All Posts in "Landlord Issues"

No, our landlord issues have not gone away.  Our previous landlord issues remain unresolved, and we fear we may have others looming ahead.  However, that’s not something we can control and we will only be affected indirectly.  If that should amount to anything, I’ll be sure to mention it.[ad#ad-1]

But, getting back to our previous landlord.  He has been an obstacle to getting the bills resolved.  And now he has conveniently gone on holiday.  But while he thinks he can escape his problems, we feel we have finally made some progress and have confidently swung the ball back in his court.

After many weeks of phone calls to the estate agents, to no avail, we put in a dispute.  I had forewarned them of it, so before they were forced to do anything, the agents sent us a partial refund of our deposit.  They’re still holding an amount equivalent to two-and-a-half times what we believe we owe on the water bill.  Despite knowing how much we used, neither they nor the landlord can figure out what we owe.  They seem to think they need to get all the bills and decide our portion.  I will be searching around the internet and make complaints on some landlord/estate agent forums.  No one should ever be put through the misery of working with any of these people. 

And the electric company finally came up with a figure that we can agree on, but it’s questionable whether the landlord will accept.  The figure given to us is just a little over what we had offered and he had turned it down.  Now, we have both the electric company and the estate agent agreeing to it, so if he won’t agree, we may have to take legal action.  We could have had this resolved sooner had the electric company agreed to look back at previous usage by the landlord as we had requested.  They finally did so, and came up with the figures.  Our portion is rather generous (all but the landlord will agree); however, we are willing to be generous just to get this resolved.

We do not have the ready cash to hire a lawyer.  We are also not the litigious type.  We have sought advice from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau several times, but they cannot give legal advice.  However, they do offer Legal Aid, a free legal service to those who are impoverished.  You have to be below a certain income level to qualify, and we do not.

We had tried the third party negotiation through the estate agent and it had not been going well.  Our next step was to go to an ombudsman.  There are several around – The Property Ombudsman (for estate agents) and the government Housing Ombudsman (for landlords).  However, they all want a protracted formal dispute process going through other channels first; i.e., through the landlord’s and agents’ in-house complaints procedures.  The ombudsman could take up to a year.

We have RAC membership and my husband knew he could get legal advice on motoring issues through the RAC.  So, he asked them about other legal services.  We were told that for an additional 15GBP per year, we could get legal advice on all other issues.  He was reluctant to join because it sounded like many of those internet services where you make an offer for advice and the advice will vary depending on how much you were willing to pay.  After exhausting all other avenues, we finally signed up for the RAC legal aid.  It sounds even better than we thought.  The advice comes from real practicing lawyers and if they take your case, they will even represent you in court.  All this is included.  They’ve given us a two-week trial and if we don’t use it, we can cancel it.[ad#ad-1]

We called the lawyers first thing and they told us to start with EDF, the electric company.  It was funny because I was writing a letter to EDF while my husband had them on the line.  He repeated what the lawyers had advised us, and they denied any responsibility.  At that point, my husband called OfGem, the electric utilities ombudsman, who made a note of the complaint.  Shortly after, EDF called back and gave us a figure for what they felt we owed.  It was as if the call to the lawyers had set a string of events in motion.

If things work out well, we may not need the legal service after all and can cancel it.  However, given their usefulness, we may decide to try it out for a year.  It’s like having a lawyer on retention for only 15GBP a year.

Yank by — December 4, 2009 in Legal 0

I hate that feeling of needing a vacation from a vacation, but that’s how it always feels like when I come back from a holiday trip.  Since we wanted the kids to enjoy a normal holiday, we went out of town for a few days.  It was nice to come back and find out that my registration for a license has been approved.  I still have to complete an identity check, but in the meantime, I can scout around for a job.  We also have some landlord issues that need resolving and hopefully that can be accomplished before our lease runs out.  Anyhow, for the next few posts, I hope to get some pictures of some of the things we enjoyed recently.[ad#ad-1]

I’ll start by talking about High Rocks in the Tunbridge Wells area.  They are located in the Rusthall Commons area.  At one time, the commons were just open areas of land that were used for grazing, but over the years, houses have sprung up and many areas have become overgrown with vegetation.  However, there are some natural rock formations that have survived.  But, in order to keep them in good order, it is now run by a trust, and admission is charged.  Yet, it appears that the gate is not always manned, so some people might be able to sneak in.  We have never been ones to take those kinds of risk.

There are walking paths around the rock formations, as well as stairs and bridges to get to the top and across from rock to rock.  Various groups of rock climbers were taking advantage of the nice weather on the day we visited.  Apparently, there are rock climbing guides and High Rocks was included, with hints on how to climb the rocks.  These are not huge rocks and some of the climbers only used their hands and feet to get to the top; but there are some that are higher, requiring some ropes.  The kids imagined themselves as climbers and went up some of the smaller rocks.

There were several inscriptions on some of the rocks, dating back to the 1800s.  Of course, many visitors marked their names on the rocks as well.  But, we were on the look-out for an inscription from the 1700s.  We never found it, but we believe we located the right rock.  It was called “Bell Rock” because legend has it that if you threw a stone into it, it would make a sound like a bell ringing.  However, it is believed that it no longer makes that sound because of moss, damp and various other natural processes.  The inscription was left by a visitor, whose dog fell down the rock and died.

There was a rock called “Toad Rock” because it supposedly resembles a toad – you really have to use your imagination.  The other rocks used to be given other names as well, with respect to objects they resembled.  We’ll need to get some sort of guide book from the library.  In times past, there were huts set up between the rocks for hikers and climbers, but most of them are now lying in ruins.  There was even a tea shop set up in one of the huts, but it is gone.  A rhododendron maze attached to the rocks area is now overrun.  Despite all this, the area does serve as a very nice backdrop for a picnic.  There was even a wedding reception taking place while we were visiting.[ad#ad-1]

Which brings us to the pub.  It appears that the reception was being catered from the High Rocks Inn, which is also where you need to go for tickets into the rocks.  Thankfully, there was a large public car park for visitors and it was free.  The inn is located across the street from the rocks and it has a beautiful garden.  And while you’re up there, you can see the Spa Valley steam railway making trips up and down from Tunbridge Wells to Eridge.

We have yet to explore the historic parts of Tunbridge Wells, such as the chalybeate springs and the Pantilles.  That will be for another day.

Yank by — August 7, 2009 in Leisure 0