tllm2

A couple of year ago now, we used to regularly see a lady in Mayow Park (walking her Rhodesian Ridgeback), who lived virtually opposite the park and was a dog sitter - she gave us her business card, which we've now managed to lose. As we've moved away we're no longer regular visitors to the park, but wondered whether anyone might know whether she is still local and have her contact details?

We did something similar fairly recently - we went with the insurance offered by the same company as the mortgage (as they had surveyed/valued the property anyway) and they allowed a 'renovation/vacant period', for us 40 days was enough, for a slightly increased premium, but nothing unreasonable. Speak to the mortgage company about their insurance would be my advice.

Am after a cleaner/cleaning company to undertake a pre-tenancy clean (after some refurbishment work has taken place, to clear builders dust primarily). Date - around 23/5 Property - 3 bed/1 bath house, completely empty of furniture, mostly wooden floors (only carpet on the stairs) Location - BR2 - Bromley Common Would need to bring along cleaning equipment and be willing able to provide a receipt, as it needs to be passed on to the letting agent as proof that the clean has taken place. Any takers?

About 18 months ago or so - we used Beekman Towers with our 2 kids ..... would definitely recommend it.

We've got our city centre accommodation sorted/booked at the Jazz Hotel (recommended by a friend, and looks good), and am now trying to find somewhere to go onto for a few nights of beach holiday. Anyone have any recommendations for family friendly (with kids 12 and 14) accommodation that might fit the bill, within reasonable reach of the city centre, without the need to hire a car?

Looking for someone who can completely revamp our garden - have attached a couple of photos to give an idea of the scale of the problem. Looking to have the garden:- - cleared of the junk - including the remnants of an old swing chair - have 2 fence panels replaced or refixed at the end on the left hand side, - the beds cleared on both sides of the path - the right hand side turfed (if that's do-able at this time of year?) - advice (and planting) on scrubs, grasses and/or low maintanence options for the raised bed on the left hand side - lastly the path, paving and decking cleaned up. Is anyone able to give even a rough idea of the budget we'd need? Ideally we'd like the same person/people to do the whole lot.

Have a couple of questions please. Does he make home visits or have offices? Are his fees a flat upfront charge or from the product provider? Thanks

With the exception of the guy based at Peddar - are any of these other guys relatively local? Also do you recall on what basis they charge? ie. do they charge a flat fee for advice or do they just collect their fee from the product provider? Thanks

Am trying to find towelling dressing gowns for teenage boys (ie. adults ones are too big). All the dressing gowns I've managed to find are fleecey one ....... any ideas would be gratefully appreciated.

There are mortgage deals you can get with a lesser deposit, but the bigger the deposit the better deal/interest rate you get.

You do also have to pay tax on the profit from the rental income, usually via self-assessment.

Definitely aim for the top end .........

Have a 3 bed house in Bromley that needs completely re-decorating from top to bottom - plasterwork is pretty good (it'd be vacant) towards the end of November. I've had my fingers seriously burnt by one of the tradesman still advertising on the forum and still receiving positive reviews (although it was far from the experience I had). So am only interested in decorators' who are happy to provide references and for me to approach those references. Any recommendations with availability in about a months time would be much appreciated.

Before looking for or commissioning an architect - contact your window fitters. Are they FENSA registered? http://www.fensa.co.uk/local-authorities.aspx Alot of windows and doors can be replaced under building regs' (see the link).

Can I bump this post, as an excuse to get an idea (even a rough idead would be great) for doing something similar. We're considering a 'typical' side extension on a Victorian terraced house - with a couple of velux windows, not one of these glass roofed ones and think we'd be happy to be left with a couple of supporting pillars, if necessary, in a new kitchen/dinner. Any ideas on a ball park figure (excluding the cost of a new kitchen)? Just to complicate matters the house currently has 3 double bedrooms, but a downstairs bathroom (off of the kitchen) and as much as I'd love to do a side extension and a loft conversion (to bring the bathroom upstairs), I know we can only afford one or the other. Would be grateful for views on which others would opt for ............... and can't help but think we'd be better off and would add more value to the house with the loft conversion than the side extension.

I've had these guys cold-call/door-step us and whilst we gave them pretty short hrift, we reported them to the local police SNT. Whilst the young guy we had call on us wasn't overly agressive what I didn't like about was his complete lack of ID (wasn't able to give to any kind of ID - no business cards, headed paper or anything looking vaguely official). His ID card had very little on it - apart from his photo and name and a hi-vis jacket with ADT on it- which could have been printed anywhere. The dodgy bit was him trying to get into the house to take a look to assess our security measures ..........

The next Hayes Farm boot sale is this coming weekend (Sunday) and they are fortnightly.

Mine is a little older than yours and he has started 'hanging out' with him mates after school - doing what, I'm not to sure ....... but 7/7.30pm is when he's expected home (at the latest at the moment). Not to be just heading out.

We've had a very bad experience using someone who is regularly recommended on the forum. God knows how/why from our encounter .......... They similarly asked for a 1/3 of the cost upfront in cash before they'd done a single thing, which should have set alarm bells ringing, but we took misplaced comfort from the reviews for him on here. We then struggled to get receipts for the money paid or receipts/proof of the materials purchased, ended up with a truely awful end result, which we were in dispute over for weeks and was costly to put right Please tread carefully, although it may sounds really obvious please do make sure you have a paper trail for everything, receipts (for payments made and material purchased if required), a staged payment plan if necessary, a clear from the start measures of progress and be crystal clear about the standard of finish expected.

My experience, which admittedly isn't particularly recent, is that they were great to deal with as a buyer, but I'd imagine not so good as the seller. When I was looking for a property they were very to keen to get offers in on their properties (regardless of how close or not they were to the asking price), and to get them were very happy to tell us the sellers' bottom-line, that they were desperate for whatever reason, that they knew they'd accept ?x .......

Peckham Rye - just next to the duck pond ..........

If you know exactly what you want .............. these people below are bound to better the price for exactly the ame products. http://www.betterbathrooms.com

Really - I always thought the half houses were built that way - didn't realise that they halved later.

Wondered whether anyone had taken their kids to Alexandra Palace for a concert. Have taken mine to a couple of gigs at smaller venues, but no where as big as Alexandra Palace (I haven't been there for a concert either, come to think of it). Anyone have any experience on taking a smaller person along there? (Do they stand a chance of being able to see anything?)

We've used these guys recently - http://www.kiltox.co.uk/contacts.htm - really sensible, down to earth people, will offer/suggest common-sense solutions and not just hike up the bill.