Buying a house (and renting)

Finiarél wrote:Just asked our landlord if we can get a deck built. Wonder if he'd like to contribute to the cost....

From a landlords point of view I would say it’s highly unlikely they would want to contribute towards the cost, if you intend to rent that house for a while and will get enjoyment from it then do it

I've spent the past hour and a half looking for rental properties for me 'n' Mrs. Choc, and I've got a bone to pick.

Namely, the strawberry floating jammy landlord bastards that weasel through the houseshare and student filters by advertising these ramshackle crackdens as "1 Bed Apartment! In 4 bed converted terrace", or "3 Bed terrace 400pcm! Per person based on three sharing"

strawberry floating die off, the lot of you. Charlatans.

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Why is this country full of semi-detached and terraced houses? Apparently its unique to the UK! It's disgusting that people are forced to live so close to their neighbours with no privacy. I had to live in one when I was renting and you could hear next door sometimes and now I live in a flat (which I regret) and I can hear even more noise.
My neighbours are not going to like me lol but I've been knocking on their doors telling them to turn their TVs down, be quieter if they have floorboards etc. Im gonna start printing off the council advice noise leaflets and posting it through to them next!

Fact is I shouldn't need to do all this as they should have common sense. God as im typing I can hear her stupid dog barking...luckily its an old dog.

Thanks rant over!

Why do I get the feeling an episode of The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door starring No:1 Final Fantasy Fan would go down in history as the greatest television ever produced !

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:Why is this country full of semi-detached and terraced houses? Apparently its unique to the UK! It's disgusting that people are forced to live so close to their neighbours with no privacy.

Out of curiosity, what were you expecting? The vast majority of the non-homeless UK population live in properties that adjoin another in some way. I live in a semi-detached house, but the part of mine and my neighbours houses that are adjoined are the staircases, so we never hear each other.

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:I had to live in one when I was renting and you could hear next door sometimes and now I live in a flat (which I regret) and I can hear even more noise.

This is unfortunate, and inconsiderate neighbours can become tiresome very quickly. But sometimes it is unavoidable depending on the property. If you move in the future then you should probably scout the neighbours for kids, also, as you probably won't want to listen to them being noisy all the time.

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:My neighbours are not going to like me lol but I've been knocking on their doors telling them to turn their TVs down, be quieter if they have floorboards etc. Im gonna start printing off the council advice noise leaflets and posting it through to them next!

If they have floorboards, what are you expecting them to do? If the floors are sub-standard then it's a landlord issue. Good luck with that.

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:God as im typing I can hear her stupid dog barking... luckily its an old dog.

That is not very nice.

Chocolate-Milk wrote:I've spent the past hour and a half looking for rental properties for me 'n' Mrs. Choc, and I've got a bone to pick.

Namely, the strawberry floating jammy landlord bastards that weasel through the houseshare and student filters by advertising these ramshackle crackdens as "1 Bed Apartment! In 4 bed converted terrace", or "3 Bed terrace 400pcm! Per person based on three sharing"

strawberry floating die off, the lot of you. Charlatans.

Welcome to Landlord Britain. The country that celebrates those with money/property and demonises those without.

Buy-to-let should be illegal.

One of the benefits of living in a terraced or semi detached house is that you can listen to the neighbours strawberry float.

Not my words, but the words of Foxtons.

Oblomov Boblomov wrote:Buy-to-let should be illegal.

I mostly agree, but there does need to be something in its place - like more social or affordable housing. And like strawberry float are we getting that under this government.

Qikz wrote:

Prototype wrote:I wonder what percentage of first time buyers in the UK get their deposit or at least part of it from Mummy and Daddy?

My entire deposit I got from my mum passing away :/

I didn't even know she had any money either.

Sorry about your mum SD.

It's not like she just handed you it like some people are lucky enough to. THat's your Mother's cumulative wealth over the period of her entire life.

My comment was aimed at people asking why people pay more for rents when mortgages are cheaper, whilst happily talking money of their folks to do so.

Me, two years ago.

Drumstick wrote:If it was up to me, any couple, commercial entity or individual owning more than two domestic properties in this country would be illegal. Citizens with multiple properties would have a certain amount of time (2 years IMO) to sell up or be forced into selling them to the government for 80% of the market value. Said plan would end up lowering house prices to semi-affordable levels at worst without crashing the market or the economy.

Of course, nothing like this will ever come to pass because some of the people that abuse the housing market are MPs and they're making more money off that than their salaries pay them.

Oblomov Boblomov wrote:Buy-to-let should be illegal.

What if I'm buying a terraced house?

Victor Mildew wrote:What if I'm buying a terraced house?

Work harder, buy the two adjoining properties, and knock them down.

You are now the proud owner of 1 detached house.

Prototype wrote:

Qikz wrote:

Prototype wrote:I wonder what percentage of first time buyers in the UK get their deposit or at least part of it from Mummy and Daddy?

My entire deposit I got from my mum passing away :/

I didn't even know she had any money either.

Sorry about your mum SD.

It's not like she just handed you it like some people are lucky enough to. THat's your Mother's cumulative wealth over the period of her entire life.

My comment was aimed at people asking why people pay more for rents when mortgages are cheaper, whilst happily talking money of their folks to do so.

Ah yes, I wondered that as well until I saw how little you can actually get a mortgage for. It's so strawberry floating dumb. If people can pay 900pm for rent for 3 years and have proven they can, why can they only strawberry floating get the equivalent of 300pm mortgage. It's just stupid as strawberry float.

I'm not sure how No1... thinks it's unique to the UK, every country in the world is going to have mainly adjoined properties.

Maybe he spends his time watching 90s US sitcoms where the family has a massive detached house in the suburbs, paid for with just a single wage.

Drumstick wrote:

No:1 Final Fantasy Fan wrote:My neighbours are not going to like me lol but I've been knocking on their doors telling them to turn their TVs down, be quieter if they have floorboards etc. Im gonna start printing off the council advice noise leaflets and posting it through to them next!

If they have floorboards, what are you expecting them to do? If the floors are sub-standard then it's a landlord issue. Good luck with that.

If they choose to have floorboards then she should be considerate and use a rug under moving furniture like chairs/stools. The last time I complained, i asked her if she was moving furniture everyday and she was like no...I was like well I can hear it. Turns out it was her sliding wardrobe with wheels that rolled against the floorboards each time she opened it. I told her kindly to do it slowly or do something about it. My words were its causing a mini earthquake in my flat!

Since then she has stopped making the noise magically...therefore it is possible but people usually are just inconsiderate. My next issue with her is the sounds of moving chairs which have this annoying thud of a scrapping sound multiple times a day. It's only started these past 2 weeks so I don't know why it's happening suddenly.

I looked it up online and in some places in the UK floorboards are not allowed and must be covered up. Others state that insulation must be placed underneath floorboards to deaden sounds. I will be contacting the council this week to ask if they are implementing such a rule as I cannot find it in my leaseholder t&cs.

i don't think flat-living is for you FFF.

Fact of the matter is that in any flat you live in, you are going to get some form of noise. You are being completely unreasonable.

Maybe spending less on designer gear might allow you to buy a detached house?

Apart from university accommodation, I've only ever lived in flats or maisonettes but I grew up in London so don't see it as too abnormal, only the very fortunate can afford to buy homes in London now.

Apart from suburban North America and probably Australia and New Zealand, I don't think Detached homes are particularly common in most of the Western World.

I know when I bought my flat that one of the leaseholder conditions was that the main rooms do need to be carpeted which is fair enough. Sound proofing between the flats seems pretty good to me. Main downside particularly during good weather whilst on lockdown is no private garden space.

Bunni wrote:Maybe spending less on designer gear might allow you to buy a detached house?

You mean a £750 wallet isn't good value for money? I am shocked!