Four years ago I bought my house. It’s a (very) little three bedroom ex council house on a pretty variable estate.

About two years ago a younger woman (early thirties?) than me bought the house next to me with her young daughter and spent about nine months doing it up and then moving it. During this time she became pregnant and a boyfriend appeared on the scene. She gave birth shortly after moving in. Her boyfriend began staying over more and more and it became apparent that he also had two primary age kids who sometimes stayed with them.

They removed all of the mature trees and shrubs in the garden so the kids had more space to play which meant that my ancient fence fell down because we basically live in a wind tunnel. I looked up the law and decided I didn’t have to pay for a new one because I didn’t have the money at that time (I’d just had to buy a new roof). She popped round and said they were going to put a fence up because they had kids, could they use my existing fence posts, and would I like to pay half. I agreed that they could use my fence posts but explained I didn’t have the money to contribute to the fence right now.

I overheard her boyfriend, who has now sold his house and moved in full time, shouting about what a bitch I was for not paying for the fence. Other choice complaints he developed around this time were that I have the audacity to park outside his house stopping him parking one of their three(!) cars near their house so the kids can get out safely, and that I am sometimes naked in my own bedroom with the curtains open which is child abuse because my bedroom overlooks the two gardens.

Anyway, they put the house on the market for about £75k more than I paid for mine. She made it really nice for sure, put an upstairs bathroom in and did a lot of work. But it’s still fundamentally a tiny council house on an estate. It remained on the market for over a year before they took it off. I have overheard him blaming me for them not selling their house because I don’t keep my garden tidy and my render is patched without being painted.

Now he’s overheard me talking about my plans to sell my house next year to my other neighbour. He was in the garden last week talking to his partner about how he’s going to “make sure [she] never fucking manages to sell her house because [she] doesn’t fucking deserve to.” Then he talked about registering a neighbour dispute I have to declare when I sell.

I don’t know why he wants me to say here. He seems to hate me. I work away half the week too so it’s not like he sees me most of the time. I’m quiet and I keep myself to myself, and I even work from home when I’m not away which is surely good for keeping an eye on things.

Is there anything I can do about this problem to preempt it? Should I speak to my conveyancer in advance?

Hey everyone,

I've always been an overthinker and worrier, but I've never let it hinder my decision making and goals.

It's always been my goal/dream in life to own my own home - a place to call mine, a place that's decorated in a way that I feel safe and somewhere I can hide from the world.

I'm approaching the age (and financial ability) where I should be able to buy a house next year. Don't get me wrong, it won't be anything amazing, about 130k in the north, but I'm getting more and more scared the closer I get.

How do I get over the anxieties of homeownership and the risks it entails?

What if I lose my job and I can't get another quick enough to pay the mortgage? What if I'm in a difficult financial situation and I need a sudden roof repair? What happens if I buy a property to reach my dream but it's completely ruined by a neighbour from hell moving in?

Edit: I appreciate everyone's kind and affirming comments, I won't be able to reply immediately as I'm at work, but keep the advice coming!

I’m looking for advice because I genuinely need help resolving this situation.
My family owns our home, which is semi-detached and shares a wall with the neighbouring property. Since 2023, we’ve experienced loud sexual noises, moaning, screaming and shouting around 4–5 nights a week, usually starting between 1am and 2am and sometimes continuing until 6am.
We can hear practically everything through the shared wall. We’ve asked the neighbours to stop, contacted their landlord multiple times, complained to the council repeatedly and provided recordings through its noise reporting app.
Initially, the council suspected the property might be operating as a brothel and discussed referring the matter to the police. I clarified that my complaint was about the noise itself, but was told there was nothing they could do. The disturbance continues.
The neighbours have four or five children, and on some occasions we’ve heard a child crying while the other noise was happening. I cannot comment on what is happening inside the property, but I’m unsure whether this should be raised separately.
This is seriously affecting my mental health, and I really need help. The noise happens so frequently that even when the neighbours are quiet, I sometimes think I can still hear them. I’m constantly anticipating the disturbance and struggling to relax in my own home.
I’m considering contacting my MP and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, but I don’t know what else I can do.
What options do I have when repeated council complaints and recordings haven’t resolved the problem?
Can I request a formal review of how the council has handled my reports?
Has anyone successfully escalated a similar situation to their MP or the Ombudsman?
Should I raise my concerns about the children separately with children’s services?
I’m not trying to control what people do in their own homes. I simply want to sleep peacefully and feel comfortable in my own home again.
Please, if anyone has experienced something similar or knows what steps I can take next, I would really appreciate your advice.

FTBs, started looking last September.

We’ve had one non-standard construction and two level 3 surveys where the surveyor rang us afterwards and told us to run, not walk.

So, yeah. Good start. Mortgage offer expired, applied for a new one the week before Iran kicked off. Locked in at 4.19%. Offered on this one early May, oldest house of the lot, survey came back with minor maintenance bits but otherwise, a dream. Searches and enquiries dragged a little but were generally straightforward.

Then it turned out the middle of the chain - our sellers - were still waiting for enquiries. Fine, it happens. Few more weeks passed, then finally that was all squared away. At that point we’d been ready to go for a Quite Some Time. Originally there was talk of completing end of September, and then the end of September comes around and it turns out the top of the chain (our seller’s seller) is waiting on a settlement fee from the fucking courts and can’t tell us how long it’ll be.

Our (already extended) mortgage offer expires on 4th November, after which time we’d be looking at another £200 a month. Late last week, found out the top of the chain was finally sorted. Funds requested from lenders. Email received yesterday to ask if we’re ready to exchange, said yes straight away - but no one could get hold of the top of the chain.

So we tried again this morning. Emailed our authority over first thing. Yet again, no one could get hold of the top of the chain.

Anyway, driving home from work after another anxious, stressful and fruitless day twiddling our thumbs, our solicitor calls. We’re finally exchanged, and we’re completing day after tomorrow 😭

Just a really simple, straightforward, relaxing process all round.

Hello!

After some advice please!

I (33m) and my mini dachshund live in a hotel currently, under a lodgers contract (bills inc). I am physically disabled and have protected characteristics (no, I haven’t used this as an excuse). I am also bidding for social / council housing.

My landlord (hotel owner), puts the heating on seasonally. Once in the morning and once in the evening, Which is understandable.

However, there’s a week long dispute over the morning heating cycle, which has not come on. I have asked for them to take a look at the timer and to double check it. No response. I have followed that message up after 24 hours. No response. Now, we’re 24 hours past the last message and still no response.

I don’t want to keep bothering them to do the bare minimum, as they have taken issue with previous tenants, who are quickly given notice shortly after.

I (and others) regularly go days without any WiFi (which is included in the bills), rats in the bin area and now inside the hotel. The cherry on top is that, they are very manipulative. I.e. only talks to you when they want something. Starts and peddles rumours and is just an unpleasant little person and has a reputation for taking people’s deposit (I learnt this while living here and talking to former residents).

I have spoken to my local MP, EHO, building authority, citizens advice, local social housing team, counsellors, the local council, gp surgery,solicitors etc, who have not given any practical guidance on what to do, where to go and how to report them.

I know and can see how stretched life is, in the uk. But, I really don’t know where to turn.

I’m not interested in anyone’s opinion on why the country is the way it is, **I AM INTERESTED IN PRACTICAL ADVICE!**

I feel very stuck, any help would be appreciated!

I'm a first time buyer and I don't know if it's me but these guys are incredibly difficult to deal with. Lack of information provided, don't go into any detail in any response and everything in general seems to much effort. Surely it's in there interest to get everything going through smoothly so they get there commission

Is it just me or are they generally really difficult to deal with

A buyer for my flat put in an offer and made it clear they wanted to move quickly. So we rushed around to find our next place, found one and got an offer accepted. Id assume the memorandum would come in a week or so. But after 8 I think I need to call it that they aren't in a position to buy. Estate agent is happy to just keep poking the buyer for paper work.

Do I need to be more forceful on what the estate agent considers a buyer next time? Sucks to do all this then to the buyer to go cold.

Hi all, just looking for some advice.

My partner and I are first-time buyers with no chain, we have a broker in place, and are ready to proceed quickly.

We've viewed a property listed at Offers in Region of £160,000. We have been viewing for months and really like this house, particularly the location and potential, but it's also fair to say it's quite dated and requires significant modernisation and refurbishment.

The property would signifcant investment, including:
1. New flooring/carpets throughout
2. Full redecoration
3. Modernisation of the kitchen, bedrooms etc
General updating throughout the property
4. Various cosmetic and refurbishment works before it would be comparable to some of the better-presented houses nearby

We initially offered £138,500, which was rejected.
After reviewing things further, we increased our offer to £142,000. It then took around 10 days to receive any meaningful feedback, and the response we've had is simply that £142,000 is too low.

What's frustrating is that neither the seller nor estate agent has indicated:

What figure the seller is actually looking for
Whether there's a realistic prospect of reaching an agreement

However when I spoke to the estate agent on the phone he said I think we're getting close but the email/message via the YOPA portal only states 'seller states offer is too low'.

From our perspective, £142,000 already reflects the fact that the property requires considerable refurbishment, as well as recent sold prices of similar properties in the area.

We're also continuing to view other properties, and the lack of communication has meant we've effectively put other opportunities on hold while waiting for updates.

My concern is that if I keep increasing my offer without any guidance from the seller, I'm simply negotiating against myself.

My max for this house would be £145K factoring all the refurbishment and modernisation.

What would you do in this position?
Increase the offer again?
Ask the seller to provide an indication of their expectations before moving further?
Hold firm at £142k?
Walk away and focus on other properties?

Interested to hear views, particularly from anyone who's been in a similar situation.

My landlady owed me 700 pounds. is the deposit.

I have the evidence of all there records of they promised will send it back to me.help me.this is two roommates who said they take money for the landlady.

I’m 40 and in a position where my property is SSTC and I’m buying a flat with the proceeds of my sale, so won’t have a mortgage anymore. (The apartment is costing about half of what my house has sold for)
If relevant - I’m just coming out of a 5 year fix at 2.14%.

It’s kind of a downgrade as I’m in a detached house now and moving to an apartment but I’m hoping not having a mortgage negates that.

I’m not sure I see myself in this apartment forever so I guess my question is - is this a bad idea?

Things I’m worried about -

-Will I be stuck here forever once I get used to having more money?
-If I want to move later on, I’ll have less mortgage years left
-I want to enjoy being mortgage free but should I just be saving my ‘would be’ mortgage payments?
-I’ll have to pay service charges forever

Things I’m happy about -

- Not paying a mortgage while the rates are so high

Any advice/experience of this/thoughts please?

Thank you

EDIT TO ADD - I have to relocate for family reasons. I’m not moving just to become mortgage free. Apologies, that seems an important thing to add

ALSO MISSED - As I said elsewhere I realise I’ve not added some other facts that are relevant.

I have mobility issues, terraced houses stairs are a bit much for me and the bungalows where I’m moving too are too expensive. The apartment is lovely, clean and spacious and purpose built. I really like it, and suits me being on one level. I also don’t do any gardening etc due to my mobility so not bothered about the outside space either.

from anyone’s experience has anyone seen ASB neighbour be evicted after being given 3/4 informal tenancy warnings and then a formal tenancy warning within a space of 6 months? Their harassment continues even after the formal warning but I’m shocked that the housing association hasn’t done more to protect other tenants? What is the next stage or is there anything I can do to protect myself? I’ve contacted the council, mp and the police.

Morning all, need a bit of advice..

Me and my partner moved into our new home about 6 weeks ago. The one downside to our house is that it’s on street parking. The road is an incredibly narrow, two way street, where cars must mount the curb in order to park.

The street is always full as we are right next to the station for work commuters. We got added to the street Whatsapp group, where essentially, people moan about others parking on the street.

Our car is a very old, bright red Ford Fiesta that we got because we’ve both recently passed our tests. She’s got a giant P on her and sticks out like a sore thumb down the street. Given we’ve just passed our tests, we are super conscious about the way we park. We always make sure we’re parked well before we go in our house.

2 weeks into living here, our car got keyed pretty aggressively. We raised it in the Whatsapp group and nobody really said anything. A further 2 weeks went by, we got keyed again.

Last week, someone let down our back tyre and stole all the caps off our tyres.

Whenever I go out for a walk, I notice a lot of cars with huge key gashes down the sides, so I have a feeling it’s an angry neighbour who thinks I’m a commuter and keeps vandalising my car in the hopes that I’ll park somewhere else.

I’ve posted it in the community group chat, I’ve raised it on Facebook groups but at this point, I’m not sure what to do. Do I leave a note on the dashboard saying I’m a resident? Do I shell out for an incredibly expensive dashcam that may not get the correct angle? Do I put in a camera from our bedroom looking out onto the street in the hopes I catch at least someone keying some car and deduce it’s them?

I’ve even considered going door to door to just introduce myself and say that’s my car, but that might seem accusatory. I dont want to upset my new neighbours, but one of them is upsetting me 😅

What should I do?

We have lived in our first house for about a year. Our surveyor outlined various issues with the house in their survey along with an estimated cost of repair. In practice these prices are all drastically wrong.

As an example, the surveyor estimated £20K for an eventual roof replacement. We haven't replaced the roof, but have spoken to roofers and builders who quote £40K. It's a big roof for context.

Across a range of items I would say the actual cost of repairs is between 1.5x to 5x more expensive than a surveyors estimate.

They are all atrociously inaccurate. I really would have preferred the surveyor to not give me any estimates of any repairs because it would force me to get quotes sooner from builders rather than rely on inaccurate estimates from the surveyor.

I heard from others that its common for surveyors to get prices wrong. I am wondering, how are surveyors creating these estimates? Clearly they aren't speaking to builders for quotes. And if surveyors aren't doing detailed research into the latest labour and materials costs, why even bother trying to give a repair estimate?

Our latest service charge budget is coming in at £4800 per flat, up 85% since 2020. We're in Zone 1 London, I know that adds cost, but this is a small 2 bed flat in a 1950s block, 6 floors, 11 total flats, no communal facilities.

Is this normal? If not, where should we be looking to make savings? Here's the breakdown of costs:

Compliance costs have obviously increased massively, here's the breakdown. Is all of this really required? What are others doing here?

Note: we have a lift, but it's pretty new. Lift maintenance is about £130 of the £541 maintenance budget. We have no concierge, gym, communal heating, no facilities included.

So we have are flat upstairs with a few neighbours, you have to go down 3 flights of stairs, to get to the intercom door...

And 3 teens keeps hanging downstairs, drinking, smoking weed! Ripping signs down. Leaving there bottles behind.

Obviously the police ain't gona do anything unless there's violence! And the housing seem useless as well...

What would be the best option? Last thing I want to do is flip out on them, and they pull out a knife! As I have kids here..

Just need to vent really...

Chain of three, 2 of us wanted to complete Friday. The other didnt. Says the 6th or 13th november... did the final viewing and I so want this house. The people I'm buying from are packed up, I'm packed up, but know nothing about the ones my sellers are buying that wouldn't agree to this week

I am so stressed thinking what if it collapses now. Ive done everything my end.

How do people deal with this stress!

I have a mortgage in principle that puts me in at just above 75% LTV as I have a high deposit. The property I've seen is £5k under the max I'm approved for. I really like this place (pending surveys etc.) I'm moving back to London after over a decade of giving somewhere else a good go and growing to hate it, so some of the expense is a "forever home, better for mental health and lifestyle, closer to community and family" tax and I've accepted that part. I am a solo buyer. It's affordable from a monthly expenses perspective, it is more than my rent but still doable. I do not know if I'll get a promotion any time soon and I'm working with the assumption that my salary will remain the same - budgeting for what I know I have, not what I could have. With that in mind, it'll be affordable but a stretch at the same time. After deposit and conveyancing/moving costs, I'll have approx £25-30k left for an emergency fund and other expenses, and I suspect I will dip into this money sometimes to help me with the first year or two. I want to hear from people who borrowed at the maximum and whose salary remained the same. How did it go?

As title says, a caravan has parked half on the pavement outside my front door leaving me with around 2 foot of space.

Does anyone know if caravans can just park on residential roads and I guess live there?

99% sure they have been using my bins to add a cherry on top.

I’m a single woman so from a safety point of view I don’t want someone camping outside my front door.

What can I do? Council were no help saying as long as it’s taxed it’s fine- however they can get parking tickets as over the curb..

I live in a rented flat with my partner, we have been here for just under two years and have had an issue with contractors just coming in whenever they please without much if any prior warning. around the six month mark, we were away for a few days and came back to a gas safety certificate/ boiler service certificate left on the kitchen counter. we had absolutely no idea that someone had been in our flat and were quite upset that we had not been made aware, we emailed the landlord and asked to make sure they contact us ahead of time so someone can be home. we are both pretty uncomfortable with the idea of ANYONE, even the landlord letting themselves into our flat without one of us present and always make sure we know exactly when or at the very least roughly when (the day, AM or PM) they are coming so we can ensure this is the case.

We had a flat inspection today which went fine, we flagged some issues with the seal on our toilet not being done properly and an infestation of beetles by the front door. we reported both these issues a while ago and had radio silence from them. Today, following the flat inspection, I received an email from our landlord saying she had given a key to a contractor and that they would let themselves in 'sometime this week' to assess the issues (so not even repairing them?), I replied asking if she knew roughly when they would be coming and said that we usually like to have one of us home or to at least know when we should expect them to be coming, and asked if she didn't know, if she could pass on their details so I can discuss it with them directly. she responded and said she 'provided advance notice that the viewing is expected to take place this week' and ignored my request to pass the details on. am I odd for being uncomfortable with this? no specific time or even date, just 'sometimes this week' and she wont pass on the contractors details.

Is there anything I can reasonably do in this situation or do you have to just deal with it?? are we allowed to say we want a specific date and time?? will this be seen as combative??

TLDR: Chain stuck because top seller is a charity whose solicitors haven’t answered any enquiries since the start of July. Everyone else ready to complete. Has anyone dealt with a charity in a chain before? England/Wales based.

I’m hoping someone can share their experience if they’ve ever been in a chain where the top of the chain was a charity.

Our chain looks like this:

First‑time buyers (buying our house)
Us
Our sellers
Charity‑owned bungalow (top of the chain)

The issue is that the charity’s solicitor has been extremely slow. Our sellers previously tried to buy this property twice before, but for reasons unknown to us, the chains fell through. Because of this, our sellers have only needed to raise two enquiries since agreeing the sale on the bungalow back at the start of July and the charity’s solicitor still hasn’t replied to them.

Ourselves and our buyers have been ready to exchange for over 4 weeks now. But the charity’s solicitor hasn’t responded. Apparently the charity has changed solicitors since the previous attempted sale but we have no more information than this.

We’ve been told the charity’s solicitor has been chased by our sellers’ solicitor, the estate agent we’re buying through and the estate agent representing the charity.

But still nothing.

Has anyone been in a chain with a charity?
Did it delay things massively?
Did you eventually get a completion date, or did the chain collapse? Our buyers have made it clear they aren’t willing to wait around without any movement.

Any experiences would be really helpful.

Hello! Im a final year student studying in the UK and just scored a graduate offer in Bristol for September 2027. I just wanted to get an idea of around when I should start looking for house shares/accommodation around the area in general, since with student housing you always have to get a place by November/December for when the next academic year starts, so its well in advance and I would be a bit unfamiliar with the process. Im also aware that Bristol often has accommodations get taken very quickly, so Id love some guidance.

The survey came back with mostly 2s, a few 1s and no 3s (urgent work required). He estimated 3.3k worth of remedial work.

The surveyor recommended further electrical and gas safety engineer report as well as a damp specialist survey as there’s evidence of elevated moisture levels, should we do these surveys?

I’ll enclose the full summary and recommendations below:

SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION
Having discussed the matter with local agents and considered comparable prices of other developments in the area, the property would be a reasonable proposition for around the agreed purchase price.
This opinion is based on the presumption that you are prepared to accept the cost and inconvenience of dealing with any various repairs and improvement works reported from any specialist’s reports.
Provided that all the necessary works are carried out to a satisfactory standard, there should not be any difficulty on re-sale in normal market conditions.
The property requires only minor remedial works and generally is in a satisfactory condition
with no major structural works required.
You are advised to identify the implications involved in effective repair. We do advise that
you must obtain estimates in order that these are clearly established prior to exchange of
contracts.
Any work that is undertaken must only be done by reputable tradesman who are insurance
indemnified and belong to approved trade organisations.
Quotes must always be obtained from at least three reputable sources.
Where further investigations have been recommended in this report, it is very important that
you pursue these matters before exchange of contracts, since they may reveal the need for
extensive expenditure. If you are aware of the costs involved, this will provide the
opportunity to renegotiate the purchase price.

6.1 Repairs

• Clean out the gutters.
• Remove the moss from the rear roof slopes.
• Remove the vegetation from the front walls and make good surfaces exposed.
• Replace any perished bricks to the rear main walls and patch point.
• Upgrade the loft insulation.
Total costs for the remedial works are:
£3,300.00

6.2 Specialist reports/guarantees
• A NICEIC electrical engineers report required.
• A Gas Safety qualified engineers report required for heating installation and boiler.
• Check for any guarantees or the boiler, insulation, UPVC windows.
• Report from a Property Care Association (PCA) registered firm is required to make a full
examination of all hidden floor timbers and existing walls, including sub floor areas and
ascertain the extent of the dampness and rot to the internal walls and timbers

​

Context: This is our first time renting a property, we are all 21 & 22. We are renting a basement apartment with practically no ventilation and none of us can properly afford to move out right now.

For the past 15 days (starting on 11/10/1/26)water has been leaking into our apartment from the ceiling. As soon as it happened we emailed our Letting Agents (it was 1am), and called the Block Management emergency number.

As per advice from the block management, we spoke with the tenants upstairs and they shut their water off and said they would get a plumber in the morning.

The next day (a Sunday, so we still couldn't call our letting agents) our letting agents replied via email essentially stating if the building caused the damage (ie: communal piping) that it was the block management's responsibility to repair, as well as any damage to the property.

Importantly they also said they had let the Landlord know.

The same day the tenants above us, text us saying they had a plumber around and that he had found no issues.

Call block management again and inform them, yet they say that since the leaking had calmed down it was likely not communal piping (i.e not their responsibility).

All we could then do, since the tenants had a plumber around and the leaking was still happening intermittently, was constantly email and call our Letting Agents to figure it out. (since after all it IS their property being actively damaged.

For week one they said they were trying to get in contact with the Portfolio Manager of the block management so that he could get someone to sort t.

After a week our letting agents finally sent someone around to find and fix the leak themselves. By this point mold is actively growing in the ceiling and there is no ventilation.

(important note, the lighting circuit has been out this entire time which includes the ventilator fan in the bathroom. We were using a dehumidifier however it clearly wasn't helpong much.)

The plumber gets let into the apartment above us and immediately finds a break in their bath's sealant. He says to us that he isn't convinced that is the cause however since their bathroom is not above ours and sealant breakage would cause nowhere near that much leaking.

He says he will come around the next day and take off the bathroom ceiling to find if any pipes are disconnected.

The next day our letting agent emails us stating they are confident it is the upstairs tenants bath and that no-one will be coming round as it is their landlord's responsibility to fix the leak and any 'remedials'.

Every day we contact our letting agent via email and phone for updates and every day we get the same response: "we are trying to contact their landlord, however we cannot."

Fast forward to day 14 (25/10/26), they tell us they are finally in contact with the landlord above and he will be fixing the leak the next day and then will be responsible for any 'remedials'.

By this point we are actively couch surfing whenever we can because the mold is so bad it is affecting our health.

Come day 15 and I come back from work to find the ceiling has fully collapsed.

It feel like our letting agent has been avoiding any and all responsibility to fix this and simply leaving it up to others to fix for them.

Is our letting agent at fault and what should our next steps be, since we cannot live here anymore?

Per the new renter's right act a tenant has the right to give two months' written notice to leave at any point during the tenancy.

So wtf does a "long let" mean on rental listings??

AI says this:

While a "long let" traditionally meant signing a binding 12-month or 24-month contract, the law now protects a tenant's flexibility. A long let is now defined more by the intent of the stay (using it as a primary, permanent home) rather than being legally locked in for years without an escape route

BS?