parthiban

And existing owners can't do this without paying stamp duty again........

Yep - as an example, interest is fully deductible for corporates, not for private landlords.

Definitely - not all private landlords are great and the system definitely needs more control in place for how they operate but now that all reliefs have been removed for private landlords but not for corporate landlords it's created the perfect environment for them to simply buy up everything (which they are doing rapidly).

Exactly, it's a perfect storm. Also the war on the private landlord was made to look like it'll free up a lot of property for people to buy, but that's not happening at all - it's all being snapped up by the likes of Blackstone in their 1000s so the property market is about to get a whole lot worse........

This is the key, if interest rates had never dropped to such a ridiculously low level we never would have ended up in the mess that we are in. It's funny when you think that those who created the 2008 financial crisis are the ones who have benefited the most from the post 2008 financial environment......... 🙄

Interesting they're going up again - do you think they're getting ready for rate drops as we head towards the election?

Haven't looked at it in a while, have you seen rates drop any further over the last few weeks/months?

Right that makes sense, if you'll be settling a large chunk of the balance then the ERC is relevant. However, is your ERC constant throughout the term of the deal? I'm with Halifax and I believe (although not sure now if I'm wrong!) but I think ours reduces by 1% each year, so is 5% in the first year, 4% in the second year and so on. I can totally see the rate dropping quite considerably before the end of the year because of the upcoming election - never know what might happen but I'd be very surprised if the rate isn't a lot lower than it currently is by the time of the election (and the same will most likely happen in the US too).

Sorry if I've missed it earlier but if you move are you not planning to buy another house?

True, 3.89% is a decent rate and it's unlikely to go back to how it was - I'd maybe wait a month to see what happens and then fix at the lowest rate available then. I did hear that Santander have bucked the trend and are increasing rates, so it's possible this rate war won't last forever.

My hunch is that the base rate will drop through the year as we head towards the election, so if you can afford it it might pay to stick on a tracker for a few months to see how this plays out. I definitely wouldn't want to fix for longer than 2 years at the moment, the base rate is very unlikely to go any higher but the banks are fighting against each other for business (hence rates reducing) because no one is buying anything at all.

This sounds like a right nightmare of an experience! I'm surprised they're trying so hard not to sell a car, especially in times like these. Agree on heated seats, wouldn't buy a car without them - in Canada it's not just the front, most cars have rear heated seats too!

Wow - what a difference a few months make......

Generally unless your mortgage amount is really small, paying the fee upfront is always cheaper than the higher rate no fee option (as you've found!) Also factor in the legal fees/valuation fees/other costs if you were to remortgage to another lender so sometimes it's easier and cheaper to just switch deal with the same lender. We're looking at similar rates so that's consistent - I think the lowest option for us was around 2.2% I think but lending criteria didn't suit us!

I think that's the right decision and we're leaning towards the same, with the price of everything else going up this at least being constant does make things a bit easier!

Going through this dilemma at the moment, and it's a tough one given the current interest rate environment! The fact that 5 year and 10 year fixed rates are the same does suggest that banks are not expecting interest rates to continue to increase in the long term, and that makes it even more confusing. Best option is to consider whether you could still afford the mortgage if the rates rose and if you're happy with the risk, if you're not then stick to a fixed rate as I can't see rates coming down again in the short term.

I have PS4s on my Lexus and they're great! Very quiet and comfortable. Haven't had them long enough to comment on wear, but they don't seem to be wearing particularly quickly.

Not much to add on what others have said, but I feel the same, don't see a huge amount of point in it continuing without Tony or WIM. Been great being a part of this, and it's really sad to see it end like this but sadly it is what it is. As others have said huge thanks to Rich for all his hard work keeping this going, think it would have died a long time ago without you! For the few of us who use this as a kind of social platform, perhaps a FB group or something? But the costs of running the forum does seem a bit pointless now.

Canadian drivers, seems about right lol

Not that uncommon in Canada, especially in nicer buildings. And there is something weirdly nice about getting into a warm car in the middle of winter!

The garage isn't big enough to work in sadly, but the weather down here hasn't been bad at all. Weirdly there is no red and black wire at all, and when I count the pins 14 works out to be a beige coloured wire? Either way I really don't need the reverse cam so I'm not bothered, everything has been tidied up and fully installed, and the dash cam is in place too - pretty happy with the results! Got too dark to take decent photos, will grab some soon. And wireless android auto is brilliant, just jump in the car, it automatically connects and everything works way more flawlessly than I expected! The annoying part is now I'm going to want to have android auto in the 360........

Good news is the fuse turned out to be the problem - replaced it and the stereo works fine. Have also discovered that the flashing warning lights were being caused by the reverse trigger - which I assume I've hooked up to the wrong wire? It was a red wire, not red with a black stripe like you had said but it was what I assumed to be pin 14. Could the wiring colours be different on my car? Either way I'm not fussed, don't actually need the camera, was only going to fit it as the shop I bought the stereo from threw a reverse cam in free of charge. Would the test be to put a multimeter over it and see which one goes live when I engage reverse?

That's amazing. Reminds me of a time when I had first moved to Canada that the car parked next to mine was covered all over in a layer of ice. To give you an idea of how thick the layer was, despite having been parked for half a day in a car park that was heated it still hadn't melted off!

Awesome thanks, this is probably the one I've blown in that case! And that method of tapping wires looks simple enough even for me to do - great I'll do that if necessary on the remaining connections.

Can't remember if I do to be honest (had one that died and can't remember if I replaced it) - but either way will get one! Looking at the instructions the red is ignition and yellow they call the battery wire - is that the permanent live? Could the issue be caused by my lazy use of scotchlocks? I don't have the skills to solder in these kinds of tight conditions, are there any alternatives that would be a better connection?