*Tee*

All helpful advice. Thank you. Can anyone recommend a good solicitor/ conveyancer? Especially if they have dealt with right to buy/ leasehold issues. Please get in touch! Thanks

I hope they get caught, how terrible. have you given the description of this guy to the police?

Hi, I currently live on the ground floor of a Victorian Terrace flat conversion. There are only 2 flats in this building. The other resident is a council tenant and has no interest in purchasing his home, which means I will forever be at the mercy of the Freeholder- Southwark council. I have now been sent my right to buy offer notice section 125 from southwark council after waiting for around 10 months for it. At first I felt incredibly happy of the prospect of becoming a home owner, then I look further and see ridiculous yearly service charges and a five year major works bill for items which don't relate to the property, i;e Estate lighting, communal repairs etc... The offer letter has also Informed me that the property was valued in August 2013 and in that time frame, if any major works have been carried out since this date, then I will be liable for these on completion too. This is ridiculous!! because in that time there has been a huge amount of works going on. Repairs to windows, doors etc..... To top this all off, I have since been sent a letter last month detailing major works, to finally be carried out within the next couple of months, and even though i will still be a council tenant in the next couple of months whilst this work is happening, On completion of my right to buy, I will be given half the bill for these works. Another annoyance is If my neighbour decided to come home drunk one day and smash the front door down, I will be liable for half of the bill for the entire duration of my lease......This doesnt seem fair to me..... The whole offer notice looks dodgy. Instead of receiving an actual valuation where somebody visited the property , I receive a desktop valuation. I disputed this but now know that if I get a district valuer to value said property and they value it more, then I cannot revert back as the district valuer has the final say.. on the plus side,I really love my garden and little flat and would like to own it but without the headache of the major repairs charges that go with it. I am very very keen to hear from those of you who have gone through the process, especially if it is a house conversion. What were your experiences? Any recommendations for a really good solicitor who really knows their stuff when dealing with council right to buys and leaseholds? Any recommendations on where to start, i;e should I instruct a solicitor first or get a independent survey done before accepting my right to buy offer? Many thanks in advance *Tee*

Further more....... Can anyone recommend a good Right to buy solicitor who really knows there stuff when it comes to dealing with the council on purchases. Any leads will be greatly appreciated. Would rather go with a recommendation than google search. many thanks all *Tee*

It is a huge gamble.....But on the other hand my head is telling me that the councils desktop valuation have over valued my property by 25K....no one so much as looked at the property. There is one sizeable crack to the external wall and 2 on the inside. It may be suffering from some sort of structure problem but cant confirm this until I book a surveyor to check it out. In which case do you think i will be able to ask the council to re- look at the value based on the surveyors report or do you think the council will ignore my request and send me to the District valuer? *Tee*

I wish I could, unfortunately, waiting for 5 years to have the works done isnt something I can do. interestingly, Southwark council are trying to charge me for things that dont apply to me, such as Estate lighting, communal gardens, etc etc. All of which I dont have. It is a 'street' property, and not on a estate. A small hallway, with 2 light switches and 2 light bulbs is all that features in my box of hallway. I called the homebuyers department to question the high service charges and high capital repairs bill and she kept saying that the charges are correct. Not sure who to contact now, as I am not currently a leaseholder, but about to become one. A lot of things on the Right to buy paperwork don't seem right to me and I need some helpful advice, before I sign up to this...... Can anyone point me in the right direction? Another thing that gets my goat is the 'desktop' valuation, I have received instead of a actual one. How can you value a property without visiting the property? The whole thing is soooo dodgy,I feel so cross that someone, somewhere is plucking figures out of the sky! *Tee*

Any further updates from anyone? I'm following this thread as I have just been sent my right to buy notice from southwark council along with a huge 'capital repairs' bill and service charges for a 1 bed flat in a building which totals only 2 flats. Southwark council are cowboys and I will dispute every bill which comes my way! *Tee*

In my victorian terrace building are 2 flats, i live on the ground floor and i have just filled out and posted my right to buy form to purchase my flat. I know from speaking with my neighbour that he has no plans to purchase his home, meaning there will be 1 home owner and 1 council tenant in the building. Do you think the council will let me buy a share of the freehold? looking through nightmare threads on people being hit with huge bills, i want some control any advice will be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Hi, About to embark on purhasing my 1 bed flat through southwark council right to buy scheme and would like to hear views/ opinions/ and past experiences too. I live in a victorian ground floor conversion flat with 1 other flat above who is still a council tenant. I am trying to think ahead as to what senarios in terms of cost could present itself. The building has double glazing. If anything, i think the possibilities of the roof needing attention could rear its head. I relive nightmares that the council could present me with a huge bill for things that dont need to be done and me not being able to do a thing about it... keen to hear from anyone who has recently brought from southwark especially a conversion flat. Many thanks, *Tee*

I would too like to add another recommendation for Niko. Niko previously came to visit me too last year when 5 separate plumbers were called to solve a problem with a leaky sink. Niko was eventually the 6th plumber who sorted the problem straight away and knew exactly what it was. I remembered how straight down the line and knowledgable he was that I called him again a few weeks ago to sort out a father in law DIY disaster. He came round in the evening at a time that suited me and fixed 2 leaky basin taps, sealed the basin plug hole, and fixed a the trap that was leaking. He spent a bit of time, crotching under the tiny sink and only charged us ?40. The best thing was he was so bothered by a previous plumbers messy work, he even spent a bit of time tidying that up too. I will without a doubt be using this guy again in the future! Christina and Martin.

Mum of 3 girlies, your not alone in being 'flashed'. I live in that very same area, and up until a couple of years back,the same guy would repeatedly 'flash' at women, in and around the area. He would wait until you got to a distance where you could see him and just show himself. I have not seen him in a while so maybe he has been put away where he can seek some medical help for his disturbing behaviour. And i qualify to comment because my sister and i were flashed by this same guy on a quiet sunday morning.It still gets me angry every time i think about it! The first time it happened i was so stunned, i tried to laugh it off, the second and third time i saw him, I called the police right away, because i wouldnt want my children, or any one elese's children to encounter him. He was quite clearly in need of some help.

Had the same fly problem 2 years straight! it was a NIGHTMARE!! i cannot deal with anything insect-ty at all. Walked into my flat and the window was covered and there was also around 10 dead ones on the carpet. They were the big black flies which means something was rotting, but because i live in a flat conversion and basically have walls, and ceilings like paper, the dead rodent could have been anywhere, a couple of kind people on this forum offered to help as i was petrified. went away after 2 days, with me frantically hoovering and spraying, it turns out my upstairs neighbour was living in a dustbin. He moved, problem solved!!

Two of my friends, on different occasions brought some packaged grapes from a rather 'posh' high street store,and on both occasions one friend had a snail in one packet, while the other friend had a magot in the other packet. This made me feel really sick at the thought. it really could have just been a bug that has travelled through the family. hope your feeling better now though!

Yep, freelancing here too. Design.

Hope your boyfriend feels better soon, scumbags........but the phrase what goes around, comes around springs to mind, and the thugs will get that back maybe worse. I hope whatever you both do, you both carry on as normal, of course it will make you weary of passing strangers in the street, and you will have your guards up, but never make something like this, change your normal day to day life! i hope they get caught real soon .

No they won't have keys.

Your right,its the way the police handled the whole thing. Why was it up to ME to arrange repair of the door, surely they should have notified the council of the need for someone to secure the door. My own flats security was compromised for the whole day while i was out and i didnt even know about it. Walking in to find the mess was a nightmare beyond nightmares, because no one was there to explain to me what took place.

My neighbor has slight mental health issues. His not aggressive in any way, just withdrawn and usually speaks to no one! I still believe the sister did go over the top when she called the police, and maybe made matters sound much worse than they were.By him having these issues maybe the reason they broke the door down. The sister can not be that smart because if she was indeed concerned about her brother, why did it take 4 weeks for her to visit him? why has she never arranged for some kind of support in his own home like a care in the community scheme, why didnt she arrange for his bell to get fixed? and further more why didnt she get a copy of his keys to let herself in. The weird thing is, why hasnt she already got keys, considering everytime she comes round,she goes through this merry go round of trying to get in.I am surprised the police didnt establish these facts first, BEFORE they decided to smash my door in. The whole thing seems rather weird to me, maybe they just enjoy smashing peoples doors in. These are all questions that i want to ask her also when she visits the next time, although she may be feeling slightly embarrassed by the lengths she has gone through to get in, so i got a feeling i wont be seeing her for some time. The more i think about it, makes me want to put in a complaint to the police. As back up, i have taken photos and will be going to see an housing officer first thing monday morning, as well as the CAB. The council usually takes 1000 years to give the go ahead on any work to be done. So in the meantime i have a carpenter friend who has offered to come around and look at my flat door, as from outside the door looks wrecked and weak, and i fear that would be thieves would try and break in, as they can see that the door is unsecure.I have 2 more sleepless nights until Monday morning, hopefully by then i can see some kind of result.

Thanks for all your helpful advice guys! This has never happened to me before, so i really don't know quite how to handle this.

Unfortunately, the door bell is my neighbors responsibility, not that he at all cares.I wonder how many "smash downs" i'm gonna get as a result :( The council said that as its the communal door, its not classed as an emergency, but as long as my own front door is in working order, then their not obliged to come out right away! I do hope they bring the door back to its original state, by the sounds of the housing repairs operator, it sounded like a hammer and nails were all that was going to be provided on the day, believe me it needs a whole lot more.

Hi all, i am after some advice!! I live in a conversion flat, which is a lovely house converted into 2 flats, (i live in the ground floor flat) Both my neighbor and i share the main front door and communal hallway before entering and leaving our own front doors (usual set up.) Both my neighbor and i rent our flats from southwark council. Late friday evening i returned from work to find my communal front door totally smashed in! Right away i panicked and got that sick-ky feeling that my flat had been burgled, as i edged my way in expecting to find total devastation and my own front door obliterated, i discovered that my flat was fine and no one had been in it. straight away i banged on my neighbors flat door to find out what had gone down, going by the state of the front door, it wasn't that pretty. He emerged shortly afterwards and said that it was the police that had smashed in the door. I said why?, he replied his sister had came round and was worried about him, and because she had not seen him in a while and he didn't answer the door, (his bell isn't working and his phone line is suspended)she became worried, thought something was wrong with him and decided to call the police???? My door is a total mess, they had used one of those heavy duty "things" commonly used to break down the door of criminals to gain entry. ?900.00 worth of solid new door is now unusable, skirting boards ruined, plaster ruined, locks ruined, door furniture ruined,and door framed hanging off by a nail. The plaster in my own living room has a huge crack running the length of the wall too as a result. In a huff i grabbed the phone and rang the local police station who told me that they had to attend as the relative of my neighbor had become concerned- fair enough, BUT TO SMASH THE DOOR IN??? The police couldn't even be bothered to clean up, leave a polite note with a telephone number on asking me to contact them or nothing, except they just left me to find my front door smashed in, honestly i thought i was going to have a mini heart attack, as my last conversion flat was broken into by thieves too! Once more i should add that as freelance, i usually work from home and most times when my neighbors relatives have come round and couldn't get him up because he is always sleeping, would always ring my bell, so that they could be let in. So my first feeling was the one occasion that i wasn't in, when she came round, she became panicked as she couldn't get in, she then decides to call the police. I think its a waste of resources as, my neighbor is one of those people who NEVER answers the door to anyone, not even his own relatives including her, AND SHE KNOWS THAT ALSO. He usually leaves her outside for 10 minutes or so, or until i get fed up of her communal door knocking. So why was this situation so different to the rest that she had to call the police. After all he never answers anyway. I later found out from the call log that she told the police that she had not seen her brother in 4 weeks??? well thats because she had not been round in 4 weeks. Its not as if she had been round every week for 4 weeks and could not get an answer, that of course would raise alarm bells. But to me, i think she may have slightly fabricated her story to get a faster reaction out of the police. My question is my door is so badly damaged, and door frame too that it needs replacing. I called the council straight away who were more helpful than the police, someone is coming to "repair" the door and frame on monday, but it really needs replacing. Because this is our "security" door meaning it has beefier locks, it will never be the same strength since it has been smashed in already. The council can only "make good" the door. The police dont want to know, as they say they have a duty to respond to the public, and my neighbours sister, well she hasnt been seen since friday, and we wont be seeing her for another 4 weeks.My neighbor doesnt care, as he has slight mental health issues, and wouldnt even notice if we had a door at all. I've spent my time and money restoring our lovely door, and hallway. In every conversion there is always one neighbor that takes care of the up keep of the entrance and i'm it! Should i get the door replaced and forward the bill onto the council, police complaints dept, or even the sister. What does everyone think! either way, the door will need to be replaced not repaired. any helpful advice welcome!! *Tee*

Yes indeed well done! i think now is the time to really do something about this while we still can, people will miss this service when its gone, and will complain and kick them self's for not taking any action. If i get any tickets, i'm certainly going along.

loved the first episode! loved heroes too, for those who missed it and havent got sky you can catch up with five on demand! *Tee*

4,i'm such a big wimp, i cant even look at a spider without freaking out. I wouldnt kill it with a book though, because then i'll have to throw away the book! i use a hoover and just go for it. there are loads of loads of them in my garden, one has even made its home right outside my back door,its web is huge!! never seen anything like it scary! the web is from the roof all the way down the house till the path, and thats just the anchor points. Once i borrowed my hoover to my friend who promised to return it right away but didnt,so i had to invent another genius way of getting rid of spiders, its raid spray the blue one, works a treat! *Tee*

very sorry to hear about what happened the exact same thing happened to us and the upstairs flat which was empty at the time. We got a call from our landlord, letting us know we had been broken into, i was mortified as at the time i was in the west end at the time. Whoever it is i think they knew that upstairs was empty, and i was out. I still think someone must have been watching our movements. i take it,you live in a flat conversion? the burglarys seem to be all of this nature. The looters persume that your own flat door will be weaker than that of the main front door, Which 9 out of 10 is the case including us.Once inside they can close the door, and take any belongings without anyone knowing.I think they also see it as 2 for 1 Bloody thieving B******s on the plus side you replacing the door to something much stronger, and getting london bars, replacement locks etc, will not see them returning, as they know you are bound to beef up your security. It takes something like this to happen before you realise, its crap i know! Our flat door, back then was made out of what can only be described as card board, i laugh now, but then it was shocking to deal with. Our door now, is solid and made from one piece of wood. You also need to get a mortice fitted on the main front door, with a thumb turn device on the inside of that door, so that you and your neighbour and get out quickly in emergencies! hope this helps *Tee*