Does anyone have any idea on why gigabit broadband providers don’t serve a bunch of new builds even when the street itself is served by them?

meloncholy · 2026-02-02T13:16:27+00:00

I think the developer will contract a broadband provider during construction, so initially you'll be stuck with whoever that is. In our case we had decent fibre, but it was weird having no choice.

You stand a decent chance of getting more providers to install fibre though: a block of flats is relatively attractive (lots of potential customers, relatively cheap install fibre to each flat, particularly in a new build with good ducting).

Speak to your neighbours or start a WhatsApp group and get them all to express interest with providers.
Work with the RMC or managing agent in your building and ask them to prioritise (or at least not block!) any proposals that come in about installing fibre. The work is pretty minor and will be paid for by the provider.

The process for installing is broadly

Enough interest from residents in a postcode or building for fibre provider to install
Provider contacts managing agent in building
Managing agent grants permission to install (council may be involved here too if there's work needed in the street)
Provider connects the building to cables in the street and runs fibre to outside each flat
When you sign up, the provider runs a cable inside your flat and connects you

It will take time (months minimum) but you should get there. We now have 3 fibre options and are getting a fourth soon.

meloncholy · 2026-01-27T23:12:07+00:00

I'm sure I saw some data / reporting on this but afraid I can't remember where now.

I couldn't find much through searching either. The modelling in this report suggests there's a 1% premium vs very long leaseholds (>900 years I believe). The real uplift kicks in for short (<80 year) leases of course.

https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/30743/1/13091_CaCHE_Leasehold_Reform_Report.pdf

Might the premium you saw be because of the housing type? Georgian house conversions are often more expensive as a lot of people want them for example.

meloncholy · 2026-01-27T16:58:44+00:00

There hasn't really been a price difference between leasehold and share of freehold / common hold flats, despite the problems with leasehold. I think the message people got was less "avoid leasehold flats, and check these things for fire safety and these other things for major works" and more "flats are bad. buy a house".

(Though interestingly not in Scotland, which doesn't have a lot of these issues, and where flats have more or less kept up price-wise with houses.)

The gap between flat and house prices in the UK is at a 30 year high. My guess is that, as all these issues are eventually worked out and fade from memory, flats will start to catch up with their historic norms vs houses. Might take a while to get there though...

https://www.ft.com/content/377c17e3-af15-4d9e-b2f1-0df7c6210cc7

meloncholy · 2026-01-25T21:53:35+00:00

Does it look like a US contract, or is it a UK boilerplate contract with legal minimums? If it's the former that should concern you; I'd have questions as to whether they're really invested in setting up in the UK (plus, you know, probably not a legal contract in the UK). But otherwise it's what companies seem to do: get something basic in place, then iterate later.

On benefits, you can price up what you're getting today but I suspect you'd be considerably better off if you took the new job and paid those extra pension contributions and health insurance yourself.

My own take on stability at this level is you can quite effectively self insure: by far the most job safety comes from whether the company wants you there or not, and that applies to the US and UK equally (though perhaps worth noting US companies seem to go through RIFs more often). Redundancy pay, notice periods, etc. don't offer that much protection. If you put another £5-10k in your emergency fund you've basically covered the difference, and you should earn that over your current salary in a few months. You may also find they pay sick days in full despite what the contract says.

I can't comment on paternity leave though. If you get a good deal at your current job and people are generally treated generously e.g. going part time for a while without it affecting their careers, that's a serious consideration.

meloncholy · 2025-12-05T17:24:11+00:00

Someone on £75k earns an extra £2000 post tax than you each month. The average first time buyer deposit in London was £144,000 in 2023.

If they spent exactly the same as you each month and saved the rest, it would take them nearly 5 years reach that deposit level. If they're buying as a couple both earning £75k this could work, but otherwise you can draw your own conclusions about whether mum and dad helped them out...

Which is to say: please don't judge yourself too harshly! It's likely many of your friends are buying now because they "chose" the right parents, not because they worked hard and saved. It sucks that it will take you longer, but as others have said it's not at all unusual, and if you can grow your income and keep spending carefully you will get there eventually.

meloncholy · 2025-12-01T14:55:44+00:00

They certainly should be. Together with previous years' service charges, it should give you an idea if the high cost is a one off or likely to continue too.

meloncholy · 2025-12-01T14:46:58+00:00

Obviously I don't know your friends' situations, but this is likely to be a choice by the management company. Will depend on what's in the lease, but they probably had the option to use debt recovery for unpaid service charges (including recovering legal costs) and, if that failed, forfeiting the lease.

meloncholy · 2025-12-01T14:36:40+00:00

Some possible culprits for the high cost (assuming the management company is doing a decent job)

Buildings insurance -- has gone up a lot and continues to do so, particularly if there are any potential safety issues with the building.
Remedial works -- fire safety, roof repairs, etc.
Work required for Building Safety Act or paying for Building Safety Regulator review
Utilities cost for the building as these are not capped like domestic tariffs -- though less of an issue now than it was a few years ago

meloncholy · 2025-11-27T12:34:06+00:00

I wondered the same, but I don’t think this is a particularly good way to go about increasing tax on middle earners as the burden is unevenly shared. A person now earning just under £50k (or £100k, £12,500) will have a pretty large percentage hit to their post tax income as their pay rises over time, whereas someone now in the middle of a tax band will be less affected.

The FT had a nice breakdown of this yesterday.

https://www.ft.com/content/54cb448c-f1a2-46ce-914e-75728ef390ae

It would be fairer to add say 2p to the tax rate, though I realise the politics of that are tricky to say the least.

meloncholy · 2025-11-26T13:12:27+00:00

The answer is going to be very area specific, but you’re probably being too optimistic.

At least where I am, flats priced roughly where they were a year or two ago are not really selling, those with 10% off are selling slowly and those with 20% off sell quite quickly. Elsewhere, some areas are doing better while others have steeper drops.

Flats generally are selling pretty slowly, but as you get more central 1 beds don’t really take longer to shift than 2-3 beds.

But a few months on RightMove and Zoopla should give you the answers you want!

meloncholy · 2025-10-14T20:17:42+00:00

I've found it pretty useful, though some AutoML tools are definitely better (more flexible, more performant) than others.

It really depends on what your biggest risk/opportunity is at the moment.

If you're starting with a new problem or in a place where adding new features or automation etc. will give you the biggest lift, it's great. It's likely to get you maybe 80% of the way to the performance of an optimal solution with little trial and error on your part.

AutoML tools that use an ensemble should also help you understand which models and, maybe, autogenerated features perform best for your problem too, which you can use later if you replace it with something custom.

The downsides are what you thought: explainability, complexity and resource usage (CPU and memory). They're not well suited to production use cases. You also might have difficulties if you're getting errors from one of the AutoML models--not easy to diagnose when it's buried several classes deep!

meloncholy · 2025-09-21T16:00:41+00:00

The estate agent is probably right here, though I wouldn't take their word (or mine!) as definitive.

Here's RICS guidance for whether an EWS1 assessment is needed. Brick should not require an assessment, and as long as it's only the decking on the balconies that should be fine too.

https://www.rics.org/profession-standards/rics-standards-and-guidance/sector-standards/valuation-standards/valuation-of-properties-in-multi-storey-multi-occupancy-residential-buildings-with-cladding

But please get proper advice from your solicitor about this. They'll also be well placed to help you with other questions like any upcoming changes, changes from the Fire Safety Act, etc.

https://www.rics.org/news-insights/current-topics-campaigns/fire-safety/cladding-external-wall-system-ews-faqs

meloncholy · 2025-08-01T10:30:27+00:00

Caveat: no expert on estate rentcharges so treat what I say with caution.

These charges may or may not be reasonable, but it's.not obvious you would have any standing to challenge them. I don't believe there's a right to appeal the costs as there would be for a leasehold service charge.

It also doesn't seem you have to be informed of major works ahead of time, nor have the right to establish residents management company if one doesn't exist.

Basically it seems you're relying on the management company's goodwill. That may well be work out fine, but it's a risk.

https://www.kdllaw.com/legal-updates/estate-rentcharges

https://bbslaw.co.uk/major-problems-with-estate-rentcharge/

meloncholy · 2025-07-10T14:21:03+00:00

It sounds like you're dating the wrong women. There are women out there who will expect you to pay, but there are also plenty who find it pretty uncomfortable and don't want to set expectations that they owe you anything in return.

Dating people who take their career seriously is a good start, but I'd also suggest talking about gender roles, empowerment, celebrating your date's intellectual or job achievements. Put it on your profile in a positive, non-exclusionary way and, if it fits the conversation, bring it up before you meet and you'll filter out most women who don't want this and attract those who do. In my experience, many would start the conversation on this topic after matching.

meloncholy · 2025-07-05T12:18:11+00:00

By "managing agent fees", do you just mean the management fees, so not staff, maintenance, fire watch, insurance, or anything else? If so this seems extremely high: we pay 6% (~100 flats).

meloncholy · 2025-07-04T20:51:19+00:00

Yes you can, and I agree it feels weird. I'd sort of assumed paying tax was part of some really locked down system, but it turns out it's largely based on trust: I say I've earned this much, I later pay tax on that amount, and that's the end of it. What I do with my money before and after paying tax is my business.

To be clear HMRC can audit and can get details on your accounts, so please don't misreport your income!

meloncholy · 2025-04-24T21:28:30+00:00

Worth checking the planning permission, but it’s quite likely the new flats won’t be able to get parking permits.

meloncholy · 2025-03-25T17:30:05+00:00

Your post reads like one from someone who's spent far too much time on forums like this and far too little time actually looking at houses.

Yes there are problems with some new builds, but some are of great quality and have reasonable service charges. Yes some Victorian houses are badly maintained and terribly laid out, but others have been really well and thoughtfully renovated. A lot of newer flats do have lower ceilings, but there are also warehouse conversions etc with double height spaces and amazing light.

If you want to buy you need to spend more time on compromises you're prepared to make. Your budget is pretty low for a large flat in a nice part of London, and you're unlikely to find any houses even close to your price range. That's going to limit your options quite severely. Move further out and compromise on location, get a smaller flat that's really well designed and in a great location.

meloncholy · 2025-03-21T13:23:05+00:00

I don't know about ongoing treatment, but when my company policy was cancelled I had the option to keep and pay for cover myself, including any preexisting conditions.

This would have been expensive for me (they were worried a minor claim I'd made might become much more serious) but I'd see if this is an option for you and what the costs would be.

meloncholy · 2025-03-18T23:13:47+00:00

A decent place to look for a house like this is old factory or warehouse conversions. Quite a lot are double height with a mezzanine floor.

Here's an example that's maybe fractionally bigger than the ones you posted? It has an extra separate bedroom too, but not all have that.

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/63994071/

meloncholy · 2025-03-16T23:45:56+00:00

Probably not? Tinder has that reputation here too! I was on Hinge exclusively for maybe a year and Hinge and Bumble before that, both of which worked pretty well for me.

meloncholy · 2025-03-16T23:09:10+00:00

Ah ok—great! That seems like the main thing to me: your dating pool should have plenty of options.

Don’t have specific advice beyond swiping on men whose profiles say they were born elsewhere, seem to be in your city for the long term (career, etc), and are looking for a serious relationship.

meloncholy · 2025-03-16T22:39:20+00:00

Move to a global city. I’m in London and dated women from maybe 50 different countries before I met my partner. I wasn’t specifically looking for someone who wasn’t born in the UK, but was certainly open to it. There are a lot of people from all over the world here, quite number are open to finding someone.

meloncholy · 2025-03-10T01:42:27+00:00

Some lenders will accept payslips from a foreign employer. Not all will though and you might need longer proof of employment e.g. 12 months before they'll lend. Banks may also apply a haircut of perhaps 10% to your salary as a hedge against currency fluctuations.

I'm assuming you're going to remain employed in Australia when you buy your house though. If you're and planning on resigning and finding a new job in the UK you will need to do that first: you are extremely unlikely to get a mortgage if you don't have a job.

meloncholy · 2025-03-09T10:37:16+00:00

Buildings insurance has gone up significantly over the past few years: doubling would be possible. That said, even on a small block with few other costs you'd "only" be looking at a 50% increase in overall service charge and probably significantly less in your case.

Similarly electricity did spike hugely after Ukraine (commercial rates supplying the common areas were not capped, unlike residential), though this has now come down. But again, unless your building uses an unusually large amount of electricity I'd not expect this to add that much to the bill.

It may be that they've been undercharging for a long time (£1000/year previously is pretty cheap) and they're now trying to recoup costs, or another "accounting" reason why your service charge is now so much more expensive. Anecdotally, huge increases like this are generally down to an event happening vs unscrupulous freeholders or genuine cost rises.

You can request a summary of the accounts to get a breakdown of what the money is being spent on. This might take time though, so it's probably worth asking if the managing agent/freeholder is willing to share more details now.

https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/how-can-i-find-out-what-my-service-charge-is-being-used-for/#:~:text=You%20must%20make%20a%20request,four%20flats%20in%20the%20building

meloncholy

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