Q. We’ve lived in the country for many years and had no desire to move until we recently received an unsolicited approach from a couple who said they were very keen on buying our property. The reason cited in addition to the desirability of the village was that our property is listed and has many unique features. What clinched the deal for us was their offer – considerably over what our house is worth in the current depressed market and one, quite frankly, too good to refuse. My question is, do we have to pay for a HIP?

A. The good news is that a HIP is only required (in England & Wales) if your property is “marketed”, whether professionally by an agent or yourself advertising it in the newspaper, erecting your own For Sale board or using an online selling portal. As you were approached directly, speculatively and were not actually “marketing” your home, you do not have to compile a HIP. In any event, the buyer’s solicitor will need to apply for searches, examine your deeds and request any paperwork from your own solicitor, all of which are effectively the main elements of the HIP with the exception of the Energy Performance certificate. If you need any further details, take a look at our HIPs information page on Primelocation.com

It’s a dull shade of grey, made of concrete, sports graffiti and isn’t quite your average house. But this unusual building – an old water tower – is on the property market and, with a bit of imagination and hard work, could become your dream home.

The old and disused water tower at Great Doddington, near Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, used to be the home of thousands of gallons of water. But now it’s up for sale on the property market, complete with planning permission to transform it into a quirky new home.

Planning permission for converting the water tower was granted by Wellingborough Council back in September. When a building isn’t yet in a liveable state, it’s hard to imagine how it could become a comfortable home. But if you’ve watched enough Grand Designs you’ll know it’s certainly possible, if you have the vision and determination to make it happen.

Some of the ideas already put forward by architects are impressive, showing that the building has the potential to be transformed into a four-storey house with two bedrooms. On the ground floor would be the entrance and hallway, along with a bedroom and shower. The first floor could have a bathroom and bedroom, followed by the kitchen and dining room on the second floor. The top floor space, with its views of the surrounding area, could make an ideal living room and terrace.

The Great Doddington water tower is on the market for £100,000. According to the Northants Evening Telegraph, there’s already been a surprising amount of interest in the property and the estate agents believe it could become a “trendy 21st century home.”

Q. We recently completed a luxury kitchen project which, although there many issues, now looks fantastic. When the finishing touches arrived, my brand new stainless steel appliances, I was devastated when one of the clumsy deliverymen gouged the corner of the oven into my newly laid timber floor. The retailer who I bought the appliances from said that the delivery company was an outside contractor so I would have to raise the issue with them. I did this but they ignored my letter seeking reimbursement for the repair of the floor. What should I do next?

A. The delivery company may have been outsourced by the retailer but the price of delivery was charged and sold by the retailer and so forms an integral part of your contract with them. The Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982 states that anyone performing a service, e.g., those delivering goods, must do so with ‘reasonable skill and care.’ I would put the retailer on notice of this, sending them two quotes in the post for the full repair/replacement of the damaged flooring and allowing 14 days for them to settle. If they don’t, you might wish to advise the retailer that you have the right to seek reimbursement through the small claims court where your summons will be issued against them!

Got a property quandary? Need an answer ASAP? Leave a comment with your question and we’ll do our best to help.

Q. We live in a traditional 3-bed home situated on a road with a gradual bend. Consequently, some houses benefit from slightly wider front gardens than their immediate neighbours. The side of our garage wall is built entirely on our land but goes right up to the boundary’s edge. My neighbour doesn’t have a garage on his side but wants to build one. The central thrust of my query is that the space between his house wall and our boundary is not as wide as it is on my side, certainly not enough for a car-sized garage. The only feasible way that he could make it work is to incorporate my garage wall into his plans, effectively making my garage wall a shared commodity. Can he do this and will my garage wall then automatically become a party wall?

A. If your outer garage wall stands on your property, it is yours alone and not a party wall at all. To be a party wall, it would have to “straddle” both properties. Your neighbour therefore has no right to attach anything to it, nor incorporate it into his proposed building plans. This said, so long as the neighbour’s design is sound and the issue of rain egress is properly addressed, and so long as your neighbour has no plans to extend upwards from his new garage in the future which may, if it were attached or part of it, affect the structural integrity of your property, it might foster good neighbourly relations to allow him use of your wall so that he can properly park his car within a decent width garage. For peace of mind and before a brick is laid, insist that he instructs a surveyor’s report at his cost to put your mind at rest.

Got a property quandary? Need an answer ASAP? Leave a comment with your question and we’ll do our best to help.

Could the location of your rental property affect whether or not your tenants are likely to damage it? Recent research claims it could!

According to analysis carried out by The Deposit Protection Service (DPS), tenants living in the South East of England are more likely to damage property. Over 40% of DPS disputes between landlords and tenants were found to have occurred in the South East region. Over half of the disputes (52%) were due to the tenants damaging the property and over a third were because the property wasn’t being cleaned. The rest of the disputes revolved around the garden being in poor repair and left to grow wild.

The second highest level of disputes (15%) was noted in the North East, followed by the South West (12%), North West (11%) and West Midlands (11%). When the data was broken down into cities, the worst offender was London, followed by Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and York.

“The introduction of a dispute resolution service has been one of the real successes of the Government’s tenancy deposit regulation, ensuring that these differences are sorted out fairly,” commented Kevin Firth, director of the DPS. Despite the findings, he offers reassurance that the number of disputes that do occur between landlords and tenants is relatively small in the general scheme of things.

If you’re a landlord, then you can help try and reduce the likelihood of long-term damage occurring by scheduling regular check-ups, where you call in and check the property. Even if they don’t keep it pristine the entire time, at least it will (hopefully!) be tidied up each time you pop in.

Q. I live in a period Victorian detached home which has most of its original features including the sash windows intact. As I have never had to paint them before, I’m a little unsure of how to approach the task. Can you advise if there is an easy way?

A. Sash windows are among the trickiest of DIY painting jobs, purely and simply because the sliding panels make life difficult when it comes to reaching those awkward corners. Another reason is that the older the windows are, the more the layers of paint build up, which makes smooth operation extremely difficult.

I would advise taking out the staff beading around the window with a blunt chisel and then undoing the sash rope attached to the sliding window frame. This is usually held in place with staples or nails. After doing that, you can simply separate each individual frame which makes for easier decoration in the workshop or garage. Replace the frames exactly as you took them out and you should have no problems at all.

Q. My friend and I have rented a flat for the past six months. During that time, we have paid our rent on time and kept the flat in remarkably good order. However, on giving notice to the landlord, he has deemed to withhold our deposit without citing a valid reason. Can he do this?

A. Tenant’s deposits are usually required to protect the landlord against you leaving outstanding bills or causing damage to the property. A landlord is not permitted to withhold your deposit simply because of wear and tear or some other insubstantial reason. In April 2007, new laws came into force which provided protection for tenants with regards to their deposits. Under these rules, landlords must protect deposits by either paying into an insured deposit protection scheme or keeping the money themselves and insuring it independently. Either way, your landlord must tell you in writing within 14 days of you paying your deposit which of the two schemes he is using. Deposits secured this way are safe and should be returned to you when the tenancy agreement ends.

Let’s tackle this head-on. Firstly, look over your tenancy agreement and carefully check for any terms of conditions which you may not have been aware of which might permit the landlord to withhold your deposit. If, as I suspect, there are none, I would formally write to the landlord as well as the letting agent reminding them both of this fact, that the property and any contents remain in good condition and that you consider unwarranted withholding of your monies a breach of contract which, if the money is not returned, will lead you to seek recovery. This could either be, initially, via the deposit scheme’s own resolution procedure but, if still not resolved, ultimately through the County Court as a small claim.

This week’s best neighbours:

In Australia, good Samaritan Jerry Karpluk woke up and ran outside in the middle of the night to fight a fire on a neighbouring property with a garden hose, saving a family of three… while starkers. “Unfortunately I sleep naked, so I’ve bolted out…  I was just able to grab a hand towel,” Mr Karpluk said.

Continuing with the theme of house fires, Canadian Lisa Condly is helping neighbour John Booker after his home was destroyed in a blaze. She’s so far obtained for him a generator, a bed, clothes and a wood stove, and is on her way to getting enough lumber to rebuild his home. Nice!

Neighbours in Gaza and Sderot are keeping each other informed with what’s happening on each side of the border via text messages and email. That’s friendly.

This week’s worst neighbours:

A Canadian man has been charged with bludgeoning to death his 81-year-old neighbour. Not very neighbourly at all.

Uganda isn’t about to win any awards either, frankly, with all the killing and invading and so on.

And to top it all off, Holly Valance (AKA Flick  Scully) has been slandering that fine Australian establishment, and her former employer, TV soap Neighbours. ”It’s not great these days… I actually watched it recently and thought it was rubbish.” Holly… this isn’t a new development.

Got a great neighbour (or even better, a dodgy one) you’d like to acknowledge? Leave a comment and let us know!

Rye Windmill

If you’re the sort of person who loves quirky properties that are oozing with tradition and character, then how about owning a windmill?

It’s not often that windmill properties come on the market, so when they do, there’s lots of interest from windmill devotees. Take Rye, in East Sussex, for example. The town is towered over by a white windmill, which acts as a distinctive landmark. According to historical records, there’s been some kind of windmill on the same spot since at least the 16th century. In 1758, a post mill was built and in 1820 it was replaced by a smock mill and both were important working buildings in the town.

Although no longer working in the traditional mill sense, the Grade 2 Rye Windmill does earn its keep as a guesthouse. The property, which has 10 bedrooms and separate accommodation for the owners, is currently on the market for £950,000.

Georgian Mill House

Elsewhere, a Grade 2 listed Georgian Mill House, in Sutton, Norfolk is also up for sale. Although not an actual windmill, it does benefit from having Sutton Mill located very close by, so you can still wake up in the morning and see the charming building from your window.

If you want to keep abreast of new quirky properties that come onto the market, then you can always set up a saved search on Primelocation.com. Once your requirements are saved, you’ll receive a property alert email as soon as something appropriate comes up.

I am a strong enough person to make the following confession.

I’ve set myself up a Google alert for Kirstie Allsopp. That’s right. I get a daily inbox injection of Allsopp news, gossip and general goodness. It’s all Allsopp, all the time.

This isn’t even something new that I’ll get sick of and unsubscribe from after a week or so. I’ve been getting them for months now. Probably almost a year. Yes, to be fair, it’s part of my job to keep abreast of what’s happening in the world of property – and Kirstie Allsopp is as much a part of the current property world as anguished estate agents and unrealistic asking prices. But if I’m being honest, I’d keep my Kirstie information hotline open even if I didn’t write about this stuff for a living.

Kirstie Allsopp Google alerts are, in fact, how I’ve come to know that Kirstie is about to kick off a new television show called Kirstie’s Homemade Home, due to air early this year on Channel 4. The show will follow Kirstie’s transformation of a dilapidated Devon country cottage into the ‘ultimate homemade home’. She’ll visit auction houses, hunt down homemade crafty things, restore old furniture, and learn how to make soap, candles and pillowcases. No doubt while wearing some very nice shoes.

Because some people seem to have lost faith in this insanely fantastic woman (ever since she, apparently, held us all up at gunpoint and forced us to buy properties against our will while we wept and begged for mercy), I have compiled a short list of reasons why you should in fact LOVE her and watch her new show faithfully.

Ahem.

• She’s a great role model for women in business. “People say to me: ‘How do you know (you earn the same as Phil), because men get paid more than women in lots of different industries?’ I just laugh because everybody who works with me knows I wouldn’t let it happen!”
• She calls it like she sees it. “I assumed I would be seen as a plump, dark Sloane, which is pretty much what I am. It’s fine because I know I’m good at what I do.”
• Even though she named her second child Oscar (along with ‘Jack’, must surely be the most over-bestowed boy’s name in the world right now), her first is called Bay Atlas. So original! And wonderfully geographical!
• She gives sound advice, the kind you should write on a post-it note and permanently attach to your credit card (and when I say ‘you’ I’m obviously talking about myself). “Every time you make a purchase of any kind you think, I am spending this pound: how long will it take me to earn that pound?”
• She’s cool with her (perceived) uncoolness. “I suppose the whole thing is that I was born middle-aged.”
• According to The Telegraph, she once bought a Donna Karan coat but forgot to check the price until she was at the counter. “’How much?’ she screamed. ‘Because it’s cashmere? I don’t care if it’s made of kittens, give me my card back.’”