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I am not angry at life, I am here precisely because I have been stupid and too trusting I really did need to learn the lesson, because I don't think after this adventure, I don't think I could do it again. I am tired, and I am feeling very annoyed both with myself, and with the circumstances of my past.
I seem to attract Landlords who appear very urbane, very sympathetic, quite nice people. By the time life has been lived a little they change. One stole my deposit, £600 he made up a pile of complaints and reasons and despite me having witnesses he had lied...what chance did I have, he was a millionaire, I couldn't afford the solicitor and that's something Landlords seem to rely on...that as a little minion...you can't afford to fight. You can read that little drama in full here :-
I'm a Drama waiting to happen
The next Landlord let me have his flat, I was so grateful I failed to listen to the warnings from all and sundry, he slammed the rent up time and time again until from 420 a month it hit 520 a month and I was the one who did all the rooms up, plastered and painted and paid for the majority of it...but then he did donate the left over wall paper from his house and a tin of paint.........I ended up owing him rent but in the end I pay it to him a fiver a week on standing order knowing I will pay till I die..why?
Because he slammed charges on the debt itself, lots of charges, so many that the other tenants have as much as £22000 on one £12000 on another..because he had the exterior of the building done up....and never paid the poor man who did the work either, instead he did what Millionaires seem able to do so well...he used the law and one builder who went bankrupt because of delayed payments never got a penny...so the Landlord is charging the tenants for the work he never paid for ..grrrrrrr that makes me so mad. The big problem was , for all of us, there was a tiny little clause in the tenancy agreement and it didn't really make clear exactly what it was he was doing...then he did it. The whole of the charges make up the whole of the cost of his not as yet paid for upgrades and there is not a thing, any of us can do unless we go to court and....yes he is the millionaire, we are the plebs, the udnerdogs who cannot afford enormous solicitor bills and of course he can...and claim it against his taxes thus it costs him nothing and would break 'us'...clever eh.
My next landlord seemed so nice, so kind and helpful, and when the next lease was due, he promised it, I wanted it, I paid the rent on spec only the new lease never arrived. I hit an issue, a letter arrived, he had taken my deposit from the secure bank because' the lease was not renewed'. I telephoned and played stupid, asked if I could pay the rent in two halves as it was just after Christmas...he accused me of receiving rent rates from the council which wasn't true, accused me of claiming my rent via the council again a lie and I had already paid one half of the rent......
In the meantime my friend on hearing this, offered me her country house while I got back on my feet, offered to let me stay 'for as long as I liked, stay till I was an old woman' and it was PERFECT...
..............so I told him to keep the deposit he had already taken and I would leave, which I did.leaving him with half a months rent to use for any 'repairs' he decided I was due to pay...after having decorated throughout by the way. Still he attempted to contact me, for whatever reasons...I don't care, I don't want to care, why should I...the stress of that time was horrible.
Where I am now, is as a guest in my friends summer residence. It was kind of her to invite me, but technically I am still homeless in terms of my own space which I alone am responsible for. Though I feel quite happy here in this beautiful idylic spot, I am also very aware that as a guest I have no rights and all she need do is say 'go' and I would be obliged to do so. Not that she has, I am not saying she would either, simply...I know it could happen and that is very unsettling. So I began processing the past thanks to my time here, I have been looked after and virtually retired from hard work and worry for 8 long months now and it has been a healing and lovely experience.
But I need 'my' space, so I am planning, not to be silly or cause myself harm or distress my family, but I am planning, my own life MY way.
Landlords, Landladies..............those who are decent then treasure them, but my own experiences are not so pleasant, greedy, money grabbing and avaricious breed, a contemptible breed. Landlords are not trustworthy in my personal experience and the more money they have, the more they want, the more nasty ways they find to get it. What a breed to belong too.
Go talk with them, they will justify every penny they take, took, are taking, they will have that smarmy 'smiley' serious face that is oh so compassionate and they feel so hard done by...and its a lie, go look into their pasts with the fine tooth comb the media would use, and find the stories they hide, the times they did whatever. Oh I know some of it, the one with the big boat and a bad cocaine habit, the sudden upping of insurance to gain greater loans against a building, the lies and the cheating to do some poor soul out of a few pounds...they all do it. Some Landlords..........those I have come to know rather well..........are rotten to the core.
