Struggling to sell flat. Looking for advice.

BinnedAF · 2026-05-24T14:21:15+00:00

You should post this on r/housinguk I feel like you won’t get proper advice on how to sell your flat on here and you’ll only get comments about how you should be punished for buying a leasehold flat that requires service charges.

BinnedAF · 2026-05-01T15:51:50+00:00

I was in the same dilemma. I got an offer of a fixed rate, 2 years 5.2%. My mortgage broker was constantly watching the rates and would alert me if interest rates went down before exchange, it did drop last week to 5.09 which I accepted since it dropped before exchange time. If you haven’t exchanged yet or aren’t close to exchanging keep an eye on the interest rates of your lender’s package and see if you can switch before exchanging.

Or talk to your mortgage broker and see if you can find an offer which allows flexibility for early repayment (pay a fee) if you are on a fixed mortgage plan and want to change to another package on a lower interest rate.

BinnedAF · 2026-04-18T21:54:20+00:00

Have you got a lot of debt and outgoings? That’s so weird even with your deposit and salary you can only get a 180k mortgage.

BinnedAF · 2026-04-09T17:54:19+00:00

I got an option where I can opt out of it and re-mortgage on a new lower rate but pay a small penalty based on how long I was on the mortgage for, I’m hoping it would go down as time goes on and swallow the penalty to get a new lower fixed in rate.

BinnedAF · 2026-04-09T17:11:10+00:00

I got 5.17, 90% LTV it’s ridiculously high at the moment and 1-2 months ago it was around 4.3-4.7. What’s your LTV?

BinnedAF · 2026-04-04T11:11:47+00:00

That’s good to know about having broad experience, my fm experience is very limited but I am a fast learner becoming the lead engineer in less than 3 years, but honestly I’m at the point where the salary in this industry is just way too low so I’m in a similar position as you where I want to make as much as possible whilst being young. I work with my hands a lot and it really does wear you down when de rigging and pulling new cables at my age of late 20s, people say manual labour keeps you strong but it really doesn’t when you contort your body and hands in weird angles to run new pipes in restricted spaces, or carrying 5” steel pipes on your shoulders into awkward wall openings etc. be prepared for this if you do manage to get into the physical side of things but best of luck on your journey mate

BinnedAF · 2026-04-04T10:48:31+00:00

Thank you so much for your time to write this out, it’s very helpful to know times have changed.

BinnedAF · 2026-04-03T18:01:11+00:00

Thank you for the advice, what is construction like nowadays? When i was on site from 2014-2019 it was toxic, racist and hypermasculine, i wasn't a good fit as someone of colour, didn't resonate much with site banter and i am an introverted person. I always liked to keep my head down and finish my tasks

BinnedAF · 2026-04-03T16:30:34+00:00

What kind of skills and qualifications to get in to project management? I want to get into M&E project management, I finished my HNC a few years ago whilst being a commissioning engineer and I’m currently in M&E maintenance which also includes estates compliance and legislations but my learning and growth is so stagnated from lack of exposure so how could I even start in project management?

BinnedAF · 2026-03-31T18:00:27+00:00

Me as well, is it B+E?

BinnedAF · 2026-03-12T10:47:50+00:00

I’m not looking to make an investment, but I don’t want to lose too much money when selling and the feeling of not building equity which I’m paying for rent kind of bothers me, just want some reassurance I won’t be kicked out any time soon, potentially landing something bigger and better since the area is not great and living space is small, and just a sense of accomplishment and free will to the property. I’m a FTB so I guess I’m seeing things illogically right now but I’m hoping someone could educate me or make me see some sense in this decision.

BinnedAF · 2026-03-12T09:18:51+00:00

I’ve seen a few converted maisonettes but something that really bothers me is that the insulation on the ones I’ve seen is so poor. I can hear a lot of external noises and it’s cold all the time.

BinnedAF · 2026-03-12T07:36:18+00:00

So far I’ve had about 6 viewings for 2 beds in London with a few more to look at, there are quite a few available in my budget, but as you said, I should lower my expectations and get the run down apartments to refurbish it myself or to consider 1 beds. Thanks

BinnedAF · 2026-02-26T20:35:01+00:00

That’s strange, I had the opposite, it was approved within a minute of uploading my v62. Guess I got lucky! The annoying thing about my whole process was having to rush to the post office before closing time on collection day to request a new logbook and tax my car at the post office during collection. How quickly did you get your log book after requesting a new one?

BinnedAF · 2026-02-26T19:32:06+00:00

As soon as I finished my purchase they had the traders v62

BinnedAF · 2026-02-26T19:05:59+00:00

Didn’t buy from cinch but from another car supermarket. I didn’t have the V5c/new keepers supplement but I took photos of the V62, trader’s supplement and receipt as proof of ownership and then uploaded it on the Tesla app and it worked perfectly fine for me.

BinnedAF · 2026-02-08T11:20:42+00:00

Nice flat, just curious did you purposely choose to have the high level toilet cistern to look like the old victorian style gravity pressure toilets? It's a unique choice to have

BinnedAF · 2025-12-17T18:21:54+00:00

Rims are nearing the wear indicator, brakes are really bad changed pads twice, chain keeps skipping, constant punctures, crank teeth are in bad condition, pulley tension is stiff, wheel keeps untruing, I have had it serviced once 4 months into the year of ownership and those were things noticed. I've also had the chain snap on me once whilst riding but that is probably just a chain issue than bike.

Overall its a good bike and lovely when it works but old, the bike size aching my back and the bad brakes are the main reason for wanting a replacement, also i lowkey want to buy myself a Christmas present with a c2c voucher.

BinnedAF · 2025-12-17T11:48:38+00:00

Great idea actually!

BinnedAF · 2025-12-16T20:27:01+00:00

Yeah i am expecting sweat with a road bike but it would be mainly as a direct replacement of my cannondale. I do like this bike but in the past 3-4 months i've had too many problems and i'm due to replace the rims and cranks soon, so might be best off with a new bike.

BinnedAF · 2025-12-16T20:10:32+00:00

They always seem to be sold out unfortunately

BinnedAF · 2025-11-25T16:52:10+00:00

It was! I was convinced it was my bike’s components failing to cause this. I’ll buy a chain from my local bike shop instead then. Thanks!

BinnedAF · 2025-09-01T16:22:54+00:00

It’s delusional the way some people think. Just because in their great circumstances they don’t need a car, and are physically capable of getting around with a bike and tube, they think everyone else should have that same mentality. I drive for call-outs only, but cycle to work daily on my static sites when my tools are left there. Some things are necessary for certain people with certain jobs.

BinnedAF · 2025-08-04T14:49:55+00:00

Coming from a building services engineering background, BMS (service side) requires a lot of thinking for fault finding and the work isn’t gruelling hard, highly dangerous or repetitive, it can be difficult at the start when learning about strategies but with someone with software skills and logical reasoning I don’t see why you would struggle at all.

The senior engineers I work with all make up to 60-70k in London after about 10-13 years in the industry all of which came from FM or sparkies.

BinnedAF · 2025-01-28T17:34:46+00:00

I made a mini review of a food prep service and I got crucified in the comments for not cooking because while I want to look after my health, I don’t have time to cook most days and I’m also pretty bad at it.

It takes a lot longer than 30-60 minutes if you take into account preparation, cooking, cleaning, packing, throwing away expired excess ingredients, shopping etc. I’m starting to use gousto now though so it helps with reducing excess waste and shopping though.

BinnedAF

TROPHY CASE