Posted December 12, 2016 you may be able to get one, and smaller, that works fine anyway. New radiators are a lot more efficient, so depends on the size of the room. How many watts do you need? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 13, 2016 I was a bit meh when i finally got my keys too, mostly because of the panic and EVERYTHING that had to be done (moving wise, notice for rent blah blah blah) and all that after the stress of the messing around legally. Glad you got your house though, it WILL hit you and you will be excited soon! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2016 Got a viewing later today. Any tips on what to do if you love the first place you see but know you shouldn't go for it without seeing others?... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2016 I once missed out on an awesome place because of that, it was gone in a day or two and I never saw anywhere better. There's always possibly somewhere better out there. What you don't know can't hurt you Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2016 What's to stop you going for it, while looking at other places anyway. It'll be a long time before you complete and either side can still pull out anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2016 Yeah just realised that's the right answer ^ The process is long and slow and you can drop out any time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 16, 2016 If it feels like it's the one for you, then don't let the fact you haven't seen any others stop you. We had a similar thing happen when we rented this flat, it was the first one we saw... we decided to look at some others but they were all a bit shit, so just went for this one anyway. With our house, we only saw 3, the one we bought being the third (this is after more than a year of looking at properties online and filtering them out). If it's right, then just go for it. Just make sure you check the place properly for any hidden faults or things like that! We knew our place would need some work, but it is turning out to be a bit more than we realised! We had someone look at the electricity yesterday and he said that what was in there was probably illegal now haha! :P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 20, 2016 I once missed out on an awesome place because of that, it was gone in a day or two and I never saw anywhere better. There's always possibly somewhere better out there. What you don't know can't hurt you Turns out it doesn't matter. It was sold before we even had the chance to see it. Bob is definitely right. As you can pull out until the missives are signed there's nothing stopping you viewing other places. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 24, 2016 My sale and purchase went relatively smoothly. Put the house up for sale in early September, moved in to this new house last week. Put my house up for sale for £5k above the price I was prepared to accept and got an offer for asking price within a week. Had a little problem when the survey was done as I needed to get a new roof done which cost 3 grand, so still got £2k over what I wanted. Would have preferred knocking the money off the price but my buyer insisted I took care of it as he was out of the country. That was the only real wobble. New house is great, it's at least 3 times bigger than my old one, which was tiny. My 2 year old loves the space we have now as well. Everyone said we were nuts moving a week before Christmas, but if anything, I think it's made us more organised. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 27, 2016 We want to install new plug sockets in our living room and bedroom, as well as replacing the covers for the sockets and light switches. We were in the process of hiring somebody to do this job, but Ine's Father has said that he can do this and he would like to get it done before we start painting the walls and putting the flooring in. I'm a bit unsure about the legality of this and if we're able to do so, or if you need to be a qualified electrician in order to do this sort of work. Any ideas? We've found a link to this Government web page here. 2. When you don't need approval You don’t need to apply for approval yourself if the work isn’t covered by building regulations, or if it’s carried out by someone who’s registered with a competent person scheme. Work that doesn’t need approval You don’t need building regulations approval for some exempt projects, including: - most repairs, replacements and maintenance work (except heating systems, oil tanks, fuse boxes and glazing units) - new power and lighting points, or changes to existing circuits (except around baths and showers) - like-for-like replacements of baths, toilets, basins and sinks Does that essentially mean that we can carry this out ourselves? He says that he has done this sort of work before and we've also got Ine's Uncle there too who has done this before, too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 27, 2016 I think you should be okay if it's just something simple like installing new sockets, I'm sure my Dad has done it a few times over the years and he's not a qualified electrician. I think it would only become an issue if you were completely replacing the wiring in the house, then you'd obviously need to get all the usual safety checks but just installing new sockets should be fine if her Dad knows what he's doing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 27, 2016 Replacing sockets is a piece of cake. I did most of ours. It's literally clamping 3 wires into the relevant holes, then using a plug in tester to make sure you did it right. it's almost exactly like wiring a plug, so there should be no problems allowing anyone to do it. Installing new ones is a bit trickier, since it involves wiring behind walls. Although it.does appear from your quote that anyone can do it. I personally would want someone qualified to do it if it involves wiring a new circuit in, but I can imagine it's a similarly easy job. Also, get sockets with USB slots on. They're cool and are no extra work to install, although they will charge things slower than a normal socket. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 5, 2017 lolyea my dad installed my oven, i ripped out my electrics for my electric heater. Its only a legal issue when you're talking about somewhere where you may be employing people, then you need to have strict safety regs. Even landlords generally don't give a shit (even though they should) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2017 If it feels like it's the one for you, then don't let the fact you haven't seen any others stop you. We had a similar thing happen when we rented this flat, it was the first one we saw... we decided to look at some others but they were all a bit shit, so just went for this one anyway. With our house, we only saw 3, the one we bought being the third (this is after more than a year of looking at properties online and filtering them out). If it's right, then just go for it. I feels this, I loved the house we're in now when we first viewed it. The Tardis-esque nature of the place and hidden garden seemed too good to be true for the area, but Kelly didn't want to pin the hopes on lest we found something better, never did and almost missed out on the place but the other deal fell through. Just make sure you check the place properly for any hidden faults or things like that! We knew our place would need some work, but it is turning out to be a bit more than we realised! We had someone look at the electricity yesterday and he said that what was in there was probably illegal now haha! :P Top teep for everyone: Take someone professional with you, if you can. Even if it's just someone older who knows more about DIY/leccy shizzle than you who has more of a chance pointing out something you may think is "normal" We want to install new plug sockets in our living room and bedroom, as well as replacing the covers for the sockets and light switches. We were in the process of hiring somebody to do this job, but Ine's Father has said that he can do this and he would like to get it done before we start painting the walls and putting the flooring in. I'm a bit unsure about the legality of this and if we're able to do so, or if you need to be a qualified electrician in order to do this sort of work. Any ideas? We've found a link to this Government web page here. Does that essentially mean that we can carry this out ourselves? He says that he has done this sort of work before and we've also got Ine's Uncle there too who has done this before, too. Unless you're tearing down walls (which could potentially be lode-bearing?) you should be fine. I've replaced two light fittings (one took me awhile as I kept getting the order mixed up, kept flip reversing it in my mind) and re-rewired a plug as we chopped off the plug so we would thread the wire through a wall. If you can do it with just screwdrivers of varying size, you should be fine. This reminds me, I do need to sometime get around to changing the plug sockets round here with some ones with USB sockets in them, which I bought when we moved in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 7, 2017 Well we've had a crazily busy few weeks, the last week being the worst! We spent our Christmas break in Belgium, basically looking at furniture and things for the house, going to IKEA twice as well to have a browse (which luckily is just down the road from where my parents live). Ordered loads of things to get delivered this week. Had electricity guys come over to fit a new fuse board (seems ours was illegal, haha) and do the electricity inspection, which took most of the day. Had my dad, mom and uncle come over from Belgium on Monday for a week to help sort out things in the house. Jim and I had already ripped out most of the carpet. We even found carpet underneath carpet! My uncle removed part of the fireplace (the shitty fake marble that was around it), and the horrible cupboard thing under the stairs that just took up loads of space: The floor we're putting in is a pretty neutral laminate (we couldn't decide on the colour, so just went with something that should work anywhere). It's a big difference from the shitty carpets that were there before (which were different in every room): Most rooms have the new floor now, apart from the entrance hall, smallest bedroom and some bits in the upstairs hallway. They also painted the ceilings white again, got rid of the skirting boards, put now floorboards under the laminate in the main bedroom, put lining paper over the wall in the main bedroom and most of the living room (to hide cracks and bumps and so we can paint over it), gave us some extra plug sockets, refitted most of the single ones with doubles, put the new covers on the sockets and switches, put up a doorbell... They basically did lots of work! They arrived Monday at noon and left last night at 6pm (getting home at 2am, ouch!). The house isn't finished yet, but it's starting to look a lot better already! We are also looking to have our bathroom done in the next two weeks, so we will be spending this weekend looking for bathroom fittings and tiles. Fun! :P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 23, 2017 How much generally would people recommend you put aside for fees and costs and stuff when buying a house? We're trying to work out what our deposit might look like, but we want to make sure we aren't blindsided by hidden solicitor costs etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 23, 2017 at the *very* least 1000 for solicitor. (costs increase with value of house) I had very few moving costs, moved everything bar big goods in my own car, hired a man in a van to do one single big lift, was 50 quid. You may have mortgage fees but some banks will incorporate that into mortgage. May need a few hundred for general maintenance stuff. Depending on what you have and if the stuff in the place you pick exists/works. Whatever way the heating works, chimney sweep/boiler check is ESSENTIAL. My boiler wasn't run for over a year and had dangerous material wrapped around the pipes -_- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 25, 2017 How much generally would people recommend you put aside for fees and costs and stuff when buying a house? We're trying to work out what our deposit might look like, but we want to make sure we aren't blindsided by hidden solicitor costs etc. It really depends on the price of the house and if you plan to do work in the house you're buying, if you need furniture etc. We've spent a loooooooot of money, but then we've basically been redoing half the house (new floor, new fuse box, new sockets and switches, painted, completely new bathroom, furniture...). Things you will definitely need to pay for: - solicitor fees (we paid about £1400 in total I think, which included solicitor fees, search fees, bank fees, Help to Buy fees,...) - stamp duty (depends on the house price, you an calculate it here: https://www.stampdutycalculator.org.uk/) - homebuyers survey (we paid £540 for a level 2 report) - if you use a mortgage advisor, you might have to pay them too (£250 in our case) - there might be mortgage set-up fees, which usually get added to your mortgage And then of course anything you need to fix in the house, or buy for it. So yeah, definitely make sure you save up enough money! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 25, 2017 How much generally would people recommend you put aside for fees and costs and stuff when buying a house? We're trying to work out what our deposit might look like, but we want to make sure we aren't blindsided by hidden solicitor costs etc. I'd maybe say about three grandish on top of the stamp duty. Should cover solicitors, reports, searches etc well enough. Depends what quotes you're getting form the solicitors though - I went with a licensed conveyancer who were at a distance and whilst cheaper than a local solicitors were a bit of a hassle in getting documents done/approved, and added some extras for basic shit, but yeah. I'd say get your quotes for the conveyancing side, then add stamp duty, then maybe a grand for the extras such as searches etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 25, 2017 Also, I would recommend going with a solicitor near you, just to make things easier. Ask around with friends and family to see which one they might recommend. Whatever you do, don't go with a shitty online one! Our sellers went with the one recommended by Purplebricks (Ezie Conveyancing I think) and they were absolutely shit! They took ages to get anything done, delayed the process loads and our solicitor could never get a hold of them! On the day of the move, they were supposed to transfer the funds they received from us on to the next person in the chain, and they just delayed this... we didn't get the keys until the early evening, as the sellers were waiting for their solicitors to move things along. D: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 25, 2017 If you go with the same solicitor as the seller, does it make the process quicker, i wonder? Do they organise meetings with themselves? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 25, 2017 If you go with the same solicitor as the seller, does it make the process quicker, i wonder? Do they organise meetings with themselves? It really depends, I would say not significantly so. You can have delays with money, the vendor themselves, surveys, and all kinds of legal things. My house was not registered in Land Registry (even tho it should have been in the last transaction) and it would have made no difference if I had the same solicitor as them or not. Infact I think my solicitor made it faster as he was constantly on the ball with them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 26, 2017 Dear god, how much stuff can two people own?! I feel like there is no end to all this packing! D: It seems that about half of our stuff is game related as well. I'm not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed haha! Only have tomorrow evening and Saturday morning and evening left to pack the rest, somehow move it to the house and clean everything too! This includes moving some of Jim's weights too, fun! :P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 26, 2017 Yeah i cleaned out all my stuff when i was moving and packed some stuff i wouldn't immediately need. Still had so much CRAP. Never moving again lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
