madelinekelly

We've got the house.

Based on this experience I never want to buy a house ever again.

The estate agents were dishonest, lazy, patronising and crap. When I pointed out the agent's lies, he acted as if I was the one breaking the rules. I asked three times if the house would empty of all the ex-tenants' junk (they ran off without paying their rent, and left a lot of broken stuff behind), and was assured three times that the house would indeed be empty. Imagine my surprise on Tuesday when I discovered that the house was still full of junk -- even though they knew we were completing on Thursday.

The vendor was a total shithead. Not only did he rent the house out when it was basically uninhabitable (plaster crumbling off the walls, light fittings dangling down by their wires from the ceiling, doors off hinges, walls unpainted, drains blocked, front door broken, gutters coming off, hole in floor, oil leak stinking the place out, boiler unserviced), but he then left it in the same crappy state for us. Nothing's been cleaned, even. On Tuesday we had a look in the fridge, and found an open tin of fish that must've been in there since last July (when the tenants ran away). The toilet is... well, you can imagine, I'm sure.

Oh well.

We're going to spend the day cleaning the whole house. The gas man is coming re-connect the gas and service the boiler. The lime guys are coming to check out the stonework/render and see what they can do (and, more to the point, how much it'll cost). Our chicken-keeping friend is coming to be nosey, as is his wont. Parents are visiting tomorrow, which is why we're cleaning it today.

This is going to be a huge project. I'm itching to get started!