>>38130 It's the same thing here but we call it consent and certification.

I got to spend a few more hours at the house investigating over the weekend and uncovered some fairly rotten floor joists. In thins room, the worst affected, 5 of the 8 floor joists are rotting on one end :/

I had hoped it would only be a couple of bad joists but with this many I'll just replace all of them. I'm going to try and keep the original floorboards. When I replace the joists I'll also have an opportunity to insulated under the floor and improve the damp situation too. I might even add underfloor heating.

I'll need to contact building control and get advice on what permissions I need and probably talk to an expert to understand the best way to deal with the damp problem. Until I sell the other house I have limited funds but I'll do as much as I can before I move in.

Most work we do around here needs to be done with permits and to be inspected. Looking through this list I can only see one item that I had a permit pulled for in the past (basement finish remodel), the highlighted items have been done sans permit. I hear the fines for no permit can get pretty steep.

Nice photo-shop jobs there :D

If you can do the work yourself it's always far cheaper, although sometimes getting diy work certified can be an expensive pain in the arse.

>>38120 sounds similar to my move. held two houses, one waiting to sell, and one that needed lots of fixes (moisture and rot issues like yours). My rot issues were from leaking doors and windows and one toilet leak. I was quoted $68k for windows. I have since begun replacing the doors and windows myself and I expect to get it all done for under $15k.

>>38121 Park Place baby!

And now you have two houses, you rich bastard! :p

It's a little overwhelming to start with because there are so many things to investigate, fix or change. But overall I'm very happy with it.

I did check out where there is a little damp problem to better understand it and how to fix it. I removed a skirting board and then put an inspection camera down under the floor to see what was there (spoiler alert: a big dark hole!). It's not a major problem and has only caused a bit of skirting board and the end of a floor joist to go a little rotten in the 70-75 years the house has been there, but it needs fixing. I think it's likely the problem is due to condensation where cold air under the house/floor meets the warmer air in the house and causes condensation where the suspended wooden floor meets the brick walls and concrete floor. I need to do more research. I'll probably take the floor up some of the floor boards and get a better look next time I visit the house.

Once I get the damp issue sorted I can start on insulating the house better, but that may have to wait until I live there (I'll have a lot more money for materials once I sell my current house). I'll also be putting in all new outside doors and windows for better heat and sound insulation.

I also need to figure out where I'm going to build a large shed for all my tools.

So much to do :D

And, how does it look?

Thanks guys.

I'm getting the keys on Monday and I'll be going there to install all my surveillance electronics to keep an eye on the place remotely. Hopefully I'll also have time to check out a few things that I plan to fix or replace later.

Congratulations!

Congrats, dude!

Just had a call from my solicitor and I now officially own the house!

Now I need to organise a day to get the keys and sign up with various companies to pay all the bills for electicty, water, local taxes etc. So much fun!?! :S

I might be able to visit Monday. I see if I can organise that over the weekend.

This is now officially a soap like Days of your lives or a comedy like One Foot in the grave..

I wish you all the GOOD luck.

Just had a call from the solicitor as there is going to be a delay in exchange and completion as the sellers solicitors have found they need another document from the seller himself. It's unlikely they can now complete before Friday at the earliest and it's likely to be in to next week. Oh well, it wouldn't be normal for me if it just happened easily right!?! I'll update when I know more...

I spoke with my solicitor today and we are due to exchange contracts today or tomorrow. That means I am legally committed to buying the house. Either tomorrow or the next day I will complete the purchase and then fully own the house.

So by the end of this week I should finally own my new house.

I won't be living there for a while and getting there isn't easy but I'll be checking on it from time to time and might get a chance to do a bit of work on it.

I'll report back once it's all sorted

I don't envy your situation JC, but I do wish you all the luck and strength you'll need to get through it. The housing market has really changed in the past 3-4 years around here too. Again, I don't envy those that are looking to buy.

Considering climate change we might all need to live on boats soon!

I had more people come to view the house today and they seemed to like it. I also heard the people from a couple of weeks ago are very interested ans hope to be able to make an offer soon if they get a buyer for their house.

Now back to resting :)

Good to hear. You need some you time :)

I asked my parents about buying and owning their house, and it's pretty much the same as what you are dealing with. So I'll probably never own my own house which, reading this and hearing my parents, I'm very glad.
Although I would like to own a boat one day..

So it's continued to be busy figuring out all the details to buy the new house. I think I finally have everything worked out and will likely complete the process and take ownership of the house around some time in January.

It's been stressful as fuck trying to sort out some things. The house insurance was a pain in the arse because the rules are different if the house is going to be left empty for longer than 30 days. All the normal house insurance companies wanted nothing to do with it. Eventually I found a specialist company who have offered me a good price and really good conditions about how often the house needs to be inspected. Normally it's required for a empty house to be inspected every 7 days, but the company I found allow up to 14 days which will make things easier seeing as the house is 50 miles away.

Thankfully people are already showing interest in my current house and hopefully soon some will make an offer to buy it at a good price. Once that happens I can think about moving in to the new house.

For now though I can rest and enjoy a break over Christmas. I need it! :D

Good to hear something positive. That's a load [s]in[/s] of your ass.

Holy fuck buckets!

Finally some good news. I've been able to show I have the funds to buy the house with cash today and it's been accepted. I can now proceed to buy the new house.

Hopefully a buyer comes along for the current house soon, but thankfully there isn't any need for it to happen very quickly.

Life is like a box of chocolates. It grabs you by the neck, slaps you around and then fucks you up the arse raw, but then it gives you a kiss on the cheek and a rose so it's all ok. Or something like, I haven't that film in ages!

Thank fuck this all seems to be working out :)

Hopefully even less fuck!

I spoke with the agent for the seller today to update them on the money being available. I think I have until the end of the week to prove I can afford the house now, which should be ok.

I heard from my solicitors that they are both working to sort things out there too and help me prove I have the funds now.

Just need my brother and sister to give me evidence of what they have and then we should be good to go.

It's because of the stress my brother and sister want to help me out. They know how hard this is for me, and how hard it was to find the right house. I'm not sure my mental health will cope with completely starting again.

Fingers crossed we'll be ok now.

Fucking hell, almost feels like I'm watching politics or a soap. :\
I hope everything goes smoothly from now on, as I know how stress can wear one out.

Well maybe slightly less fuck!

I've been talking with my brother and sister and it seems we can probably get our hands on the money we need pretty quickly, should know in the next day or two.

I'm hoping this information will be good enough for the seller of the house I want to continue with the sale to me.

Fuck me! I hope this works out!

Well even more fuck!

Seems the seller of the house I'm trying to buy is going to put the house back on the market to find another buyer. They will still sell to me once I have a new buyer or the money ready to go if they haven't got another buyer. I've asked them to give me a bit of time to get something sorted but I don't expect they will care.

Looks like I have to start again and lose a lot of money too.

Well fuck!

Sadly I learned on Friday that the sale of my house has ended. The reason is not something I expected. One of the buyers just heard he has a serious form of cancer and so they decided it was best to stay where they are amongst friends to deal with it. I can understand that.

It's not great for me though. I have to find another buyer quickly or I will lose the house I want to buy, and the money already spent on that, £2,500+.

My sister and brother have suggested we combine our inheritance money and saving to buy the house I want so we don't lose it. I would then pay them back once the current house sells. I might consider that, but my estate agent has already found 2 different people who are interested in coming to take a look next weekend and might offer to buy. We'll see how that goes.

It's a shitty nightmare situation but maybe it can still be recovered. Time will tell. At least I know where I'll be living for Christmas now.

Probably :/

Maybe they employ sloths?

The only papers I seem to get are bills for solicitors, estate agents, surveyors, heating engineers...

Such a weird way to do business, it almost feels like a Monty Python episode or from the Hitchhiker's guide.

But 450 quid is nice in this day and age.

Still no update on the house sale, it's now a little over 3 months. The buyers had a survey done on the drainage system, which seemed ok for a 50 year old system, but I have no clue if they are happy about it or not.

Because I'm selling the house I'm having to get rid of a few things I won't need or have room for at the new house. Today I sold my tractor mower. I'm very sad to see it go :/

I got £460 for it though, which isn't bad for a 25 year old mower :)

Slow as fuck!

It's been 2 1/2 months and things are heading in the right direction, but I don't understand why it's taking so long. It should have been done by now :/

So far as I know pretty much all the legal stuff is done but just yesterday I get a request to have a survey done on some stuff. It's normal that you get things surveyed but not to wait so long before arranging it!?!

Most of my belongings are in boxes now so it's bloody frustrating to still have no clue when I'm moving.

The worst part of it is that I am so tired now I really just can't deal with all this shit any more. I hope I get the chance to rest soon so I can hopefully get some energy back. Being ill and moving house at the same time really fucking sucks :(

And how's it going with the transfer?

Currently it doesn't make much difference what the rating is other than lower ratings mean it'll cost more to heat. However we already have a law that says all rental property must be E or better. My building surveyor told me that at some point it is expected to become law that people buying a house with a rating of D or worse will have to pay a higher rate of property tax. This will make it harder to sell properties with D or worse ratings and the government hope will make people insulate their homes better.

Does having a higher or lower rating come with extra cost? I mean for sellers/buyers or is it just a tax benefit/increase?

We have energy ratings on homes too, it's called EPC which range from A (super insulated home) to G (you live in a cardboard box). The house I'm selling has an EPC rating of C, which is bullshit because it's an insanely well insulated house! It should be a B. The house I'm buying is a D but can be easily improved to a C or B and maybe even an A.

My plan for the new house is to get the cavity walls insulated and add more insulation to the loft. The window will want replacing within a few years so I'll get either double or triple glazing. The house currently has an oil burner for heating but I'm looking in to have an air source heat pump and power it with solar panels. That would make my heating almost free every year after installing it. It'll probably cost around £20,000 in total for all of that but I would effectively get my money back within 10 years.

But I'll figure it out once I move in. For now all my time is spent between legal paperwork and packing my stuff in to boxes and crate :D

£11,777? Damn that's insane. But I'm happy for you, poor peasant*.
So, is there an energy label or rating for houses in the UK too? If so, is the new place better, same , or worse with


*ps: I'm broke till next month, and still have payments to do but at least I have a wide screen monitor.

Update: I've had the house I'm buying inspected by a building surveyor and got the report back today. There are a few things that want doing, but not really anything that I didn't already know about. I'm pretty happy with it and I'm pleased it confirms the price I'm paying is reasonable. This is one of those rare occasions where you spend a lot of money, £540, and don't want to get anything 'exciting' in return!

I've had to deal with lots of boring paperwork and still have some more to do, but as far as I know everything is progressing as it should. It's hard to say when the legal stuff will all be sorted and I can move house but it's likely to be with 8 weeks.

I've been buying boxes and stackable plastic crates to move all my stuff. Fingers crossed I have bought enough now. I've not figured out yet if I can hire a van and get help from family to move everything or whether I need to hire a van and crew of guys to help me move which will cost around £1000!

Fun fact: The average cost of selling a house and buying another in the UK is £11,777. WTF !?!

>>37937 Well I do already know my two neighbours are both women. I've met the older one and she seemed nice, but I don't imagine she'll be helping me out in any way, especially not that way :D

A house is a project for life.
I'm really happy for you.

I hope the neighbor is handy to help you a bit.

>>37933 I also can't speak Welsh, but I do know a few words. My Grandma lived in Wales so I picked up a few words, she couldn't speak Welsh though! XD

Thankfully there aren't any laws regarding compulsory sheep ownership, or sheep based relations. And while every sign is written in both Welsh and English the main spoken language is still English, especially this close to the border. My new house is only a few hundred metres in to Wales, although I'm only 15 miles from Wales now!

YAY!! And Congrats! Well, that was actually pretty fast.

Will you have to speak Welsh now? And buy a sheep or two?

No, definitely not Liverpool! But it is near a place called Welshpool though...

...And I just bought it!

Or to be more precise I made an offer and it has been accepted. So now the process of legal bullshit can start and in anywhere from 1-3 months, although it can be longer, I'll become the owner and can move in :)

The house is a 3 bedroom semi-detached and only slightly smaller than my current house, and the garden is also only slightly smaller too! I'll still be out in a village but I can get buses every couple of hours to 2 different towns and each of those have train stations, so I'll be able to get out and about more easily than I currently can. There is only a small shed currently so I'll need to build a larger one to have space for all my tools, but the small shed will be big enough to store my tools when I move and I'll have enough money left over to build a big shed.

I'm going to use the largest bedroom as a computer and hobby room, and I should finally have the space to get a proper racing setup for games! But I don't know how long it'll be before I can sort that out.

The house is in pretty good condition so I can move right in but over time I'll improve it and upgrade things.

There will be a period when the site is offline during the move, but hopefully not more than a day or two, but the internet speeds at the new house are much faster, estimates show 63Mb Down and 17Mb up.

I figured you were house hunting or Boris.
So Liverpool? :|

Will the house have to be approved by your lordship Charlie?

Once again I apologise for not being here lately. The search for a new home continues...

...But I looked at a place today about 50 miles north from where I am now and I think it could be really good for me and Charlie. I'm probably going to make an offer to buy it tomorrow and we'll just have to see what happens...

Well I'm still trying to find a house to buy. The housing market is insane, houses are selling for far above the asking price and they sell very quickly. It's a nightmare!

I'll keep looking... :S

Best not look for a house in the Netherlands, prices have doubled. Also the inflation is high and so is fuel and other living costs.

I do hope you'll land a nice bungalow, or mansion.

I'm taking a day of house hunting today because my brain is so overwhelmed by it. I think I need to start trying to find particular areas I'd like to live in and find properties in those areas, but right now I'm looking at a general area of probably 100 miles by 100 miles :/

Damn, sorry to hear about your parents.

The housing market everywhere (in Europe) is kinda shit, if it ain't overpriced it's gone in 60 seconds. What are you looking for?

PS: Life goes before site, so no need to apologize.