₦airaland Forum

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rayralph:
One guy sold cloned/android 13pro max to a work colleague via marketplace. She lowered her guards because na “we we”, “he no fit scam me”.

£800 gone, just like that.

This is painful.
Trust is the bane of scams. I don lack trust as I dey so no vex.

Lexusgs430:
Same happened to a chap here, few months ago.......

I bet those people scamming are Nigerian's ......... They would travel to the UK, still attempt to scam fellow Nigerian's.......

I believe this.
The conversation that ensued when I didn't fall for one scam had elements of Nigerian in it. I can't say for sure but he mixed pidgin in one of his messages.

dustydee:
Ah! Eeeweh!!
Or am I overreacting?

You read another meaning to the statements.

This is discrimination please.

TheGuyFromHR:
Lol.
I read somewhere that someone's asylum claim in similar circumstances was denied because the court said that he'd claimed to be gay, but had not provided evidence of having a boyfriend or seeking one all the while he'd been in the UK waiting for his asylum claim to be decided (a long time, the way these things generally happen) and free to live freely as he chose.

So for those interested in this asylum path, the time to start swiping your credit cards in gay bars and engaging in PDAs with your own gender in the street starts now.

Shey person fit disguise for this one abi na to actually turn gay. By the way, when people come here and apply for asylums, how do they get in in the first place. Is there an asylum category when applying via UKVI's website?

Viruses:
My advice:
1) cancel the thought of abandoning your studies. This will enable you to
2) look for those without experience before they started working and ask them how they went about it.

Instead of channelling your energy on why you cannot work and school in harsh weather conditions, channel it to how you can cope with working and schooling in harsh weather conditions.

I feel your story is sugar-coated because all the reasons you gave for your inability to work are not tenable. Inexperience, guarantor, weather condition, mental health issues, all these will still be at play even with asylum so how will you overcome them then?

Apologies to 1beat if my comment was out of line. The struggle can be frustrating sometimes. I understand your plight honesty because even back home people drop out for financial reasons. I hope you are able to sort yourself out soon enough.

But on a serious note, it's a bit off to be profiled before selling something to you when your bank has approved the transaction.

descarado:
OK sue them.
Tell us the outcome later.
Goodluck

Be like you no get power to fight
Life no hard jaree, we go learn from the feedback as e be say he wan turn small matter to Black lives matter.

Lexusgs430:
When coming to the UK to study........ You must adopt the Boy's scout motto ' Be Prepared'......

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail ...........

The story is somehow but I just still say make I advice.

You come UK, finish your money on rent start think of ways to live legally if you abandon your studies.

Canada is now denying alot of Nigerian students visa because statistics shows that the first thing they do once they reach there is abandon their studies. Most times, school route is seen as an avenue to japa sha.

1beat:
I'm presently studying in Uk i can't find job and i have spent all my money on accommodation of resent a friend suggested that I should seek for Asylum in Dublin, Ireland.

Some job requirements is issue ( experience & guarantor in Uk)
Combine studies and work together is another problem ( 4days in a week lectures )
weather condition in Scotland and mental health issue.

Please i need your advice , courage and what to do

My advice:
1) cancel the thought of abandoning your studies. This will enable you to
2) look for those without experience before they started working and ask them how they went about it.

Instead of channelling your energy on why you cannot work and school in harsh weather conditions, channel it to how you can cope with working and schooling in harsh weather conditions.

I feel your story is sugar-coated because all the reasons you gave for your inability to work are not tenable. Inexperience, guarantor, weather condition, mental health issues, all these will still be at play even with asylum so how will you overcome them then?

Alexjohn2020:
is it pence or pounds please

I thought is only me that wondered.

semmyk:
The links were to provide you pointers on understanding the concepts. Once understood, you should be able to make informed decisions, and engage solicitors, agents, landlord et al. critical, and in a way as well as understand the market.
invariably, there's the 'lease' and 'free' in your buy, which is 'distinct' to rent.
TheGuyFromHR and Rubyventures have given contextual, explanatory information.

I've understood it.

semmyk:
@bolded underlined
Trust the Gurus will do justice to your grey area.

Just pointing to the following:
[1] Source https://www.gov.uk/leasehold-property
You only own a leasehold property for a fixed period of time. (different from freehold or technically 999yrs lease)
Ownership of the property returns to the landlord when the lease comes to an end.
[2] Source https://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/leasehold-v-freehold-whats-the-difference
There are two fundamentally different forms of legal ownership: freehold and leasehold. Although estate agents tend to gloss over it, it can be the difference between a home that is worth buying and one that isn’t. ...

I just went through these links, there is actually the option to buy...as in buy gangan and become the landlord/freeholder but the article itself insinuated that it is not easy.

So it means all these buy house buy house I've been seeing is actually long term rents and one will eventually get to renew. If not that it is still cheaper to buy, I just lose interest like this.

Rubyventures:
It could be that it was sold to a family member or its a way to avoid tax or worst case scenario there could be something wrong like a few years on the lease or cladding.

I've been seeing this "years of lease" on several comments here. What is the implication?

So if I buy a house for £250k for instance and the lease on it is 50 years. Does it mean after 50 years my house is no longer my own?

Tunnazboi:
Good evening all.
I got a job offer letter from a company in the United Kingdom, I was told to sign and scan back to acknowledge that I accept the letter and also send a copy to work permit UK visa bureau unit consultant on how to process visa and work permit, I did and the consultant has sent me the information on how to obtain the visa and work permit. Visa fee £655 for 5 years, work permit £1220. Please help I don't want to fall for scammers

Scam.
All visa applications are via UKVI website. There is no separate payment for work permit.

Lexusgs430:
She does not earn, she is simply a freeloader, living her life at the expense of British taxpayers........

She CANNOT bring him over applying for a spousal visa, because she needs to be in active employment, earning £18,600 per annum (not sure if figure is still the same). ......

She can change her name, if she wants..... The person, remains the same, so does contents of her documentations........

She needs payslip of 6 months, bank statements etc etc

KEYWORD : SPONSOR NEEDS TO BE IN ACTIVE EMPLOYMENT..........

I think I deserve a slap...... Biko, where Bianca or Will .......

The guy don enter one chance. I say no more.

ybahrbz91:
Good Morning Everyone

A quick question

Is it advisable for a spouse to do change of name prior to passport application.

Yes.
This will save you the stress of trying to change name on passport.

Am I over reacting?

My wife makes hair. She has been getting customers from other african countries on social media. One time, she charged a lady from Sierra Leone £40 for her daughter's hair, fortunately the lady was impressed after the job and paid £50.

Now in church, there are some people from her place, she approached them and told them about her craft that they should patronise her and possibly refer customers because they have been hear way longer.

Do you know that these people have been calling to make their children's hair with abeg. The abeg is not with small money o, it's for free. The one that was even considerate enough to pay is pricing £10 from £30 she was told. I've told wifey to leave them, they should go and continue where they were paying since they don't want to pay us. If their previous place was doing it free, they should continue there as well.

LagosismyHome:
Pay online using PayPal for goods, not even agree for PayPal for friends. That way you are protected

Pickup self.. dont let them go stab you kill untop phone . Try get a contract line and pay small small

Pay using PayPal, not agree for PayPal.
I'm confused.

justwise:
They get the money back from insurance company, scammers hardly pay back

I haven't really used PayPal much, how does it work? Is it just to login and make payment the normal way or there's some form of setup.

Also for reporting to the police, is it to go to the station or call?

webshopNG:
That's Revolut app, report it.

I have already reported to Monzo via the in app chat.

justwise:
Is this address in the same city in you live in? You can use google map to verify the address and go with one or two more people to collect the phone but don't pay rather call the police if the person tries to fight for it.

This happened to my friend, he made £100 deposit and the person blocked he, he gave me the person's details and i made an offer for the same phone and arranged a pick up, the address he gave us was somewhere in city centre, we went and collected the phone then told him exactly who we are and threatened to call the police he ran away.

Unfortunately, it's far. Leicester to Bournemouth.

justwise:
You mean you are chatting with the same person that scammed your wife or a different seller?

The same person
The same receipt she sent to my wife as evidence of ownership is what she has sent to me too. I told her I will like to pick up myself and pay then, she gave me post code but I have a strong feeling that it is false address.

fatima04:
Wow, FB marketplace and other online apps like that isn't safe for buying things before you receive the goods. Always pay on delivery. So sorry for your loss, first of all, how did you make the payment? If its through a debit card, you may not get it back, but call your bank and report it as fraud. They will let you know the next steps.

The Modulr FS is either Monzo or Revolut I think. Hopefully you get it sorted and get the funds back.

Thanks for the soft words.
I paid via Monzo app and I have informed them as well.

My wife wanted to buy iPhone 11 from Facebook market place but was scammed. The person blocked her after sending £450. The prior arrangement was to get it delivered. Going forward is pick-up and pay.

I'm chatting the person as a buying, and he/she is wanting to sell the same phone for me.

The recipient's bank is Modulr FS Ltd. I don't even know what kind of bank that is.

Akorkor:
I didn’t find trouble. The camera only see people that comes in front of my door alone for delivery or myself alone. It’s a bell ring. No trouble found and I also have the evidence of where my camera is situated. This is just a door bell and not any cctv kind off. Anyways, what’s done is done. I have made use of advice I needed from the first response . Thank you

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought it was those kind cctv cameras found in supermarkets and the likes.

Since you're feeling insecure, start looking for another house, not easy but you'll eventually get and I believe you're in a good position to terminate your contract without penalties since the agent is aware of the security concerns there.

Akorkor:
Glasgow. A small county in Glasgow. I have called already. Well, it is what it is. Why would they remove my camera in the first place. And also, note that I didn’t mention any activities anyone is doing. I just reported about my stolen camera. It’s not my concern on whatever anyone is doing

In my opinion na you find trouble o. You just sidan go buy camera for compound that is not your private property. Legally before recording any body or the activities of any body, you should seek their consent and they should agree. That you want to be seeing your deliveries and camera face your door is not tenable. If you feel unsecure, report to the authorities or vacate the premises. It's not up to you to investigate (in pretence), if you decide to take investigations into your hands, be discrete about it.

Ralphlauren:
The key strategy for securing US visit visa as a first time applicant resident in the UK is to demonstrate recent travel history within Europe.

Unlike Nigeria, the consular officers don't really care about or ask for bank statements. What they look at is recent travel history (flipping the pages of your passport), the information provided on your online application (your job title, your gross income and detailed explanation of your job description/roles/responsibilities) and your attitude, confidence and answers provided during the interview.

People have been in the UK for 1 to 4 years and they've never bothered to visit anywhere in Europe as tourists yet they want to fly all the way to America to visit Times Square ??

In summary, apply for schengen visa and visit any European country of your choice at least once or twice. Then apply for US visa as a TOURIST with an intention to vist a city known as a tourist location. e.g. New York for 7 to 10 days.

Current students - speak to your international office and they will provide you the letter you need to apply for schengen visa. Those with part time or full time jobs - you need your payslips.

Fat account balance is not required for schengen visas. As long as your account balance equals the multiplication of the daily subsistence (i believe its around 30euros a day) and the number of days you plan to stay in Europe. E.g. you plan to visit for 5 days, all you are required to evidence in your account is minimum 150 euros. Cheap tickets are available from budget airlines especially for journeys during the week. Cheap accommodation can be sourced from the likes of booking.com and lastminute.com. Affordable travel insurance can be purchased from price comparison sites.

Its standard 2 years for Nigerians even for renewal. Ghanaians get 5 to 10 years when they renew. To the best of my knowledge, Dropbox doesn't apply in the UK.

Cc aopecy hustla SamReinvented

This makes sense.

deept:
To add to what the property 'gurus' have posted

1. Be wary of buying flats especially leasehold flats especially in England when management companies are involved else you will just turn to cash machine for these management companies.

2. Flats again - the cladding issue has trapped a lot of property owners where lots of them are going into depression because their flats are not mortgageable and cannot be bought. In one estate we used to live years ago, flats listed are cash only buyers because a lot of banks will not offer mortgage to buyers so sellers have had to drastically reduce the asking price for these properties. If you see a flat with asking price too good to be true, look twice and look again.

3. Read your is it TP50? and read it again. If you don't understand understand a clause or anything there, call your solicitor and ask for explanation. That is what you are paying them for.

4. When you exchange contracts, you don buy house be that. You cannot pull out without penalties. Make sure you understand what you are getting into before you exchange.

5. If you don't like the terms of the contract - pull out of the deal, other opportunities will come. Better to take the hit for legal fees than to be trapped and be at the mercy of some freeholder or management company, those guys are merciless.

6. Ask questions no matter how silly, this may save your life.

Does this apply to terraces as well?

Ticha:
All this applies to England and Wales. In Scotland, you can skip the survey part as a home valuation pack is always included from the get go and solicitors also handle the negotiation process.

1. Firstly get an approval in principle. It's easier to get this from your own bank. It doesn't tie you to them either. An approval in principle or decision in principle gives you a very good ball park of how much the bank (give or take most banks) will lend you. This tells you what sort of budget to set when you eventually start house hunting. A broker can also do this for you. Use a whole of market broker. Some brokers aee restricted to certain lenders. If in doubt, use London and Country. They have brokers everywhere.

2. Set up an alert on Rightmove. There is a chrome extension called property log - it shows you what changes have been made to listed properties, how long they've been listed for etc. Some agents will remove and relist a property every 14 days if it's not selling. Some will tinker slightly with the prices often. Property log shows you all this.

3. Decide on where and then what you want to buy. Where - location, access to schools, transport links or hubs. What - house, flat, no of bedrooms. Semi, mid or stand alone, garden (orientation of the garden as well), south facing gardens gets the most sun in the UK. In Scotland, find a solicitor. I use McVey and Murricane Solicitors.

4. Start viewing houses. Be friendly with the agents. Never, ever give them your full budget - remember their duty is to get the most amount possible for the vendor. Some big chains (Countrywide etc) will insist you get qualified by their mortgage advisor and some will not even show you a property or take your offer unless you do so. It's not illegal although it's questionable as by law they must present all offers to the vendor. If you have a broker - direct them to your broker at this point, Otherwise, you can share the AIP but be aware they will then try to push you to your max budget.

5. When you view houses, take a note pad with you. Note things as you go along. The state of the inside, outside, roof (cross the street and check for missing tiles etc). Open every cupboard and door. Check if it has an attic - check that it is lined or insulated (climb in), check for basements. Look out for damp walls, bulging paint work (evidence of issues), musty smells (damp) etc
Check what the electrics and boiler looks like. Seek permission and take pictures and or a video. Some will say no hence the notebook so you can remember as all the houses will start blurring into each other.

6. Call agents regularly. Some will call you before the property even hits Rightmove if you have a good relationship with them.

7. When you find a place you like, visit the street at different times of the day. For houses we live in, I do mornings (rush hour), afternoons (rush hour) and evenings/ night (party central, people hanging about aimlessly etc). Properties are flying off the shelves now so you may not even have time for this.

8. Make an offer if you like it. It's a bargaining process. The rule of thumb is knock 20% of what is your best and final offer and inch towards the final figure. Some agents will openly tell you offers below a certain amount won't be considered. Ignore them and make an offer anyway. In Scotland - your lawyers handle this process

9. When your offer is accepted, instruct a solicitor. Find out from your bank or broker if they have a panel (some do and won't accept a solicitor not on their panel) Stay away from solicitors recommended by the agent. I tend to also avoid online solicitors even though they're cheap. Experience tells me they are slow and also shift work around so you end up having more than 1 person to deal with.

10. If you want to carry out a survey, find a surveyor once you've instructed a solicitor. Ensure that they are a RICS surveyor. Be prepared to spend between £600 and £1000. You own this report and the surveyor works for you. A lot of surveys will also contain many arse covering statements which can be pretty daunting at first glance. Ask the surveyor to list and split into categories like must do now, can do in the next 3 to 6 months and can do within 12 months. Use the survey to negotiate further. We once got 20k off the agreed price after the survey. We then finally pulled out and sold the survey to the seller join

11. Put in a full mortgage application. This can take upto 4-6 weeks to come through. Your broker will do this once an offer has been accepted if you have one. Or the bank will do it if going direct.

12. Be patient and be prepared to wait! It takes an average of 12 weeks to complete on a property. The solicitor will complete searches, AML checks then come back to you with an exchange date. Once contracts are exchanged, you don buy house be that and cannot pull out without incurring penalties. However, you can pull out with no consequences as can the seller till you exchange contracts. The exchange process is faster in Scotland and can be binding from earlier on as well (called missives rather than contract).

In a fast moving market - like now, you probably may skip several of these steps as FOMO sets in.

Anything else I've missed, please chip in!

PS - Interest rates - go to any bank site, click on mortgages. You should be able to play around with interest rates and monthly payments.
This is from Natwest. https://www.natwest.com/mortgages/mortgage-calculators/how-much-can-i-borrow.html

Fixing for 2. 3. 5 years means you pay the same amount every month for that duration. Being on a variable rate means your payments fluctuates as interest rates fluctuates.

Thanks for this advice

Ralphlauren:
I shared the info below last year on the old thread. Its still very relevant with the exception of the stamp duty holiday which was closed last year.

https://www.nairaland.com/4158866/living-uk-life-uk-immigrant/523#98157720

===================

I have a lot to share but I will start with pricing.

Houses are usually advertised as FIXED PRICE, OFFERS IN THE REGION OF and OFFERS ABOVE A CERTAIN PRICE.

Before you place a bid or even consider buying a property, the first thing you should look at and read carefully is the valuation report (called the Home report in Scotland). This report is prepared by a valuer registered with the Royal institute of Chartered Surveyors and it details independent checks carried out by the valuer on the property, the reinstatement value of the property and most importantly, the value of the property in the open market.

The value of the property as stated in the valuation report should be compared with the starting price advertised by the sellers and the price at which similar properties have sold within the same area for a particular period.

Please note that there isn't any bank that will lend you money (mortgage) that is higher than the value of the property stated on the valuation report. A lot of first time buyers make this mistake/false assumption and when they realise they can't fork out the difference, they pull put of the purchase and the sale falls through, leaving them with legal fees and disgusted sellers, etc.

For example, if a property is valued by the valuer as £300,000 and the seller asks for offers above £300,000 and he accepts a bid of £350,000, the bank will lend up to £300,000. This means the buyer would have to put down a deposit of 15% of £300,000 (most lenders are currently not accepting deposits below 15% because of the current economic uncertainty due to covid) and the £50,000 difference will come from the sellers purse plus additional legal fees. So in total, the buyer is putting down £95,000 as deposit.

Its very important not to get carried away with bidding wars and pay over the value of a property. My first purchase was advertised as fixed price and I was able to get £1000 knocked off as the property didn't come with a fridge/freezer and washing machine. Personally, I have never bought a property above the value stated on the valuation report. I take my time, do my research and get the one that fits my budget. grin

When bidding/buying a property, calculator is your best friend. grin you need to have a budget and stick to it. During bidding, start with £1000 above the guide price and instruct your lawyers to keep in regular touch with the seller's solicitors until you agree on an acceptable bid or you walk away.

My most recent purchase was advertised as asking for offers £10,000 below the value of the property. I started bidding by adding £1,000 each time and after some back and forth and assurances to them that missives will be completed within 5 weeks, they accepted a final sale price which was exactly the value as seen on the valuation report.

I will also suggest leaving an impression with the sellers during viewing. I have a friend who bidded for a property but the sellers accepted a lower bid from a young couple because they said my friend was buying the property for investment unlike the young couple that were just starting out with a baby on the way.

If you are not the first time buyer of the property, I will suggest you look at the previous sale price and how much the property has appreciated or depreciated in value throughout its history. You can do same for similar properties in the area and this will give you an idea on the potential future value of the property.

Set up property notification alerts on zoopla,, rightmove, espc, etc and arrange a viewing as soon as you see a property you like. The earlier you put in a bid before other buyers, the better. You do not have to wait until your lawyers put in an offer on your behalf. Let the selling solicitors know that you would like to put in an informal note of interest and your solicitors will be in touch.

You also have to consider legal fees, mortgage advisor fees and stamp duty fees.

Stamp duty fees are so annoying. What you pay depends on if the value of your property is above a certain threshold and whether or not its your first home/main home. There is currently stamp duty holiday which i believes end in March.

Finally, interior decor of a property is key. It can influence the value of a property and attract big spenders to purchase the property.

If you have other questions, tag me and I'll respond.

This is highly insightful