Wolfhound

Thanks very much for the replies - the auction of ground rent makes sense as to why we are receiving it now. When my solicitor confirms it’s OK I’ll buy out the ground rent - would have done so when we bought but had no idea which rent owner to inform. It’s only £6.50 per year.

Hello all We own a property off Ormeau Road - just received a demand for ground rent from somebody called “GR Collections”. The amount and date of ground rent are correct, but they don’t provide any details of the landlord. The contact address is a PO Box in Donaghadee, and email is a hotmail account. When we bought the property the ground rent hadn’t been collected in years and Landlord was MIA. So seems like a scam. But was just wondering if anybody has ever heard of them? I’ll forward the demand to my solicitor once they open in the new year. Many thanks.

Hi Folks, we’re looking for a 2 bed apartment in BT9. Market seems to have gone crazy Post lockdown - stamp duty holiday etc. It’s difficult to find anything decent below £200K. Do you think this is a temporary spike in transactions and that prices will decline in a few months, or do you think the upward trend will continue? Many thanks.

HI all We've sold numerous properties in England but this is the first time we have sold in NI, so maybe the process is different. We completed on the sale of our investment property today. Our solicitor said the sale had completed and we could release the keys, as no estate agent was involved. When we asked when the funds would arrive to our surprise he said that the purchaser's solicitors provided a cheque and that we would have to wait 6 days for it to clear. he also said he had mentioned this to us, which he hadn't. So two questions: 1. Is this normal in NI (i.e. Not to wire the funds); and 2. If the cheque takes 6 days to clear why did he say it was OK to release the keys? Many thanks.

Hi all, I hope you can help - we're new to NI and are totally at a loss to figure out where to buy in South Belfast! Our budget is up to GBP 350K and while fortunately we don't need a mortgage we can't make head nor tails of whether an asking price represents fair value. We'd like a traditional red brick townhouse with original features and are happy pay for a fixer upper as long as total costs (including refurb) come within the 350K range. We like urban living and schools are not an issue, but the house needs at least to be able to hold its value reasonably well going forward, and safe enough to walk around at night (as far as cities can be safe). We saw this one advertised but seems expensive and the area appears a bit studenty. http://www.propertynews.com/Property/BELFAST/TRLTRL72381/45-Ashley-Avenue/396855208/Page1 Would really appreciate any advice on areas to focus on, what our budget could get us, and really to stop us from making a silly mistake because of lack of knowledge of Belfast. We ask estate agents but never get a straight answer. Thanks in advance!