waitingandsaving

No offence, but hen a new tenant starts, they won't know that about you. It could well be that they've moved from a tenancy th a LL who does let themself in whenever they fancy, and wants to protect themselves from it this time around. I'd love my agent to arrange a mutually agreed time, but basically it's when they say they'll come, and if I'm not in, they'll let themselves in. It stinks. If I was moving to a new tenancy, I'd change the locks having read the posts above.

This would be a reasonable argument, my agency would want spare keys to the new locks, so it won't keep them out..

Sending you sympathy! Our agents sent a fairly similar letter once, stating that they'll come every 6 months on the 1st Tuesday of the month, if we're not in, they'll let themselves in. There's no reminder near the time. It's pants, and at one point it was every 3 months, Although the inspector (a scrutiny little oik, who I'm very tired of, some people have more power bestowed upon them than is sensible...) doesn't always bother to turn up, which narks me considerably, and I wonder if he turns up at a different time instead.... They're probably doing it every 3 months for the first year, then decide whether they'll reduce your inspection intervals. I point stuff out to the oik, but he always mums and aahs, says that's something that they'd look at doing when we move out, as we wouldn't want the upheaval/disruption, and so nothing worthwhile has really been done in years. We are now moving out, it'll be interesting to see if they do any of the work they've been postponing for the last few years! Another thing, they write in the letter about inspecting the property to check its clean and tidy. Whether you clean and tidy your house is not their business! So long as you return it to them in a reasonable condition at the end of your tenancy, if you want to live in your own filth and untidiness (so long as it doesn't entice vermin), that is your business, and not theirs! They should be there to check the condition of the property, not how you choose to live your life in it. That means you could spend an awful lot of their time pointing out in great detail all the things that they haven't fixed, or have done a shoddy job in fixing - as that is their business!

Middle classes have become the deserving poor This one is from the Independent, is better written, and I have genuine sympathy and concerns for Darcey and Tarquin's Christmas this year - life is tough for the children of an Alpaca Teatowel seller you know...

Woah! Didn't think my throwaway comment would rile quite this much! My main experience was with one house in particular that we put a fair but under asking offer. The EA recommended us as the best option as we wanted a family home, and the seller had considerable emotional attachment to the place, and didn't want it to go to a developer/property investor... But in the end it turned out that the sentimentality about the place was easy to put aside once the money rolled in... I'm not bitter about it, but I do rather hope the place gets completely gutted, painted magnolia and BTLed! Edit: and another place that had been on for ages at £300k, then £270k, we went for a look when it got down to £250k, the agent said they wouldn't take a n offer, because as far as the vendor was concerned (parents had passed away) they had already taken a reduction by reducing the asking.... It wasn't even worth £220k as far as we were concerned, so didn't bother with playing their game.

Round our way, a lot of these are more likely to be elderly people moving out for one reason or the other. I'd hoped that maybe these would go for fair prices, as they invariably need modernisation, and there's no requirement for a certain price to be reached as there isn't another house purchase dependent on it.... I was very wrong. The people selling them are those boomers again, who think prices are sky high, but also have strong emotional connections to the properties, as invariably, they grew up in them, so can see nothing wrong with them, and think they're worth every penny the EA said they could get for it, and more. /rant

While under 35s developments are a completely new concept to me, I can see the benefits. When I was very young, my parents moved towns, and we moved into a new development of houses, as did many other similarly aged young families. I grew up playing with other children of a similar age, running between each others back gardens, and houses for play time, and there was also a large grass area that the houses were built around, providing a safe general play area. Anyone that was a tiny bit old and grumpy would have looked at the place and ruled it out straightaway (apart from, maybe Mr Saville...) because of the guaranteed noise of children playing. I'm guessing that this "under 35's" development offers a similar environment - lots of children to make friends with, a mutual support for new parents, and potentially baby sitting arrangement for young families, and becasue of the people there, local businesses that might be tailored to their lifestyle (maybe the local surestart facilities are a quick pushchair walk away, or the more adventurous takeaways are nearby for example) While I'm not pro ghettoisation per se, I can also see the benefit of ghettos for old people. We have american relations, and relatives in their late 80s are in an old people's community - it's a very different set up, because the levels of service are very different to anything that would be provided over here, but if it's needed, they can arrange for 24 hr nurse care, or assistance (if one of them has had a fall for example), there are plenty of social facilities, a laundry service, restaurant/canteen facilities for if they don't want to cook, etc. It's kind of like independent living meets student halls, and from what I can tell, it works well. I'd love it if the grandparents could move to somewhere closeish by, that provided a certain level of security (this on it's own would be worth a lot - someone to keep an eye out for unwanted salespeople and worse...),that had an easy way for them to socialise, and that if they needed sudden care for one reason or another, it was easy to arrange. The 60ish yr old US relatives have just recently bought in a separate older living town - you can't move there till you're over 55, and while they have to drive a few miles out to find restaurants they like to eat at (the local food is a bit tame, and for the more... vintage pallate) the facilities etc are exceelent, and geared to people at a certain point in their life.

We're in this position. We're on a rolling AST. We've been here a long time, and have always paid the rent. The place is inspected every 6 months. The summer inspection, I knew I was pregnant, but it was less than 12 weeks along, so I decided not to tell them at that point. About a month later, the shower broke, it was the height of summer, and we played the pregnancy card with the person on the phone from the Letting Agent that was dealing with it - so technically, at that point, I told someone, but not in an "official" way. I was probably at the hospital giving birth for the winter inspection. If he actually turned up to do the inspection (he's a bit lazy, and doesn't always turn up) he'd have let himself in, and will have found a cot and other baby-related paraphenalia in one of the bedrooms, and also scattered around the house. The next summer inspection he didn't turn up for, then the winter inspection (by which time our little one was over a year old) she was asleep in her cot... I talked quietly, and said that the baby was alseep, he asked how old she was, and wrote something on his officious looking clipboard... We haven't heard anything, and they haven't turfed us out. If they'd been doing their job properly, they'd have spotted the (then) imminent arrival ages ago.

Yes, I've heard this one too... A couple of people I know talk about 10% off being a standard expectation. They're both mid sixties, and haven't really bought property for a while. (One bought about 5 years ago with cash, it was a doer upper, and I'm hoping that he got a better deal than 10% off...)

Congratulations! It really is a game changer! I don't know that I had the best experiance of the NHS when giving birth (especially the mid wife who said we could discuss pain relief after my contraction, but would leave the room every time I was about to finish a contraction... I was thankful that her shift finished, and a different midwife did the actual delivery - of course, by which time any pain relief wasn't an option!) For the time being, sleep when they sleep if you can (and make sure Mummy does too...) the laundry and cleaning etc will keep. You can always ask a visiting adorer to do something/bring a meal for you. I recommend having a pack of Chocolate Hob Nobs by the bed - I (and Mr W&S) were always hungry waking up at 3/4 am. Wait for a bit before you start making arrangements to follow through on your current plans. You may find that other priorities take over, and that the grass isn't that much greener elsewhere.

You know, if I was flogging my house for £2m, I'll want the EA to take photos of the place that were in focus, and maybe made the house look light and airy, rather than dark and dingy... I think EAs are at the point where they don't want time wasters. We were asked to provide proof of funds before they put the offer in on one place. Even so, saying it blatant and outright is a tad rude,and smacks a little bit of desperation.

I've had similar ish conversations recently - friends who bought 2005-2007 with a small deposit are now pretty stuck in their houses... Oldsport - I think it's the not being able to get a mortgage - if you bought a 200k place with a 5% deposit, chances are the amount still owed on the property means you'd be in -ive equity if you sold it. Unless you've got the spare cash to make up the difference needed to cover the -ive equity, and also the extra deposit proprtion that the bank will now want, you're pretty stymied, and stuck in your smaller than you'd like house.

It also takes an age for an old person to do the washing up, and they do it 3 times a day, it uses up a sizeable chunk of the day. For some in their vintage years this may be a good thing - nice warm water, and something to fill the day with, for others, who maybe want to do the gardening, or go and help serve the elderly at the local luncheon club, then a dishwasher is a great time saver.

I have no plan to do that at the moment. If they mess about, then obviously it would be tempting.... I aim to be fair, reasonable, and professional - I wouldn't want someone to do it to me!

Only saw the second half, but you're right, the other family, it all seemed a bit odd. Selling your Porshe anf getting £5k for it is a drop in the ocean - especially whwn you're probably going to have to replace it with something (maybe they made £5k after buying the replacement?) What I did like though were Beaney's serious concerns about going over budget - she may have joked about selling kidneys with them, but the voice over stressed that being in more debt than you planned to be in can have it's problems. Admittedly, she didn't go into the options (stress, divorce, bailiffs, etc) but the warning was there - which I don't remember in other programs she's done - or anyone else has done!