Your property questions answered.

Halogen bulbs costing a fortune

We bought a house that had been rewired and there are halogen downlighters in the hall and in the single-storey kitchen extension. The house was rewired when the work was done around five years ago and, when the house was surveyed, the wiring was fine.

The problem is that in the time we have been here, six months, we have had to replace a total of 15 240v 50-watt bulbs - which I needn't add are very expensive. In some sockets the bulbs have been replaced twice. There is no pattern to when the bulbs blow. I noticed on the box that each bulb should last 2,000 hours. What is the problem?

You're not alone. It is one of those safe generalisations to say that everyone with halogen bulbs shares your experience, at least to some extent. The accepted thinking is these bulbs blow because they overheat. They are typically in a space that is unventilated or insulated.

The best you can do is to make sure that there is no insulation smothering the light fitting - just push it out of the way. In your hall, there may be no insulation in the ceiling but the space may be such that the heat from the bulbs has nowhere to go - in that instance, you might be better off trying to limit the time that the hall lights are on. The best advice from one electrician was that this is just what happens with these lights. All you can do is make sure that you buy branded bulbs and try to improve ventilation as much as possible. If any reader has discovered a better solution to the problem or a particular brand of light fitting or bulb that they can recommend, this column would be very interested in hearing it at the email address below.

We agreed €45,000 for shed

At some time in the past, our garden was sectioned off so that a workshop could be built. It is a single-storey structure on the other side of the wall at the end of our garden.

It has been unused in the time we have been here and it would increase the length of our garden and give us a back pedestrian entrance if we could buy it. It opens onto a narrow lane and really is of no great use to anyone but ourselves.

We contacted the owner (eventually!) and after some haggling a price of €45,000 was verbally agreed on. Or so we thought. Now there's a "For Sale" sign on it and the agent has quoted us a price of €60,000.

We think this is incredibly unfair but are unsure of what we can do about it.

What has happened is that the workshop owner has suddenly realised that his falling-down shed has a market. You need to ask yourself how you would feel if someone else bought the shed - and they might.

There are plenty of craftspeople and people with small industries out there looking for such a property although, as you describe it, there would seem to be no development potential. This would seriously limit the open-market interest.

So annoying and expensive as it is, you need to ask yourself how would you feel if someone else bought it.

You are in a good bargaining position so have a straight talk with the auctioneer who may not be aware of your interest.

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Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.