General Chat

I've been 'de-energised' lol...

went over at weekend to discover the power was off ( it had just been upgraded etc so should have been fine) eletrician came today , no power being supplied... call to electric co, and eventually discovered they had cut the power unannounced when they read the meter on Friday .One dept having failed to check with
the other that the place was now 'occupied'..

but all will be well i will be "Re-energised" on Tuesday lol

Just as well as with the dark days I can't see the paper to strip it .

Good luck for Monday - hope electrician makes good progress.
Talk soon. J*

Day ...whatever it is in the buy to let house :)

Not been able to get on as fast as I would like but spent all day Thurs and today over there, had help from two mates of son ( teens) and they really worked hard at stripping paper, and also carting down the huge solid wood wardrobe and negotiating it over banister etc...gold stars all round for that!

Guy knocked on the door today...'gardener' ...lol, if someone calls crocosmia "the grassy thing" and a hydrangea "the flowery thing" then you know they AREN'T a gardener ;) but I did let him strim the patch of grass at front, and cut a bit back, just to let the electrician who comes on Monday have a bit more space to get round.

So Monday is 'Buzz' the electrician ( ' to infinity and beyond... ' hopefully not the bill lol) ...

xx

Well Rose you have taken on a hard road to hoe.

We have 5 rental properties on the basis if tennants move out of one the other four carry on paying (as that is our income). We have a property manager who does the three monthly inspections etc and we have had to take rough with the smooth. Our previous Property Manager has sold his business to our latest one and things have improved.
Previous manager - was obviously not watching what was going on as we had to revamp the bathroom - the shower had sunk and any longer and it would have been down on the earth below. The shower step rotten and everything in a generally bad state. This could have all been prevented if he had stepped in early enough and we might have only ended up having to maybe replace the shower step and not walls etc. Quite a costly exercise.

Our best tennants are from Iraq and they keep their place absolutely spotless, so we let them have their place for less rent.

Carpets: the murkier looking colours the better.
Don't go for ceramic topped hob if you can help it either.

Whatever you do make sure you get good references from prospective tennants and check them out thoroughly.

Good Luck

Persey.

Mummo...I'm shattered lol.... I don't think I have ever felt so grubby lol...

xx

Keep up the good work Rose, lol.

Day two in the buy to let house....

Today was 'interesting' lol, the plumber / gas fitter could not get the water on as the stop cock has set rigid after two years... needs the stop cock replacing which entails turning off at the mains outside...which can't be done because of rubbish build up...so the water co need to clear it out before anything else can happen...

The gas boiler is ancient and needs replacing ( don't ask how much...faints... ) but the good news is that moving its location will be easy and more convenient from all aspects... ( extra good news is that there are no gas leaks in house) .

I stripped out more carpet and found that under it in the kitchen , the tiles were so old that they came up perfectly with a flick of a scraper :)) very satisfying that .

Now phoning round electricians...lights work , sockets don't and the fuse board needs updating...please cross your fingers that the whole place does not need rewiring ( faints again) .

There is woodchip on the ceiling, gloss on the walls (over textured paper) , I have never seen so many nails driven into walls as picture 'hooks' ( pulled out at least 30 , more to go) and holes with rawl plugs in that must have supported something....speakers? every room.... but..............

The hydrangea outside the front door is beautiful and the nice neighbours made me a cuppa :) lol so Nil Desperandum !

Good luck with this venture! Hope D soon feeling better.

Will pm you shortly. J*

'Day one in the buy to let house'.....

10 -3 ish...spent pulling up carpets that were not fresh to say the least!

Spoke to neighbour and found out that the house has actually been empty for two years! One good thing is that despite that , there are no signs of damp :)

bad news is that the stopcock was turned off so long ago it is immoveable...so can't do much without running water. have left it soaking in WD40 in the hope that it will unlock...if not it is down to getting a plumber to cut pipe and replace...so glad to get home and get washed!

Son is not well.... so no use at all bless him and he's so fed up because he was raring to go at it...fingers crossed its just a cold and will go off soon! ( and that he doesn't pass it to me!)

xx

Thanks all ( was watching Dr Who ...again lol )

I do know what you mean about the carpet ...but it has brown in at the moment in hall and lounge and it drains the light horribly... the one I have here is not cheap but it does clean remarkably well and came from the carpet shop just near new place so might be worth it , especially if I can get a good deal for having it throughout....except bathroom and kitchen, going for lino there.


I think it mainly depends on how much the gas and electric might cost to update...the budget is what you might call tight lol
xx

oh good luck rose id defo go for neutral colours but not to light on the carpets, laminate flooring may be a better idea lol xxx

Good Luck with it Rose.

We have a few houses which we let and on the whole have been very lucky and only had one really bad tenant....half the problem was that we also had a bad Agent at the time, who did nothing except take their cut from the money, no checks done etc.
I dumped the Agent and got rid of the tenant (having gone to a solicitor for advice on what to do about both). Spent a lot of money doing the house up again (it had previously been my home, and my very first house purchase, so I was particularly upset) but it all came right in the end.

However, as Letting Agents go, both good and bad have tended to ignore the clause in the contract which states that the garden must be kept in a reasonable state. I would advise you to put the garden into as simple a style as possible - bearing in mind that unless they are keen gardeners, your tenant is unlikely to touch it, clause or no clause.

Another bit of advice, magnolia walls are fine, but try to go darker with the carpet. I know you want it to look nice, but remember, it's not you who will be living there, it could be someone with children, muddy shoes, etc etc - go with as dark a carpet as poss!!

Good luck.

K.

Hello Rose .........sounds like you have some hard graft ahead of you..........lol

I hope all your plans work out well . Good luck with your venture : ))

Thankyou Mummo :)) I am in for many weeks of stripping first methinks .... will go in tomorrow and take the 'before' photos :)

xx

Well done Rose, hope you have many years of happy letting, lol.

I have the keys! It has all gone through and I picked keys up late this afternoon...so tomorrow going over to have a really good look at what I've bought and start work!

Wooohoooo!

Hi Cat, I am looking at light to make it look bigger , but mottled lol, that won't show the dirt too much :)

xx

Word of advice Rose. Re, carpets, keep it neutral but go for a darker colour than cream, if at all possible. I got cream for the stairs, big mistake lol

deletion , as posted twice...this is happening all the time lately on here

xx

lol Merlin, reckon it may be a good idea if I go to son's kick boxing place and pick out some likely candidates for strong arm stuff ? ;)

but will stick with the legal method if at all possible of course! :))

xx