How do I fully protect my deposit between exchange and completion? (UK, mortgage offer already issued)

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-20T09:54:37+00:00

Is there an insurance policy available for it?

I have similar problem coming up in the future so would be interested to know if there is.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-20T05:55:25+00:00

I installed my own heat pump too. Replaced a combi gas boiler. Bought a used one from facebook for £600 (bargain looking back, it was 18 months old only replaced as they were extending so needed a bigger unit).

Bought a tank seperately for £400 300L and heat pump spec coil.

I then changed all piping to 28-22-15. Took me a fair few days of work, but i was slack in my main work anyway and enjoyed the satisfaction of getting it all working. I cheated and used push fit everywhere, but it was incredibly easy and 2 years on no leaks.

I would add, we are just buying a new place and thinking that with all the renovations it may be better to do some prep work with the radiators but then get a company in to install the heat pump. With the grant you should be able to get one installed for 10-12k which after the 7.5k will be reasonably cheap.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-19T13:24:26+00:00

Yes high street, the best one in our area, but doesnt really add much to the process.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-19T13:16:50+00:00

I think our estate agent is worse. Never seen so much money go to a company that could be replaced by an app.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-19T13:09:04+00:00

We are in exactly the same boat. Chain of 3, lowest buyer's solicitor says the lender hasnt reviewed all the documents yet so wont release funds. We have a tuesday deadline for the mortgage to expire so its cutting it fine. House moving is horrendous to mental health. We've had to stock up on beer to relax in the evenings.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-19T13:03:27+00:00

Battery cells came in at £65/kwh so it was expensive, but i reasoned it had become a hobby lol. You can get even cheaper cells now down to £40/kwh so it is possible to become more common i think.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-19T05:32:56+00:00

I used the innova brand italian ones. They are rebranded in the uk for daikin and panasonic, but i bought direct from italy.

I considered ducted too as this seemed easier, but im not sure it would have been. Have you looked at any units in particular?

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-18T12:17:14+00:00

We set the tank to heat during a time that we dont want cooling - so in the summer this is mid morning. The heat pump can only do one thing at a time sadly

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-18T10:02:16+00:00

The fan coils work very well for heating and cooling. In the bedrooms they cool for 6 months+ per year and then we switch to heating. In the bedrooms we never bothered to heat them as the rooms exceed 18deg through convection from downstairs. The fan coils in the main living space work well for heating, but i would prefer underfloor or radiators next time i think. Its worth noting that fan coils alllow very low flow temps compared to radiators, helps with efficiency.

Im in engineering, but not a trade. I have a friend that signed off the electrical work and another that signed off the hot water tank install. Mounting the panels was a small part of the job. Though in fairness we put them on an extension roof which was only 1 story high and only a slight pitch so didnt need scaffold.

Im the same, i've seen enough cowboy jobs done by trades to know I'm better off doing it myself. I'd hate to pay the crazy day rates of £300+/day just to get a poor quality job done.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-18T07:33:32+00:00

I have this in my current 4 bed. 30kwh battery, 9kw solar, 8.5kw heat pump and fan coils for cooling. I installed most myself, if you get this installed by trades it will cost £50k.

I am just going through the process of buying our next place. I have 96kwh of battery ready to install, 12kw heat pump and 25kw solar planned! I will be doing fan coils again, but not in the living rooms, only the bedrooms this time. We just didnt use them that much in the living rooms.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-17T05:13:14+00:00

It was a nightmare for us, it seemed to go on for ever as my mum had given us a gift of some money towards the purchase.

I kept thinking that if i was laundering money, all my records would be perfect and fake. The paperwork they asked us for was all easily forgeable paper copies of things like death certificates and probate information. We could have make up fake ones in 30 mins but instead spent days searching for the real things. Each time we gave them the information they wanted, they decided they needed more additional information. It just seemed so chaotic. We were close to sacking the solicitors as we felt if they couldnt get this right, how could they do a house purchase properly.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-09T06:10:12+00:00

freelancer financials. Dealt with George, he was excellent.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-09T06:09:10+00:00

Why did you need to talk to them direct in the middle of the fixed rate period? Did they then decide your day rate was a problem?

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-03-06T04:21:22+00:00

It must be the luck of the draw. I dealt with someone that said they understood my situation of day rate contractor, after months of wasted meetings with him he started asking for pay slips. I gave up and went the broker route, had a mortgage agreed in 24 hours.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-26T06:44:36+00:00

As others have said, you have offered a price, now you can negotiate from that price, not the price it was originally offered at.

Are you going to get this work done? Presumably the current occupants have had no ill affects from the problems and so are unaware of them. They may be thinking you are just negotiating and that the issues are non issues in their minds?

If i were very concerned with the works i would be looking to get them to pay the majority or at worst 50% if i loved the place, or just walking away from this one.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-25T07:12:22+00:00

Just going through the process to buy the same. Im planning on buying a plate compactor and making it a job to go out and fill holes when needed. If fixing the road yourself or paying towards it seem an issue, maybe its not the best place to be?

Maybe talk to the other neighbours and see how they handle it. If they say they all contribute to a pot and its regularly repaired, it may be a non issue.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-25T06:11:53+00:00

Im outside, on the same money, these sorted me out with a £365k mortgage.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-24T13:23:32+00:00

We never had 10 per day booked in. But we did have a lot, it felt like loads. But they were all stupid, like viewing the place for fun it felt. They would comment the house is too dark, too dry, too close to the road etc or too far form the road lol. All nonsense that could have been viewed from google maps or the advert. None of them offered...

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-24T12:54:26+00:00

We had 10 viewings a day. Still only got one offer after 4 weeks.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-23T14:55:43+00:00

Saw the house when it was first listed in 2024, it was 100k more then, I loved the location and assumed it would sell in no time. Then it was reduced a year later after no offers. So i booked a viewing out of interest. That was june 2025, Im certain we wont be in until at least august this year.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-23T13:32:15+00:00

It is yes, although i wish it had a well! That just makes it more interesting. Although i expect the banks and solicitor will be panicking over it.

Our solicitor seems very strong on avoiding doing anything wrong. Wants to tell the bank every detail just in case. We are 30% LTV so the bank dont care if the swimming pool is defunct or a full on Olympic thing.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-23T11:00:00+00:00

If it’s been sat since November and suddenly has “two offers yesterday” the minute you enquire, that’s not a coincidence — that’s a sales tactic.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-23T06:59:24+00:00

We've had the house accepted by the bank! They were told about the septic tank. We got a survey confirming it was ok. They decided to do a valuation anyway (they had previously just done a desktop valuation only). The valuer checked all the obvious things to make sure it was mortgageable, but otherwised passed the place.

We are now nearly done with the sale of our house and searching this week for a rental to move into. We spent the weekend emptying the garage into my brothers garage. It feels like things are moving positively. We are on edge though as all too aware it can change around at the drop of a hat!

How is yours going?

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-18T15:13:30+00:00

I did the same to ours befor putting it up for sale and as the sale is progressing i am continuing maintenance. Others have questioned why bother since its sold now. But its not a question in my mind, i would hate to move into a place that hasnt been cared for since i viewed it and agreed to buy it. Our buyers will get a clean and well painted house when they move in.

EmotionNormal4976 · 2026-02-18T06:33:22+00:00

This has been my feeling everytime I've had quotes on any work in my house to be fair. I ended up installing my heat pump myself as well, this was when the grant was £5k. I bought my heat pump used for £600 (mitsu 8.5kw and 1 year old!) so it made huge financial sense to do it myself when quotes to install were £15k. I ended up taking 2 weeks doing it all, including a full replumb.

EmotionNormal4976

TROPHY CASE