks so hopefully once the voting thing is sorted they might revert to 10% because otherwise I’m not gunna buy anything because I can’t scramble together another £15k anytime quickly.

Completed the purchase on my new house a couple of weeks ago, and got a letter off the water company to say they'll be charging me £72 a month. As this sounded bonkers, I've called them up and they've said I'm paying the standard yearly charge of £360, but spread over 5 months instead of 12. From March my monthly bill will be lower as it will then be spread over the full 12 months. Is this how things usually work? They'll have already been paid for the previous owners for the 7 months prior to me moving in.

GrinWithoutaKat wrote:Completed the purchase on my new house a couple of weeks ago, and got a letter off the water company to say they'll be charging me £72 a month. As this sounded bonkers, I've called them up and they've said I'm paying the standard yearly charge of £360, but spread over 5 months instead of 12. From March my monthly bill will be lower as it will then be spread over the full 12 months. Is this how things usually work? They'll have already been paid for the previous owners for the 7 months prior to me moving in.

That's completely incorrect. Your monthly payment should be £360/12 (£30). There is no way they can legally charge you a full financial year's consumption when you're only going to have been there for five months of said year.

Which water company if you don't mind my asking?

Drumstick wrote:

GrinWithoutaKat wrote:Completed the purchase on my new house a couple of weeks ago, and got a letter off the water company to say they'll be charging me £72 a month. As this sounded bonkers, I've called them up and they've said I'm paying the standard yearly charge of £360, but spread over 5 months instead of 12. From March my monthly bill will be lower as it will then be spread over the full 12 months. Is this how things usually work? They'll have already been paid for the previous owners for the 7 months prior to me moving in.

That's completely incorrect. Your monthly payment should be £360/12 (£30). There is no way they can legally charge you a full financial year's consumption when you're only going to have been there for five months of said year.

Which water company if you don't mind my asking?

It's Welsh Water, amongst the highest price rises for the last two years running

So, curtain rails.

We’re in the process of buying our first house and we’ve just had the fixture and fittings inventory back and it seems the vendor is taking all the curtain rails except the lounge, where they want £40 to leave them.

Is this the norm? I assumed curtain rails would just be left? And can we require they fill and cover all the holes left by removing the rails? I’ve seen “make walls good” mentioned before, but how do we enforce this? Refuse to exchange if they don’t do it?

Unless it's listed on the "fixtures and fittings remaining" list, it could go. Sometimes folk take everything, including light bulbs. As you say, Tom, I guess that screw holes would remain if they took all the curtain rails. A bit of a pain but not too onerous to fix. Personally, I'd decline paying £40 for the rails in the lounge; they probably don't want them (hence the sale offer) and they're being gits.

Good luck with the move, man!

We're moving out and into our new build on Friday.

Part of what I'm spending tomorrow doing is taking down shelving strips and filling the holes, along with mirrors and other stuff we're not leaving.

We're not taking the curtain rails though.

I'm just glad it's finally going ahead. We were supposed to move on the 23rd of August, but it got put back because of Solicitor shite so we've been living from boxes for the past few weeks.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:We're moving out and into our new build on Friday...

All the best for the move, CD. Will you get to have a game room / area in your new place?

jawafour wrote:Unless it's listed on the "fixtures and fittings remaining" list, it could go. Sometimes folk take everything, including light bulbs. As you say, Tom, I guess that screw holes would remain if they took all the curtain rails. A bit of a pain but not too onerous to fix. Personally, I'd decline paying £40 for the rails in the lounge; they probably don't want them (hence the sale offer) and they're being gits.

Good luck with the move, man!

Cheers mate!

Yeah, we're not gonna pay £40. We figure if we decline they'll probably leave them anyway. It's just a bit annoying on the rest of the rooms. I think they're being gits because they're bitter at the price they've sold at. They bought only the house a few years ago and initially put it on the market for a +25% increase despite doing zero work to it. In the end they couldn't sell it for anywhere near that and we agreed a price a lot lower.

jawafour wrote:Unless it's listed on the "fixtures and fittings remaining" list, it could go. Sometimes folk take everything, including light bulbs.

Yeah I remember my uncle moved house and the previous occupants had taken all of the light bulbs AND they even took the toilet.

Tomous wrote:So, curtain rails.

We’re in the process of buying our first house and we’ve just had the fixture and fittings inventory back and it seems the vendor is taking all the curtain rails except the lounge, where they want £40 to leave them.

Is this the norm? I assumed curtain rails would just be left? And can we require they fill and cover all the holes left by removing the rails? I’ve seen “make walls good” mentioned before, but how do we enforce this? Refuse to exchange if they don’t do it?

Yeh they need to make the walls good if they're leaving holes in them. Making good means filling the holes and then painting them (including painting the entire room if the colour doesn't match)

Regarding buying fixtures and fittings, people do that and it was especially common with the old Stamp Duty Stamp Duty system where you'd be hit with a massive tax jumps at certain thresholds so people would "buy" the house just under the tax bracket and then buy a house full of furniture to make up the cost of the house tax free. As Jawa said I would recommend turning down the offer for a curtain rail, it's not something you usually take when you move house as they are sized to the property's windows, it's like they would just leave it there and if they don't you have £40 to out towards something you actually want in your new home.

Tomous wrote:...I think they're being gits because they're bitter at the price they've sold at...

Yeah, if you're happy with the house price then it's probably best to keep your head down and roll with any wee shenanigans like this. There could well be some niggles to resolve but you can feel comfortable about the bigger picture :-) .

Moggy wrote:Yeah I remember my uncle moved house and the previous occupants had taken all of the light bulbs AND they even took the toilet.

Heck, that is extreme!

When I moved into my flat the owner wanted to leave two dreadful mattresses and a rotten old cupboard... for £50. I politely declined and requested that they were removed.

BID0 wrote:

Tomous wrote:So, curtain rails.

We’re in the process of buying our first house and we’ve just had the fixture and fittings inventory back and it seems the vendor is taking all the curtain rails except the lounge, where they want £40 to leave them.

Is this the norm? I assumed curtain rails would just be left? And can we require they fill and cover all the holes left by removing the rails? I’ve seen “make walls good” mentioned before, but how do we enforce this? Refuse to exchange if they don’t do it?

Yeh they need to make the walls good if they're leaving holes in them. Making good means filling the holes and then painting them (including painting the entire room if the colour doesn't match)

Regarding buying fixtures and fittings, people do that and it was especially common with the old Stamp Duty Stamp Duty system where you'd be hit with a massive tax jumps at certain thresholds so people would "buy" the house just under the tax bracket and then buy a house full of furniture to make up the cost of the house tax free. As Jawa said I would recommend turning down the offer for a curtain rail, it's not something you usually take when you move house as they are sized to the property's windows, it's like they would just leave it there and if they don't you have £40 to out towards something you actually want in your new home.

This is what I figured. I think we're going to go back to their estate agent's and make sure they understand if they're taking curtain rails we expect the holes to be sorted to that standard.

Regarding fixture and fittings they also want £50 for the fridge and £20 for the microwave. I'm less bothered about paying that though because they seem in decent nick and actually really suit the kitchen. Plus that's the kinda thing that's quite easier to sell online for a bit of cash, if we were to decline.

I gotta admit that I wasn't aware of a need to fill holes and repaint walls if a rail were to be removed; it's the kind of approach that could be expected in a new-build house, but perhaps not for one that is older.

I'd also be loathe to pay £20 for an old microwave, Tom. New ones can be picked up pretty cheaply. It feels like the current owners are trying to extract some last-minute cash and it may be as well to hold off from getting caught up in buying these "extras" from them.

Just wanted to share my experience as I've just become a home owner for the first time. In terms of how long it's taken, from putting in the offer and having it accepted to completing, it's taken us 6 weeks.

We are lucky enough to be friends with an independent mortgage broker, and although they charged us mates rates, they did the exact same job as they would with any of their clients. They found the most suitable mortgage for us, deal with all the applications, find us a reliable and fairly prices solicitor and also sorted us out with home and life insurance to cover us. They take a massive portion of the stress out of buying a house.

Thats not to say its still a massive pain in the ass, stressful and tedious, we felt like our every financial decision for the last year or so was being scrutinised, you feel like you got to justify everything you've every bought etc. Not going to lie I had a few sleepless nights worrying about whether or not we would be accepted for a mortgage etc.

I have to be honest we were only able to afford to buy a place because of a very very kind Grandmother who was happy to give me a portion of my inheritance early. She couldn't believe how expensive it is to buy a house now!

We agreed on £129,500 for the house, we needed a 10% deposit plus fees and moving costs and we decided to pay for an extra months rent where we were living to allow us plenty of time to move. We spent about £15,000 plus we had to buy furniture and appliances and rework the kitchen, that all come to another £2,000 or so.

I have to say though it's best best feeling knowing that, every month that goes by, a few more of these bricks become ours! Plus we are all moved in and set ready for the baby who's due in February!