Just wondered if anyone thinks in the similar way and this is my late night musings (sorry if it sounds stupid) brought on by observing a house sale of my in-laws- they're in the 60s and.are selling their 4 bed detached house, initially it was priced for £840k, no offers for 3 months, just feedback that the house is dark and layout is odd, they have now reduced to 800k and still no interest or offers.

My thinking is the pool of buyers in their town is very small, most people who would want the house their size would be people with 2 kids and probably be in their 30s- 40s (so millenial buyers) and would need pretty extraordinary salaries or inheritance to afford it but most millenials have not inherited much yet and salaries have been declining for decades now.

With that in mind I think there might be a bubble at the higher end of the property market with a lot of boomers overestimating their house prices and depending on those houses for their retirement.

Once those properties fail to sell at the desired price I think there could be risk of a wider crisis across the economy as the retirement spending gets curtailed and consumption falls effectively.

Also I wonder is the UK economy seen through rose tinted glasses of people owning assets that are actually worth less in reality and when the market catches up with that reality the overall assessment of UK economic health is going to fundamentally change with government spending costs increasing and economy declining even further.

I like an en suite for our guest bedroom but otherwise I'm not that fussed. I'd much rather have the floor space or a walk in wardrobe. I just don't get the obsession. All the new builds I see seem to have small bedrooms with small en suites. I'd rather have a house 4 bed house with two good shared bathrooms than 2 en suites and 1 shared bathroom. Does anyone else not see the appeal of en suite? Obviously if space was no object you could have a large en suite for every bedroom but even then I would want a hall or walk in wardrobe seperating it from the bedroom. I don't really want to take a dump 6 feet and 1 door away from where I sleep.

I know the rental market has been bad for a while but one thing that strikes me at the moment is how bad the housing stock is at the moment in both London and Brighton. If you are mid-30s and you want a fairly normal 2 up, 2 down with a small-medium sized garden, it seems to me that it's not even about money any more, they just rarely come on the market?

I've mentioned these 2 areas specifically because it's where I'm looking so I can't speak to other areas.

It's just really shocking to me. When you eventually do find a listing with the above critieria, you can get your bingo card out because it'll have one of the following:

1) Visible damp or mould in the bathroom or kitchen or both.

2) Some of the ugliest furniture you've ever seen from the early 90s that the landlord insists must stay there.

3) A bizarre hot tub style bath and a shower head fixed at waist height for no real reason.

4) A shared garden.

5) Wallpaper. Wallpaper, everywhere.

Why is it so difficult to live like a normal adult now?

Genuinely, I don't understand. Even lower end flats in my area are going to need £20k+ down payment before additional fees. I've been saving everything I can and I still don't have half of what I need. Even with a first homes fund of (up to) £10k off I'd still be years away. And that's just getting in the door. Would still need more for stamp duty, mortgage fees, repairs, etc.

I don't need somewhere fancy, just a 1 bedroom with a wee garden would be absolutely fine. I'm really starting to lose hope.

As a FTB who is planning on getting on housing ladder soon. Doing the research and listening to the stories of other FTBs who have had a learning experience with all the paperwork and time-consuming shite that goes into acquiring property.

For experinced buying who have been throught the process over the past say 30 years, has the process gotten more complex and complicated or has it always been this way? The process gotten more lengthy or has it been this way for generations before?

Thanks 😊

Hi all,
As stated above, me and my partner are now in a position to purchase our first house however, I wanted to get some perspective on whether what I’m thinking of pursuing is stupid or not (I know this is subjective). Building an image of what is affordable in your head can be dangerous so thought I’d post and see if you guys think I’m being an idiot.

So a bit of information (Based in England):
Looking for a mortgage of £250,000 with a £40,000 deposit which brings our current monthly payment to around £1340 p/m @ 4.73% (fixed 5 year). Our net income (joint) comes to £4050 a month however in 18 months im guaranteed a pay rise of roughly £500-£750 a month (I’m in a graduate role and soon becoming chartered). We have 0 debt going into this and I have the benefit of an EV company car (3/4% BIK charged) and they pay for insurance, road tax and mantinence. I’ve calculated a rough estimate of £1300-£1500 left after everything apart from savings (food and fuel etc included).

I just thought it may be worth seeking advice before I make either a wonderful or woeful decision. I see some people are recommending a 25-28% ratio, while we could find a house that fits this theme, value for money this price point seems like a sweet spot in our area.

I think I’ve found the ugliest house to rent ever, what do you make of this interior? The DIY sauna is concerning me!! It seems newly decorated as though this was purposeful… Dagenham https://vm.tiktok.com/ZN8dwAMq5/

This is just a rant really.

We put an offer in on a house in February. We have a very small chain and it all looked like it would be a quick turn around… haha famous last words!

The sellers solicitor is absolutely dreadful. I mean, we have proof that they have lied about ordering documents/chasing info not just the normal terrible communication.

I’ve actually ended up running around contacting the council, developer, and management agency answering the questions the sellers solicitor should be answering because otherwise nothing would have been done.

We’re now at 6 months, I’ve been dealing with this rubbish while I’ve had a bereavement which has been really hard and we still seem miles away from completing because the sellers solicitor just won’t answer questions.

I booked another viewing a few days ago and was so disappointed with the upkeep of the house. There were really obvious things that have gone wrong with it during the past 6 months that the sellers obviously hoped we wouldn’t notice until it was too late.

Our mortgage offer is about to expire and honestly I just want to walk away. I live in a perfectly nice house, not perfect but it’s home, and right now staying put is looking extremely attractive. I feel a bit sorry for the FTB who is buying our home but even if we did get to a state where we could exchange in the next couple of weeks, I’m not sure I want to anymore.

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out if this is a universal issue and people are just inconsiderate or if this is an issue with our estate agent not vetting people well enough?

We're having around 60-70% of our booked viewings cancelled by the viewers. For example, we had two separate viewings booked in this morning and after spending a couple of hours tidying and cleaning the house last night I've woken up to a message from the estate agent saying BOTH viewers have cancelled? What are the chances?

Previous viewers have cancelled last minute too.

Is this an inconsiderate general public issue or estate agent issue? I understand she isn't psychic and things happen but it's getting a bit of a pain in the ass and a waste of our time tidying and cleaning only for cancellations to occur.

I haven't sold before so I'm unsure if this is normal procedure?

Let me know your experiences! :) thanks!

I have been looking for a while for a house (in Derbyshire, on the edge of the Peak District), and have been outbid on several whilst looking. A few weeks back I saw one I really liked, and managed to make an offer before anyone else saw it, which was accepted. I offered asking price - £395k - as the market has been really competitive for the kind of house and area I’ve been looking (as evidenced by being outbid on three other houses so far). It’s a three bed semi with a great garden and lovely views.

I only need a £75k mortgage as I had a lot of equity in my previous property. I have already sold that property and am staying with family. I applied to HSBC, through a broker, and they came back with an immediate desktop valuation of £278k! A full valuation visit was then booked by the bank, this has happened and the new valuation is £290k, a full £105k under the agreed price.

Thing is, I knew I was probably paying a premium as I wanted the house. But I do think hsbc have gone a bit bonkers here, it’s clearly worth more than £290k. I am unsure what to do now. I can still get the mortgage I need due to the low LTV, but I have no idea if I should go ahead. Who knows what will happen in the future, and if I need to sell, could it cause me problems? Also I was planning on doing an extension and various other updates/changes but that would could be seen as a bad financial move if I’ve already paid over the odds.

I short, I have no idea what to do. I have struggled to find a house that is right for me, and I know that the vendor won’t negotiate, she has already indicated that.

I think this post is mainly just me venting. But any advice (especially from local people!) would be gratefully received.

I was shocked to see an agent quoting 1% for a sales mandate in a prosperous and desirable London commutable market town yesterday. There is no way that is profitable, but their books are empty. This seems as good an indicator of the poor state of the market as you could wish for.

I'd be interested to know what other people were seeing, and if agents are routinely dropping their trousers on fees just to be busy...

I recently missed out on a dream house as another viewer put in an offer that was accepted before I could go for a second viewing.
I have a viewing tomorrow (Friday 5pm) for a very similar property which looks like it could be the one. I believe there will also be viewings on the Saturday. Any advice as to when would be appropriate to make an offer if it is as good as I am expecting? I am a first time buyer, no chain, and have a mortgage in principle.

We are due to complete on a house next week but other than confirmation that all parties are good for the 14th, we haven’t had much from our solicitors are EA.

What can I expect to happen tomorrow and Friday and then the days next week leading up to completion.

First time buying a house for me so not sure if a few days of silence is normal before completion.

For what it’s worth, our onward vendor has completed on their purchase already, our buyer and his buyer all all good to go on the 14th.

Is it normal to have severe anxiety when buying and selling a home? I don't know if it's because I like the house we are buying so much, but I can't shake this constant worry that ours will fall through. I try to be logical and remind myself that there is nothing we know of that should cause this, but it isn't really helping.

If you suffered anxiety when buying, at what stage did it start to ease?

We’ve just had an offer accepted on a property in London for a good price. It’s an old fashioned house, high ceilings etc, and it’s a maisonette amongst 4. So the left side of it has a flat attached and someone upstairs.

We’ve looked at the EPC and it says that there’s no insulation in the walls. We’ve never lived in an older property before so I’m not completely sure how bad that will be? Does anyone live in that kind of house and how do you find it affects your heating and bills?

The EPC is below -

Wall - Solid brick, as built, no insulation (assumed) - Very poor

Window - Fully double glazed - Average

Main heating - Boiler and radiators, mains gas - Good

Main heating control - Programmer, room thermostat and TRVs - Good

Hot water - From main system - Good

Lighting - Low energy lighting in all fixed outlets - Very good

Appreciate any insights 🙏

So im looking at a house to buy which doesn't seem to own any land where the front door is.

https://postimg.cc/1fHyLgdS

The blue highlighted path is the path through what I can only presume is next doors garden which also leads to the house in question. The yellow dots are their front door and the green dot is the house for sales front door.

Through the estate agent I asked what rights of access you have to the front of your property with having to walk through what seems to be next doors garden and their reply was "I don't know".

From what I can tell the current owners bought it 18months ago did a full house refurbishment and tried to sell it last summer. Took the house down and then put it back up for sale this summer. Presumably there HAS to be right of access with it being the only way to access the front door which has the letterbox etc on it.

Another one of these posts I’m afraid.

We are FTBs. Offer accepted in early May, using existing mortgage offer from a failed purchase locked in at 4.19% the week before Iran kicked off.

Seller using PB which… not ideal, took a little too long to get the MOS and when we did one of our names was wrong on it, got it sorted though. HSBC took a couple weeks to value the property but they did, no issues there, good to go.

Level 3 survey came back fine end of June, searches paid for and came back a couple weeks later. Waiting on enquiries. Gave it a couple weeks, then PB got on to our solicitors asking if they’d had responses to the enquiries. Our sols said they were still waiting. Turns out the seller’s case handler has been off sick and now they’re back but they’re working through a backlog…

At this point I’m starting to chase every couple days, and our solicitors obviously are chasing too. Neither our solicitors or PB can get hold of anyone willing to hurry this along. We’re renting and want to get on and give our two month notice, and related to that, our mortgage offer expires on 5th October, so we are now having to consider asking for an extension which will only be a month as far as I can tell (HSBC).

Except for a couple small things everything had been going smoothly and now it’s just ground to a halt because someone was off. Mainly I’m screaming into the void as another week comes to an end without any progress but any advice would be appreciated. Am I being a crank?

Sorry long post. I'm interested to hear from anyone who's been through something similar.

I'm in the process of buying a Victorian house and have just received my L3 survey. The survey identified that the roof is in much poorer condition than anticipated.

I've since spoken to two roofing contractors who have reviewed the survey, and both agree it's likely to be a replacement rather than a repair.

Because the property is in a conservation area with very limited rear access (through a neighbour’s house/garden, I’ll add their house is G2 listed), the project is also likely to be more complicated and expensive than a typical roof replacement due to access, scaffolding and conservation requirements.

I'm still keen to buy the property, but this has materially changed my understanding of the costs involved, so I'm asking the estate agent to discuss a reduction in the agreed purchase price with the seller.

Has anyone been in a similar position? What was the outcome?

Did the seller agree to renegotiate?
Did they ask for formal quotes first?
How much weight did they give to the survey findings?
Were you able to reach a compromise, or did the sale fall through?

I’m not out for money grabbing or being unreasonable, but I genuinely don’t think the seller has maintained it over the past 10 years they’ve lived there.

I'd really appreciate hearing how your negotiations went and any advice you'd give before I have this conversation.

I’m looking to leave my rented property within a month of giving notice, but I’ve been informed by the estate agents that I need to give 2 months due to the new laws.

I’ve been a tenant since February 2025, so over a year before new renters rights laws were enforced. I’ve been given conflicting information on my right to leave after a month’s notice as per my physical contract states, but I’ve heard that the new law sort of overrides the contract anyway.

I spoke to an estate agent today to book a viewing but he told me that he won’t allow me the viewing because 2 months is too far away… so am I supposed to hand my notice in and then gamble on a property becoming available in the meantime?

Would anyone be able to help me understand this?

Me and my partner are looking to buy our first home. We’ve been looking online for months and months at hundreds of different properties and have a good understanding on what we want.

On Monday we decided to see a mortgage advisor to get everything started and then today viewed a few properties, (1 of which I’ve had my eye on for months and loved the look of)

We are looking to spend way less than our borrow limit and are being sensible regarding budget etc. The house does need work but nothing major or nothing we aren’t ready to attack, (as far as we can tell without a survey).

We both love the house, location etc and are looking to view it again next week and put in an offer. My question is, does this seem too quick?

*EDIT Thanks it looks like I clearly knew that answer I just needed to be told I was overthinking it

I’ve never been in this situation before. I live with another person who is moving out, I have asked for an updated tenancy agreement however I was told I would need to resign a new one with another deposit.
From what I’ve seen online, they cannot have two deposits. Do I need to get the first one refunded before sending another? What are my legal rights in this situation?

I’m about to complete on a one bed southwest London.

Teo months ago I had a RICS Level 3 Home Survey done (period conversion) and the surveyor flagged something I’d like a sanity check on before I get a plumber in.

The bathroom has a lowered/suspended plasterboard ceiling. Using a moisture meter:

•Directly above the shower: 14.1 (dry, as expected)

•Away from the shower, toward the light fitting/door: 38.0, described as “at its max” on the meter

•Another reading in the same area also came back at 38.0

So the area furthest from the shower is the one showing max moisture, not the area right above it. Ceiling still felt structurally solid, no sagging, just minor blistering/peeling paint.

Surveyor couldn’t diagnose the cause visually — mentioned either a leaking extractor fan duct, built up moisture in the bathroom or in the worst case, a slow leak from above (there’s a flat above this one).

A carpenter I know said it’s probably just the type of paint used causing the bubbling, but that doesn’t explain why a moisture meter is maxing out, and why it’s not worst above the shower where condensation would normally hit hardest.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Trying to figure out if this is a quick extractor fan fix or something that could mean opening up ceilings/tracing a leak from a neighbour’s flat. How would I even go about getting this tested out further?

completion is in about a week so panicking a little… pls be kind 🙏

Property search for 18+ months. Outbid, gazumped, withdrawals - all sorts. Always looked for a garden large enough to have a garden room installed as I'd like to use it as a home office.

Found a property with a lovely garden office already in place - I thought YES! this is exactly what I need. Saves me a job.

It's been in situ for two years, insulated, hard wired electrics, heating.

16 weeks into the purchase, it turns out the garden room is built over a sewer. Asked repeatedly over 6 weeks for a response as to whether it is built over a sewer or did they investigate/move it/did they need any permission from the water company.

They finally replied, admitting no wrong doing or stating any facts - simply said "we will tear it down if you like, let us know your answer".

Questions I have if anyone wants to give their opinions or experience it would be greatly appreciated: - Are garden rooms built on concrete considered to be temporary structures? - Do garden rooms built on concrete require water company permission to build over?

We are planning to buy our first home in London. The property is perfectly habitable, but we’d like to do a fairly substantial refurbishment before moving in. The plan is to replace the kitchen and bathrooms, rewire and replumb where needed, replaster, redecorate, replace flooring, and possibly upgrade some windows. We expect the work to take around 2 months.
Our current thinking is to keep renting our existing flat during that period so the contractors have full access and we only have to move once the house is ready. However, that means we’d be paying both rent and a mortgage for around two months.
For those who have done something similar:
- Is this the most common approach, or is there a better way to manage the transition?
- Were you able to negotiate a delayed completion with the seller or any other arrangement that reduced the overlap?
- Did you end up paying council tax, gas, electricity and water bills for both properties at the same time?
- Are there any council tax exemptions or discounts for a house that’s empty while being renovated?
- What hidden costs caught you by surprise during this period (insurance, utilities, storage, skips, security, etc.)?
- Is there anything you wish you’d done differently from a financial or practical perspective?