Ellem86

I don't think the bride has behaved badly at all, it seems to be her money grabbing family.

I don't know if we would be doing a loft conversion in the future but for now we have asked the sellers to take costs off our offer. We would rather do any works ourselves anyway to make sure they are done properly. The building survey does not suggest that the whole house is structurally unsafe, just that the conversion has not been done properly.

Thanks all for your input. red devil - I was thinking along those lines as the house is actually priced as a 2 bed and even then our offer was ?15k less than the asking price to take account of redecoration works. A 3 bed in the area would be at least 40k more (and therefore outside of our budget). I think it is fair to ask the sellers to pay for the works to make the loft and roof structurally sound but, as the house was not advertised as being a 3 bed, I don't think it's fair to expect them to pay to make the loft building regs compliant.

Thanks for your comments Peter. I guess what I am not sure about is whether the works required to make the loft structurally sound will be the same as the works required to make the loft building regs compliant. We will be buying with a mortgage and have already received our mortgage offer without any conditions relating to the loft/works. I don't think I will ask for a deduction for the cost of not having a habitable property in the meantime as we were already planning on carrying out substantial works to the rest of the house and the seller is aware of this.

Would be grateful for your advice. I am buying a Victorian cottage advertised as a two bed with "a partially converted loft that would be an ideal third bedroom". My building survey shows that the loft is not habitable, was not properly converted and the framework is not properly supported, suggesting that the sellers did not obtain building regs approval. The sellers are arranging for a structural engineer to inspect the loft and also cost the works required to make it structurally sound. The sellers will then deduct the cost of the works from the price. Should I also be insisting that a builder costs the works required to make the loft building regs compliant?

I have a hairdresser who does a good job on my hair and I always tip her but only because she undercharges. She charges ?35 for a weave (which is seriously undercharging given how good she is) so I tip her ?5. I do not tip when I go to my other more expensive hairdresser.

Hi Lucy, I am sure the West Dulwich Book Club would love to have you. You can find it by searching on Facebook.

Thanks to everyone for your input. We went to view the house again yesterday evening and brought a friend who used to be a builder. We took our tape measure with us and were happy with the size of the small bedroom after putting in a small hallway. Also had a look at the neighbouring houses from the garden and a few have put in dorma loft extensions so the pitch of the roof probably isn't that much of an issue. We're going to put in an offer ?10k below the asking price to take account of the works. Fingers crossed it's accepted! Huggers, the house is mid- terrace so we would not be able to add a window in any of the side walls. I think there would be drainage issues if we just switched the bedroom and bathroom.

> > Could the bathroom not be relocated in the corner > of the plan that has the window looking down the > side return?... I assumed that if the bathroom was located in the corner with the window it would then be too narrow but I think it's worth measuring it on our second viewing. It's strange how the mind works - the more I have to do mental gymnastics to find a way to change the layout the more I want the bloody house!

Keano - A spiral staircase would save loads of space but I would be concerned about having a spiral staircase as a main staircase for accessibility reasons. Red Devil and Rendelharris - Thank you both for your input. The estate agent's plans are not that accurate and do not show that there is already a winder(ish) staircase in place and there is definitely not enough space for a loo under the stairs. The current owners are elderly and struggling with the stairs. They decided that trying to somehow fit a toilet in under the stairs was too much work and that is one of the reasons they are selling. Re loft extensions, I checked online to see if any other houses on the road have been granted planning permission for loft extensions and can't see that they have been. I suspect that the pitch of the roof is not high enough but it could just be that nobody has been interested in a loft extension so far. It's something I'll definitely ask a builder to look at. I agree that we have to decide what is most important to us and, for me, having a bathroom with a separate access is very important both now and in the future should we decide to sell up. A second single bedroom is fine with me on the basis that it is intended to be a small child's room and every two bed house we have viewed so far has had one double and one single room. Huggers - I hadn't considered just moving the bathroom! I think that would be a very good solution, especially if we took out the built in wardrobe in the double room and used all of the cupboard space as part of the bathroom. The main issues would be adding plumbing and having no window in the bathroom (assuming the window would then be in the hallway) but I am sure adding plumbing would cost less than repositioning a staircase and we can come up with a solution to deal with the lack of ventilation. A builder doing some work had a look at the floorplans and thought it would cost circa ?30k to reposition the staircase and refit the bathroom. A property developer friend thought repositioning the staircase would cost ?10k-?15k. Both estimates were given with the caveat that it could cost more or less depending on the house. Now just trying to line up a builder to come to a second viewing with us during the week to do a proper estimate. Thank you all for your input.

I viewed a house this morning which is about ?25k under budget. I absolutely love it but the only problem is that the bathroom is accessed via one of the bedrooms. I've managed to find the floor plans of another house on the same street which has direct access to the bathroom, achieved by rotating the staircase by 180 degrees and creating a hallway through one of the bedrooms. Attached are some floorplans for the house I want to buy and for the other house on the same street. Does anyone have any idea how much rotating a staircase and putting up a stud wall would cost? Are we talking circa ?5k or circa ?25k? Is this a crazy amount of work and would we be better off holding out for a house that has already had this work done? I'm trying to get hold of a builder but would appreciate any input in the meantime!

No doubt your recommendation will be useful to someone. Not sure I understand the 3rd post in 3 yrs comment when the others were not obvious advertising.

Try the Addison Lee van service

I agree that it is not too much to ask for a train service to be on time with minor delays now and then. Last year I reluctantly moved to St Albans. I work in the West End and my commute is 40 minutes - 18 mins to St Pancras on the fast train and then the Victoria Line. Travel is more expensive but houses are cheaper. Schools are all very good and you have easy access to the countryside. After just a year out here I honestly could not move back to London.

Try Stranger Things on Netflix - 9/10

red devil Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What work sector are you in, and what are the > demographics of the audience likely to be?... Commercial legal sector and the demographics are likely to be middle-aged investors from medium to large sized businesses.

ruffers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Obama Obama would be my choice too but although the budget is sizeable it's not that big!

Thanks everyone, all very helpful as my brain seems to have shut down. I think Richard Dawkins and Peter Hitchens would probably be a little controversial though.

I have to come up with a list of potential keynote speakers for a work event. After David Attenborough I am drawing a blank. Has to be someone who will get bums on seats. Any suggestions? Who would you love to hear speak? Area of expertise isn't a concern.

There's the West Dulwich Book Group. You will find them on Facebook.

If you stay on for one more stop to Herne Hill here is a minicab office just by the station on Railton Road.

I definitely used to get shoved around in my Ford Fiesta.

My partner and I recently bought a new Kia Sportage after driving a 12 year old ford fiesta. The fuel economy is brilliant and it has lower emissions than a lot of other small SUVs. We bought it because we do a lot of motorway driving and I was tired of being blown around in a small car and also because we spend a lot of time out in the country. My partner is also American and has a natural inclination towards bigger cars.

I was about to tell you that I went to Sydenham School but then realised that that was 12 years ago! Anyway, just in case it helps, it was a good school, usual mix of kids that are interested in learning and also not interested. The teachers were quick to spot the difference and the academic students were pushed very hard and to aim for Oxbridge. I went on to do very well and would send my own children there. It also looks like they have had their best ever year for GCSE results.

Hi Saffron, dry cleaning a wedding dress is very expensive, I think potentially around the ?100 mark, so you might find it's cheaper to just buy one second hand for around the same price and then not bother dry cleaning after wearing it. Just in case you missed it, this post was in the For Sale section: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?9,1735768,1735768#msg-1735768