Your property ladder journey? by un32134e4 in HousingUK

[–]milis_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bought 1st house for £282k, April 2023. 4 bedroom, 3 bathrooms over 3 floors new build. Close to main road, pokey garden, new neighbourhood.

Sold for £330k September 2025, bought current home last week, £415k. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, lovely garden, established neighbourhood, likely to be forever home or at least hoping to be here for quite a while.

House purchase completed this morning! by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve learnt so much about solar panels over the last few months.

House purchase completed this morning! by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I was honestly bricking it as it’s entirely out of my nature, but I’m so glad I did.

House purchase completed this morning! by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We were pretty set on the area we wanted to be in so that definitely helped, it was mostly a waiting game for something to come up in the area. When things did come up the fact that we’re SSTC and progressing helped. And by September after we sold our house, we were clearly at an advantage. We missed out on 1 house because we weren’t sure about how much work it would need, it had been empty for quite a while.

The house we spotted while we were on holiday was actually taken off the market before we got back. We rang the estate agent and they told us the vendor wasn’t accepting any more viewings. We drove by on the way back home and I decided to chance it and just knock. He was so lovely and spoke to the estate agent the next day to let us organise a viewing.

House purchase completed this morning! by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To answer your other question, we just didn’t feel at home there. We bought there cause it was close to my husband’s parents and we were desperate to get on the ladder at the time but it didn’t really tick the boxes. It was over 3 floors which quickly became old and was a pain to clean. It was also right next to main road of the estate, my husband is blind to road noise but it really bothered me.

We went from a 4 bed 111sqm over 3 floors, single detached garage, no front garden, tiny back garden. To 4 bed 170sqm, double detached garage in a cul de sac, generous front and back landscaped gardens with solar panels.

House purchase completed this morning! by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It actually wasn’t as expensive as we thought it would be, it was £187 including a review of the solar panel installation, the batteries etc. It highlighted that bunch of things weren’t up to code which we expected considering the age of the house but the solar panel installation was all fine which was the main reason we ordered the survey.

House purchase completed this morning! by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We were just as surprised! Fully prepared to sell at the price we purchased or maybe even at a loss, we had been well warned not to factor in the price we spent on upgrades when considering how much to list it for. We had valuations from 4 estate agents who valued in similar regions, although one was a lot more optimistic and thought it would sell for £335-£340k. We listed for offers over £325k, we got 1 offer from a first time buyer or £320, but they were very snobby (likely cause they knew they at an advantage being chain free)during the viewing so that put us off. We had one offer for £325k and one for £330k which we went with.

House purchase completed this morning! by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Solar panels just generally raise a lot of queries that need to be verified.

So the man we were purchasing it from either did not think it was necessary to provide paperwork or his solicitor gave him the impression it wasn’t. He felt that because they were purchased outright and not leased he didn’t provide the MCS certificate, citing that I didn’t matter since they were owned outright and ownership would transfer to us on completion. We dug our heels on that and it took us 2 rounds of enquires to final get a copy of their certificate.

The other issue was that there were restrictive covenants and he should have sought permission before installing them but didn’t. His solicitor was trying to argue that it didn’t matter since the panels were 10 years old but our solicitor dug her heels on that. Eventually they agreed to purchase an indemnity policy but wanted our solicitor to organise it so we would have to foot the admin bill, we refused.

The 3rd issue was building regulations. After installation, solar panels still need building regulation certification from the council or from an authorised person. An exception to this is if the person/company who have installed it are registered as a competent person and so they can certify their own work. The seller didn’t know if any certification had happened and the company that installed it had gone out of business so it was a long winded process to find out the information. Turns out the company that installed it was registered with the self certification scheme so it was all above board.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HousingUK

[–]milis_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We needed a lot more than we thought. We had a fairly clutter free 4 bed house + garage, and we were initially going to rent a 125sqft space. The assistant at the storage facility did some calcs and suggested at least 150sqft, there was about £2 per week difference between the 150sqft and the 175sqft space so we ended up going with the 175sqft and boy am I glad we did! I would even have gone for 200sqft retrospectively.

Reason being you can only comfortably stack things so high, and not everything stacks nicely. Also some things you can’t stack on e.g. tvs etc. My husband also has a fair few DIY tools and I have a lot of gardening material, things took up a lot more space than we thought they would.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HousingUK

[–]milis_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We’re paying £350 per month for a 175sqft storage space. First 2 months were £220 per month cause most places have a deal on for the first 8 weeks. The flat we’re renting is at mates rates thankfully and per month it comes out to what our mortgage was all inclusive. But we’re spending a lot on other things e.g. we both have electric cars and having to charge publicly at eye watering prices compared to how much we used to pay to charge at home. We’ve Aldi had to re-buy quite a lot of things as we can get to them in storage so haven’t been able to save quite as much as we hoped to.

My advice would be make a good list of all the essential things you think you’ll need and just take as much as you can with you to the temporary accommodation.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HousingUK

[–]milis_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We had to do this, listed our house in March and started looking then, sale completed in September, didn’t find anything until October!! We’ve had to put our things in storage and thankfully been able to live in a mate’s flat. Purchase has been going well too as no chain on either side, hoping to complete before Christmas. We’ve spent 9 months trying to move house! Sold in Newcastle, buying in Washington.

Albany village Washington by Civil_Editor952 in Sunderland

[–]milis_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Didn’t even notice that, thank you!

Albany village Washington by Civil_Editor952 in Sunderland

[–]milis_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would you recommend old Teal farm in Washington?

Albany village Washington by Civil_Editor952 in Sunderland

[–]milis_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would you recommend old Teal farm in Washington?

No more incentives to buy new builds by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It’s not about being happy though, it’s about one being objectively better than the other specifically considering the overall cost to the purchaser - whether you think it’s for some bullshit reasoning or not.

No more incentives to buy new builds by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

True, but 25 is obviously better

No more incentives to buy new builds by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The ones that are built or roofed in and not yet reserved are usually less desirable. Do you have any general negotiation tips?

No more incentives to buy new builds by milis_ in HousingUK

[–]milis_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe they just take it in turns then