We bought and are renovating 200 year old derelict house that’s been unoccupied for 20+ years and there’s a driveway leading up to the property that is owned by 2 houses down (some weird historical exchange that is shrouded in mystery). Even though the driveway is outside our house and not theirs, they use it for parking and we aren’t allowed to (I mean fair enough, there’s been no one living here for years).

Every house on this road has internet running underground from access points on the pavement, and overhead is not an option. We have been told by the installation technicians that the cable must cross the boundary of the driveway to get to our house, but that the works will be quick, and they will make good the dug ground on the very same day. And they also said that the dug route would be nicely tucked away to the side and wouldn’t at all affect the neighbours parking during the process.

They knocked on the neighbours door to ask permission to do the works today, and the neighbour refused. The technician came back to us a bit shocked saying that he’s not sure what to do other than for them to do a little survey and send to the neighbour. As of writing this he is off on another job but will come back later with a colleague to do the inspection.

What do we do? This seems so surreal. I never thought we’d be stuck without internet because a neighbour doesn’t want anything done on land they own. It’s quite an unusual situation (I think) but I guess anything goes. Do you have any advice on what we can do?

Also we are exploring buying that land but the neighbour isn’t keen unfortunately. They’re trying to sell so I suppose they’re worried having any works done or any other dealings may cause friction in their attempts to sell?

Happy housing! (Idk it’s my first time being a homeowner, ive gotta sign off with something)

——EDIT—— I should’ve specified, the land in question is NOT a tarmac made up drive. It’s literally just a patch of grassy weedy land that has nothing built on it or upkeep. ——EDIT 2—— I also should’ve specified that it states on our title deeds that we have the legal right for any necessary works on utilities through that land to be carried out. Although I think that is for EXISTING utilities, and the house has never had internet. Although it may have had a phone line in the past?

Needed more space for my family so upsized from 3 bed new build that was immaculate to 4 bedroom semi which is older. We understood that there may be a few things to deal with but cannot express how much this has got me down over the last few weeks.

1. Boiler was pretty much on its last legs and not even installed correctly. The flue was not angled correctly and causing issues. On top of this all radiators in the house were rusted to within an inch of their life. We’ve installed new boiler and radiators throughout at a cost of ~4k.

2. From speaking to the new neighbours the previous owner bought a lot of things second hand. Including the 5m x 4m conservatory. Whilst the big space looks nice, the bay windows are bowing outwards towards garden and the roof panels have slipped leading to water ingress. This was the first thing we seen after we obtained keys and we were devastated. Had a conservatory roof bloke out who basically said he wouldn’t sell us a new roof even if we wanted and pretty much beat off ripping it down and blocking up.

3. Main bathroom leaking onto floor and water coming through kitchen ceiling. We are getting this ripped out and repiped and tiled with new suite for ~7k.

4. Downstairs toilet cistern wasn’t attached to the wall and is leaking water. We had this turned off and isolated. Whole thing will need to be ripped out and replaced at some point. Same with the en-suite.

5. Sheer filth. Never seen anything like it in my life. Took me and my Mrs days and weeks to clean the grime away. Carpet on the landing stunk of cat urine so I ripped out but have to have floorboards for now until we get main bathroom renovated.

We had 40k to start with, which we were hoping to use some of to make the house look lovely. The majority of this money is now dedicated to getting the house habitable and safe for my family.

With all of the issues all at once, we don’t have the spare cash for a new conservatory, the cheaper option we thing is to do away with it.

If the offers over price is just a gimmick price to get eyes on the property, why can't you just transparently tell us the real amount the seller is looking for instead of making us waste time guessing?

And when we believe your messaging, why is that a problem? We saw a beautiful house which was listed for 380K. We left it alone. It was reduced to 360K. We offered 365K as FTB buyers no chain. Apparantly the owner still wants home report or close to which is 400K. Well your price is your price and it's your house I respect that, but if you failed to achieve that price from people with a 380 budget, aren't people with a 360K budget likely to offer less?

London clay has been in the news lately, and there's been a lot of posts on this sub about huge new cracks appearing in people's homes after this summer's historic drought. Tl;dr - all of London is essentially built on clay, which expands and contracts depending on rainfall. While this hasn't really been a problem for centuries, it is increasingly going to become one now. Drought conditions make London more than anywhere else in the country susceptible to subsidence risk. Subsidence can make properties un-insurable, un-mortgageable, and potentially unsafe to live in - so, essentially unsellable.

As someone who is about to buy a period property in London (Victorian) - those with the greatest risk of subsidence, given their shallow foundations - this is freaking me out. British Geological Survey released this summer indicates 54% of London properties will be at risk of subsidence by 2070 under high-emissions scenario, 26% under moderate-emissions scenario. Certain boroughs & property types are more at risk, but these numbers aren't good for anyone.

I know many people may shrug and say 'shit happens, you can't control this' - but for those of you trying to buy property in London right now, how is this information impacting your decision making, if at all?

Hi everyone, looking for some advice or to hear from anyone who has gone through a similar situation.
We found our dream house, put in a couple of bids, and finally had an offer accepted. Right after acceptance, I called the estate agent to request that the property be marked as Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC). However, the agent advised us that the seller requested it remain listed for "personal reasons." In hindsight, that red flag should have tipped me off, but we moved forward.

Fast forward three months: we were fully prepared to complete in just 5 days. I had already transferred our funds to our solicitor in anticipation of completion. Then, out of nowhere, the seller’s wife called our solicitor directly. She informed them that they are currently going through divorce proceedings, their financial settlement hasn't been resolved, the court is involved with the property, and as a result, completion cannot happen.
Looking back at all the paperwork and official documents, only the husband’s name was listed as the owner. We had no idea a wife even existed, let alone that they were going through a divorce, until her phone call to our solicitor.

We have asked our solicitors to reach out to the seller's side to ask what the official next steps are, as we are completely clueless about where this can even go from here.

My partner and I are absolutely distraught and feel like we’ll never get our dream home. We've invested so much time, emotion, and money into this process. Has anyone been through something similar? What typically happens next in this situation, and is there any chance this sale can eventually go through? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

We’ve viewed a property that ticks most of our boxes after a really long period of not finding anything suitable however it comes with a list of covenants. The most important ones are:

13.6 Not to use the property for any purpose other than as a single private dwelling in one occupation only.

13.6.1 Not to plant any hedge or tree on any part of the property which exceeds 3.0480 metres in height and not to allow any hedge or tree on the property to grow to a height in excess of 3.048 metres.

13.6.2 Not to do or omit to do or permit or suffer to be done or omitted to be done any act matter or thing on or about the Property which causes or may be or become an annoyance nuisance damage or disturbance to the Transferor or the owner/occupier for the time being of the Retained Land.

13.6.3 Not to make any alteration or addition to the exterior or external appearance of the Property or the building on the Property except at the rear of it

13.6.4 Not to open any new windows or other opening (whether temporary or otherwise) on the south side of the property overlooking the Retained land

Long story short, the neighbour lived in this house and sold it but kept a strip of land and added these covenants. He is now 82 and they date back from 2000s.

We don’t plan to make major alterations, plant any trees but find the point about nuisance very broad and personal. We do have a very active toddler and do like to host the odd bbq in summer. The house is detached so the main concern would be the time spent in garden.
Are these massive red flags? How would he go about challenging these?

I’m looking to purchase a maisonette which comes with an allocated parking space. I’ve been there twice and couldn’t find any bay with my house number on because all of the paint has faded away

I’ve checked the land registry and old google maps photos and can confirm that I do have a parking space. When cross checking the position, another car has been parked in that spot on both occasions that I visited

Would it be unreasonable of me to ask the seller to get that parking bay marked and numbered prior to purchase? I don’t really fancy having to fight my neighbours about parking from day 1

Based in England

Hello,

I have recently moved into my first home, it's a 3 bedroom detached built between 1990-1995. The front of the houses are all open plan with no fencing.

The neighbouring property next door was also for sale at the same time as the house I have purchased.

The neighbours have now moved into their home. I haven't spoken or met the neighbours yet (for some strange reason). They have done a few things that have already annoyed me though, or maybe I'm just being bitter for no reason (explained in further detail below)?

Because the front gardens are open plan, we have caught them on our doorbell camera walking straight over our grass/land (again I wouldn't do that if it was me and I have never walked across or in front of the living room windows), although they know it isn't part of their front garden. For the past 2 days, what seems to be their father has been using our side of the garden to cut down the bushes that they have on their side (again, no one has asked us if it's okay to start trampling all over our grass and making it muddy/dirty - am I overreacting here or is it common courtesy to ask if you're going to be doing some work and you need access from the neighbours side of the garden?).

Because they have limited space at the front of their property for parking, they are currently in the process of removing all the bushes at the front of their property and they will be putting a driveway in (we know this because one of our nice neighbours told me).

I noticed this when I moved in 1-2 months ago and it wasn't really a problem then because their side was just full of bushes, but now they are going to be installing a permanent drive way, I feel like I need some advice on this? My back garden fence which separates the two properties at the side leading to the front, it shows that we should actually own more land in the front of our garden and the title plan that I have doesn't really explain it properly.

Please review the picture and the title plan to see what I mean. On the picture, you can see where the bushes are positioned and have been cut down, and you can see the small stone/block divider running down the middle (I have used a red arrow to indicate this). From the back fence, I should own part of what they think is their land.

Picture/Plan

Is this small amount of land worth getting into a bit of hassle over or shall we just let them carry on with their drive way?

Thanks in advance for your help.

We’re a couple in a one bed flat on a fixed term contract from August to January. We signed hoping to renew in the new year. The property was on the market so we understood there was a risk it would sell.

The landlord has just informed us that they accepted an offer on the flat. Now that we’re here, I’ve heard that we are on an assured tenancy legally because the fixed term contracts and no fault evictions have been abolished.

Does that mean we can’t be evicted in the first 12 months of living here and only then be issued a 1A repossession order?

It will surely mean they lose the buyer for the flat but I suspect they didn’t put it on the market with a sitting tenant like they should have.

We don’t want to cause trouble but if there is a legal protection for us we’ll use it! Any knowledge to help us understand and prepare would be really valuable. Thank you!

ORIGINAL POST: https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/comments/1wggvho/the_joys_of_selling/

Just wanted to leave an update on my previous post to let everybody know how it all turned out.

Good news! The house sale went through and we're now in our new house.

The survey went ahead, and we were told by the surveyor they haven't seen anything of major concern, just a few further investigation points. We were told the purchased would have the report by Tuesday (after the survey happened on Friday).

We heard nothing on Tuesday and so proceeded to follow up with our estate agent every day for a decision from the buyers. Friday we still heard nothing which we found strange, but all of a sudden we got a message on Saturday saying the buyers want to complete on Friday. This opened a can of worms because then our movers weren't available for that day so created a rush to find new ones, but thankfully it all worked out in the end!

For those who end up in a similar situation, hopefully this positive turn out makes you feel reassured that it's not a definite fall through or gazundering scenario!

We bought a couple of years ago and are unexpectedly in a position to upsize so are selling because we've found a bigger place. Our buyers have asked whether we had a survey done and if they could see it. Yes there's an argument about them being "cheeky" or charging them for the privilege, etc., we're not really fussed about that side of things - it's not wholly unreasonable and might speed things along.

Our survey didn't flag anything of major note - usual arse covering by the surveyor, some issues that having lived here we know aren't issues, one or two things we dealt with since, etc. Potential damp on one wall got flagged ("high readings") which I suspect was overkill as we've had zero evidence of any issues there at all. A few things they might be worried about, as with all surveys, but nothing we've had any issues with (and frankly that survey missed things we definitely did have issues with!)

Anyway, my thinking is if we don't share the survey they'll probably get their own one done which will likely turn up the same (or new) issues anyway. Presumably there's a chance they try and save a few quid by not getting one at all, but that seems unlikely. If we do share our survey they might take things in stride or want additional investigations, money off, etc....but then that would happen with a new survey anyway.

Just wondering about the practicalities, anyone with a similar experience, pros and cons etc. Not a generic "screw 'em, make them pay for their own" answer, because that doesn't really help anything.

We had a mold surveyor come in recently for various concerns and they rated our air quality ‘hazardous with a serious risk to health’ due to severe damp.

We are just renting - is this normal? Should we get a second opinion?

I have placed and offered and the offer has been accepted by the sellers, now I am in the process of conveyancing with my solicitor.

The sellers have started advertising the property with a different agent and at a higher price because he feels that conveyancing takes too long.

I sort of have the sentiment that trust has been broken. First he's not happy with my agent and second, he's not happy with the price and if anybody offers more the sale might break for me at any stage.

Honest answers I don't seem to get. My solicitor knows about this and since he's on a no win no fee I fear that his motivation to work quicker is not there any more as the deal might fall through easily and his work will never be financially rewarded.

Exchanged contracts 3 weeks ago, due to complete in 2 weeks. Seller is now refusing to let us view before completion, stating it does not suit as she is in the process of moving. We just wanted to cast a quick eye over it to make sure no big issues between exchanges and completion - anything we can do?

TIA

Just to add - we did a viewing the day before exchange. FTB so not sure what normal process is. Estate agent had told us previously that a pre complement viewing is fairly normal. Thanks for all the info.

We instructed our solicitor at the start of September and have just received confirmation of completion date for start of November. I know we’re still not there yet but we’ve been really lucky with how things have gone so far I can’t actually believe it.

The thing that took the longest is waiting at the start for 3 weeks for the offer to be accepted. Other than the from start to finish this has taken 2 months.

*Edit - No chain, ftb moving into an empty house

Hi All

we had a buyer on our house and they pulled out this week after about 4 weeks of progress being made, putting us back to square one.

We have come to the realisation/acceptance hat we are likely not to find another buyer in the next few weeks and collapsing our chain.

Therefore we are likely to decide to take our house of the market within the next month, look to do some changes to the house to improve its presentation etc and come back to the market next March/Apr as a new listing as it will be stale listing and not do anything further.

In terms of price wise we feel the price is fine for the size of the house etc as there have been a few houses sold stc for the same price bracket within a 1/2 mile radius in the last month as been keeping an eye on the market, so feel the pricing is fair.

in terms of what ideas we currently have is
1)replacing the carpet on the stairs/landing to match the bedrooms (the carpet is battered and needs replacing)
2)replacing the carpet in the lounge to an earthy brown and painting the wall behind the tv in green.
3) adding more picture frames/plants etc on the landing/lounge to make it appear more homely.
4) replace the vanity units in the ensuite. We want to replace these and have new ones when we moved so thinking doing it now and take the units with us.
5) in the guest room we are thinking of getting rid of the bed/bed units and replace with a sofa bed(something we have decided to do when moving anyway)

does anyone have any other ideas we could potentially do to improve its presentation and increase its selling chances for when we revisit it next year.

link to our property as below:

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/73675982/

any advice is appreciated.

We have seen a house that we love which is going to best and final and I have a few questions. Our house is sold to first time buyers who are renting. It sold for more than what the house we want to buy is currently listed for. The house we're viewing is in a new location, with scope to extend and is honestly the best thing we've seen for months. As it's less than our budget, we are potentially competing with first time buyers. Besides the obvious, putting a strong offer in, how can we sell ourselves? We intend to send our agreement in principle, although we hope to port our mortgage (not sure if we should mention that?!). Do we need to tell the EA our LTV? We will also mention that we can move in with family if needed while we wait for this house. Should we disclose any additional savings (not exact amounts)? TIA

When selling a house to buy a house, at what stage of the process should you start getting a solicitor on board? Conscious of spending money on a solicitor to potentially end up not making a sale ?

So we put in an offer an about 2 weeks ago it got accepted. Was told they will stop any further viewing. Brilliant so we started our searches , got survey done then I look online as you do at the house several time over to find it’s now marked as available!!! With no communication and my anxiety through the roof. I can’t believe how much money you put in for solicitors, surveys and broker and it can’t go tits up so easily !! I’ve emailed the estate agent but obviously it’s evening I hope it’s a genuine mistake and the fix it: but it doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Partner and I are FTB in South UK. Our offer was accepted and we got a lvl2 survey done on the 3b end of terrace, which has shown a few "urgent" actions needed. Our questions are mainly, how serious are these things, and who might be liable for the costs? I'm unsure what is the standard for whether or not the seller "needs" (I know this is also down to the seller, I'm mainly unsure how much leeway we have to negotiate) to make the repairs, or if it's more normal to just get them to get the further investigations or none of that and it would be all on us! I've done so much research my head hurts but I can't seem to get a solid idea on these specific faults found...

• Rear chimney has been partially removed from ground floor and first floor, but the loft chunk is still there and held by "a single timber member loosely embedded into the adjoining brickwork" (I can't add a picture but imagine a chimney stack of bricks sitting one one diagonal 2x4) Survey suggests investigation should be done before exchange of contracts, so does this indicate it would be down to the seller to do and remediate?
• "Positive moisture meter readings (reading was 41) were recorded to the party wall within the bathroom. This suggests that moisture penetration may be occurring due to ineffective weatherproofing to the projecting party wall arrangement above roof level. We recommend that the arrangement is inspected and overhauled as necessary, including the provision or renewal of suitable lead flashings and associated seals to ensure a weathertight finish." They said in a different bit that it looks like there is visible evidence of the damp in the paint.
• Outer wall shows evidence of damp (the 4 readings they pictured were all above 20 with one of them at 26.6) that is likely rising damp, they point to a couple different possibilities but they couldn't see the damp proof course due to rendering so not sure how much above the ground it is, and also the rendering could be bridging it (they recommend chipping away the rendering below and installing a bellcast). There's also a downspout on one corner that just dumps onto the ground and from the pic looks like it pools there, they said this probably contributes but not the main cause of the damp
• Cavity wall ties... There's horizontal cracks in the render that may indicate the cavity wall ties being corroded, the build is 1890ish and others around also show evidence of cavity wall tie corrosion/failure. This one seems to be the most pressing? But would the wall tie survey cost be down to us or the seller? Or how much bargaining power do we have to ask for the seller to cover it?
• This was not listed as urgent but the rendering is cracked/damaged, and they say it "may" need replacing. They said there's hollow sounds when knocking in some places as well. There's already some repaired patches too. How concerned should we be about this?
• A few other less urgent things- The mastic sealing around all the windows and doors needs redoing, damp readings in the loft with accompanying notes that "existing tile and cement listing arrangements to the projecting party walls appear ineffective", gable end of the rear roof does not incorporate a wet verge, resulting in exposed and inadequately sealed tile edges (no defects associated with that detected), "the tile roof covering has not been properly cut back adjoining the sloping valley which conceals the true state of the valley lining material and is also likely to encourage a build-up of debris. This could, in turn, result in damp penetration issues. The tiles adjoining the valley should be trimmed back and pointed up as necessary. The condition of the lining material should also be checked at the same time, no eaves (/loft) ventilation, current loft insulation is thinner than the recommended standard by 40mm, roof underlay is open in spots but they say to just do it when roof covering is next redone, plaster in one area seems to be de laminating due to the previously mentioned damp, and they couldn't find an internal stopcock for the water (I know it's not necessary but it is pretty helpful when you need one)

Thank you so much for reading and I can follow up with any other details, my partner and I are both autistic so the whole 'negotiation' thing is really unnatural and difficult for us so we're trying to gauge what we can do with this survey information! Should we also send the survey to our solicitor to get their advice? Cheers and have a good one :)

I am trying to sell my 3-bed bungalow which is of Hawksley BL8 non-standard construction with an external brick skin, but I keep hitting a wall with £0 valuations from lenders and surveyors, while standard mortgage and bridging attempts have failed. Has anyone successfully sold a Hawksley BL8 near market value recently, and are there specific specialist lenders, brokers, or regional investor networks in the East Midlands that actually accept this build with brick skin? I had no problem having a mortgage for past 6 years with Nationwide and Barclays but potential buyers are being rejected for the mortgage on my property.

Thank you

So as the title says - it’s exactly that. We have no current loans or debt etc, but a group of smaller silly historical debts such as store cards etc.

We have always previously rented - did everything back to front, had the kids before stability but anyhow! We moved out of our rental last Feb 2025 and into father in laws house, long story short we covered his rent so he could pay his arrears off.. we had planned to stay there and look after him in his old age, but he didn’t pay his arrears and so now they are proceeding for possession, unbeknownst to us at the time.

That’s obviously fast tracked us over a 5 month period, whereby we realised rental prices are on a par with mortgages in our area. So we’ve gone down the new build home route as it’s favourable to our circumstances and time is not on our side. We have a 5% deposit but would struggle saving up more in the timeframe we have, although the developer is putting in 5% too. Bare in mind, prior to this I had not a single clue about mortgages etc.

So we pass affordability etc, but due to our adverse credit the lender has lay down some stipulations such as, clearing the debts before completion and a hefty product fee. We haven’t fully submitted the application yet, but this whole process in 3 months has made me physically ill. I am so anxious over the whole thing, it feels like we are being pecked at left right and centre.

I know we aren’t the easiest, most eligible customers due to a combination of adverse credit and our limited time saving funds, but we’ve learnt a lot and got on board in a short space of time.

I am just wondering if this feeling of exhaustion and depletion is normal? It almost feels like we aren’t worthy of a new home. It is beating me down!! I just know if we go back into a rental we’ll get stuck.

Hi everyone,

I posted my original Rightmove advert here yesterday and got some really good feedback. I have now updated the photos and the floorplan to hopefully make the listing look much better than before:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/94265529#/?channel=RES_BUY

A bit of background:
We are looking to sell so we can buy a property closer to family (we've already moved nearby as renters). We are using a DIY online agent this time. Our previous high-street agent listed it way too high and just wanted to drop the price every week when there was no interest, without adding any real value.

About the listing & tenants:

• The flat is currently tenanted and achieving £1,899 PCM.
• It will be sold with vacant possession and no upper chain, unless a buy-to-let investor purchases it and explicitly wants to keep the tenants on.
• I took all the photos myself. The very first photo is an original from when it was empty when we bought it (to show the true size and space). The rest show it as it is now. Does this mix of empty vs. furnished photos work, or is it confusing?

What I'd love your advice on:

1. General Appeal: It’s a very large (1,065 sq ft) duplex flat right in central Watford, so it could suit a range of buyers—from professionals and commuters to small families or FTBs. Does the listing do a good job of appealing to a broad audience?
2. Investors: Given the £1,899 monthly rent and the central location, does this layout and presentation appeal to buy-to-let investors, or should I lean into marketing it differently?

Any constructive criticism on the photos, description, or floorplan is much appreciated! Thanks again.

Anyone else been in this position?

Offer accepted on a house, we are chain free, seller said they were chain free. Had us believing completion was on the horizon only to then tell us she is buying a new build and needs 2-3 more weeks. 3 weeks are up and we have had no reply from sellers solicitor about a completion date.

New builds are in my town so I can see the first phase is built and they are soon opening a show home. We only have 2 months left on our mortgage offer. Any advice?