₦airaland Forum

Testimony Time.
Glory be to God almighty for his mercies.
Permit me to appreciate everyone on this platform without mentioning name as I dont want to skip any name. All the important information you all share on this platform was very insightful and useful. We started this journey in October 2023 looking for a 2 bedroom terrace house and ended up buying a 3 bedroom semi-detached home if you know what I mean. I don't want to bore you with all the disappointment I experienced during the process but God compensated us with a good home that needs no repair nor painting, in fact, I can move in without sweeping.

Fast forward, I inspected this house late September 2024 after I just received a set back from a vendor/estate agent. I submitted offer of 5k above the asking price base on my past experience, offer accepted immediately.
Eventually, my lender under value it less than 10k of the asking price which I expected. I got back to the estate agent with the lender's report and they accepted the lender's value after forth and back.

I already have an online solicitor that I wanted to use but I change my mind after reading reviews on how a solicitor can make and Mar the completion success. I came here to seek for advice and I read madam Ticha said its better to get a solicitor within your area and I tap into it and it was a sweet experience and cheaper than the online one.

I contacted the solicitor on October 10, 2024 and we completed December 3, 2024.

Thank you all once again.

The slogan "Rent money is a Dead money" is a motivation for me and not pressure.

Goodenoch:
Our rate was changed the same day our broker applied. It was on a Monday or Tuesday and completion was due for Friday (didn't go though that day but for different reasons).

Thank you

Good day to you all.
Please I need an urgent response.
Our completion date is December 3rd but interest rate gas gone down since I got tje mortgate offer.
I asked my broker about the going rate, this was her response:
"it may be too close to the date of completion to change this over".

I'm yet to reply her cos I felt if the rate was high, the lender would find it easy to change it.
Please I need your advice.

kwakudtraveller:
Good day to you too. If you know the date of exchange, visit moneysupermarket.com or comparethemarket.com to compare home insurance rates. Once you find the most suitable option, set the start date to match your completion date. The sooner the better.

OK thanks.

Also, would it be alright for me to request from my solicitor, all the responses of the enquiries (the property search)?

Good day to you all!!
We are almost at the level of exchange of contracts. Is this the right time to get insurance?

If yes, any clue on how to get a good insurance deal?

Thank you

PrettyPacy:
Good morning everyone , there is this property I love rooms are spacious and with 2bathroom but the EPC rating is D, if bought is there anything I can do to improve the EPC rating from D to B. Thanks everyone

Check gov.uk. it will state all you need to do to improve the EPC rating including estimated cost.

Mine is upto 2 weeks as well.

Permit me to ask , do you have the phone number of your vendor?

mex551:
How long ago was the enquiry sent ? Some times it takes time to respond , depending on the nature of the enquiries. Sometimes what your solicitor is asking will be dependent on a third party or what might take time to get . Mine response is also being awaited and it’s been two weeks already.

Good day all
Offer accepted and solicitors appointed but the vendor's solicitor is not yet replied to enquiries.

Is it proper for me to request for the vendor's phone number from the estate agent?

Thank you oga Lexus

Lexusgs430:
At the beginning of the mortgage process.....

Good day Elders,

Please at what stage should one conduct Home survey level 2?

Thanks

Cyberknight:
Different situation.
Your half-sister (not step sister, a step-sibling is a non-blood relative acquired by marriage, e.g. if your stepfather had had other children with another woman before he married your mother) is not your child, and may not satisfy the rules to be considered your dependent under UK immigration law, irrespective of the Nigerian custody order.

The refusal letter clearly noted that you have not adopted the child in question, meaning that the caseworker has determined this is not a parent and child situation.

Again, your only recourse is to an immigration lawyer to get clear advice as to whether or not you can file for a sibling dependent under UK immigration law.

Thank you for the clarification.

jedisco:
What's the background story. Should get more input if the underlying story is clear

Sorry I'm just seeing this. Thanks for your input.
The girl is my step-sister, we are the of the same mother and I have been responsible for her upkeep since she lost her father in 2014.
I submitted various bank transactions that as evidence of her upkeep and I also have sole custody certificate from Lagos State magistrate Court.

Cyberknight:
Having read through, I assume that you have a child in Nigeria whom you want to bring to the UK, and you have a court sole custody order and that the child's biological mother gave consent and the child's visa was refused.

Where that's the correct assumption, as it happens a family friend had the same issue and she did an AR and it was successful. To help you determine if her case was similar to yours, in her case she was divorced, had her sole custody order and all that and the children had been in her sole custody since the divorce and her ex-husband had provided consent.

You didn't state whose Nigerian bank statements you submitted to UKVI as evidence of upkeep, but I'll assume that they were those of the UK-based father who's applying for the visa for the child. Where that's the case then I think you've provided a good deal of information, because I gather that the immigration lawyer who filed the AR for the friend in question told her to back up the sole custody order by providing evidence that the children had actually been living with her prior to her leaving for the UK, that she was the parent who had sole responsibility for organizing and directing their lives. I believe she included things like letters from their school in Nigeria addressed solely to her, evidence of school fees payment coming out from her bank account, etc. In her case the children were living with her mother, and not with her former husband, and had only been doing so since she left.

Having said all that, in your shoes I would go ahead and consult an immigration lawyer and file the AR. Immigration lawyers arent cheap, but they know the law and they will point out to the HO what the law and its own guidance state and refer to each piece of evidence you have provided in relation to those.

Sorry I'm just seeing this. Thanks for your input.
The girl is my step-sister, we are the of the same mother and I have been responsible for her upkeep since she lost her father in 2014.
I submitted various bank transactions that as evidence of her upkeep.
I have sole custody of her from Lagos State magistrate Court.

Good day all
Please I need urgent advise on this issue. Does it worth doing admin. Review?

Lexusgs430:
Ok.... I agree to all your summation...... Now what is the way forward........

If my children chop inside, they must follow pay o .......😜

Lol...I hope your other followers won't again use this against you that you're encouraging Israel to be killing children.

ehizario2012:
At least three (3) people here have now shared their very thoughts on Lexusgs430's conducts and I am glad one is a naturalized British citizen (person wey see road well.)

I first came across this Lexusgs430 moniker on a Car thread years ago, had some respect for him but he's a totally different entity in this UK living thread. It's as though he wants to continually bully people and show off his citizenship... While many might keep quiet, jump and pass, I am not like that. I'll say it to his face, that's how I was made. Lexusgs430 moniker deserved to be seen for who he is.

He's also the one who called rent money dead money, almost pushing some people to see themselves as failures because they paying rent. I'm glad he shot himself in the foot and confessed he enjoyed student loans, public funds etc in his early days... Much like a grown cock preventing cockerels from growing. I like the response somebody gave on this thread last year saying something like "nobody can stop new immigrants from entering UK, the oldies should get used to it."

I am not tracking lexusgs430 or have any personal interest in him, but just as he has a right to say whatever, I have a right to challenge whatever. I'm not even asking him to stop, but he should be seen for who he is. He claims he helped people out of depression?? Is that not funny?? It's not only Lexus, the other ones who act as though they sat down with home office to draft the immigration policies too know themselves.

This thread is meant to encourage people, not discourage people and push them to depression! Come off it.

Your concluding part is contradictory.
If I tell you that rent(loan) money is dead money, work hard to avoid it; am I encouraging or discouraging you to take loan?

To me, it has been a motivating factor.

Samguine:
Use this - https://visabot.eu/uk

It will cost you though. But you will surely get an appointment date. I used this and got an appointment within an a few hours for the next day. to the visa a week after

Thank you very much.
I will try it.

Good day to you all.
Please any tips on how to secure a German visa appointment date?
I have been trying the Tls London to no avail and I have a programme in Berlin in 1st week of June.

Please what can I do to get a date?

Domistic:
seems you used gift in your deposit. Was it from Naija ? How did it go?

No. Uk

mohtunrahyor:
According to Moneybox, from receipt of the form, the whole process can take up to 10 working days if the request is for a full withdrawal of funds. Please note that this withdrawal can take longer if the customer is still contributing to their Lifetime ISA and/or requests that any pending government bonuses are also paid as part of the withdrawal.

Our solicitor received the funds from Moneybox within 3 - 4 working days after Moneybox received an email from the solicitor.
My husband- 3 working days
Mine - 4 working days because Solicitor responded to mine late, they thought it’s one LISA.

Pls let me ask this question, I have LISA with moneybox that will be 1 year in May 2024 but my wife just opened in February,2024 We are in the process of buying a house, would she be entitled to the 25% bonus in May as I have added her as buying partner?

Hello my people,
I got the attached quote for conveyancing.

I want to ask if its alright cos is far cheaper than others that I have gotten.

Thank you for the clarification.

Estroller:
Yes that's correct. In OP's case, he was only allowed to exchange contract, which means he can't back out of the deal again at that point without taking a financial hit. Money does not change hands at this point, it does at completion by which time I believe OP's LISA would have marked it's 1st anniversary, thereby eligible for withdrawal for the home purchase.

I thought you can't use the LISA to buy house if it's not up to a year?

Solumtoya:
Yes, ideally it's just before Exchange of Contracts but can be anytime till Completion. Because my LISA was not 1 year yet by Exchange of Contracts, I got a waiver to exchange without paying deposit and paid just before Completion.

The Solicitor really just holds the deposit till Completion but they want to have it by the time you Exchange to avoid stories.

I currently have my LISA with money box. Is it possible to deposi 4k before April 6,2024, and deposit another 4k before April 30 and withdraw it for FTB?
Will I get the 2k bonus?

Estroller:
Yes you are eligible, cut off date is April 5th as the new tax year starts on April 6th.

You'll get the bonus up until your 50th birthday.

zeke100:
TESTIMONY TIME 😁

COMPLETION DONE AND KEY IN HAND

Barclays 5.4% 10% deposit with 2 years in the UK.

It will be ungrateful not to appreciate all the knowledge, nudge shared on this platform. As a silent reader for 2 years, following keenly, I appreciate everyone contributing to the topic.

Special thanks to Lexusgs430, taking his time to reply messages when contacted and even enlightening me with scenarios over the phone.

To anyone hesitating, It is possible.

Congratulations.... It is my turn to testify.

Estroller:
Taylor Wimpey currently owns the freehold but has agreed or will agree to transfer the freehold to another entity when the last unit in the development is sold, the new entity will now be the one to collect your ground rent. So In both cases you will remain a leaseholder. Best to avoid leaseholds if you can, generally difficult to do with flats and apartments but much easier with houses new build or not.

Just call it Keyholder. Cos you will be holding key for the third party.

OfferAccepted:
We paid £400 upfront. However, our broker advised us only to pay after we have received our mortgage offer.

.

Same advise my broker currently gave me.

I will advise the Op to search the market for comparison.

Look for it slowly, you will see it. Have read it here. I wanted to comment then, but I just looked away.

Viruses:
Omo!

Make I look for wetin no dey, this one weak me.

I heard of a Ghanian couple that returned their 2 kids to Ghana, the kids school reported them to HO. HO has mandated them to bring back the kids. The deadline is this weekend.

quote author=Cassan post=126964813]Good afternoon house.
I applied for the post study graduate route a couple of weeks ago. I just got a message regarding my dependent whom I didn’t apply for.

He was brought in at 2 years old to assess how well he would fare living with me (his father is late). However, we decided it was in his best interest to keep staying with my sister until he is slightly older so I didn’t include him in my PGWV application.

I am now worried it might be a crime taking him back. I need your advice please.[/quote]

Thank you.
Congratulations once again

Solumtoya:
My wife and I opened in Oct/Nov. By March, we had both put in £4k each and got £2k bonus. Then by last month, we had both put in another £4k each and got yet another £2k bonus.

The Tax year ends 5th April so the £4k limits reset on that date.

As for solicitors, I just used the one the Developer recommended, they say it's not advisable but it worked for me. If it was an old house agent's recommendation, I won't have used them though but New Build, I'm comfortable using their recommendation.

Congratulations.
Please can you enlighten me on how you are able to get £4k on LISA? Cos from my understanding, you only get a bonus of £1k if you deposit £4k in a year.

Also, can you recommend a solicitor?

Thank you

Solumtoya:
Avoid using your account for too many International transfers to/from Nigeria within the 4 months leading to your application as Barclays and many other Lenders can have serious issues with this.

If your main Bank is Barclays, they have access to your Financial transactions and can deny you for reasons dating further back while if your accounts are with other banks, they rely on only the time frame you gave them. Of course, if they have concerns they can request for more Months of Statements but I'd say it might be easier to avoid Barclays as main Bank.

LISA please. If you're not 40 yet, please open your LISA today. Moneybox is a good provider and you need only £1. I delayed on my LISA and I am still waiting for it to turn 1 year this week so I can access my funds. LISAs are great, I got free £4,000!

Many Mortgage Advisors charge a fee. You don't have to pay. The Bank pays them like 0.5% of the Mortgage amount so you really shouldn't pay of you don't want to, just look for another Advisor. If you're bold and don't have any special circumstances, you don't even need an Advisor. The main advantage of an Advisor would be Specialist Advice and helping with a range of products across many Lenders to help you get the best deal.

For Tier-2 Holders, it's easiest when you have more than 2 years residency, more than 2 years left on your Visa, 10% deposit (if you have up to 25%, you may not need 2 year residency); also if you have household income of over £100k, you get more Lenders. I had 2 years residency and the only Lender I got was Barclays. Skipton almost considered and Halifax had conditions such as 25% deposit or £100k+ household income.

Don't waste your time getting many Decision-in-principle, just go for Barclays first. Also ensure that whatever Decision-in-principle is only a soft check.

While having credit is good, you may be required to clear all outstanding debts before disbursement of the Mortgage.

Be very cautious of Solicitors, they can mar the whole process. Always go for referrals, a Solicitor someone has used and confirmed as efficient.

Bro e no easy. Even the 15% self, gifted deposit dey among. Even Lloyd's Bank lend 1 year residency at 25% deposit.

Estroller:
Halifax will lend with < 2 years residency but for 75% LTV, so if upping your deposit is an option you can explore.