Thursday, October 23, 2003
Falling behind on this weblog again . Ah well, let's try to come up to date.
Since the last post I've not had any catastrophes or major setbacks, although there have been some annoyances and, of course, money continues to leak out of my credit card as I keep on paying for temporary accommodation. Even just 3 nights in Nottingham costs £102/week, and I've been doing that since September 9th and am likely to have to continue likewise for another couple of weeks at least. So conservatively that's some 800-odd quid I'll have shelled out for temp accommodation, not counting the cost of meals (although luckily the Queen's Medical Centre has a cheap staff restaurant where I feed every evening), or the petrol burned getting to/from Nottingham every week - perhaps 5-6 gallons at approaching £4/gallon.
At least my buyers haven't gone walkies. They, or rather the male half, a young porky guy called Paul G (whose surname sounds more like a verb than a noun) who's a bit full of himself and seems to like little domination games, going by his behaviour with me, did spring an unpleasant surprise by saying that they "wanted" (not requested) a NICE or whatever it was report on the house electrics, and a Corgi gas certificate. I bridled at this, partly because I hadn't the faintest idea what these things were, partly because I didn't fancy coughing up 00's for them (turns out they're fairly cheap but I didn't know that at the time), and partly because I figured that it's the buyer's job to get such surveys done. Anyway, after speaking to Paul G and the Halifax estate agents, I said I'd be happy to knock of the extra monkey he'd offered over the asking if he sorted out all the inspections. He was happy with that, hardly surprising as he could get both inspections done for a century. I wasn't bothered, as all I've ever wanted is the asking price, and it meant I didn't have to try to sort out inspections and house access from 90 miles away.
The most recent annoyance came from my Briefs (sorry, 'solicitors'). They sent me a copy of a letter from Hamers, the bunch acting for Giblin and Katy (his partner, and a much nicer person), with four queries on it, asking me to reply to the queries. Unfortunately, the queries were such that only a Brief would a) understand, and b) be able to answer. There were references to items on the "charges register", and I wouldn't know one of those if it bit me on the arse, and requests for documentation relating to every sodding structural alteration since the house was built in the late 30s. I was pretty narked to be asked these, and even more narked to see that the letter had been posted to my Hull address without anyone thinking to phone or email me in Nottingham with the queries. Result: I read the letter 4 days after it's posted, and my pretty sharp email reply won't be read until after the weekend, so another week's delay in the sale and thus another week's B&B; bills for meself.
But it got worse. I sent the email to the address in Lockings letterhead, and as it didn't bounce I assumed it got through. Then I come back to Hull today to find another bloody letter from the Briefs nagging me to answer the queries. I try to ring the Brief in question but she's busy and, despite assurances, doesn't ring back. So I tell my woes to the receptionist, who digs out my file and tells me that there's no trace of the email. So I've had to print the damn thing out and post it them, as welll as re-sending it.
To paraphrase an old saying normally about computers: it's human to make mistakes, but it takes a lawyer to really fuck things up. I just know that the Briefs are going to drag this thing out, particularly the buyer's Brief - a guy called Tim Booth - who actually acted on my behalf when I bought this place two years back. Back then he banged on about the land at the back under "possessory title" (fancy name for squatters rights) and indemnity insurance in case the original owner came back and claimed it (never mind the original owner was a firm that went bust in the late 40s), and delayed the purchase by 3 weeks. It seems like he's at it again, but if there's too much delay this time then the whole chain collapses because the sellers of the Nottingham house - a really nice couple called Tracey and Richard - have their mortgage offer running out in mid-December. So if the Briefs don't pull their collective bloody finger out then it'll all come down in a ruinous heap. Although they'll still stiff everyone concerned for their fees regardless.
Since the last post I've not had any catastrophes or major setbacks, although there have been some annoyances and, of course, money continues to leak out of my credit card as I keep on paying for temporary accommodation. Even just 3 nights in Nottingham costs £102/week, and I've been doing that since September 9th and am likely to have to continue likewise for another couple of weeks at least. So conservatively that's some 800-odd quid I'll have shelled out for temp accommodation, not counting the cost of meals (although luckily the Queen's Medical Centre has a cheap staff restaurant where I feed every evening), or the petrol burned getting to/from Nottingham every week - perhaps 5-6 gallons at approaching £4/gallon.
At least my buyers haven't gone walkies. They, or rather the male half, a young porky guy called Paul G (whose surname sounds more like a verb than a noun) who's a bit full of himself and seems to like little domination games, going by his behaviour with me, did spring an unpleasant surprise by saying that they "wanted" (not requested) a NICE or whatever it was report on the house electrics, and a Corgi gas certificate. I bridled at this, partly because I hadn't the faintest idea what these things were, partly because I didn't fancy coughing up 00's for them (turns out they're fairly cheap but I didn't know that at the time), and partly because I figured that it's the buyer's job to get such surveys done. Anyway, after speaking to Paul G and the Halifax estate agents, I said I'd be happy to knock of the extra monkey he'd offered over the asking if he sorted out all the inspections. He was happy with that, hardly surprising as he could get both inspections done for a century. I wasn't bothered, as all I've ever wanted is the asking price, and it meant I didn't have to try to sort out inspections and house access from 90 miles away.
The most recent annoyance came from my Briefs (sorry, 'solicitors'). They sent me a copy of a letter from Hamers, the bunch acting for Giblin and Katy (his partner, and a much nicer person), with four queries on it, asking me to reply to the queries. Unfortunately, the queries were such that only a Brief would a) understand, and b) be able to answer. There were references to items on the "charges register", and I wouldn't know one of those if it bit me on the arse, and requests for documentation relating to every sodding structural alteration since the house was built in the late 30s. I was pretty narked to be asked these, and even more narked to see that the letter had been posted to my Hull address without anyone thinking to phone or email me in Nottingham with the queries. Result: I read the letter 4 days after it's posted, and my pretty sharp email reply won't be read until after the weekend, so another week's delay in the sale and thus another week's B&B; bills for meself.
But it got worse. I sent the email to the address in Lockings letterhead, and as it didn't bounce I assumed it got through. Then I come back to Hull today to find another bloody letter from the Briefs nagging me to answer the queries. I try to ring the Brief in question but she's busy and, despite assurances, doesn't ring back. So I tell my woes to the receptionist, who digs out my file and tells me that there's no trace of the email. So I've had to print the damn thing out and post it them, as welll as re-sending it.
To paraphrase an old saying normally about computers: it's human to make mistakes, but it takes a lawyer to really fuck things up. I just know that the Briefs are going to drag this thing out, particularly the buyer's Brief - a guy called Tim Booth - who actually acted on my behalf when I bought this place two years back. Back then he banged on about the land at the back under "possessory title" (fancy name for squatters rights) and indemnity insurance in case the original owner came back and claimed it (never mind the original owner was a firm that went bust in the late 40s), and delayed the purchase by 3 weeks. It seems like he's at it again, but if there's too much delay this time then the whole chain collapses because the sellers of the Nottingham house - a really nice couple called Tracey and Richard - have their mortgage offer running out in mid-December. So if the Briefs don't pull their collective bloody finger out then it'll all come down in a ruinous heap. Although they'll still stiff everyone concerned for their fees regardless.
