Consider the difference in time spent between lawyer and agent and that with the lawyer you are buying title insurance/indemnity against unseen errors and it is the agent that gets money for old rope. Even the survey is a rough valuation with a complete disclaimer against oversights .......unless you buy the big ticket survey. In truth, the BIGGEST problem in the whole process is setting up a chain of related transactions and its total dependence on money being made available on the day to the first link. Finally, consider the most egregious appropriation of your money is stamp duty made by HMRC on behalf of the government in return for which you get absolutely nothing.
True enough. You enter the house buying / selling circus and are a prime target for proper fleecing by whoever gets to have their go!
Hi Ken if you think it's bad in the UK, here in France the Immo's (estate agent) fees are on average 10% of the sale price and Notaire's (solicitor) fees are about 9%. The only consolation is that when you are selling, rather than buying, there are NO Notaires fees - 0%.
Here in Canada there are no Realtor (estate agent) fees when you buy a house, the seller pays the realtors, 6% of the first $100k and then 3% of every hundred after that. So for a house that is $500k the seller would pay $18k in fees. The buying/selling system is way better than the UK. Any offer is legally binding, all written down, and if accepted you pay a deposit, non refundable unless there’s problems with the house, you agree a moving date with the buyer/seller which could be as little as a few weeks. I’ve sold a few houses in the UK and it’s so less stressful here. Why it takes so long over there I don’t know.
Yes we are still stuck in the dark ages. There needs to be a reform of the whole industry, particularly the scenario where either party can withdraw from sale right up to the eleventh hour. Been there done that, it's not funny, very stressful
About 49+ years ago my wife and I plus to young boys (5&7) privately rented a really bad 'flat' in Southend, it was really an empty Georgian house that we got the top floor in, they were really 3 bedrooms I turned into a kitchen and 2 bedrooms, down stairs was inhabitable as it was flooded, mouldy carpets etc, but I had a good job and were saving for a deposit for a house nr the Greyhound track, Sutton road when we took our landlord to court over the rent cost and state of the place, we won and immediately the council offered us the choice of 2 houses in Shoeburyness. Saved us the deposit, and since then been able to house swap at no cost to us excepting removal van to follow work all round Britain, Shoeburyness to Peterborough X3, Shetland, Clay Cross, Wickford, back to Shetland, Livingston, Keiss, Bath, back to Livingston and now Ardrossan. The Bath move was purely for a specialist hospital I needed, when that finished we had now intention of staying in England especially as I was retired early, but all the rest gave us/me the chance of work and travel. The Council Homeswap schemes work well, but cost nothing to the tenants which I think is a bit wrong as it does burden the council with extra costs of checks, paperwork, repairs after the move etc, I would'nt have minded contributing some thing towards it, but who am I to argue when it works in my favour? Not got to chase work or go to special health departments now so almost probably settled her in Ardrossan now. And not a solicitor or estate agent (or bill) in site!
I think you'd be hard pushed to get Essex CC to find something near Southend these days. Besides you are a U.K. citizen
Oh it was all extensively reformed in 1925 with the Land Registration scheme. Unfortunately when landowners started selling off fields to developers 1 big simple title deed became a thousand postage stamps and nearly 100 yrs later the system has never caught up with the salami slicing and volume of transactions. However, I repeat, the single biggest issue is money. The £100k flat bought in the morning is still providing a chunk of the dosh for the £1m purchase 10 transactions later at close of day. It is quite unlike buying a car where the dealer holds stock. The most disproportionate amount of effort is always expended on simply making the chains work so the removal vans keep rolling.
No problem as you match up with any one else who wants to move to the area you live in, not that there's ANY chance what so ever of me wanting to move back to Essex, but If we did we just find some one with a 1 or 2 bed property who wants to come up here, the last move was a 3 way, people here went to a flat in Livi, the flat people went to our 2 bed house, we came here to a 2 bed house. There's no bedroom tax here in Scotland either, so we would have to consider that if we moved over the border but it can be done! Best place in England was Clay Cross nr Chestefield, local to some beautiful rides, Matlock etc. drawback was it was nr Sheffield and it put the bike insurance higher than any where else we lived, best part of Scotland is probably all of it, no contest over England as far as I'm concerned.
I used to work in Waltham Abbey but was careful to live in Hertfordshire! Essex is fine .......on the Suffolk border.
Hi, I'm Alan. This is my 1st post on this wonderful forum. I live in a small town about 15 minutes south of Nashville, Tennessee, which you may know as "Music City USA". We're located in the geographic center of Tennessee, which puts about 3 hours ride east to the Smokey Mountains, which are very much like the mountains in Snowdonia, a place I love visiting. I ride solo on a 2013 Bonnie America, and with my wife of 47 years on a 2017 Harley Ultra Limited.
Thanks Ken. Our little town of Brentwood, Tennessee has a sister city in England, and of course it is named Brentwood as well. I'll have to do a little research to see if your neighboring town of Brentwood is indeed our sister city.
