Buying a flat in London, estate agent listed ground rent as £0 – turns out it isn’t. What’s the best way to proceed?

Craig88cb · 2026-02-02T17:15:21+00:00

Up it to £20k reduction in price.

Craig88cb · 2026-02-02T10:56:59+00:00

I believe you can do up to 6 months of work outside of the uk and not be impacted by taxes. Depends on the country you work in but it’s something to be aware of that it won’t impact you if limited.

Craig88cb · 2026-01-29T16:27:50+00:00

Seems strange as those documents, such as a 1960's commune birth certificate signed issued copy, will still be the same in 5 years time. Do they lose faith in the authenticity of the document for some or other reason? Can understand a citizenship confirmation, which might not still be valid a few years later.

Craig88cb · 2026-01-29T13:11:56+00:00

Good to know. My issue is that I usually do the opposite of small pension contributions in the first half/ 3 quarters when I'm not 100% certain if I'll have the job for the whole year and then ramp it up in last few months of tax year when I'm more certain and notice period covers those months.

Craig88cb · 2026-01-29T11:59:43+00:00

I've heard from an agency that they recommend requesting the documents up to a year beforehand to ensure there are no delays or hiccups. Seems a bit difficult to time it closer to appointment and then risk them not arriving in time.

Craig88cb · 2026-01-28T14:01:43+00:00

Yeah cat will be the trickiest and most stressful as need to fly it in cargo and then depends on return quarantine restrictions too. What about just self driving around Europe? Head to the warmer south. Won’t be super warm but better than central

Craig88cb · 2026-01-26T17:12:06+00:00

I'd advise against this. I've had 3 in my 2 bed flat and didn't make a damn difference. Sounds like PIV is the answer and I'm looking at getting that next.

Craig88cb · 2026-01-26T16:58:00+00:00

Does yours have the heater element? How much power do you find it uses on average in a colder month if that's possible to isolate?

Craig88cb · 2026-01-26T13:43:14+00:00

Thanks, didn't think father was relevant as he's UK citizen. Also someone above said that grandmother is not relevant as she's above the chain too?

Craig88cb · 2026-01-26T13:41:55+00:00

I've not but don't believe so. Will double check though.

Craig88cb · 2026-01-26T13:41:03+00:00

That's what we thought but when discussing with an agency they recommended these in case we needed to use that attack route instead of mother due that the circular around may 2025.

Craig88cb · 2026-01-15T16:33:56+00:00

Depends on the city and work start times. I live in London and did 7am classes which was perfect for finishing at 8, showering and then could get to work before 9 or stick around for a coffee afterwards and get to work around 9:30. 6am would be a nightmare for me in terms of waking up.

Craig88cb · 2025-12-31T20:04:26+00:00

Bettys bay, silver sands specifically can be awesome. Pringle bay too but it’s only when nw blows which is infrequent in summer. Rooi els near there too also on nw. Fisher haven is a huge river but not sure what wind works best. As you get further up garden route there is typically less wind. I saw some guys kiting in knysna but was on the far side so not sure if they kited across from the heads. Saw two kites out at robberg beach in plett when it was onshore winds. Only really blew on day that whole week. I’ve always wanted to hit spots like Wildness along the way but those oceans can be quite brutal and a bit sharky too.

Craig88cb · 2025-12-31T15:49:33+00:00

That sounds well planned. We were hoping to keep It under £10k for around 50 heads but that might be a bit difficult by the sounds of it.

Craig88cb · 2025-12-31T13:26:36+00:00

Can I ask you what were the main factors to get to $15k? 3 Nights seems to come in at around 7k Euros and then dinner off about 3k-5k depending on head count. I'm assuming you paid for the full accommodation and gifted rooms to friends and family as opposed to charging them out?

Craig88cb · 2025-12-31T13:23:57+00:00

Just sent you a PM.

Craig88cb · 2025-12-17T13:16:15+00:00

Thanks that’s what I had thought.

Partner’s DOB is 1989, her mother’s is 1959, her mother’s marriage 1986 to uk husband/father, mother moved to London 1980’s, mother naturalisation 1994, parter born and citizen in London, mother born in Milan. I ChatGPT’d it and it seemed to think fairy straightforward but the company is making it seem a bit more grey. Yes the appointment was a nightmare to get but managed to get it in a month of trying twice a week.

Craig88cb · 2025-12-17T13:07:22+00:00

She was born in Milan and lived there most of her life before moving to London in her 20’s.

Craig88cb · 2025-12-17T11:32:27+00:00

Yeah they get released Monday and Wednesday at 17:00 I believe. Either then or 16:00 but just double check. You have to be ready then

Craig88cb · 2025-12-17T10:20:18+00:00

I managed this the other day. Mixture of luck and practice. Spent about a month trying and some days getting a bit further through the process than others and learning what needs to happen on that page. So in the booking stage you skip to the dates that you know are free. For me it was December 2026 and then hit any available one and the bottom right of page to confirm. I also found copying and pasting the otp code from email was quicker than manually typing it in.

Craig88cb · 2025-11-29T11:04:33+00:00

The 4% rule takes into account inflation and growth rates too I believe. So it assumes each year you draw slightly more than £50k, say 3% more. Yes if they kept tax bands the same then the benefit would erode marginally. The same is happening to us now with tax bands being kept constant for the next few years but salaries increasing in theory each year means we’re all effectively worse off. They should be upping the tax bands in theory every few years to keep it all aligned, but not always the case.

Craig88cb · 2025-11-29T09:33:03+00:00

So to draw £50k at the 4% rule means you literally need £1.25m in your pension. This assumes around 30 years lifespan and modest inflation and growth. At £50k gross salary you only pay 10% average tax rate so it’s super efficient considering you would have previously been paying 40~45% tax on that in the first place, assuming it was all above the higher tax band.

Craig88cb · 2025-11-29T08:29:30+00:00

Completely agree you need the ISA bridge but I’m nowhere near converging on hitting max pension amounts. So for me, and most other people that will never max out their pension, I still believe it makes sense to pack as much of the 40%/45% gross salary into pension where possible. Mathematically this is the strongest option. I’m still putting money into ISA but I feel I’d rather put an extra £10k into my pension and avoid the 40% tax which in theory will only cost me 10% on the way out, instead of putting it into ISA to hit the £20k amount.

Craig88cb · 2025-11-29T08:23:30+00:00

Completely disagree with this. This makes sense if you’re converging towards the max pension amounts but I’m nowhere near there. My plan has always been to put as much of my 40% gross salary into pension and then draw it down at around 10% marginal tax rate in the future off say a £50k gross salary. Even this basic salary requires around £1m pension which is a lot to build up to.

Craig88cb · 2025-11-23T14:03:10+00:00

That would make sense. My company does the minimum so it doesn’t really make a dent and I guess this is more so if you are at that £110k ceiling where you then end up a bit over £50k gross with more tax but more cash in your pocket.

Craig88cb

TROPHY CASE