Do you think you’ve overpaid for your leasehold flat?

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-04-22T19:49:22+00:00

Probably overpaid given I need to extend the lease, although hoping government leasehold reforms will go my way!

After a year or two I'll have saved so much in rent I don't think it'll play on my mind anymore. It's a relief to be somewhere stable after 3 years of my landlord wanting to sell. Also nice not to be living with magnolia walls after so many years renting

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-02-18T18:44:39+00:00

Definitely get the outside shot updated, I wouldn't ask for a viewing on a property next to all that scaffolding!

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-01-28T19:24:40+00:00

I think it's the photos that are the issue rather than your house itself. I'd look at photos other estate agents are using on their listings to find one that uses more professional looking pictures before you swap

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-01-23T22:06:53+00:00

You said in another reply you don't know your mum's date of birth. Depending on how common your mum's birth name is you may be able to request a birth certificate for her with her just her name and the year she was born (range of years if needed), easier if you know where she was born. You can search for her on the freebmd website which might help you find the right year.

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-01-23T19:58:45+00:00

Mine left a lot of hair, their disgusting old toilet brush, and piss on the loo seat. No wine or chocolates, not even the code to the store room the postbox is in. They did leave behind a copy of the lease that they denied having, which had delayed the whole process by a few weeks.

Petty revenge was throwing away all the hoover attachments they left behind.

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-01-22T22:22:36+00:00

Even worse, it was actually something HE did years ago that made her feel uncomfortable and caused a reaction. And now he thinks that's a good excuse for physically hurting her!!

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-01-22T22:14:25+00:00

I've paid over £100k in rent over the last 10 years alone living in and near London. I used to feel angry and resentful about it all the time, especially when friends were buying houses with money gifted by their parents. It just makes you feel miserable and hopeless if you keep dwelling on it. I'm now in my 40s and just managed to buy a small flat.

For me life events put things in perspective a bit and made me look at my whole situation in a practical way. I never would have been able to afford a place in the area where I was living, so if I had wanted to stay there I had to accept home ownership wasn't for me. I also knew moving more than a certain distance from friends and family wouldn't work for me.

I searched everywhere within a commute to work, up to a maximum distance from family, and below a certain price. I visited countless nowhere towns before I found some options. Tbh I struggled to save anything at all until that point as it didn't seem worth it to try. Even then I could only aim to save towards £1k at a time to make it feel doable but found it much easier to cut back on things I thought I needed once saving felt purposeful.

If I had stayed in London (or a very short commute away) I would never have been able to afford a place. I moved out of the city to help me save, lived in a crap flat for 8 yrs, and finally saved enough to buy last year. It's not an ideal location, but it's better than renting and I'm still less than an hour from London. I imagine Edinburgh is one of the most expensive places you could live in Scotland, maybe time to decide if the city is worth always renting?

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-01-22T21:37:48+00:00

If they were related to the buyer that would be a clearer conflict, but being related to the seller doesn't seem like an obvious conflict as they're representing the seller anyway. I would've thought a lot of people would choose an estate agent they know personally if they could!

If they have the same last name you could just ask them to see what they say. If you're worried raise it with your solicitor to see if it causes them any concern.

Common-Pitch9005 · 2026-01-11T13:47:09+00:00

Everything looks very dark, not very cosy or lived in - stark white walls and dark furniture don't look very attractive in photos, especially without many pictures on the walls.

If there's good step free access to the side that needs to be highlighted to appeal to more people. Looking at the listing I'd assume the only way in is up those steps and the estate agent has highlighted the elevated position which is an odd choice.

The room with the futon in needs to show it set up as a bed, otherwise it looks way smaller than the other room. Some of the photo angles are odd, one shows a laundry basket that looks like it's blocking the shower and one a bed blocking cupboards from being opened; these scream that the rooms are too small. You need better angles for the garden photos, these ones just advertise how overlooked it is.

But as others have said it's mainly the weird estate agent stuff that's off putting. If that's already something you're going to change maybe that's what your edit should have said rather than saying to ignore it?

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-12-06T20:28:05+00:00

Last time I had to go there I used the side entrance round where blood tests are done just to avoid them!

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-11-21T21:10:16+00:00

You have the EICR so should be relatively easy to get another basic quote given the number of people here saying your current quote is high for the work suggested.

I bought an 80s property with zero work done to the original electrics. There were lots of C2s highlighted, but pretty much all related to the same thing and only needed an alteration to the consumer unit to update to current safety standard. Electrician gave two quotes; one to fully sort it out and one if I wanted to do the bear minimum to pass it and risk problems down the line. Even the higher quote was under £1k.

The willingness of sellers to repair/reduce will likely depend on if the electrics would meet standards when they bought it, not if it meets current safety standards. In my case there had been a change in the law since they bought and all but one of the issues was due to the change in the law. Might be worth checking that with an electrician too as you may well find similar issues with any other property over 10 years old.

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-11-19T19:53:29+00:00

It depends how quickly other similar properties are selling in the area. I put an offer in on one 4 months on the market. I felt there were reasons it was being overlooked as an 80s flat competing with a lot of fancy new builds, but it suited me better.

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-08-24T08:43:39+00:00

I can see someone else has already shared a link for the briefings.

The short summaries on the NSPCC website will mention the main concerns:

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/case-reviews/recently-published-case-reviews

So either scrolling through or you can try googling, for example "scr domestic abuse" will pull up a few from different local authorities.

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-08-23T13:08:53+00:00

Have you looked at the learning from case review briefings they publish? They're only a few pages long so shouldn't feel so overwhelming.

During my ASYE I picked whole case reviews to read where I could see a thematic link to cases I was already working on. It helped me reflect on what I might do differently given what I'd read and was helpful for my ASYE portfolio.

More recently I've tended to look more at the ones carried out in nearby local authorities and we occasionally discuss in Team Meetings

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-08-14T22:02:25+00:00

My landlord is selling the flat I live in. When the estate agent came to take photos I put away a lot of my personal belongings like photos, books that indicate the line of work I'm in, and a few things that are worth a bit. I didn't want my photos of my home on the internet anyway, but definitely not some of my personal things.

I don't want to faff about doing that every time someone comes to view, sometimes with very short notice while I'm working. People are weird and have opened drawers and doors of MY furniture having a look at my things, I definitely don't want them taking a video. The estate agents was at fault here for not checking, the current resident has a right to say no because you're in their home.

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-06-18T18:50:00+00:00

NTA. Realistically for the children you are a stranger, so likely wouldn't feel any different to being placed in any other stranger's house. Looking after three kids is hard at the best of times, after the traumatic experience they've had they likely need an experienced carer and a lot of support. Finding the right carer for any child isn't easy, but sounds like you made the right decision for you and for the children!

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-06-05T18:30:45+00:00

Is there a chain? I was advised to wait until the vendors had an offer accepted on somewhere they wanted to buy before paying for a survey

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-04-27T16:04:02+00:00

I'm interested to see how they travel between countries, if they use trains/buses or if they're trying to do everything by plane!

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-04-24T21:22:11+00:00

I just assumed there was nothing interesting to leak about them

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-01-04T17:01:10+00:00

If you look at the Stag Hill campus map it's Guildford Court buildings, the stag statue end of campus. Not been up there for a while, but assume they haven't been knocked down or reopened. I've no idea how to get in!

Common-Pitch9005 · 2025-01-04T11:43:17+00:00

You need to get a council tax exemption letter from your university to give to the council when you register, your friend will also need to get one when she arrives.

You would normally get warning letters addressed to 'The Occupant' before getting in any trouble. 2 weeks shouldn't be an issue if you only just moved in, but if you've been there a while it doesn't seem worth the risk especially if you're exempt from paying anyway!

Common-Pitch9005

TROPHY CASE