The House Projects Thread

[Swervin_Mervin]

I'd be more worried about the immediate risk of fire.

Given how quickly a fire would take hold and you right above them...

And this is the aspect that has me wondering why there aren't certain rules in place to enable action to be taken swiftly in cases like this, especially where it's a property within a larger dwellinghouse/building i.e. it's not just their own place that might burn to the ground - they're effectively endangering the lives of every occupier in the building.

[DeskJockey]

Is there an HSE (type?) accelerator that could be leveraged? Something under the council perhaps.

Only tangentially related, but two doors down had let their garden go completely, it was effectively a solid tangle of brambles and weeds from end to end, and it was causing issues with rodents. The council, eventually, made them clear it and since then the problem has gone away.

Wondering if you could complain about the risk, or as it is already in the courts that's too late.

[Gavster]

That would surely backfire - you won't feel nearly as guilty when you get an order for possession if they don't live in it. And a judge won't see them as being made homeless when they've already made themselves homeless by choice.

That's true, they have made their own property uninhabitable and moved out because of that - which is funny, because a witness statement at the last hearing stated that they live in their car because of my (alleged) harrasment - which is quite clearly a lie. In fact, they have a habit of lying to courts, in a hearing last year they told the judge they had an appeal lodged at the court of appeal, which was a complete lie again - quickly disproven by the court.

Its amazing how much they can lie to the court without any kind of penalty. I assumed that telling bare-faced lies to judges would bring some kind of significant red flag.

[Gavster]

Is there an HSE (type?) accelerator that could be leveraged? Something under the council perhaps.

Only tangentially related, but two doors down had let their garden go completely, it was effectively a solid tangle of brambles and weeds from end to end, and it was causing issues with rodents. The council, eventually, made them clear it and since then the problem has gone away.

Wondering if you could complain about the risk, or as it is already in the courts that's too late.

Perhaps, it's definitely something I'll ask about depending on how Friday plays out.

[dinny_g]

While fully witin your rights to do this, no doubt they'll use this as:

"further examples of harassment"

"why didn't you go down this avenue in the first instance"

"Threatening our property"

Bullying...

[Jobbo]

Its amazing how much they can lie to the court without any kind of penalty. I assumed that telling bare-faced lies to judges would bring some kind of significant red flag.

Unless the lies have any consequence they won't get censured - but it will definitely be taken into account by the judge when assessing the evidence which is relevant to the case. Aldridge Prior would not make a good witness.

[mik]

Furniture doesn't really qualify as "house projects", but in the absence of any furniture thread..... we had a couple of Verikon "Abba" chairs delivered for our living room earlier today, that we picked up in a sale. Probably made elsewhere, but designed in Denmarkland.

Lovely finish (capped walnut chassis, plush hard-wearing fabric, proper sprung bases) but jeez they are superbly comfortable. Like an old man, I would like to declare that I no longer have any interest in sitting on the couch.....

[DeskJockey]

They look very nice. Quality furniture is one of the better luxuries.

[Gavster]

Court again today, but it all went well for once.

We managed to agree a possession order with terms for relief from forfeiture. What that means is that we have a fixed set of dates whereby my neighbours must clear their flat of all the junk, allow a full survey, do some repairs, market their property and pay all the costs which have been awarded. There are a bunch of interim dates on the order for clearing the flat and allowing a survey, and then finally costs and a buyer found by 22nd Sept. If all of those conditions are met, their lease will be re-instated and they can continue with the sale. If they don't meet all of those terms, then I take possession, and that's the end of it.

The two main issues are clearing the flat and costs. Whether or not they are able to clear their flat is in question and that might be the sticking point. However, if they do and a survey is completed, then one of their solicitors has agreed to loan them the money to pay the costs (which seem rather inapprporiate and suggests that solicitor is hoping to get a deal). That in itself might prove to be a huge sticking point, as my neighbour is absolutely impossible to negotiate with.

The nature of this posession order with relief means that these dates are rigid, and the reason they have seven months in total is to ensure they don't come back and say "we need more time". Therefore the chance of these dates changing are very slim, at most they might get a short extension if they needed a week or so longer at the end.

Either way, I'm happy that the end is truly in sight now. If they sort out the flat out and sell it, that's great because it means the new owner will be invested in the overall condition of the property, doing repairs etc, and potentially we can arrange new leases for our properties too. If the neighbours don't meet the terms or pay costs, then I will then have a dilapidated property to sell/repair etc. Either way, my neighbours have run out of road and I can begin to consider my future again, thank fuck.

Also, my neighbours lies started to appear today. My counsel was arguing the case for costs and pointed out that my neighbours had legal representation previously. At that point, their current pro bono representatives (x3) all looked at my neighbours with wide eyes and said "What?!?". Clearly my neighbours have been very economical with the information they've given to their current legal team.

[mik]

Sounds like a huge step forward Gav.

[Mito Man]

Good result.

[dinny_g]

Sounds like their solicitor is going to be buying out their lease themselves

[Gavster]

Sounds like their solicitor is going to be buying out their lease themselves

Exactly that. The one stumbling block is that my neighbours have a vastly misguided understanding of the value of their property and the solicitor will be looking for a bargain deal. Assuming this deal needs to be agreed before he will pay the costs, that could prove to be a massive stumbling block.

[Sundayjumper]

I'm seeing a catch-22 type situation with the sale. The costs (which are significant) need to be paid before the lease can be reinstated to allow the sale. I can't imagine the solicitor will commit his own money without the sale being locked in, which it isn't until the contracts are exchanged, which can't happen until after he's paid the money.

I don't think there's anything to stop the neighbour simply refusing to exchange contracts on the sale after the lease is reinstated ? Even if the money is a loan to him with short strict terms and repayment on demand or whatever it'll be a nightmare for them to enforce because the neighbour is so impossible to deal with. And that's even assuming they manage to agree a price in the first place. Which as Gavster says, will be extremely hard because the neighbour will be convinced it's worth at least twice the real market value while the solicitor will be wanting to buy for absolute rock bottom below market value.

[Jobbo]

I think 'buyer found' means a sale exchanged or completed. If they just identify a random name as the buyer that wouldn't persuade a court. But it depends on the exact terms of the court order.

Obviously selling to a friend or family member is the loophole open to them.

[Explosive Newt]

Well done Gav, sounds like you are finally getting closure.

Forgive me, this saga has dragged on so long that I can't remember the origin. Were they your tenants? I can't recall the relationship.

[IanF]

Congrats Gav! Light at the end of the tunnel!!

[Gavster]

Well done Gav, sounds like you are finally getting closure.

Forgive me, this saga has dragged on so long that I can't remember the origin. Were they your tenants? I can't recall the relationship.

Two flats in a converted victorian building, I'm the freeholder and leaseholder of the upper flat, they're the leaseholder of the lower (severely dilapidated) lower flat who've owned it for a verrry long time. They decided to take me to court in 2019 for lots of reasons including building repairs, which led to asking for a survery to review disrepair at the property. Since then they've obstructed any survey (until Monday) or repair, resulting six years of legal process with seven court hearings to date.

I would highly recomend moving into homes with nice neighbours

[Mito Man]

Got the frame for the garage finished

And that’s probably it for a while as I’ll be trying to make my own flooring which requires dry wood.
I’ve stacked all the wood and wrapped it with a tarp and stuck a dehumidifier in - hopefully it’ll be ready in a few weeks.
Wood from a sawmill is wavy, when the bandsaw transitions from soft clear wood to a dense knot the blade deflects causing a bump. Commercially a 4 sided thicknesser is used to shape the 4 sides simultaneously into finished timber. The homeowner version only does one side at a time. You create a flat surface with the planer and then stick the opposite face in the thicknesser to get a uniform dimension.

We opted to collect the machine because it’s sensitive in terms of set up so would rather it not get bashed about on a lorry and I got a lesson on how to use it.

Got it all set up in thicknessing mode here

Jokingly refer to it as the money printer because you put crap worthless wood in and get nice valuable stuff out the other end

Everyone’s going to be getting cutting boards and cheese boards for Christmas

[GG.]

“no beds”.. wtf!?

I feel I’m at a crossroads regarding my own property purchase; I’ve found something I like on a very nice road on Richmond Hill that would suit me and my daughter extremely well.. I’ve also been looking around Oxfordshire/Cotswolds at larger properties with my partner (who has two 18+ kids), but my daughter doesn’t want to move out there. I’m trying to sweeten the deal with “discussions” regarding a holiday home in Italy with both my daughter and my partner, but neither seem willing to compromise.

I need to stop being a pussy and make a decision..

I had missed this. Not sure whether I'd posted on here but we're not moving out in the end either. Ultimately my wife couldn't get her head around moving out to the countryside and to be fair, commuting into the City would be huge extra pressure on me as well given the work / life balance I currently have (read none) and therefore inability to leave the office reliably to take a 1.25hr train journey home.

Maybe we'll buy a cottage out there at some point in the future but for now we're going to stay put until my son sits the 11+ and we know which school he'll end up at. 2 more years of waiting for me then Will give me a couple of years to try and offset some of the horrific stamp duty bill we'll be lumbered with when we do move.