House Hunting Is Stressful!

Jez900ie · Dec 4, 2019

Zhed46 said: ↑

It's not so much a case of me rejecting them but them rejecting me. For a start, I have adverse credit from when I was doing solely legal aid criminal work and things got so bad (I have discussed it in other threads) that in 2014 I had to default on a bank loan after the payments went up from £150 pm to £800 pm as it was interest only for 3 years, which I managed, but then when the capital repayments kicked in, it absolutely kicked my arse, the bank would not reduce the payments or give me a payment holiday and so some months I literally had no money. No word of a lie, I once did not eat for 4 days.

Plus, a lot of landlords hear "motorbikes" and equate it with "noise and trouble".

Last but not least, the only reason I am moving from my current place is because my landlord (a catholic charity) wants the house back for one of their own employees. The serving of notice coincided with when my youngest boy, who has special needs (Aspergers), was transferring from special school to mainstream and his elder brother with whom he is very close and who acted as a sort of protector for him when he gets bullied (which used to be a lot, but now he is 6' 3", much less so), was leaving to go to Uni. All of which he was distressed about and so the timing could not have been worse. I virtually begged the landlord to reconsider either by delaying for a year or they have another tenanted property on the plot which they could have used, but unfortunately the occupier is friends with one of their God botherers, so in the great spirit of compassion and humanity for which the catholic church is well known, then told me, in terms, to "do one". So I dug my heels in, defended their possession claim and defended it very well, which has cost them an 18 month (and counting) delay and and awful lot of money. I made an offer to settle which they have kind of accepted, which involves me moving out on 10th Jan 2020. So I am very much persona non grata with them, which means no landlord reference either.

That should not have been a problem, because the idea was that now the girlf has a better paying and more secure job (NQ Architect) than the agency PA work she was doing while studying, she would exercise right to buy on her council flat and when the purchase completes, let it out. At which point (which was supposed to be early December) we would let somewhere together or if the above issues caused problems, she would take a tenancy in her own name but I would also live there. Unfortunately, the cretinous imbecile* at the council who gave her the necessary info told her it would take 6 to 8 weeks when in fact it takes 6 to 8 months. In reliance on that info, I made the offer to settle which involves me moving out on Jan 10th. But we now find the sale is likely to take until more like June 10th. In the meantime she needs to continue to use her flat as her only or principle home, so she can't sign a tenancy elsewhere, because if she did and was found out (which happens more than you think and I have acted in many such cases) she would lose her RTB and quite possibly her flat altogether.

All of which rather leaves me out on a limb. And because letting agents don't seem to be allowed to exercise (or perhaps simply don't have) any professional judgement, they just use a referencing service, which of course comes back with "computer says 'no'..." This is despite me trying to square the circle by offering to pay a large deposit and a year's rent up front.

Looks like that motorhome is going to be more than just a race van now.....

* Speaking of cretinous imbeciles, over the past 4 weeks I must have enquired about 20 - 25 houses through Rightmove and similar sites. Of those enquires, only 10 were responded to. One was not available because it was very probably a typical Foxtons "bait and switch" ad (advertise a lovely property at an apparent undervalue, but then tell callers "sorry that one has gone, but we have another one round the corner at £200 pm more"). And I only saw 5 of those properties because messages and calls about the other 4 were not returned. After a week of chasing the agents, I finally got an appointment to see one of those 5 houses tonight. Except the agent showed me the wrong fkn house and it turned out someone had put a holding deposit on the the one I had been enquiring about last week, 4 days after I sent my initial enquiry. Not only that but they hadn't bothered to update the website. Plus, despite their bumbf crowing about "their knowledgeable, professional and friendly agents", the woman was a scruffy sour faced witch in a grubby puffa jacket who clearly had never been to the property before and had no idea what was behind each door as she opened it (third time that has happened, plus at the other two, the agent's answer to every question was "I'm not sure - I'll ask the landlord"). So that was an afternoon off work and a 3 hour round trip well spent. And no, it is not explained by the fact that I have adverse credit and am daggers drawn with my landlord, as I didn't mention that in any of the enquires. In fact, on paper, I probably seemed like a pretty ideal prospect (family man, 6 figure income, looking for a long term let). Plus, this year is always very quiet on the letting market, so you'd think they'd be pretty keen. Amazing.
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Something great is just around the corner. Good luck.

Zhed46 · Dec 4, 2019

Jez900ie said: ↑

Something great is just around the corner. Good luck.
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Hope so. Thanks. I was homeless for a while when I was 19 and ended up living firstly in a hostel in Slough (grim beyond words) and then a tent just outside Maidenhead, so it's not exactly a new thing for me.

Harry Bell · Dec 5, 2019

Zhed46 said: ↑

Hope so. Thanks. I was homeless for a while when I was 19 and ended up living firstly in a hostel in Slough (grim beyond words) and then a tent just outside Maidenhead, so it's not exactly a new thing for me.
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I could put you up if you're stuck - but the daily commute to the smoke would be a killer
Gaff come with no roof and a watchful eye

House Hunting Is Stressful!

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