User Profile

[AndrewDod]

Most of my carpets in my own home (good quality) are 15+ years old and still, with care, look perfect.

Asking carpet people how often you need to replace your carpet is like asking a damp proofing installer whether you need damp proofing....

[AndrewDod]

Yeah - I get tenants arriving from China having spent the past 15 hours on a flight. When they arrive I keep them awake for another 6 hours signing documents and doing the inventory. I make sure to allocate the blame where it belongs. I also explain that the 6 hours of signing and the 6 hours it took...

[AndrewDod]

So when you contact the agent and the landlord and say that the wire type used is illegal and dangerous they say "we don't care". Right?

Forget the PAT angle mostly -- there is no requirement they do that. But there is a general requirement that stuff is safe.

What...

[AndrewDod]

It makes no sense.
However the agreement would normally be interpreted in your favour, so I would act as if 2.5.1 did not exist and stand your ground....

[AndrewDod]

The BBC does represent the views of the average person in London....

[AndrewDod]

It is still totally unclear what it is that you are describing. If you want meaningful advice ask a meaningful question with appropriate detail (in all aspects)....

[AndrewDod]

A sensible landlord will have no interest in someone who just has the money available to pay each month (regardless of what arrangements are in place)....

[AndrewDod]

Yes but there is a grey area in terms of how exactly this is taken forward. If common parts tend to get scuffled/dented walls with time, it would be extraordinarily expensive if a workman were called out on every one of the 100 occasions per year there was a scuff/dent.

Information/example...

[AndrewDod]

What does the lease say? What kind of stuff? Internal painting may be "cosmetic" but if lease says do it, then it is done.

Your ability to afford what is required is irrelevant. If it needs doing, you either take a loan or sell up....

[AndrewDod]

What appliance?

There is no regulation (nor should there be one) telling me that I cannot wire up a 3 pin plug with a blind ending cord in my own home, and sticking the bare wires into a glass of water --- so long as I don't place anyone else (or their property) at risk - which has its...

[AndrewDod]

Everything about the coming housing disaster is about not listening.

The EPC grade C debacle is to come and it will be very predictable -- and probably the largest financial hit the population will face -- well beyond even Covid. Millions will be in negative equity and there will be a...

[AndrewDod]

You want tenants who have plenty of cash savings. Having IVA is the opposite of cash savings -- and the fact that someone could be in debt whist having a good salary makes it even more problematical.

If they owe you money and you sue them, the IVA may have first port of call and you will...

[AndrewDod]

I have let to overseas POSTGRADUATE students similarly for 3 decades without much problem. You need to think carefully about which student though. There is a massive difference between the risk involved and attitude (towards stuffing your property up and not caring much about that) of the tenants with...

[AndrewDod]

It's economics 101 (as Americans say). You print money (in part due to Covid) you get inflation - nothing transient about it.
Glad you think NHS dentistry (or GP services) are going to recover - somehow I doubt it. Covid is not the problem - the problem is that it has been used as an excuse for...

[AndrewDod]

It is OK so long as it is not challenged (same as a physical signature you might have forged).

All it does is tie the signer to someone who had access to an E-mail address (pretty weak evidence of who signed). If challenged how do you plan to tie the E-mail address to a specific human?...

[AndrewDod]

I think I did say that the official rate is GROSSLY misleading as to inflationary expenditure. Most of the real stuff is not measured. Even a small bit of thought:

Rents have gone up by around 15% - for 50% of many people that is half their budget. This single item alone would translate...

[AndrewDod]

Well of course massive interest is usually accompanied by massive inflation and currency devaluation - albeit not at the exact same time.
At the moment there is massive inflation - but this is mostly sucked up by housing prices (the real inflation rate is probably around 15% right now with property...

[AndrewDod]

I wouldn't bother to get a solicitor, or to proffer any defence (are you a defendant?) other than that the guarantor is not valid on multiple grounds and was never valid during the first fixed period, let alone afterwards. Was the deed even properly signed and can they prove it was you who signed i...

[AndrewDod]

It is the supplier's cable. You cannot touch it. Who is responsible for paying however depends on all the other stuff that is unanswered.

Is it a private meter?

There are also secondary costs (for example even if actually replacing the wire might be "DNO" responsibility...

[AndrewDod]

Biggest way they can help - allow interest rates to rise naturally to where they should have been and stop printing money and inflating asset prices. All these attempts to "help" (by for example imposing higher rates of rent via EPC grade C rules, while banning evictions and offering inducements...