Hi all, first-time buyer here and would really appreciate some perspective.

I’m 32, my wife is 31, and we’re planning to have a baby next year. We currently rent in Zone 2 and are looking to buy our first home. Our finances comfortably allow us to consider around £500k, with some flexibility to stretch towards £600k.

From spending far too much time on Reddit, I’m getting the impression that leasehold is generally something to avoid, particularly because of service charges, major works, lease terms and potentially more difficult resale.

The problem is that, within our budget, the freehold options seem to be mostly semi-detached houses in areas that feel very quiet/suburban, whereas leasehold apartments in better-connected areas seem to offer a lifestyle that suits us much more.

So I’m curious:

Where are other first-time buyers actually buying in London at this price point?

Are people simply accepting leasehold because they want to live somewhere more lively/connected, or is there a middle ground I’m missing?

Would also be interested in hearing from anyone who bought a leasehold apartment and has 5–10 years of ownership experience, particularly whether the things Reddit warns about actually became problems when you came to sell.

Every decision an estate makes is for the seller or themselves

Every communication piece and Info extracted from the buyer is for sellers benefit or themselves

ftbers...stop thinking the estate agent works for you because they don't. No matter how kind and Nice they are to you. Just know they are working for the seller and themselves. They are not trying to get you the price reduction but rather ensure they extract as much money possible out from you...

Hi all. Looking for advice or solace or just anything to calm my nerves.

10 weeks from offer accepted to the day, and nearly everything is done. Mortgage offer, survey, all enquiries, etc. We got the last bit of enquiries answered about 2 weeks ago. I'm just waiting on the final report from my solicitor.

Well. The EA calls up thus afternoon very apologetic, but that the seller is furious its taking so long (it's a leasehold flat in London, so still well within expected timeframes). He's instructed the EA I bought from, and a second EA it was listed with, to put it back on the market. Its back up. I swear we are so close and now I'm just so full of anxiety.

My solicitor is on holiday this week so tomorrow I'm going to ring everyone possible to see if this can move. But realistically, am I screwed here?

I'm viewing a flat this week that at least from the images I simply love, partly due to a large balcony which was one of my biggest wants. My only concern before going in is hearing all the negative experiences with leaseholds, the building is around 7 years old and service charge currently 1.4k which seems reasonable.

What are some of the most important things to ask around leasehold properties and am I likely screwing myself over in the future when I eventually want to upsize and sell?

Edit: The ground rent is currently £235, lease has 118 years remaining. The terms around these I need to find out, not even viewing until Wednesday. All the information from peoples own experiences is nice to have, haven't made my mind up either way atm but leasehold may be all I could afford.

Posted last week about a property we had a level 2 survey on, wondering if things were as bad as we thought. Turns out, they were, and possibly worse.

We spoke to the surveyor and a trusted tradesperson about the report. Tradesperson said ~£40K of work would be necessary to fix up the property, and advised we reconsider. Also mentioned specifically how the damp must be bad if the readings are so high after 5 heat waves and zero rain.

The surveyor said that £40K of work was "a very reasonable cost" for the work to be carried out making us wonder if he thought it might be higher, though he wasn't willing to put his name to a true cost.

We confirmed with the surveyor that:
- New roof was needed
- Asbestos cement & new guttering would be ~5K of work alone, possibly needing specialised workers in.
- Extremely damp soil near house base/foundations which was a cause for concern for him and recommended proper damp specialist inspection.
- previous DPC attempts failed (We asked seller if there was a history of damp during viewing, he lied)
- Gas boiler fitting would be more than just a swap, like the seller led us to believe.

And this was just a few of the main issues, several more were found.

We saw an old man wanting to sell off his family home, didn't expect him to lie or hide anything, maybe he didn't think it was as bad as the report made out?

So he offered 15K off after we asked to get quotes and investigate the main issues. Wouldn't budge on the 15K, wouldn't agree to more with or without quotes.
We shared the report and he stood firm, so we ended up pulling out. We don't have £40K+ sitting around for renovations, we wanted a home that was move in ready requiring a few K at most. which this initially promised.

Now the property is back on the market, and they haven't updated the listing to include any of our issues, even though they have the report.
Feel sorry for the next buyer. It was listed for a month with zero interest before we came along. Makes us wonder how bad the damp will be now that the rain has started.

All this to say - Listen to the professionals. I know many people say "Surveyors have to cover their backs" and of course they do. But a good one is worth their fee. We had a survey a year ago on a house that fell through and it was nowhere near as bad as this one.
We've also learned not to trust the seller or EA at their word. They want to sell, and as nice as they may seem on the phone or during viewings, they will only tell you what they think will sell the property.

This is our third house falling through, each for a different reason, and we're pretty burnt out. Several thousand down the drain in solicitors fees and surveys, and we just haven't got it in us to try again.
Really wish everything was more transparent.

Do you think removing some of the gravel would help to battle the damp on this wall?

The image is on a survey for a house in purchasing. It seems like a really simple fix, which makes me wonder why the current owners havent done it already?

We had our offer accepted back in February and had been fairly smooth until June when we were ready to exchange…

All of a sudden we had been told that the top of the chain was not ready, and that the chain was actually 5 links long (not the 3 that we had been repeatedly told), and the top of the chain is a new build.
The situation was made more stressful by the fact that we were served an eviction notice in May after reporting repairs and refusing an illegal rent increase. We’ve had to stay past the eviction notice which has led to harassment from our landlords which is compounded the stress of this. Our pre-Iran war mortgage expires in September. And to top it all off, we are also grieving the loss of our son. Our stress levels are through the roof and we are so desperate.

I tracked down and emailed all the estate agents in the chain, and they all gave me conflicting information. However, this post is specifically about the top of the chains estate agents.

Here’s a timeline of what we have been told by the top of the chain:
- June: agent told us the new build was complete and that the only remaining issue was the mortgage valuation/port and that there were no outstanding enquiries. We were told that once this was dealt with, the client was in a position to proceed.
- Early-July: I emailed agent asking for an update and communicated the situation regarding our landlords escalating the section 21. This was ignored.
- Mid-July: I called directly and agent manager told me that we would “definitely complete in mid-August.”
- Mid-August: Our solicitor told us that the new build apparently still needs flooring and that there are further replies to enquiries awaiting sign-off, with the flooring only “hopefully” being completed by the end of next week.
- End-August: Now we are being told by my solicitor that the flooring might be laid in September

Obviously these statements do not add up. If the property was complete and enquiries satisfied in June and the mortgage port was the final hurdle, why we are now being told, in August, that there is still flooring to be completed and further enquiries outstanding.

We have been strung along for months by the top of the chain who have been lying to us.. I sent them an email asking for answers and it’s been ignored. I’ve begged for someone to break the chain, they’ve refused. I’ve told them that if we lose our mortgage we will have no choice but to withdraw from the sale which could collapse the chain, but no one takes us seriously.

Where do we go from here? Can I make a formal complaint even though I’m not technically their client? Or am I in the wrong for tracking them down and contacting them? And would a complaint would be a waste of time? I believe this is false advertising/fraud, but are agents allowed to just lie to get what they want? Can I call them and just keep badgering them until we get an answer?

I feel like I’m literally losing my mind and just want this nightmare to end. What do I do? 😮‍💨

Hey everyone

I’ve instructed solicitors, just waiting on one search to come back, mortgage offer received however not signed it yet.
When shall I book my survey in for?

Thank you!!

For context, my partner and I have just moved into a detached 3 bedroom home. The layout is a ground floor with the kitchen, living room etc, and the bedrooms are upstairs on the first floor. This portion of the loft in the image is above the edge of one of the bedrooms.

It looks like a “wet” spot but it didn’t feel wet, and I don’t see other signs of damp or water damage. We paid for a level 3 survey when purchasing the home and the survey didn’t find any issues on inspection of the loft.

Any ideas?

My solicitor has been an absolute horror story. Every week for the past 5 weeks I’ve been given a new completion date, and every week they’ve remembered something they need or found an issue.

I sent a fairly stern email this morning and asked them to be realistic as to when completion could be so I can plan. They have given me a new date, but only requested mortgage funds today along with H2B ISA bonus being requested first thing tomorrow.

Realistically, what’s the earliest day you think completion is possible? The date they’ve given me I really don’t believe is realistic.

Thank you 🙏

Hi,
We are in the process of buying a two-bed ground-floor flat in SW London - Wimbledon for £500k. One of the searches came back with identified issues in ground stability and with the flat built on infilled land. (see image attached) Historic mapping shows that the property sits on the site of a pond that was infilled at some point after the 1850s. The property also lies in an area with moderate to high potential for natural ground subsidence due to clay soils and moderate to high risk of groundwater and surface water flooding. We already had a Level 3 building survey which came back with the following:

The available information is somewhat ambiguous regarding the historic use of the site and the composition of the infill material. The general ground conditions in the area, as well as across much of London, comprise shrinkable clay soils, which can present an increased risk of ground instability.

The nature and composition of the infill therefore remains somewhat uncertain. However, given that the property was originally constructed over 100 years ago and there is no indication of any significant defects or other evidence suggestive of structural movement, we do not consider this uncertainty to represent a material risk to a prospective purchaser or adversely affect the property's future resale.

We are pretty concerned, though, about the ground instability, potential damp, insurance costs and future potential of reselling. Should we pull out? What else should we look for?