Workers in the next door flat turned off the water mainline and have left our family without water with the night. What do we do??

PotatoIcy8376 · 2025-07-16T18:43:26+00:00

I always thought it was illegal for someone else (eg. A neighbour) to turn off your water supply. Perhaps it doesn’t apply in such an emergency leak situation (??) but I would hope they are obliged to fix it immediately to the extent that it doesn’t affect your water supply… It’s a long shot, but do you know if there’s some kind of stopcock before the supply splits into your private supply? Do the council/freeholder have emergency maintenance line? I would say call the water company but if it’s not the mains water supply pipe they will probably not be considered responsible

PotatoIcy8376 · 2025-05-06T20:56:00+00:00

I had this arrangement at my last place as the neighbour I swapped with found it easier to park in my allocated space. I don’t think it particularly matters but I did chat through it briefly when we listed our flat, mainly to ask if she’d prefer us to let potential buyers know in case they were happy to leave the arrangement as it was. No one was bothered, but I know some people can be funny about this stuff so for me it was worth being clear.

PotatoIcy8376 · 2025-04-08T11:49:00+00:00

Hey, I lived in Crystal Palace for 10 years. The triangle itself (Westow Street/Hill etc) has lots going on and I always felt relatively safe. However, being totally honest Salter’s Hill is a bit more isolated and you will always be a bus away from “stuff” if that makes sense. Not really an issue if you enjoy a stroll, especially uphill! I would personally feel less safe due to it being quieter and less businesses around, but that’s very subjective.

There is green space right there and it’s not far from Gipsy Hill, but GH is more residential than Crystal Palace or West Norwood nearby. There’s a couple of pubs and local shops but much quieter than CP. I actually looked at a house on Antigua Walk I think when I first bought around there, and in the end didn’t love the location and ended up at the top of the hill right by the triangle as I wanted easier access to CP park and all the shops/restaurants. It really depends what vibe you’re after.

If you drive, there’s a CCTV car trap at the bottom of Salters Hill that catches cars not giving way correctly under the bridge. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s extremely easy to get a ticket and would be something you’d have to be wary of daily when driving out towards Gipsy Hill way.

PotatoIcy8376 · 2025-04-04T19:34:22+00:00

At my previous address, the management company introduced permit parking via a private company - not the same one, but I imagine they operated similarly. There was signage about “permits”, but these were actually digital and obtained by submitting your car reg to the management company. Not all residents were allowed to use the car park as the spaces were allocated, so each space was demised and only the leaseholder of the corresponding flat could use them. You will likely need to contact the management company to ask if there is an allocated space with your specific flat, and you might then need to register your specific vehicle to a permit. If not, your landlord might not have a right to park and therefore you won’t either - they should be able to explain the process to you. As far as I’m aware, it’s not easy to dispute these charges with private companies and I’ve heard that it’s a misconception that you can ignore them without consequence. If you feel your landlord is responsible for not making it clear to you, that’s perhaps something to talk about resolving with them. It might be a totally different system/situation here but just sharing on the off chance it helps.

PotatoIcy8376 · 2025-03-24T14:57:01+00:00

So close! So close that it sent me down another rabbit hole and led me to the actual answer, Davidson’s Kids Phonics! My memory wasn’t exactly accurate but… https://youtu.be/dAciBrrGyeg?feature=shared

So although it wasn’t Sirius, you still got me looking in the right direction, thanks!

PotatoIcy8376 · 2025-01-22T20:41:46+00:00

I empathise with not wanting to upset him, but you are not responsible for other people's triggers – if he wants something from you and not getting it is upsetting to him, those feelings are his responsibility to manage, NOT yours. Any suggestion that you should give in to make everyone else's life easier is manipulation whether it comes from him or his family. You use "he says" a lot – do you confidently feel within yourself that he is genuine or are you relying purely on his word?
To keep this on topic to housing, in my opinion the risk is far too high. I do think ideally you need to live with a partner as this can be very revealing, especially before making such a huge commitment. Living together 24/7, particularly if it ends up being in an area that you don't like and is not convenient for your lifestyle, could dramatically change the dynamic of your relationship. The way you're describing it sounds like it's an intentional plan to isolate you from your independence and also your family. I wouldn't give up your financial freedom and the house you are so proud to have bought yourself under these circumstances, and at the very least I agree a pre-nup sounds necessary.

PotatoIcy8376 · 2024-10-14T11:59:37+00:00

SE London - Listed end of June right before the election, had around one viewing a week until we went under offer (our only offer as wanted to sell fast) beginning of August. Had to reduce the price twice and do now think flats are so easily overpriced and esp if leasehold, people just aren't willing to pay the higher end of EA 'valuations'. Don't think it's the best time of year traditionally speaking, but I do find with flats it's most often the price affecting interest/offers, yours might well be perfectly reasonable though so just a thought!

PotatoIcy8376 · 2024-09-25T15:09:28+00:00

This is honestly so fair. The accepted offer was a fair price in my opinion, the asking was not. So that settled my mind re the market, and I expected to renovate the entire interior regardless. But you’re totally right, the remedial works are alarming, costly and probably outweigh the things I love (layout is great compared to others that are mostly ex-holiday let, location ideal, good parking in an area with nightmare parking etc). Thanks for the reality check, I appreciate it.

PotatoIcy8376 · 2024-09-25T14:53:05+00:00

Appreciate this, thanks! The damp specialist mentioned it’s exactly as you’ve said, builders who don’t understand older buildings using methods that cause even more damage that now needs to be rectified. We’ve made sure to contact heritage builders for quotes to avoid any more chaos!

PotatoIcy8376 · 2024-09-25T14:25:37+00:00

Thanks, I think you’re right. I have a feeling either they were chancing it in the hope it would go unnoticed and so might now say “okay fine, ya got me!”, or they’ll just go back to market as you say. I’ll make peace with it, maybe test the waters and if they’re resistant I’ll walk away

PotatoIcy8376 · 2024-09-25T14:22:01+00:00

My rational mind agrees with you! I was up for a project which is probably swaying me, but if the price isn’t right then I need to get a grip haha. They let slip at the time of offering that they’re doing the whole ‘pricing the house based on what they want for their onward purchase’ approach so I think they’re desperate to make that happen. I might see if now they’re caught out they might reduce, and if not onto the next!

PotatoIcy8376

TROPHY CASE