22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

Only 5 months, til the clocks go back!!

la la la la la!! (imagine the dancing face gif we used to know and love)

apple_muncher

Blimey, you're thinking a lonnnnng way ahead!

f0xh0les

Hayfever sucks!

f0xh0les

Today I did battle with the NI rates department (translation in English - Council Tax dept)..... again.

I have a 6 month exemption from April to October

I also have letters demanding I pay the rest of the year's rates in monthly instalments from 10th June.

So I clearly and slowly explained I did not have a 50% reduction in rates, I have a 6 month EXEMPTION and as such, I would not be paying them.  The house is empty. The house is up for sale. I have a buyer. I am EXEMPT from their rates.

 By the time I would be liable for the rates, I will not own the house.  They can chase the new owner from 1st October for the rates.

Just to be told  rates are paid yearly up front, therefore I should pay the 6 months of rates I will not need and claim it back.

I said I would be happy to do that, if I still owned the house on the date my EXEMPTION certificate ran out. As I am EXEMPT until October.

They were not happy. They will not send me a letter, but will put a note on the computer system.  It probably will not be complimentary. I do not care.

It is a protection racket. You pay upfront, they sit on it and get the interest, then you claim it back. It is demanding money with menaces.  Exempt is exempt. 

in_need_of_direction

Not only do you pay upfront, they then do nothing to earn it

Liverpool_Anne

My council do lots of things including dig up roads for months, cut down trees for no apparent reason, or allow others to do it, narrow main thoroughfares causing major traffic jams, introduce additional charges to empty green waste bins, never answer the phone, allow people to ride electric scooters all over the place and leave them anywhere as trip hazards, the list is endless.
On the subject of probate my friend died 8 months ago and even though she left a clear will, left everything to be divided equally to her 2  sons it is still going through probate so 9 weeks is quite a short time

f0xh0les

Urgh! Today got eaten by house selling forms - you know the ones that are 44 pages long, and ask about who owns what, who has right of access to what, what utilities go where, is there a tree preservation order, who owns the leasehold, what are you leaving behind in the house, who was the 23rd president of America, what was his inside leg measurement, etc etc etc. 

I could have just put 'unknown' in all the boxes like every  joker I have ever bought a house off,  but I could not bring myself to do it.  So I did it proper and it wasted an entire day.  Also bundled up all the info the solicitor needed, in individual envelopes and labelled them for ease of finding stuff, so it should technically take about 45 minutes admin time to sell the house - they have EVERYTHING they need.  But I got my first email from them at 8.45 and I have just finished and packaged it all up for posting tomorrow, and it is just after 8pm.  It ate my whole day!

f0xh0les

Legal package posted, recorded and tracked and nailed to an eagle.  It will be there by Monday (they reckoned Saturday but NI is still patchy on Saturday deliveries). Rang EA to let them know.  Emailed solicitor to let them know.  The deeds are with the buyer's solicitor already. There is no mortgage to pay off.  It should just be a rubber stamp exercise.

There is nothing more for me to do but clear the rest of the bungalow - and that is not going to happen on a 4 day BH weekend, or I would be there now.  Why did they have to do it in the half term holiday??? I wanted extra hols, not doubled up hols. Is Liz not special enough to give the kids an extra couple of days off school? Has she not put enough of a shift in?

My plan is to go over  to NI in June, possibly a day trip - sleep on the boat -  load up, arrange  a pick up from a furniture auction place for the big bits of furniture, come back, unload, apply for whole year totally empty house rates exclusion status (just for a laugh really). 

 But, and it is a big but! DH is away for 4 days in June, back for one day, away at a retreat for 2 days and the kids are still at school, so it might be a weekend flit.

Other plans, take the kids over the second week of summer holidays (I am working the first week away from home- it is a week of work for 2 weeks' pay due ridiculous hours), clear the last bits from workshop and garage, and take the kids to  visit the wider circle of  NI granny-mafia, if the house  sells sometime in late July/ early August I can disperse s/g's bequests like Santa Claus, hopefully while taking them out for afternoon tea somewhere.  It will probably be the last time I ever see them.

Then take the kids to visit their grandparents on the way back-  really it is so the G/Ps stay put over there until their regular August sojourn across the water.  

So, house numbers!

The mortgage now stands at £73,999.99

I have overpaid £553.57 this month.

Monthly interest was £114.12

Daily interest works out at £3.68

 

If I pay off the mortgage in August/September I will save £20k in future interest payments.

I am going to pay off my mortgage this year, but I really would like to get to £70k by myself.

I  have just realised we bought our first house for £74k in 2005 We lived in it for 10 years, and still had £40k left to pay on the mortgage - I only started o/p'ing in the last 3 or 4 years we were there.  I have learnt a lot in the last 20 odd years.

kerri_gt

That is really amazing hearing you say that the mortgage could be paid off Aug/Sept. 
I am still waiting on some unknown Russian oligarch relative to bequeath me a nice egg...that is more unlikely to happen now than it was (many generations back originally from that neck of the woods on one side of our family).

I feel a little diddled out of the bank holidays too...had this week booked off as holiday, 3 days for a week off, feeling whoooo...then surgery delayed and rescheduled...which means I'm now officially on sick leave instead. Ain't that just typical (can't really complain though, at least surgery is done) 

Do you have any street parties planned for the weekend? 

f0xh0les

We have the Riverside Festival the first week in June every year, and it is a bit of a giggle, street stalls, artists displaying their works on the Boulevard.  All tres european in vibe.  It is about 30 seconds away from where I do the graduation gig, so I know where everything is for once.   It is close enough to walk to, and last week was the graffiti festival (Bring the Paint) where they do massive beautiful murals, all over the city,  so if we come back via the canal, I should see some more art.  That is the plan anyway.  I will invite the kids but if they do not want to come, I am happy to abandon them for a couple of hours. DS4 is going to be 13 at the end of the year, they cannot keep holding me hostage, Stockholm Syndrome is wearing off.  Big Time.  As the Pantry Prowler shows, they are perfectly able to feed themselves independently, even though they plead incapability.

Made a rather fabulous fruited wheaten loaf in anger, as Mr Somebody has eaten about a kilo of pecans out of the pantry in ten days.  I think I am going to use the baking supplies up and not replace them. I will resist a bargain. I will spend a couple of months without. They won't eat plain flour, but cherries, dried fruit, nuts, etc  seem to be a temptation too far. 

In other news, the 15p  C0vent Garden S0up boxes I got (tomato and basil) from The Wading Bird Shop are perfectly adequate for a lunch.   I am down to my last 200 teabags and I feel nervous......