House buying stress (10th of these threads)

There should be assistance for older people to move, although it would be difficult to arrange without pressurising people. Perhaps a designated person at the local council to give advice.
But a legal nightmare.

Good idea Loopyloo. Many older people would be happy to downsize, and this would release housing suited to larger households and families.

Continuation to Loopyloo.

However this would often involve the local authorities lending the cash to the old person to buy a smaller alternative. Many old people need to sell where they live before they can buy a smaller place.

loopyloo

There should be assistance for older people to move, although it would be difficult to arrange without pressurising people. Perhaps a designated person at the local council to give advice.
But a legal nightmare.

If they built more suitable properties it might help.

I don't mean retirement apartments, I mean bungalows or houses with lifts perhaps, with enough room to swing the proverbial cat but not family sized homes.

It is no just older people who require assistance wit h selling/buying. The legal system in England is just so very bad. it really strongly discourages many people from moving.
Think it is hardest for those with school-aged children who want to move districts, as they cannot register their children into any school before they have an actual address in that area. .

As for the problems put in the way of anyone attempting to purchase any leasehold property - and the amount of time this can take. Many countries have so much better systems, why cannot they be brought in here??

\A few people find it difficult to settle in a smaller place, leaving behind perhaps decades of family memories - but for most of us who downsize it is a welcome relief. However the stress involved in doing that usually gets most of us determined NEVER AGAIN.

Yesterday afternoon, our committee made a little tea-party in our large lobby for a lady who is celebrating her one hundredth birthday on Saturday. She is also the only flat owner here who moved in when the flats were first built back in 1985.

We did a lovely spread of sandwiches and cakes with three homemade cakes representing the 1 0 0. Tea and coffee was also available and many of the current residents in the flats sat happily chatting to each other.

Lovely social occasion, seemingly enjoyed by all. We are not designated retirement flats and do not have a residents lounge, but fortunately, have this very large entrance foyer which we use for such social occasions.

This is the second ime that someone here has reached their 100th birthday (still livtng totally independently), and we also have two 96 yeatrs olds (one actually very active on our management committee). It has been said that moving into our block of flats can add up to ten years on to peoples life spans!!!!!

Yes that's what we said each time we moved. Never again!
Yes the system in England is crazy.
Please can someone in power look at it.

loopyloo when my house sale fell through the second time in 2019. I emailed my MP about the system for selling and buying. He forwarded it to the the housing department. Had an email back saying there where no plans to change selling and buying properties in England and Wales as they work perfectly well as they are.
Governments change leadership but government departments stay the same . And they don't want to change . Look at some of our laws they still date back centuries.

That's why this thread is still going as it's needed as much now as it was when I joined in March 2019 and thanks to Franbern it's here for people who need it.

Franbern what you said about living where you live has extended people's life that's how I feel since moving here. I have a home again and since my first night here have slept when I didn't in my house . Plus having better healthcare, wonderful neighbours,good transport links and a social life I didn't have after my husband died in 2004. The class of 2019 who all moved that year from what they have said not one person had regretted their move . And this thread helped me so much then as I thought I was going through the hell myself but found support,help advise , understanding and friendship. We kept eachother going no matter what hassles we faced. Karmalady started the original thread under her old name and it was a lifeline for me and others .

Yes, and even down under, in sunny Australia, there were similar moving stresses! I think it must be because, emotionally speaking, your house really is your castle in many ways!

We can only speak as older people but yes house buying/selling is very stressful at any age and very much so with children

More family houses would be freed up from oldies if there was a good help package, if stamp duty was eliminated and if there was a good supply of half-sized homes, much bigger than the tiny one bedroom/kitchen/lounge/diner that are commonly offered as matchboxes, suitable for the older generation. No room for hobbies in those

They want to cram us into boxes as well as finish us off. No chance of that as long as we keep thinking ahead. Not just for basic accommodation but how to keep hobbies going, outside plant- space with ample storage and charging for mobility scooters as well as bikes and diy hobbies

I so agree with what 'Karmalady .says about the need of smaller properties being available albeit as apartments and bungalows - but not so small that people trying to live in them fell the need to push out the walls! I see in my sea-side town many large old buildings being turned into flats, which largely comprise of just three rooms. A bathroom, which either has a shower or bath - but not room for both, a bedroom just about large enough for bed and wardrobe and another room called Living room with some kitchen items at at one end. These developers are then surprised at the difficulties in selling these places.

Yes, as we get older and our families leave many of us need and want to downsize - but not to this sort of degree. We need good sized Living area, either four piece bathrooms or (preferably) a bathroom and an en-suite to allow two people to use loos at the same time and giving a choice of bath or walk-in shower. A large living room is needed along with a separate kitchen, and a second room which is a combined spare bedroom/craft/hobby room. Some sort of outdoor space whether a good sized balcony or a small communal garden, and spaces to park and keep cars. We also have to accept that many older people are likely to use walking aids such as mobility scooters/wheelchairs etc. So places to keep these safely and be able to charge them is also needed.

If very many more such places were available both to purchase and to rent, then people would be much happier about leaving their family homes and leaving those for new generations waiting to bring up families.

Additionally, the major stress particularly when trying to purchase such places is to do with the often totally unclear legislation which seems to change every few months on leasehold property and the fact that solicitors take so many months to go through such checks Added to that is the stupid system which means that anyone making an offer on a property being sold has no legal obligation to see it through often leading to the seller (vendor) not only getting their hopes up, making elaborate arrangements and running up huge bills and then being let down at the very last moment with no redress.

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Ahh you found the thread phreest, good I was searching for it the other day

Finding a suitable property and buying is the relatively easy part. The solicitor will sort out all that paperwork. Becoming attached to a property too early in the process is what makes the buying process more stressful

Selling! It is best to be organised wrt the uk, not just the sorting and packing but the paperwork is most important. You need to keep every bit of paperwork to do with the property from the time you bought it and any repairs/alterations need to have a signed certificate. I keep a house file. Flue cleaning, boiler servicing, they need the signed certificates too. I get that done every year no matter if they need it or not

I just popped on to say that I have my allotment, it is a haven for me. I waited for a local plot, ok it was in terrible condition but I am a dog with a bone and will be growing my first crops there this year. Lovely people there too and I am making friends, always best via shared interests

My roots are going down

An update.

Just popped back to tell you that our bathroom has been finished, at last!!
well apart from decorating, the Company are providing us with a decorator, but it’s obviously having a problem. So, no invoice yet as it isn’t completed.
We are so pleased with it, we took the bath out as we never have baths. Put in a walk in shower, a heated bathroom cabinet/mirror/light and a vanity unit with drawers. I actually have a bathroom with some storage!! A new thing for me.

We now have a comfort height loo, actually my feet tend to dangle, but apparently when I’m old(er) and doddery it will be helpful to have a higher loo, it’s also rimless so less to clean in the awkward places.

We also have a towel rail and a radiator so it’s always warm and added an extra extractor fan with a light over the shower too, to stop the room filing with steam, once the holes in the ceiling are sorted out it will look much better!

MissOops is also sorted in her new house 30 minutes away and loves it, we’ve had to have a lot of work done on it before she could move in, the electrics were dangerous so had to be redone, the boiler, although almost new had a problem and was leaking into the connecting loo. So all has been made safe and new certificates for both have been issued. Just the attic space to reline, the gutters are being cleaned tomorrow.
Although it was a probate sale, it took a while to go through, endless questions to the executors most of which came back as not known. But as we weren’t selling anything at the same time it was fairly straightforward to find the details out ourselves.

I found the original sale of the house back in the 1940s online and the whole plot was marked with who owned the boundaries and also where the main drains were so it was very helpful to us.

However, I still wish that we had been able to find something on the South Coast for us and MissOops. Sigh…….

We are now updating the electrics in our bungalow, we have so many more items to plug in than we had when we upgraded them back in the 1990s, so many trailing extensions that I can pack away after today. A new alarm system has also been added.
Apart from decorating the whole place ( which I’m not looking forward to) it’s pretty much up together, I doubt that it will be decorated anytime soon.

Hope all those who are about to sell or buy don’t have too hard a time of it.

Good to keep this thread going.

Lovely to see this thread still being needed. karmalady well remember all the advice you ,Franbern and others gave me in 2019 . Funny how so many of us moved that year and all the updates we gave having things done .

Oops glad you Mr O and miss Oops are settled into your new homes and making them your own . I have an ease toilet which is higher than a normal loo with a handle on the wall at an angle . My legs dangled but after a series of UTIs and kidney infections a nurse told me to keep my knees and hips in line that way you empty your bladder and bowel completely. So since that advice used a toddler step to put my feet on . But having a higher toilet definitely makes getting up and down easier.

Enjoy getting the rest and the relieve when it's all done . 😊

KL: I don't know if it still exists but there used to be a scheme where people who had gardens which were far too large or which they could no longer look after, would allow keen gardeners to come and use it. Might be worth investigating

BUYERS ARE LIARS!

I am beyond angry, I am surrounded by packing boxes, I’ve had many sleepless nights, we had a potential moving date end of Feb, then middle of March.

Today I learn our buyers who were cash buyers and had sold a London property, they haven’t sold it is still going through!

Our EA has not done due diligence our buyers solicitors has been deliberately evasive.

I feel sick, anything could go wrong.

Sago

BUYERS ARE LIARS!

I am beyond angry, I am surrounded by packing boxes, I’ve had many sleepless nights, we had a potential moving date end of Feb, then middle of March.

Today I learn our buyers who were cash buyers and had sold a London property, they haven’t sold it is still going through!

Our EA has not done due diligence our buyers solicitors has been deliberately evasive.

I feel sick, anything could go wrong.

Exactly my point [see above]. Why is it only in England that this nefarious, ridiculous, uncertain practice is still allowed to proliferate? It's a far more secure procedure in Scotland we are lead to believe. CHANGE THE LAW. So many people are complaining [with reason]. MPs don't want to know so do nothing about it, or at best give airy-fairy answers why it cannot/should not change. Nowhere in the world where we have lived on three Continents in six countries, is the practice so iffy as here.

Yes, a lot of buyers are liars. We had a first class liar when we last moved, despite the EA having verified that he had the money in cash and shares, what he didn’t tell anyone was that he also had a flat in London which he was selling and he wanted to use the money from the sale rather than sell his shares. And he was a solicitor! We were less than amused and our agent was furious but it all went through eventually. We were lucky not to have lost the place we were buying.

Sago, your buyers’ solicitor will have had to be evasive because he has to act in his clients’ interests, but I would be asking questions of the EA. I hope they get their act together soon.

I had a cash buyer for a property l sold. I'd wrongly assumed they had cash in the bank but they did indeed have a property they needed to sell. They had described themselves as "cash buyers" as they didn't need a mortgage. They firmly believed they were "cash buyers" and hadn't intentionally mislead anyone.

Your EA should have enquired properly about their circumstances and asked to see evidence that the purchase price was held in cash.

My son is having problems getting his sellers shifted! He put in an offer on their house, they accepted last August. They are buying a new build in another part of Somerset, was supposed to be ready at the end of Sept, and son is first time buyer. First delay was builders not getting their kitchen fitted, so house put back a month to the end Oct which then crept into November. Then they started raising queries about the new house and the site changes made from original plans. This is still ongoing, I think query number 4 at the moment, the last date for proposed completion was the 7th of this month - nothing happened.
The solicitors are chasing, the EA is chasing, according to the sellers friends/family they are living out of boxes as they are all packed up. My son has had to get his mortgage offer extended.

Ridiculous system, there should be time limits or penalties.
But this seems to be getting more and more normal, waiting 6 months seems to be a regular thing and one chap my son was talking to said his purchase wait time is nearing a year as he's caught up in a chain!

How sensible, FranB. I used to do community care and it never ceased to amaze me why people would buy a nice retirement flat on the first or second floor of a block with NO LIFT!! Of course, ten years down the line, many of them were prisoners in their own homes.

The system has to be changed in the UK.

Sago

BUYERS ARE LIARS!

I am beyond angry, I am surrounded by packing boxes, I’ve had many sleepless nights, we had a potential moving date end of Feb, then middle of March.

Today I learn our buyers who were cash buyers and had sold a London property, they haven’t sold it is still going through!

Our EA has not done due diligence our buyers solicitors has been deliberately evasive.

I feel sick, anything could go wrong.

Oh no, Sage, I'm sorry. I've been reading your story with interest on the other house-moving thread. In fact, I envied you as you seemed to be at the ready-to-go stage.

We were led to believe everybody in the chain would be ready to move before Christmas. I laugh to think of it now. There have been nothing but hitches and last-minute queries, so much so that the first-time buyers have had to request a 2-week extension on their mortgage application. And still people are messing about!

So, we may move on the 21st of this month, we may not. We haven't found a removals company because we were advised not to until things were much more definite. So I've no idea (if the 21st is the moving day) whether we'll be able to find a removals company who can do it at such short notice.

My DH's relentless optimism is draining, my negativity is driving him mad. And the state of being in limbo goes on and on.

Good luck, anyway.