Life in Wales

It is a long time since we moved house!

One of the reasons we chose this house is that it has been refurbished to a high standard in the last year or so. It is over 120 years old but all modern inside.

The owners did some things very well - power sockets - loads of them - every bedroom has five double sockets so every corner is well covered. This is, in my opinion, quite unusual. So well done.

But these were not terribly technical people, so even in the 2020's they had UHF cabling and something called "telephone" cabling to some rooms. I believe it is the old way people used to talk to each other - and being phased out in a few years anyway :-)

One saving grace is that the telephone wiring was actually done using cat5e cable, so we have traced which wire goes to which room (with one mystery 5.7m cable run we cannot find) and we are repurposing for networking.

Sadly the satellite cabling is also slightly lacking - when I did our old house, decades ago, I ran 2 coax to each room and 4 to the main living room. That has been used for Sky, Sky+, SkyQ, and old UHF in various ways since, and not needed upgrading. In the new house - one coax to living room, and one coax to one of the bedrooms. Thankfully the SkyQ works off one cable giving us around ¼ of the channels. I don't watch Sky, but my wife (and the grand kids when they stay) do. So the challenge is neatly getting a second coax from the dish one end of the house to the living room the other end without looking untidy. Part of the challenge of any work is the metre thick stone walls in places.

We have WiFi sorted now, well, sort of - I need to print a mounting bracket once I unpack the 3D printer. But it is working with a North and South side AP, one each side of the stone wall in the middle of the house.

Of course we have no Internet as such - the WiFi is connected to a 4G dongle, which just about works. This is because PSTN and Fibre services ordered early November are not in. How the hell a simple PSTN line for broadband can take BT plc t/a Openreach this long is beyond me. They have cancelled loads of appointments (system problems). At one point last week the engineer did turn up - and was in the loft ready to connect two spare pairs (just had to fit sockets!) - and refused to. Apparently because COVID! Yes BT have some new rules on not doing new line appointments - but that is not to impact orders in flight like this, and the guy was in the house, with the previous owners, and actually got to the loft before deciding not to install. It is mental! Since then loads more appointments cancelled.

If only I worked for an ISP! Well, the team I have are some of the best in the business, but even they are pulling their hair out over this. BT keep agreeing an appointment and then not turning up or cancelling for no reason. It has been escalated and escalated many times. It is now a house with "no existing service" and I think telecoms even makes me a "key worker" but no, BT are just failing. It is not even that BT are refusing to install, they are agreeing the "system errors" are wrong, and agreeing a new appointment, but then failing. We are not asking for special treatment at all - just a simple PSTN line install for broadband - bog standard - not even running new cable as there are spare pairs to the premises.

The PSTN lines are the quick and easy install to be there until the much longer lead time fibre Ethernet install is done. We know they take time. The irony here is that BT claim to be coming to do the fibre today! I'm not holding my breath, but that would be truly crazy if a full Etherway install can be done before simply connecting a new PSTN line. I was, however, sent a box of "Fibre Aid" via Amazon from someone (I have since found out who, guessed right first time), to give to the engineer if he has any problems. I hope he has a sense of humour.

There is still a lot of unpacking to do - the biggest issue for me is that I am moving to a room that is maybe ½ the size of my former "man cave". I agreed to the move for my wife's sake, as she loves the new house. I love it too, except for the room I have been allocated. It was to be a room ⅓ of the size, but we could not even stack all the boxes from my man cave in there which proved my point slightly :-)

There are loads of other challenges, including the tumble dryer and washing machine not fitting in the space in the utility room, but thankfully we have a son-in-law that is a sparky and handyman living a few miles away (almost all of the close family now live in Ebbw Vale, hence moving here).

Energy performance certificate

Apparently for selling (or even renting out) a house you need an Energy performance certificate.

It seems to me that this is a well meaning, but totally pointless, rule.

I have berated the fact that so much of the needed paperwork is not prepared before selling, but this is one of the few things that is expected, yet not actually any use. The world is mad some times.

Does anyone read them?

Even the guy doing the report agreed nobody reads them. Even if they do, do they actually take this in to account in a house purchase decision? We are "average", so err, fine.. I guess.

Are they accurate?

This is the main bit that bugs me. As I say, nobody reads them, but our house is rated "D" which is average, but then has recommendations and details of CO₂ production.

Except the report is wrong. It says, for example, we do not have any insulation under the floor. Well, I know we do, and even provided pictures for the assessor. However, he checked, as as he is unable to report the thickness he has to report that there is none, and even recommend some is installed! So the report is factually wrong.

Also, the house has 5 air-con units - these are air source heat pumps which are efficient for heating. The report does not cover this at all, only listing the gas central heating. I have not even bothered to ask why - given that we are "average" and "nobody reads these anyway". Oddly, installing heat pumps is not one of the recommendations.

As for the CO₂ production - given that most of the heating is electric and we are on a 100% green energy tariff, the figures he quotes are totally wrong. Oddly, installing solar panels is a recommendation, and is good - but how does it change the efficiency as we are just "using someone else's solar panels" if on a 100% green energy tariff.

But, as nobody reads them, what do I care? I have one, so it goes with the house sale paperwork. Total waste of time.

P.S. One of the factors (in this 10 year life certificate) is if low energy light bulbs are (currently) fitted. How the hell is the choice of light bulb fitted at the time of the assessment a factor in the energy efficiency of the house as a whole. At best it should be "has standard light fittings allowing low energy light bulbs to be fitted", which is like every house.

P.P.S. It occurred to me - what if I had removed any non-low-energy light bulbs when he did the survey, would that have made us 100% low energy and a better rating. After all you don't get lower energy than no light bulb fitted!

Week 9.3

OK finally we have exchanged, and we move in 2 weeks.

Yes, Andrews & Arnold Ltd is not moving - it is staying based in Bracknell. Do not panic.

Yes, I am not actually retiring to Wales. The whole lockdown thing has taught me how little I actually need to be in the office, and how much can be done using video conference like jitsi. I'm not retiring, I am continuing R&D work and running the business along with my management team as always. Do not worry... (yes people have asked).

Yes, actual glass fibre is available in the depths of wales, and now we have exchanged we can progress the fibre blow.

Friday was stressful as nothing happened, and still unclear why we had to wait until Friday anyway. Basically the sellers solicitors are (in my personal opinion) dicks. Even the agent said it was odd they would not talk to them. They don't answer the phone (says switched off) and if you get an assistant they just say he'll call back and nothing happens. This is what my solicitor has had to suffer for two whole days.

Once again my solicitors (Kite Griffin) are brilliant even for something as simple as conveyancing.

Monday was just as stressful as the hours ticked by. And sorry for pestering my solicitor so much. It got to the point that I just told the agent to sort it - get the sellers to talk to their solicitor and explain that if not sorted today the offer is reduced £5k. Bear in mind we made the offer on basis of a quick exchange and all parties agreed to try and exchange by Christmas. From what I can see there has been no good faith attempt to do that from the seller's solicitor at all. Magically, 5 minutes later, he called my solicitor and half an hour after that it is all done.

The weight off my mind when it finally happened was great. I know I should not stress, but I do. I have mountains of plans in my head waiting to execute - like changing locks from my electronic locks to something simpler (but secure), organising mail redirection, everything, all stacked in my head waiting. It created actual higher blood pressure even!

We move end of the month. Yay. Now to remember from over 25 years ago what you do when you move and who you have to tell!

And then the fun of selling, but the whole purchase exercise has taught me a lot. I'll blog how that goes in due course. As a seller I want to make it as quick and smooth as possible. Managing to buy before selling was, as you can imagine, fun, and means using mortgage reserve and the like which my bank tried very hard to cock up. But that is another story. But I think if I had to wait for a buyer it would have been so much more stressful. Now the work to make this place appealing :-)

P.S. I know people are very security conscious and so am I - finding my soon to be empty house is not hard, but it has alarms, and cameras with remote monitoring, and good locks, and people watching over it, and nothing worth stealing in it.

Week 9

Yes, week 9, WTF?

So, a week ago, everyone was ready to exchange. So what happened?

Nothing?

Seriously the one remaining step before completion is to exchange contracts and that one thing has not happened in a whole week.

Why?

This is not easy to work out exactly, but sounds like it went down like this, I think.

• Agent suggests Friday as date to exchange. No bloody clue why. Did not ask us. The agent knows that ALL PARTIES agreed to try and exchange before Christmas. That we are keen to sort this quickly (made very clear when we viewed and when we made the offer). I really want to get selling this house before stamp duty goes back up, otherwise it will probably cost me a lot in reduced house prices. That is getting less likely by the day.
• One of the parties decided that, as a result, they would make a ducking appointment with their solicitor for Friday. Why not Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday? Why? Why do that?
• And why an appointment? Telephones exist! Email exists! I have not seen my solicitor in the whole process! There is a damn pandemic on - seriously!
• It seems, from what I can tell, as a result of that appointment it became apparent one document, as a result of one query from one of the parties, needing providing. Something to do with a garage, and someone in the council needed to email it over. Seriously - why not sort that one document ANY TIME IN THE LAST 9 BLOODY WEEKS!
• So, updates during the day - my solicitor is great, keeping us informed.
• FINALLY! at around 3:30pm we are told everyone is ready to exchange - yay!
• I sorted house insurance for the new house as I assumed risk on exchange. This involved 25 mins on the phone as a web site refused to quote me.

Now my understanding is that the process is a short phone call, that is all. But the solicitor that finally confirmed ready to exchange then turned off his phone. That's right - TURNED OFF HIS PHONE!

Later, after 5pm, they emailed saying it was too late to exchange. They could have called, and exchanged, instead of emailing, but no, they have not exchanged.

This is the comment from the agent earlier this week :-

I agree with you whole heartedly!  It is beyond me why The [seller's] solicitor will not speak to us?  It is quite unusual!  It is beyond me why they just leave people hanging and don't respond!  It doesn't help anyone. I have tried to do my best to get information to keep everyone in the loop.  We try and be reactive because that is what people need when they are going through such a stressful time.  Clearly their solicitor doesn't think the same.

Even though we have a good solicitor, the whole process only works as well as the weakest link. The agent also said :-

I have to say that your solicitor is fantastic, super-efficient and super at communication.  Unfortunately [the seller's] is not!

I can massively recommend Kite Griffin in Bracknell though.

P.S. I am having "fun" sorting all of the paperwork for selling this house. My plan is to have everything ready as much as possible, and complete, and no missing paperwork, nor certificates, or anything, so no queries and no delays, before even putting on the market.

And packing continues...

Week 8

The speed with which these things move is quite crazy. All parties want this transaction to happen, there have been no sticking points, no negotiations, yet somehow we are on to week 8.

But there is some good news, finally!

Apparently everyone is basically ready. Searches done, mortgages sorted. My solicitor has the paperwork signed and witnessed, and the money. We were basically ready before Christmas (as originally planned), but as everyone else is now apparently ready, the final steps have been done on our side which did mean physical signed paper through the letter box of my solicitor.

My solicitors have been great. Prompt to email me. And indeed, everything by email apart from those final two documents on paper which added around half an hour delay as I walked to their offices. Indeed, that walk was probably the longest step we have had to do in the whole process.

But it seems others are not quite as on the ball with this. We learned earlier in the week that the sellers were "meeting with their solicitors on Thursday". So days of delay to meet the solicitor (in the middle of a pandemic) rather than just doing things "now" by email, or phone, or video call, or something immediate.

Of course even though all apparently ready, the agent is talking of exchange next Friday. Why waiting a week? What the hell is going on? It seems a couple of enquires have not been answered yet somewhere. Well, answer them! Just do it, like, now, do it! do it! do it! Why wait a week. What the hell is wrong with people?!

Anyway, the good news is we should exchange some time next week, and then apparently they want 2 weeks before completion. So looks like end of January. Whilst that too is a pain, I can understand that to some extent. I have been reluctant to even start packing until we exchange. Packing and booking a removal van will take time. There is also some chance that lockdown will "kick in" and reduce some of the risks involved.

However, with this good news, I have lots of packing boxes, bubble wrap, tape, and the task of packing is looming. Of course, in a normal time, we would be able to get friends and relatives to help, but our options are very limited at present (even if law allows for "moving house" related activities). Thankfully one relative does have antibodies so I am a lot less worried about them coming to help. But it is a daunting prospect. We have been in Bracknell 30 years, and accumulated a lot of stuff.

But, we have made a start...

P.S. Covid tests all negative for 10 days - very lucky!

Week 7

Nothing happened on the house moving front - as expected.

Still in limbo, and now the whole house also self-isolating as well for the next week, so just hoping a covid test does not come up positive for any of us.

Anyway, all set for chasing solicitors on Monday.

Here's hoping 2021 improves.

Week 6

I expected nothing to happen this week, but I was wrong.

The original plan had been that we all try to exchange contracts before Christmas. Sadly that is not so.

My solicitors have done an excellent job so far, as always (Kite Griffin). The final searches that we need all came in before Christmas and so everything we needed to do was ready.

Sadly the sellers solicitors closed a few days earlier, still waiting on searches, and have not even answered queries my solicitors asked back in November. They are probably doing their best.

Obviously I expect nothing to happen next week. But it is all good news for things actually making some progress on the 4th Jan. We'll have to see.

Of course it is not all good news! The Welsh government decided to increase the Land Transfer Tax with no notice, meaning I have to find several thousands pounds more, just like that! I would ask how the hell anyone is suppose to plan for things like this, but we live in a world where it is totally normal for major changes to law can come in with literally minutes notice and even long term things like leaving the EU can only really be planned for a week before it happens (assuming the legislation passes on the 30th/31st). So yeh, planning is not a thing we can really do these days is it!

But we had a fun Christmas day :-)

Week 5

Well, we have a drainage search now - all OK. Waiting on a mining search and flood report still.

No news from seller on their searches or survey.

At this point I suspect we will not exchange before Christmas.

NONE OF THIS NEEDS TO TAKE THIS LONG!!!

But yay, some other news. When we asked for quote we did not mention it was Wales. Solicitors have revised the quote for Welsh Land Transfer Fee which is a LOT more than English Stamp Duty, nearly double. That is a large extra chunk of money to find.

Arrrrg!

Week 4

Bugger all!

Buyers survey on their new place done, but no idea what happened. I suppose no news is good news.

Everyone waiting for searches still.

Arrrrg! Why?!

Really, why is this not all on-line and why is this not all done or held by a trusted third party before putting the house on the market.

Week 3

Well, I was expecting very little to happen, and I was wrong.

The environmental search came back on Monday, amazing. A detailed 31 page report covering everything from where they are planning to build wind farms near Abergavenny, and how close the house it to an active railway line. But all good.

The local search came back on Wednesday, and all looks fine.

I think we just need a draining search now, and that is it.

The sellers have their survey for the house they are buying this week.

What is also interesting is that, discussing with solicitor, it is not out of the question when it comes to selling my house to get some or all of the searches and sell or give to buyer. This may be common in Scotland but not so in England. They are done by a third party company who can provide a copy of the search to the buyer, and some buyers will be happy with that, and they are valid for a mortgage for 6 months from the date they are done. So we are working out what we need to do to make selling as smooth and as quick as possible. But more on that when I finally move out!

Week 2

Last week we had been told, on the Friday before, that "This means that the contract pack should be with your solicitor early next week." and I wondered why it took as long as it did (given that everyone wants this sorted quickly).

By Tuesday my solicitors were chasing as they won't start the searches until they get the contract pack, it seems.

Finally, Thursday, nearly a week later, the contract pack gets to my solicitors! Naturally I was assuming that this had gone by post for some historic reason, but no, that is not the case. It is all emailed scans, and was not sent until 4:30pm on Thursday.

It is not as if it has much in it, nothing that would, or should, not have been ready to go. It is copy of warranty on some building work, of planning permission, title plan, etc. Much of it I already had as I had spent £3 on the land registry site before even making the offer. This is all stuff I will certainly have ready and scanned as soon as I put my house on the market - why would you not?

Naturally my solicitor was on the case, and getting searches ordered right away, good.

But then on Friday we finally get the fittings and fixtures details. Again, this would be something I expect to be ready when you put the house on the market. Sadly there were a few missed check boxes so my solicitor has to ask for clarification. WHY?!?!

Just to be clear, all of this could have been ready, and with my solicitor, on day 1, as soon as we accepted the offer and they filled in the amount on the contract. That is all that should have been necessary. We are two weeks in to this because of delays by the sellers, when they claim to want to move quickly!

What is slightly annoying it that when we viewed the property the agent was clear that the hot tub, and the bed in the master bedroom, were "negotiable", i.e. they could be left. Both were things that are a pain to move out but have some value. So when we upped our offer to the asking price we said they had to be included, and that was accepted.

What we did not know, not until this fixtures and fittings sheet came through, was that the rather nice light fitting over the stairs, was also negotiable. Had we known, leaving it would have been part of that offer and I am sure that would be accepted seeing as we had gone up to the asking price! Now it is yet another query to be resolved.

I believe at this point we have to wait for searches to complete. As such I am expecting very little over the next week, sadly.

P.S. That light fitting is not that expensive, but the hassle is fitting one over the stairs.

Week 1

It is a week since our offer was accepted...

• Formal memorandum of sale was sent by agents (with wrong date on it)
• My solicitors only just asked for money for searches
• Apparently the "contact pack" is on its way to my solicitor
• Bugger all else has happened

When making my breakfast I consider the critical path. I put water in the coffee machine and turn it on, even before putting ground coffee in, as the coffee heating and filtering is the longest path in the whole process. I do things in an order that is efficient, where I can, especially if it is something I do a lot.

Now, my understand is that the searches are the time critical aspect here, so one has to wonder why wait a whole week before considering starting them.

Oh well. Let's see how this week goes.

Moving house

I have lived in Bracknell over half my life (so far), so moving house is a bit of a distant memory.

But I believe some people were confused by my previous blog, so worth just clarifying:-

• I live in Bracknell now - nice house, some customisation (electric locks, etc).
• I am purchasing a place in Wales, hopefully all sorted by end of this year.
• Then I will be selling my house in Bracknell, after decorator comes in :-)

I can do this partly due to things like mortgage reserve accounts (if you have one, keep it, do not let the bank try and sneak it away as they tried with me, and with friends of mine). Also I am pretty sure that if you are buying a house in Wales you are officially allowed to just put it on your Amex card (basically downsizing in price by a good chunk). You'd think this would help.

I am amazed at the time scales, really. There are "searches". OK, but have you seen how fast google can do a search. This is not the 18th century!

• Why is this not all on-line with all councils, etc?
• Why, if they are all different, is there not a nationwide aggregator that makes it simple?
• Why is it that, apparently, solicitors tend to do one search after the other, and not all at once?
• Why is anything time consuming not done as part of putting the house on the market?

Whilst joking about my Amex card (no, I don't have a limit this high), if you have the money ready and sat in an account why does it have to even take "all day" to buy a house. If it was a mandatory two week cooling off period, I could understand, but it sounds like it is just bad management of the process at every level somehow.

So yes, expect more exasperated blogs on the matter.

Also, how is it that technology knows? I have some ES8000 locks - very nice - very reliable. Both of them started playing up and one has given up the ghost, the very day I get confirmation we are moving and that their days are numbered. This is too fluky for reason. Was fun taking one apart though.