Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

Margaret54

Ack Annie123 bless her. It is so sad to know her confidence has been knocked so hard. I am glad she has you so that is lovely. I wish her all the very best with this and for her future too.

gailey_2

ceridwen wrote: »

Sorry to hear about those problems Kezlou. Thanks to Gailey for explaining about the costs of moving within the rented sector - as I have no idea and my first thoughts were "I'd move - from what Kezlou says about the state of the house" - but I guess it would cost hundreds of £s then to do so????

How does the rent level compare to equivalent properties in the area? Its been MANY years now since I lived in rented accommodation - so I remember that Fair Rent people were around back in those days (but didnt know whether they still are) and knew that they didnt necessarily put rents down - they could equally well say that they were okay or maybe even put them UP (ie if they thought the landlord was charging less than the local "going rate" for equivalent property). So - it would be well if you are thinking of going down that route to check out comparable properties and see how the rent level compares with yours.

Its very hard sometimes renting in private sector as people underestimate the costs realistically everything considred for us to move would costs us about 2grand upfront which we dont have at the moment.

Our landlord insists on keeping us on yearly contract we been here 6years next may which means we have to pay agents 70pounds admin fee for new contract every year.
Its roughly gone up 10pounds a year but is cheaper than other properties in this area we pay 650 some people pay that for a 2bed although our 3rd room is tiny, we fortunate we got decent sized garden.

I guess the main thing wrong with property apart from space is it needs modernisation ie if we left we feel sure he would put in new kitchen, bathroom and up the rent.

We have done front and back garden at our own expense.
spent hundreds on new flooring and repainting all the rooms.
But we cant see us moving at the moment so wnat it to be livable and feel like our home.

The contract states we have 3months notice but landlord can give us just 1months notice.
But hes retired owned property since 80,s and feel quite confident morgage probably cheap and less than rent plus houseprices have dipped he hopefully wont sell now.But it is a worry as we just put down new floor..
Our ovens crap but cant afford to replace.

Had many landlords in past and biggest problems I found in buy to let boom wa slandlords were buying properties quite far from where they lived when I lived in shared flat in cardiff landlord was useless, rude and in newcastle was nitemare to get things sorted then after 6months he announced he was selling and we had to move so I had to find somewhere pronto.

As a student I had couple of landlords who I dealt with directly who were lovley but where we lived was a hovel but rents were cheap and was close to all amenities so never complained.

Once had lanlord who lived south africa so hired lettings compant to manage the property.
They hated landlord too as couldent get anything done to property without checking first he was so tight the kitchen consisted of sink and 2 cupboards and one peice of work top.
The boiler was declared unsafe and was without hotwater for a week! In the end they dumped landlord as felt embarressed and apologetic with me.

Shelter did study last year theres a lot of fuss about the poor living in bad conditions ie social housing or if they get housing benefit ect but very little said about working families who pay extortionatly high rents sometimes as much as morgage but cant get a morgage due to credit history or lack of deposit so people are stuck in private paying whatever , doing up rented properties themselves and are trapped despite what looks on paper as relativly good salry ie 30k plus does not even begin to bridge the dispartity.

Im hoping housing cap may bring rental properties down in price for people who dont get housing benefit but rent within private sector.
Under the new cap say 3kids , 2adults could qualify for 4bed maybe its capped at 400 a week, 1600 a month so if hubby was unemployed we be better off as no way we could afford that rent right now.
But demand for rentals is high we had to compete with another couple for this hiouse, they refused to smoke outside.
We lost out on another house and felt pressured at veiwings to snap up whatever was availiable as things went so fast.
We saw some dumps before we moved in here was very stressful.
Think when buying people can take a careful considered approach and take their time with rentals its all so fast as soon as its advertised its gone, very frustrating.

With lack of social housing combined with hardly any first time buyers plus during crunch lot of buy to let landlords got in trouble which mean decline in availaible properties too.

Dont know what answer is at current rate of building they will never build enough social to meet the demand.
people in middle income with feel even more trapped if they tighten morgage lending like is being discussed.

Theres a lot said about morgage affordability and what proportion of income should be spent on housing.
Be interesting what percentage they settle at because I suspect rents will be higher than morgage payments as a percentage of income..

Over a quarter of hubbys salary goes on rent so approx 30-35%

If we owned we could have wood stove and make house much more economical to run as would get loft better unsulated, patio doors properly looked at, solar panels on roof ext, better boiler.
So aprt from rent those in rental sector sometimes pay ,more bills in my last place ended up owing british gas 1000pounds due to faulty dangerous boiler which I had to pay.

Anyway enough of my housing gripes.

wet , cold and rainy here today.
Anyone else lack motivation to do anything on these days?
due to do school run soon, babys been bored and messy all day and barly touched her lunch.
Was planning chicken toasties to find out hubbys eaten all my chicken I had been dreaming about!
need to hoover, get dinner done for tonight.Planning chicken casserole and mash one of my faves no doubt hubby will moan.

Trying to do rough meal plan for week.
debating what meat to buy from butcher friday.
Still got lots of frozen in freezer but nothings taking my fancy but least its going down I suppose.
Got birthday party near co-op sunday so hoping to get some reduced bargains then.

Feeling so tired plan another nights tv watching in bed.
Watched giles and sue this morning as recorded found it quite enjoyable and interesting.

Got me thinking thres no way we could be self sufficenient as dident grow enough veg to last us.
dissapointed hubby dident pull his finger out and plant some winter crops.
Thinking of starting an indoor herb window pot in kitchen maybe myself.

Still need to enquire about the very secretive local allotments im sure theres no spots.

gardens not really big enough to keep animals plus lanlord says no pets.

Did envy the size of their house and their huge garden.
The bread woman was bit scary.
wish I could be motivated enough to bake bread daily!
Hubbys still nagging me about glut of fruit in bottom of freezer still.

Sammy k-glad to see you doing ok hun.
Im contempating more grow bags as sleepsuits nitemare to get mine in and shes forever shaking oof her blankets.
You seem very organised over xmas well done..
Shocked neighbours nicked clothes off line whats world coming too!

annie-hope boyfreinds daughter not too upset definatly take it further sounds awful.

kezlou-good luck with landlady.

Brought telegraph today for change theres bit in back about moneysaving and approved foods so things must be tough if the squeezed middle have to cut back!

Fruball

Annie123 - That is just dreadful. Poor girl. I hope she takes them to the cleaners... She will need a lot of support to do so but am sure she will win and that may boost her confidence. I can see why there is no way she would go back to work there.

Kidcat - Schools can be a nightmare in that respect. If you are doing all you can to get them there on time and there are extreme circumstances, then there is no way the kids should get a detention. I can say for sure (been there) that I would be refusing my children to do a detention. And if that doesn't work then the next time, I would keep all kids off due to illness. :mad: I have refused to allow DS to do detentions before. The school have always backed down.

Well my DDs are delighted with new umbrellas... The whole of town was in fear of being bashed by them tho Its windy and rainy here and I have spent waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy too much money today. Kids needed umbrellas for school walk plus I bought them some educational workbooks which will really help them get ahead with their reading One book came with a DVD so I am going to have to dig out the DVD player now and try to plug it in to all the right bits... always struggle when there are so many wires for sky, tv and dvd Where's a fella when you need one?

Annie56 - get off that man for 5 mins and come tell us what you are up to :rotfl:

hi to everyone else

kidcat

Have just spoken to school welfare officer and she has told me I should call and say they are going to be late, now ok I could have done that this morning as my dad took them, although at the time he left it was still possible to get there on time, however traffic was bad and he got them there one minute late, one got a late mark one didnt?? BUt I pointed out if I stopped to call some mornings the two or three minutes they would have been late would turn into ten fiftenn minutes and defeats the object, it would also mean that the other two would be late, whereas at the moment there is a little gap between the eldest and the youngest schools, so I can usually make up time nag get at least the youngest two in on time. Bearing in mind that with DD16 having glandular fever last year and missing a whole term, and DS12 having problems with stress and time off, we had to have several meeting with education welfare and ended up on report as it were, which meant if kids were off we had to provide sick notes, this year DD has had no time off and DS only had one afternoon off (due to injury at school) yet they are still not happy. But I have just told that next time I wont bother dragging my dad out and just keep them off anyway - I did point out that as a minister he can have funerals etc and its entirely possible that they could have to wait till after he finished before he could bring them anyway. Makes me really cross because when we were having bother with school last year I looked into schools here (which we were hoping not to move them - hoping to be back home by now) and I suggested moving them into a school here - but current school wouldnt hear of it, said it was too disruptive to kids and that they advised keeping them there, anything we can do attitude etc. But its different when you actually ask them to do something.

Rant over.

My Big Brands delivery has arrived, with two items wrong - I ordered some scone/doughnut mix which arrived and some bread/roll mix which was replaced with doughnut mix instead - have emailed them but no response as yet. Two of the boxes were falling apart too and were wet luckily the stuff inside seems ok, but I feel slightly that I havent had my £5.25 delivery money in value IYSWIM. Have whipped up a batch of the muffin mixture and scone mixture and will cook them when I put dinner in oven later. Cannot believe how much stuff there is for £14, and no really sure where will store it, think it will have to be the garage again, and a trip to Ikea to buy a couple of storage boxes. Was thinking of donating the unwanted doughnut mix to a homeless shelter so will be asking on freecycle if anyone knows the address. Failing that I know where the womens shelter in home town is so can drop there next week.

LannyLee

kidcat wrote: »

My Big Brands delivery has arrived, with two items wrong - I ordered some scone/doughnut mix which arrived and some bread/roll mix which was replaced with doughnut mix instead - have emailed them but no response as yet. Two of the boxes were falling apart too and were wet luckily the stuff inside seems ok, but I feel slightly that I havent had my £5.25 delivery money in value IYSWIM.

I've also had an issue, they said that 3 of the LG soups were out of stock :mad: & so refunded me the £3 for them, but this was over 6kg worth of stuff, so I asked for my full delivery charge back as if i'd known I'd have ordered other things to make sure I got my full £5.25 delivery charge worth, so they refunded me a partial £1.31.:mad:

Don't think I'll be using them again, will stick with Dan AppF0od from now on.:mad:

kidcat

Forgot to say to Gailey - the thing about notice on your house contract isnt right, a contract cannot supercede the law IYSWIM and its current housing law that all tenants are entitled to two months notice from the day of the month you pay rent, so if you pay on the 8th then two months must run from then IYSWIM. I know you are not considering moving yet but worth you bearing in mind.

Also someone mentioned they had replaced an item and were planning on taking it, - make sure you have permission in writing from LL both to replace and that they understand it will be removed with you. We threw away a carpet at last house due to a leaking radiator - the plumber caused the problem! and called the LL to get permission on the phone, all given and fine, till we left and they asked where the carpet was - they had no record etc. We managed to get around it as the y had lost their inventory so couldnt prove it was there in first place. (Wouldnt mind but house was put back into service when we left - it had been tied housing for employee - and they ripped kitchen, carpets, bathroom windows etc all out and gutted the place - spent a fortune on it - yet they asked about a tatty carpet!)

jediteacher

kidcat wrote: »

What I dont get is why schools make it so hard for families to get kids into school, it was almost tempting this morning to keep them all off as that way no detention, no hassles at pick up, no angry texts from school that they are late and requesting my full support in getting them to school on time!! (What do they think I am doing every morning?) I am exhausted having not had a proper nights sleep in over three weeks and putting one foot in front of the other is an achievemnet some days!! Feeling constantly headachey and nauseous last few days too.

Sorry that you're having a real touch time and hugs to you.

Trust me schools do not deliberately make it hard to get kids into school. As with all businesses there has to be a start time otherwise people would stroll in at all hours and nothing would be done. It is very disruptive to the class and the children who are late to school as everything has already started and as a teacher it is very frustrating trying to teach a class and then have someone turn up late. It sets the whole day off on a wrong foot for that late child and everyone else. It may seem harsh but I too have a family to get ready in the morning and I need to be in school before the children and drop off my own children. Imagine if I as the teacher strolled in late - the parents would go absolutely balistic!

On a more positive note if you speak to the school and explain the situation then they should support you at this time. If they do not then you could appeal to the governors or go direct to the head of year. Schools should support you when you are having a tough time and make provision for your children. If you need any advice as to what to do please feel free to contact me and I'm sorry if the previous paragraph sounds harsh I was just trying to explain.

As I said big hugs to you and I hope your little one gets better soon. My little girl had the sickness for about 3 weeks and this is the first week that she's been ok.

Just read your note as I had already typed and I would say to you if it's easier move the children - don't listen to the school do what is best for you and your children. They cannot make you keep your children in their school. Your current school does not sound very supportive at all! This coming from a passionate teacher!

csarina

[
Also someone mentioned they had replaced an item and were planning on taking it, - make sure you have permission in writing from LL both to replace and that they understand it will be removed with you. We threw away a carpet at last house due to a leaking radiator - the plumber caused the problem! and called the LL to get permission on the phone, all given and fine, till we left and they asked where the carpet was - they had no record etc. We managed to get around it as the y had lost their inventory so couldnt prove it was there in first place. (Wouldnt mind but house was put back into service when we left - it had been tied housing for employee - and they ripped kitchen, carpets, bathroom windows etc all out and gutted the place - spent a fortune on it - yet they asked about a tatty carpet!)[/QUOTE]

It was us who replaced several things, all were done with the landlords permission as far as the stove is concerned he refused to take out a stove the manufaturers told us was dangerous, I was told if I wanted it replaced I had to do it. He said the same about the cooker, he was not prepared to remove it and replace. The electrician said he thought the element had gone on one side and as the oven was obsolete he recommended replacement.

The landlord did remove the old stove and surround as I asked but the rest I had to pay for apart from the chimney pot and cowl which he did stump up the money for after several reminders. I will make sure there is no oil left in the tank when we do leave, I am not leaving any oil for him to charge a new tenant for......

kidcat

Jedi - thanks for your advice - the trouble is we have explained the circumstances to them and they promised they would be supportive, I understand that kids arriving late can be disruptive but we are talking one or two minutes, when all the kids are still lining up outside to go into form - so register has not even been taken. Its not the average situation having DS6 in a temp unit for assessment for his needs, it means that he and DD4 are in seperate schools four miles apart, eldest two school right in middle so I effectively travel into centre for eldest two then onto DS school and cross back past the eldest two school to get DD to her school all within a twenty minute window. When DS6 was moved the education authority suggested it would be better for me to deliver DS6 first then the eldest two then onto youngest, but this would mean they never arrived for register and school didnt seem happy - so I said I would do the complicated way to keep school on side.
To be fair they have loads of pupils and I know its hard for them but this last two weeks have been a nightmare and they seem far from supportive - which is adding to my resentment of them for their treatment of DD16 when she had glandular fever. I suppose this is the price you pay for having kids attend the best school in the area.

Isnt life complicated?

NualaBuala

(((Kidcat))) Gosh, you really have got your hands full. Hope things get better for you and your family soon.

Piglet, that's fab news! Enjoy feeling free and knowing you don't have to put up with what you were going through any more.