Jan McNulty Posted November 27, 2013 Share Posted November 27, 2013 Or 202 so it reads the same backwards as well (like 101)? That's better Lin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porthesia Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 My teeth, having had two extracted over the last two weeks, am still in discomfort and joy of joys am having a filling tomorrow. In my next life I just want good teeth! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Germs! I feel horrible and our lovely Spanner is trying not to succumb to them too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 I'm not sure the main motive is to save time - I'm pretty sure it's to cut staffing costs by eliminating the need for check-out personnel. I've also been the victim of self-service checkouts a couple of times and am surprised the experience hasn't caused a stroke. In fact I wouldn't actually mind having to stock the shelves - I like to think, with all due modesty - that at least they would be stocked with some degree of logic. Mushrooms lurking furtively between the grapes and the apples - why????? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Apologies - post no. 433 was supposed to be in reply to post no. 425! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 One trick I've found with self-service checkouts is never to tell them you have your own bags: it seems to cause a variety of problems. Instead, I make sure that the item I scan first is something where the checkout doesn't know its precise weight (say a newspaper, magazine, bag of fruit or similar), then just put that in the bag and put both in the bagging area. It usually works. Otherwise I get really annoyed when halfway through the machine suddenly tells me there's something unauthorised in the bagging area when I haven't even touched anything. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Certain estate agents. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Oh Fiz, I do sympathise. I am having to deal with that particular breed at the moment. I have never found an estate agent I like (yet). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I like ours very much indeed but the one our vendors are dealing with is a real PITA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Reality TV shows. The judges in Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor are ludicrous. It supposed to be about talent, not a "journey"! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I'm about to put Artem in room 202 But agree..... How could Craig give artem and natalie an 8 for that dance tonight!! They haven't been given as many 10's as deserved in this competition. I do like Abby as well but they seem to be particularly hard on Artem......and he's my favourite Professional !! Sorry to hear about your Estate Agent woes Fiz hope the house sales are all going through okay. We were in Lincoln for the first time the other day and did really like the city a lot. The only thing for me is the surrounding countryside not that inspiring but wonderfully empty roads at least a bit like driving in France!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 I have never found an estate agent I like (yet). I've found two . In 20-odd years. Unfortunately, neither of them were the one we were trying to sell my mum's bungalow through (originally). I kept wondering were they working for me or for the buyer? Not a nice position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2dancersmum Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 Chancel repair liability - 500 year old law that means people who bought their properties before 2002 (when a change to property law was brought in) could be liable for repairs to their local church and have value lost from their properties as when they come to sell these properties have notification of this liability on their deeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 I am currently trying to sell my mother's house. After 3 weeks on the market, and masses of viewings, the feedback was that it needed too much work and was overpriced. In spite of the fact that I questioned very closely the value put on it, and asked whether I should do some work first. A week ago my brother accepted an offer 40k below the asking price....and we haven't had a peep out of the buyers since. No solicitor details exchanged, no queries, nothing. And I have to keep ringing up our agents for information - they should be calling me, not the other way round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 In a similar situation a few years back I was advised NOT to do work on the house as you could spend a fortune and then the buyer comes in and changes it all anyway. They advised me to sell and marginally under the rate for similar properties in top condition because in the end better to attract a buyer who wants to take on the work. Best of luck though buying and selling houses is extremely stressful in my experience!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 I believe estate agents are required to pass on to the vendor every offer made, even if they suspect (or know) that the offer is from a time-waster. Sadly there are some strange people whose hobby it is to view houses for sale and make an offer, without any intention of actually buying the property. I've been the victim of this in the past and it's truly annoying. One such incident that sticks most clearly in my mind is when I was selling a house while working night duty - one week on and one week off. During the weeks off I was away house-hunting and I gave the estate agents a diary of my shifts and a key so they could show potential buyers round in my absence. One morning I was fast asleep at about midday when the bedroom door opened and in came the estate agent and a couple of viewers. Apologies and explanations - I got up to make tea and the viewing went ahead. Back to bed, only to be awoken an hour later by the couple who offered the asking price for the house. Pleased and relieved I gave up on sleep and got ready for work. Two weeks went by and nothing more was heard. Rang the estate agents who said, "Oh, they were never serious; they're a couple of our regular time-wasters". Well, thanks for telling me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted December 1, 2013 Share Posted December 1, 2013 How ridiculous what is the matter with people!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 I believe estate agents are required to pass on to the vendor every offer made, even if they suspect (or know) that the offer is from a time-waster. Sadly there are some strange people whose hobby it is to view houses for sale and make an offer, without any intention of actually buying the property. I've been the victim of this in the past and it's truly annoying. They are, although I'd have thought they could have warned you verbally that past experience suggests you shouldn't get your hopes up. Fonty, my sympathies - I know what you mean. On the other hand, older parents' houses are often in need of major modernisation, and that can cause problems. Things like fitting double-glazing, central heating and so on might, it seems to me, be worth doing: things which are regarded as "necessary" but not a matter of taste. I had my ratty old kitchen replaced a year or so before I sold my flat, and went for something not too cheap, but rather more neutral than I would have chosen if I'd been staying. It looked very nice, and I think helped to sell the place, but I balked at replacing the bathroom: if I replaced like for like, the prospective purchaser would be bound to want a flashy shower instead of a bath, or vice versa. I was looking at a property online last night, and went "That needs gutting. We can't afford to pay that much for something that needs that much work on it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porthesia Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 Estate agents should really be at the top of the list and to think I went out with one - lucky escape! When we sold my mother's house there was a deal on that if they didn't sell the house within a certain period, then we paid less. The thing was it was difficult to prove when they started marketing the house. There were some documents with some suspicious dates on them but too distressed over mom's death, so we paid the higher rate in the end - especially after a few threatening phone calls to me from the "bully". head of branch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted December 2, 2013 Share Posted December 2, 2013 When we sold my mother's house there was a deal on that if they didn't sell the house within a certain period, then we paid less. The thing was it was difficult to prove when they started marketing the house. There were some documents with some suspicious dates on them but too distressed over mom's death, so we paid the higher rate in the end - especially after a few threatening phone calls to me from the "bully". head of branch. Yes, I have been on the receiving end of some bullying from estate agents in the past. One member of the branch agreed to sell our old flat for a certain percentage. When the documents came, the charges were double what had been verbally agreed. I rang up, and was subjected to a barrage of "assertive" talk by the senior partner of the firm, trying to force me to accept. I refused, and got the original price, but I was upset by it. I'm afraid estate agents have just been replaced by a new breed - Solicitors. Conveyancing solicitors, to be precise. I have had several quotes, and there is a huge difference between them. Considering it is the sale of a freehold property with no mortgage and no chain, the work involved should be minimal. Having got several quotes, I have now discovered I am obliged to use the solicitors handling my mother's estate. And guess what? They charge twice as much as everyone else. They did NOT point that out to me when I was deciding whether to appoint them as executors or not. And unlike the others, they do not do a No Sale No Fee job. Oh no, if the buyer pulls out they charge a fee "commensurate with the work done on the client's behalf". Hah! And why is the cost based as a percentage of the cost of the property? Is there any more work involved in selling a freehold property for £650k than one for £450? I think not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted December 3, 2013 Author Share Posted December 3, 2013 Estate agents should really be at the top of the list and to think I went out with one - lucky escape! I divorced one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 So our vendors wanted us to move on the 13th Dec. We thought it a stretch but I got off the sofa where I spent most of last week and went back to packing and worried about how I was going to tell my mother that we probably weren't going to be able to have them over at Christmas. We finished the current consignment of boxes and my husband rang our removal company to ask them for more and to collect the full boxes into store, and how were they fixed for a pre-Christmas moving date...They can't move us until after Christmas as trade has exploded since August. Oh. However, it gets better. Our vendor's solicitor has been hopeless and not met any of the list of requirements our solicitor sent and neither have the vendors effected any of the minor repairs our survey picked up. We have fallen over backwards to comply with them. When my husband rang to tell the estate agent we could not move till the New Year and why, she said "So change your removal firm!". Words fail me! We have things in store with them, at no charge. Is it me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Just when you think you've seen it all, and those with a weak stomach please don't read further. Came home very late last night after the opera and a trip to the pub afterwards and was walking along my road after midnight, a busy A road by the way, when I spotted a young man hovering on the pavement looking at something in the road. At first I thought he might had dropped his bag as he dodged the traffic but as I drew nearer I could hear him giggling as he stepped into the road to take a photo on his i phone of what I realized with horror was a dead cat. The poor thing was in two pieces its insides being a couple of feet distant from its body and this ghoul thought it appropriate not just to take a picture but to giggle as he did so. Sick!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thecatsmother Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 People who install wood flooring in flats with no soundproofing pre building regulations change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmendrick Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Just when you think you've seen it all, and those with a weak stomach please don't read further. Came home very late last night after the opera and a trip to the pub afterwards and was walking along my road after midnight, a busy A road by the way, when I spotted a young man hovering on the pavement looking at something in the road. At first I thought he might had dropped his bag as he dodged the traffic but as I drew nearer I could hear him giggling as he stepped into the road to take a photo on his i phone of what I realized with horror was a dead cat. The poor thing was in two pieces its insides being a couple of feet distant from its body and this ghoul thought it appropriate not just to take a picture but to giggle as he did so. Sick!! That's genuinely disturbing. I would like to include irritatingly vague guidelines for coursework and not being given a markscheme so I have no idea if what I'm writing is right or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Michael Buble's music. I'm sure he's a lovely bloke but I swear every shop I have walked in to this week has been playing his music and it is awful. Truly awful. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 People who install wood flooring in flats with no soundproofing pre building regulations change., we Or who just take up the carpets when there are floorboards underneath. My former neighbours did it: they had family round the next day and I remember thinking the enfolk were being awfully loud. It was only when I spotted the old carpet outside the flat that I realised it wasn't a temporary situation . After that, we could hear significant portions of actual conversations - and worse. Not to mention the kids running around in outdoor shoes when they came to visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Or who just take up the carpets when there are floorboards underneath. My former neighbours did it: they had family round the next day and I remember thinking the enfolk were being awfully loud. It was only when I spotted the old carpet outside the flat that I realised it wasn't a temporary situation . After that, we could hear significant portions of actual conversations - and worse. Not to mention the kids running around in outdoor shoes when they came to visit. That is extremely antisocial. I remember when we lived in a flat, the guy upstairs had no carpet down, and we could hear everything. And I mean everything. He had a small dog, and it sounded like the Hound of the Baskervilles pounding about. We wrote him a polite note, and he did put carpet down which solved the problem. However, the poor guy actually received a complaint about noise from the people above him. They complained to the council that he played his music too loud, but when the council checked with us, we said quite truthfully that we couldn't hear it. Turned out the people above had removed all floor coverings and had polished up the original floor boards. He said he felt he was actually living with them. And the extraordinary thing was, the council upheld their complaint and told him not to play his music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
along for the ride mum Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) Fox poo! Or more specifically mutley's insistence on rolling in it :-( Edited December 8, 2013 by along for the ride mum 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 People who turn up unannounced, sent by our buyers to check various things, including 11.00 this morning, just as I was about to have a shower! It is bad mannered and inconsiderate. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 That is extremely antisocial. I remember when we lived in a flat, the guy upstairs had no carpet down, and we could hear everything. And I mean everything. My sympathies - yuck . But I'm afraid everyone's doing it these days, with no consideration for those they share a building with - they just want the place to look modern and smart, and carpets are *so* last century. It used to be that leases banned you from taking up floor coverings for precisely that reason, but they seem to have gone by the board now. Turned out the people above had removed all floor coverings and had polished up the original floor boards. He said he felt he was actually living with them. Yup - I know that feeling too, I'm afraid. In the bedroom, the lounge ... I am so glad I'm out of there now - my home didn't feel like my home any longer, because I felt I was sharing it with them, all the time - I used to long for them to go out/on holiday/away for the weekend just so I could get some privacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Alison, I have a flat that is the middle one of three in a conversion. We have just had the leases rewritten (for some complicated reason that I won't go into). However, although it has not been a problem, I thought now would be a good time to include a phrase along the lines of "floor coverings such as carpet or something that provides equal prevention of noise to those below" and asked the solicitor to put it into legal jargon. You would not believe the irritation it seemed to cause the owners of the other flats. The flat above got quite offended, and thought I was accusing them of being noisy (I wasn't, and they aren't). The owner of the flat below is actually paying for the legal work, and thought I was being nit picky and costing her extra money. That was until I had to have some work done on my central heating pipes, which meant I had to have the carpet taken up. She realised just how intimate she and I would be if I took up the carpet permanently. Then she sided with me, and insisted on the inclusion. I have yet to see the final phrase - I do hope it is legally binding and perfectly obvious to any future buyers. . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Owners that let their dogs bark outside for hours on end and keep them in the garden at night despite bad weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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