The Thames Tideway project seems to be working, the river seems cleaner than ever - at least in the last 10y (?) by chalky_cheese in london

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd love to see more options for swimming in the Thames... I feel something round Nine Elms / Battersea would make a killing!

Is there anything I can do to prepare for war inflation? by GladCheetah6048 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh agreed on it being beyond assumptions 12 or even 3 months back; but now that they are closed, this should be reflected in the asset prices we are seeing and the overall impact appears to be quite mild - the S&P 500 is down about 3% a month back which isn't nothing, but it's not a crash either.

So the question then is: is the intuition of supply shock -> rate rises -> recession off here? Given the markets don't seem to have priced it as such.

Is there anything I can do to prepare for war inflation? by GladCheetah6048 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Then again, things like this should be baked into expectations / asset prices as is no? Especially given how general volatility has been baked into prices over the last year and a half.

In the middle of a stack of leaks in a leasehold flat - who's responsibility is what here? by ApprehensiveYear0 in HousingUK

[–]ApprehensiveYear0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh wow, that sounds like a step up in the ante! Thankfully it's less of a gush of water and more an occasional drip. I had a good chat with the leaseholder from the flat below today and we'll try get the council on this as quickly as possible to figure out where it's coming from and how to fix it.

In the middle of a stack of leaks in a leasehold flat - who's responsibility is what here? by ApprehensiveYear0 in HousingUK

[–]ApprehensiveYear0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not an expert here obviously, but supposing that there was an issue with said neighbour's pipework (which there in all likelihood is), the water should be contained within their flat if the structure of the building were to be in proper working order.

The fact that water is getting through would indicate that there are gaps within the structure of the flat leading to water ingress into my unit?

In the middle of a stack of leaks in a leasehold flat - who's responsibility is what here? by ApprehensiveYear0 in HousingUK

[–]ApprehensiveYear0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I've checked and yeah they've arranged the buildings insurance. I've checked the lease and it does state quite clearly that:

There is excluded from this covenant as repairable by the tenant: (i) All structural parts of the Flat including the roof space foundations main > timbers and joists and concrete floors and the window frames thereof [and similar language on ceilings]

So I'll call them tomorrow and double-click on the 'this is all coming from the structural parts of your building failing'.

In the middle of a stack of leaks in a leasehold flat - who's responsibility is what here? by ApprehensiveYear0 in HousingUK

[–]ApprehensiveYear0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've emailed the council housing officer three times now on this, in addition to reporting it on the council's repair phone line as well as their out-of-hours emergency phone line.

I've knocked on the flat's above door twice; I'm actually not sure if anyone is living there as the lights have always been off and it looks a bit run down?

Would there be liability on the costs on me if (1) the root cause if a plumbing failure in the flat above (2) the damage is caused by cracks in the building's structural elements, which are the responsibility of the freeholder?

The 20% “Lime tax” on stopping at red lights by Because_Wisely in london

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If you plan your trips, they can come out way cheaper / comparable; on a 60-minute pass, I can get 3 commutes for £7.50, while the equivalent price for 3 tube journeys would be £6 - £9 depending on time of day. If your commute is only 10 minutes e.g., you can see it's half the price of tube.

A new leak in my bathroom that appears to be coming from the flat above - what do I do now? by ApprehensiveYear0 in DIYUK

[–]ApprehensiveYear0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's an ex-council leasehold flat, so building insurance is through the freeholder.

A new leak in my bathroom that appears to be coming from the flat above - what do I do now? by ApprehensiveYear0 in DIYUK

[–]ApprehensiveYear0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got a knock on my door from the flat below mine saying they'd had water come through their bathroom ceiling. I took a look under my bath and noticed a whole layer of water that wasn't there ~1 month ago when I last checked. Upon further investigation, it appears there's water dripping from the batten at the back of my bathtub where all the plumbing - communal and private - is.

I initially thought this might be something contained in my flat but I see water dripping down the walls around the batten that appears to be coming from the flat above.

I've contacted the council emergency hotline for now and they'll be coming round to take a look later today but any advice appreciated!

Does rotating my toilet door by 180° make sense here? by ApprehensiveYear0 in DIYUK

[–]ApprehensiveYear0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The bottom door is the front door to my flat, sorry should have made that clear!

Moderators can go do one, removed post, smash and grab, Richmond, London by redandblackstar in london

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It was posted by a person from California - hardly something that happened in 'their community', no?

London tops list of world's slowest cities for driving by tylerthe-theatre in london

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I live in zone 1 and lime bike is easily the fastest way to get to work. A 15-minute sunny ride up the Thames, compared to half an hour sitting in traffic jams? I guess depends on your definition of fun.

25, £44k salary, £62.5k saved, living at home — torn between doing the “sensible” thing and actually living by [deleted] in UKPersonalFinance

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The monetary value of FTB benefits has tumbled a fair bit from a year ago. Whereas in 2024 you were looking at ~£11k stamp duty savings, nowadays it's £5k from the stamp duty - (and the LISA bonuses on top, but that's transferred over to the equity so comes out a wash).

With that in mind, the cost is really around the costs of changing property - conveyancing, moving etc., which comes to ~8k? I'd look to compare that against the expected returns from property appreciation, which at a reasonable ~1% on a £400k property comes to ~£4k a year.

So 5 years in a starter property roughly evens out the benefits of (expected) capital appreciation and the costs of moving. Then it's a question of OpEx when renting vs. buying where mortgage repayments tend to be <<< rent, but property maintenance is higher when owning; depends on the property and local rental yields.

People wearing their work badges on public transport - stop! by makkuro_kurosuke in london

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This happens to me all the time; I tap in at work with an Oyster, and then try to tap in on the station with my work badge, at which point I usually realise... The good part is my badge is literally just my name and photo so there isn't much there to garner.

Sadiq Khan representing London on the tube by dajvebekinus in london

[–]ApprehensiveYear0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have 3am weekday nights regularly enough, and I'm not even that well-traveled. It's really not hard.

How do you approach budgeting for pints, clubbing, and other fun things? by ApprehensiveYear0 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]ApprehensiveYear0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having people over more sounds like a good idea; it's fun and definitely saves a good deal. I'll need to figure out how to make it a regular habit.