The nervous wait to exchange....

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Looks like I'll be joining this thread. We moved into our current house in Sep 2014, so been here a good 10 years, but time has come to move. We no longer like the area and want a detached house in a nicer area. The forever home.

Put our house on the market end of November and accepted an asking price offer within a week (chain free buyer). Solicitors have been instructed and we have the buyer's surveyor booked in for Wednesday.

The house we settled on for our move is a new build in a small-ish Redrow development, within a village location. We are on what they call "prime position" which means we have first refusal on reserving the plot we want when it's released.

We are going for plot 48 (https://www.redrow.co.uk/developments/woburn-view-222819/interactive-site-plan-1867v6) but it won't be ready until August/September. This means we will sell and have to rent for 6 months which will be interesting - never rented before.

I'm nervous about the survey on Wednesday, it's a 1950s semi so it has age related wear but hopefully they don't uncover anything problematic.
 
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LiE said:
Looks like I'll be joining this thread. We moved into our current house in Sep 2014, so been here a good 10 years, but time has come to move. We no longer like the area and want a detached house in a nicer area. The forever home.

Put our house on the market end of November and accepted an asking price offer within a week (chain free buyer). Solicitors have been instructed and we have the buyer's surveyor booked in for Wednesday.

The house we settled on for our move is a new build in a small-ish Redrow development, within a village location. We are on what they call "prime position" which means we have first refusal on reserving the plot we want when it's released.

We are going for plot 48 (https://www.redrow.co.uk/developments/woburn-view-222819/interactive-site-plan-1867v6) but it won't be ready until August/September. This means we will sell and have to rent for 6 months which will be interesting - never rented before.

I'm nervous about the survey on Wednesday, it's a 1950s semi so it has age related wear but hopefully they don't uncover anything problematic.
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Always novel the amount of bathrooms they'll squeeze into a new build. Why does every bedroom need an en suite :D
 
Buffman said:
Always novel the amount of bathrooms they'll squeeze into a new build. Why does every bedroom need an en suite :D
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That’s the “lifestyle” configuration. Essentially it’s a 4 bed house, size wise, but they instead drop the family bathroom and go with 3 more generous sized rooms all with en-suites. The main bedroom en-suite is pretty big and has a walk in wardrobe.
 
LiE said:
That’s the “lifestyle” configuration. Essentially it’s a 4 bed house, size wise, but they instead drop the family bathroom and go with 3 more generous sized rooms all with en-suites. The main bedroom en-suite is pretty big and has a walk in wardrobe.
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Which is great but means you also have 3+ bathrooms to clean and maintain.
 
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LiE said:
Looks like I'll be joining this thread. We moved into our current house in Sep 2014, so been here a good 10 years, but time has come to move. We no longer like the area and want a detached house in a nicer area. The forever home.

Put our house on the market end of November and accepted an asking price offer within a week (chain free buyer). Solicitors have been instructed and we have the buyer's surveyor booked in for Wednesday.

The house we settled on for our move is a new build in a small-ish Redrow development, within a village location. We are on what they call "prime position" which means we have first refusal on reserving the plot we want when it's released.

We are going for plot 48 (https://www.redrow.co.uk/developments/woburn-view-222819/interactive-site-plan-1867v6) but it won't be ready until August/September. This means we will sell and have to rent for 6 months which will be interesting - never rented before.

I'm nervous about the survey on Wednesday, it's a 1950s semi so it has age related wear but hopefully they don't uncover anything problematic.
Click to expand...
50s look new builds is something i have not seen before but that sounds a lot of money for a three bedroom house
 
Buffman said:
Always novel the amount of bathrooms they'll squeeze into a new build. Why does every bedroom need an en suite :D
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Yes it's a bit mental. Especially some townhouse designs where there are two full bathrooms on the same floor. Waste of limited space, unless perhaps you are renting the rooms out.
 
964rs said:
50s look new builds is something i have not seen before but that sounds a lot of money for a three bedroom house
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Yea it’s one of the big draws of these particular houses. Love the look of them being styled on older houses, we live in a 50s semi and these new builds look similar! Also you get high ceilings and skirting boards.

It is 3 bed, but it’s the same size as their 4 beds (Cambridge they call the house type). Woburn Sands is a pricey area (Milton Keynes in general isn’t cheap).
 
First hurdle has arrived. From reservation (which I have until Monday to complete), Redrow want to exchanged contracts within 6 weeks along with the 10% deposit. I don't feel comfortable handing over £68,000 in 6 weeks when the completion date is October!
 
I’m guessing there is little risk in this approach. If I’ve exchanged contracts on the new build, handed over 10% deposit and my mortgage is approved. It should all be essentially locked in, albeit many months from completion.

Redrow confirmed that they would expect exchange of contracts to happen when I sell my house. That’s looking like start of March.
 
jpaul said:
But do you avoid stamp duty increase ? does the bathroom thing change tax banding ?
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The government have not increased stamp duty. The previous government temporarily reduced it for first time buyers and it’s returning back to the normal rates. It was a temporary measure with a fixed end date in legislation.

It’s also based on completion date not exchange date so its irrelevant when you exchange.

Why would the number of bathrooms change the tax banding?

Both council tax and stamp duty are based on the value of the property not the number of rooms you can take a dump in.
 
LiE said:
Yea it’s one of the big draws of these particular houses. Love the look of them being styled on older houses, we live in a 50s semi and these new builds look similar! Also you get high ceilings and skirting boards.

It is 3 bed, but it’s the same size as their 4 beds (Cambridge they call the house type). Woburn Sands is a pricey area (Milton Keynes in general isn’t cheap).
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Was gonna buy plot 37 to overlook you - there is way too many bathrooms though and the biggest room of the house is where the car lives lol.


Edit: quick glance and 48 is the best tho
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
The government have not increased stamp duty. The previous government temporarily reduced it for first time buyers and it’s returning back to the normal rates. It was a temporary measure with a fixed end date in legislation.
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thought there was a new 2% tier for everyone between 125&250 ... obviously KS semantics if they say they haven't increased it

e: equally is council tax just based on sqm , rather than purpose (ie how do bathrooms change it)
e2: ok uk is just house value unlike france I'm more familiar with
" In terms of property tax on residential premises (house or apartment), the starting point is the floor area of the accommodation . The m² are corrected by coefficients linked to the condition of the property and its geographical location in the municipality . The so-called "comfort" elements add ("fictitiously", just for the calculation), additional m². Then, the base obtained is multiplied by a municipal rate ", explains Karine Ambroise, a lawyer specializing in tax law at the Ambroise Avocat firm, which has also developed software for calculating property tax and created a dedicated website .

But what are these comfort elements? “ By comfort elements, we mean the connection to the networks: electricity, gas or running water…And also sanitary and heating elements, such as toilets, a bathtub, a shower… No, you are not dreaming…These are indeed “comfort elements. And each of these elements will add taxable m², therefore increasing your property tax ,” says Karine Ambroise.
 
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dlockers said:
Was gonna buy plot 37 to overlook you - there is way too many bathrooms though and the biggest room of the house is where the car lives lol.


Edit: quick glance and 48 is the best tho
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:D

We've decided to pull out for now. It's all looking rather expensive when you factor in the cost of the extras. To get the kitchen spec we want is about £10,000 of extras, a few more extras around the house is about £2,000. When I originally spoke to the sales person they reassured me that Redrow would help with some of the cost of the extras. Now they have changed their tune as they probably consider the sale in the bag during the reservation phase.

I need to keep hold of some savings to pay for all the flooring and window dressings which will likely cost £10-12k. I was hoping Redrow would help us here, but as they aren't the overall cost to move + the extra is just too much.

There's also the principle of it, that fact that they class a dishwasher as an extra really rubs me the wrong way.

Then there is the news of the train station moving to the west of the development and the main access to that train station being the development.. nope!



I'm speaking to an estate agent today about a property that has been on the market since September, it's over budget and has already been dropped £25,000, but it could be possible with a bit of price flexibility.
 
jpaul said:
thought there was a new 2% tier for everyone between 125&250 ... obviously KS semantics if they say they haven't increased it
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Nope. It’s not KS semantics, the legislation was literally put in place by the previous Conservative government.

To increase (or decrease) it they’ve have to change the legislation, they haven't touched it.

The only argument you could put forward is around no inflationary increase is therefore an increase by the back door but stamp duty doesn’t formally get inflation increases and can go many years between threshold changes.

That said, it’s a bad tax and shouldn’t apply to residential property as it puts a drag on mobility (and therefore the economy). You could put the same argument for other stamp transactions also.
 
LiE said:
When I originally spoke to the sales person they reassured me that Redrow would help with some of the cost of the extras. Now they have changed their tune as they probably consider the sale in the bag during the reservation phase.
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Story as old as time unfortunately.

The house that got sold as I put an offer in last time is back on the market now, and has been for a few months, but without any price drops, I have splurged a bit this year though so going to put a reduced offer in and see what they say.
 
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Another question on the redrow eco-electric would be seemingly no gas supply ? they can eulogize about heat pumps, but if the electric for that (over short 5 years say) in winter costs £££, would you want that.
Personally, a forever home needs a gas hob, not less controllable/powerful induction.
what data do they provide to show insulation would really be appropriate for HP, too.
 
jpaul said:
Another question on the redrow eco-electric would be seemingly no gas supply ? they can eulogize about heat pumps, but if the electric for that (over short 5 years say) in winter costs £££, would you want that.
Personally, a forever home needs a gas hob, not less controllable/powerful induction.
what data do they provide to show insulation would really be appropriate for HP, too.
Click to expand...
AFAIK they are not putting a gas supply on any new builds.

Similarly the insulation regulations for a new build are of course specced up for a heat pump... This stuff is all tied up in policy, it's not some grift.
 
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