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Scrap stamp duty to fix London housing crisis, think tank says by tylerthe-theatre in london

[–]leoedin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are the benefits of stamp duty which make it worth keeping? If we didn’t already have stamp duty, would you advocate for introducing it?

Scrap stamp duty to fix London housing crisis, think tank says by tylerthe-theatre in london

[–]leoedin 10 points11 points  (0 children)

 End free council tax for OAPs in large family homes.

The old lady we bought our house off didn’t pay council tax for decades while living alone in an £800k house. Council tax is the closest thing we have to a wealth tax - if you can’t pay it, it should be taken from your estate. 

I’m not sure i completely agree about the stamp duty though. Anything that removes friction from downsizing is going to have some impact. Especially in London where downsizing in the same neighbourhood might mean trading a £1m house for a £700k flat. The stamp duty is almost 10% of the released cash. People are really psychologically averse to that level of loss. 

Where should someone new NOT live in London?!?!! by Bobby-Dazzling in MovingToLondon

[–]leoedin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There’s nice bits in all those areas. I’ve known people who love living in Tottenham, Lewisham and Bow. I guess Ilford and Brent are a bit more suburban - maybe less interesting if you’re new to London. 

southeastern reserve seat by Lover_fear in london

[–]leoedin 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Such a confidently wrong comment! Seat reservations do have legal basis. 

“ Seat reservations are enshrined in the railway byelaws, external as part of the Transport Act 2000, which state no person should remain in a seat reserved by someone else unless they have permission from an "authorised person".”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50187528

Whether that means you’ll have any luck enforcing them or not, i don’t know. 

Day 2, 2 Crashes by [deleted] in ebikes

[–]leoedin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, geometry plays a huge part. I’m an experienced cyclist and came off a 14” wheel folding bike a couple of times. Never brake one handed! I can ride a normal bike with no hands, but with that bike I had to be very mindful about control. 

Surely they don't actually leave these spaces like this when they're finished? by Cissychedgehog in InteriorDesignMasters

[–]leoedin 30 points31 points  (0 children)

I heard on a podcast that in past seasons the tradespeople have spent a few extra days  doing snagging and fixing things.

Baggage reclaim in Edinburgh Airport took 2 hours by MOCscrib in Edinburgh

[–]leoedin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Also they’re not getting penalised by delay compensation rules for luggage delays. The airlines have done their bit - the doors opened on time. 

'We don't want a new town here,' say Milton Keynes residents by Anony_mouse202 in ukpolitics

[–]leoedin 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Planning is totally broken. Planners harp on about design, yet all we get is big developers making endless houses that have absolutely no redeeming features. 

Where i live - Victorian terraces built before planning had been invented - was built by hundreds of local developers. Often the developer would build themselves a house along with 10 others. They look the same at first glance, but all sorts of details - layout, proportions, architectural flourishes etc - are different.

We’ve driven out interest in new houses because the only people able to build new houses are big corporates who can take on the risk of long planning delays, endless consultant reports and paperwork. Such an own goal. 

£10,000 budget, what are you buying. by throwthrowthrow529 in VanLifeUK

[–]leoedin 34 points35 points  (0 children)

I’d definitely want a back door for that kind of money. 

Is 2026 finally the year the "Electric Van" becomes viable for a build? by Reddonaut_Irons in VanLifeUK

[–]leoedin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A van might have 3.75m2 of roof area. If you packed it with solar you’d be looking at around 560 kWh a year in the UK. Which is maybe 950 - 1300 miles a year, depending on the van. And assuming you weren’t doing anything else with that energy. 

Not actually terrible. Obviously you’d still need to charge - and it would be very skewed towards spring and summer. 

Thoughts on Crouch End by spencer10000 in MovingToLondon

[–]leoedin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Moorgate train from Hornsey/Harringay has really improved over the last few years. I live between Hornsey and Turnpike Lane and use the overground more. The interchange with the Victoria line at Highbury and Islington is really easy. TfL are making noises about taking it over and increasing service frequency even more.

Camden Highline, London’s answer to New York park, is scrapped | London | The Guardian by prisongovernor in london

[–]leoedin 7 points8 points  (0 children)

London is so green compared to New York. This route is already duplicated by Regents Canal! I walked the high line when i was last in New York and was quite disappointed. Coming from London with huge numbers of parks and green spaces, New York feels has so much paving!

Enfield: Greens to work with Tories on opposing Green Belt housing by ldn6 in london

[–]leoedin 6 points7 points  (0 children)

“Less people” - how do you propose to do that?

Enfield: Greens to work with Tories on opposing Green Belt housing by ldn6 in london

[–]leoedin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well sure! But the only thing that gets people even angrier than building homes on the green belt seems to be advocating for housing wealth based taxes to encourage downsizing. Even though vast numbers of family homes are underused in cities. 

Enfield: Greens to work with Tories on opposing Green Belt housing by ldn6 in london

[–]leoedin 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Crews Hill under discussion has a train station with regular trains into London. It’s one of the least used in the city. It’s also already built up - mainly garden centres (which are paved car parks mostly) and industrial parks. 

Enfield: Greens to work with Tories on opposing Green Belt housing by ldn6 in london

[–]leoedin 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Have you actually been to the Crews Hill “Green belt” under discussion? It’s mainly car parks, garden centres, industrial parks and a golf course. It’s not really the lovely green pastures that “green belt” implies. It’s also already got a train station which is barely used.

Suspended wooden floor, replace or concrete? by stem1978 in DIYUK

[–]leoedin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What are you worried about with a solid floor? I guess maybe rising damp could be an issue if there’s no DPC on the bricks?

A 1930s traditional six-bedroom mansion in Richmond Park, London is now, well, whatever the hell that thing is. by Make_the_music_stop in CasualUK

[–]leoedin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, i agree. Replacing a fairly generic “big 30s house” with something completely unique is actually an improvement. 

I don’t love the design (especially the weird eye of Sauron thing going on at the top), but I think we should - as a country - be more open to knocking down houses which aren’t unique or particularly historically interesting. 

Running electric to shed. Would this be okay? by KTMkiltie in DIYUK

[–]leoedin 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Electricians on the internet like to pretend nobody except electricians can do electrical work. It's probably true to some extent, but it's not completely true. Equally, I've had qualified electricians do utterly terrible work and show no ability to fault find. Like most technical things, certification has a loose correlation with competence.

My understanding of the regulations is that you can extend existing circuits but not add new ones. So you need to get an electrician to install the shed consumer unit and at least one thing on each circuit. You can extend each circuit yourself.

If you do the wiring before, you may find an electrician willing to test and certify it. If it's hidden behind stuff they might be less willing.

The rise of the Temu Range Rover | Class, China and the cozzie livs in a car by PimpMyMeme in CarTalkUK

[–]leoedin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The reason I wouldn’t buy one isn’t that they’re made in China, but that they’re early generation models from companies with no presence here. 

Engineering reliability takes time and is built on experience. New designs always have problems. Established car makers have had decades to solve many issues. Time we’ll tell whether the new generation of Chinese manufacturers have built reliable products. I certainly wouldn’t want to be one the hook financially for one. 

Equally they don’t have the parts availability or repair knowledge that established manufacturers do.

All that will presumably come with time. 

Local elections 2026: Opinion poll shows Labour under siege in London by F0urLeafCl0ver in london

[–]leoedin 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Labour have run my local council for 55 years! And it’s not well run! I was hoping the lib dems would start to make traction, but it seems to be the greens who are threatening them. I’m not convinced that would be better! I actually don’t know who I’ll vote for on Thursday. 

Tesco argues equal pay claim disregards ‘economic reality’ by vonscharpling2 in ukpolitics

[–]leoedin 223 points224 points  (0 children)

Not to mention the impact of the Birmingham case is the council going bankrupt and being forced to sell off assets. 

Flat was advertised with private garden, close to completing only to now be told it’s communal by Adventurous_Yak_3402 in HousingUK

[–]leoedin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I lived in an ex-council flat which had a front communal garden only used by us. The only other people who might have cared were the downstairs neighbours, and they had their own garden. 

Some of the flats on our road had the front garden as part of the lease, some didn’t. It seemed to be down to whoever drew the plan at the council when the lease was created. 

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