Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => The Dressing Room => Topic started by: Oli on June 13, 2012, 01:41:01 PM
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So I've been living in shared accommodation in Oxford for a year and a half, and our lease is up in November, and I'm wanting to move into a place on my own (having randoms as housemates is always a gamble, which I don't want anymore). This will be my first time moving somewhere on my own, so my question is-- what things do I need to remember and look out for?
I know that I'll have to keep on top of council tax, rent, water, electrics, gas, but I'm sure there are other pitfalls :)
So any handy hints will be appreciated!
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its easy to go a bit funny living on your own - so make sure you see your mates a bit more(!)
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Get things like electricity and gas sorted before you physically move in. When I moved in here it took nearly two weeks to convince British Gas that I was a new resident and they still sent me the bill for the old tenant. Also watch out for places that have electricity or gas on a prepay card meter, you'll need to sort out a card or a new meter before you can get gas.
If you haven't had bills in your name before then some utility companies can get a bit arsey and start asking for deposits from you, shop around a bit.
And expect a mound of letters demanding payments for debts that previous tenants have abandoned - give them back to the postman and ask for them to be all returned to sender.
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Kebab shops,
pizza shops,
chippies,
Indians (do they deliver?),
Chinese,
all night shops (can I get drink/cigarette papers/chocolate at daft o'clock),
a boozer within staggering distance,
bus stop, train station,
can I get back home at 4 am on the bus/train/taxi.
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INVENTORY INVENTORY INVENTORY!!!
I've been burned badly twice by dodgy landlords / estate agents.
When all is said and done, unless you KNOW your landlord, or it's a member of your family at the Estate Agent, then treat them as if they are the most evil, conniving bar-stewardos in the world. Do not, under any circumstance, trust a word they say. The Estate Agents will lie to you and tell you they are on your side until the end of the lease, when they will walk around with the Landlord and bill you for everything they can with a smile on their faces.
Inventory: The Agency / Landlord should give you this. Check it off, but take your time going about it and add things, even small things, that you see: scuffs on the skirting, loose fittings, a cracked mirror etc etc etc. Check everything works, check the taps / shower go to the temperatures they should, check the boiler works and anything electrical / Gas. Also, take pictures! Print them out and take a copy of the pics and the inventory for yourself before sending the signed document back in with a batch of photos for the Agency / Landlord.
If one tiny thing is wrong or missing at the end of your lease, the Agency / Landlord will absolutely try to hammer your deposit for it.
I hate sounding negative, and I'm really sorry if this spooks you, but they are all politicians, mate. They will lie through their teeth to you to get your signature and then will try to bleed you dry the moment something goes wrong, just protect yourself from the outset and you'll be golden. ;)
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All very good points, thanks guys!
gwEm: Yea, i'm going to make sure that i'm social-- unfortunately i've not been as social as perhaps I should have been so far, but I think i've sorted it now :) I would certainly much prefer to have a place of my own rather than have cr@p housemates for a 3rd time!
Frank: I'm expecting to have to deal with the fallout from previous tenants, and that's a good point about the electric meter-- hopefully i'll have somewhere with a meter rather than a card, but if not then i'll try and get them to change it.
Clyde: I think you've nailed all the important ones! Especially the all-night shops-- at the moment it's only 10mins in the car to a 24 hour Tesco, so i'm a bit spoilt for booze/cigs/chocolate (often all 3 at once!)
Nadz: That's a very good idea, I think i'll go for the 'no holds barred' approach and make sure that I get every single thing-- It's good to know what's what before it all happens!
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Yeah dude, no-holds-barred all the way! Agents might think you're slightly crazy or over-cautious when you hand that packet of paperwork and photos over, but at least you will be a very PROTECTED crazy person. :lol:
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its easy to go a bit funny living on your own
What are you trying to say, gwEm? :evil:
:wink:
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I'd also suggest getting a couple of sets of spare keys cut and stashing them at reliable friends or relatives near by. It means if you're away people can check everything's OK (and water the plants etc.) and in the event you get your keys nicked or you lose them you can easily still get access to your flat.
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Slightly different slant from what everyone else has said...
If you're looking at a long-term stay, little things can be important in terms of home comforts: e.g. is there enough storage space for all your stuff? Are there enough power points, in the right places?
They may seem like minor issues, but they never crossed my mind when I first moved. And now that I have a lot more stuff, working out where to keep it all would be a big issue!
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e.g. is there enough storage space for all your stuff?
Philly solved this with bunk beds without a lower bunk...
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e.g. is there enough storage space for all your stuff?
Philly solved this with bunk beds without a lower bunk...
Yeah, just chuck out that second mattress, it wastes a lot of valuable space.
(A quick survey of the local area will usually reveal a skip outside someone's house - perfect for the dumping of unwanted mattresses. In fact that seems to be the primary purpose of all skips....)
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I agree with Nad - photograph everything when you move in - every mark on the wall, the furniture whatever coz this is used as a means of taking your deposit everytime. - Email/put it on cd-rom and give it to the landlord/agent after you have done it as proof.
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And send the dvd/pictures by recorded delivery too.
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I agree with Nad - photograph everything when you move in - every mark on the wall, the furniture whatever coz this is used as a means of taking your deposit everytime. - Email/put it on cd-rom and give it to the landlord/agent after you have done it as proof.
I've fallen foul to that old game before - we left the place 100% cleaner than when we moved in and the landlord had the gall to keep our deposits because he deemed the house still to be dirty and deducted half of everyone's deposit.
I believe that these days private landlords should hold your deposit with some registered third party, can't remember the name, you'll likely stumble upon what I mean by googling about this stuff.
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When I lived on my own, I was always wary of the landlord living downstairs, and I made a point of checking that my kidneys hadn't been removed each morning.
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All excellent advice.
I'd especially agree with the inventory stuff - if only to give you piece of mind when you're nearing moving out again.
When we bought recently, we were moving out of a place that I'd been renting for ten years. It was in a "only a bloke would rent this" state when I moved in, and we (me and the agent) never managed to get the inventory taken because of the amount of cr@p that was there that we had to ship back to the landlord halfway through the first year. Because of this "no inventory" I'd pretty much written off the deposit. Especially because the some of the wear-and-tear was actually accidents from us. It was a bit of a p1ss-off though.
I actually got a very pleasant surprise from the current folk at the Estate Agent when I handed in notice, though. A) They were very sad to see us go - we were top of the list in the reliable tenants chart, B) Their view was "ten years wear-and-tear, landlord never done any maintenance, no inventory = tuff sh1t on the landlord (and luckily we weren't working here when that was missed!)", and C) The landlord then proceeded to p1ss them off big time over future rent expectations and not wanting the place empty during renovation.
Yes, our deposit was in escrow or whatever it's called, and had been for a couple of years (the Estate Agent started doing this recently). Any disputes were likely to have been decided "fairly". The landlord had x days after we moved out to say "I want...". On receipt of that, we would have had x days to say "but...", and then the 3rd party body would make a binding decision based on the information they've received from us, the agent, and the landlord.
However, none of this came to pass for us. The landlord had p1ssed the agent off so much that, during the check-out, he said to me "well, she's shot herself in the foot trying to decorate before you moved out - as far as I'm concerned I can't charge you for any damage, nor for any cleaning. At the most, you ought to be liable for our time in this visit... I dunno, I'll see what I can do. I'll put in a report to say that everything is exactly as should be - next people you'll hear from should be our accounts department..."
A week later I got a call, and the accounts lady told me that I was getting the whole lot back (even the checkout fee, in the contract, was waived) and what were my bank details so that she could pay it? And then she went on to say how sorry she'd be not to have our account anymore (it appears she's the only person who'd been there all that time and so had dealt with my stuff from the begining) - I was the only tenant she'd never had to chase!
All this might be all very heart-warming to hear about, but I am aware that we had a particularly easy ride. I understand that - as long as it's being done according to the "regulations"(!) - this side of renting is getting smoother. Not sure I believe it, but we did have a good experience. Our Estate Agents turned out to be "good guys" - they weren't always, though. They were pretty naff over the years!
However, what is not included here is all the angst and heart-burn I went through (over the course of several years, at each contract renewal, leading up to us finally leaving). This would have been considerably less if I'd thought I was sat on any evidence that showed what we believed we were responsible for damaging and what we believed we weren't responsible for.
As it turned out, it was wasted angst (we didn't even pay for the stuff I would have coughed up for because I did it!), but a decent inventory and supporting evidence would have made me feel a whole lot more secure.
Anyway, good luck :D - living on your own is BRILLIANT - don't let anyone tell you you'll go crazy, they're the crazy ones and they're all out to get you, it's true, they are! :lol:
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Cheers for this, what are people's experiences like of shared accommodation?
When I start uni I'll be with 3 to 6 people, I got to pick which type of people to live with but I just picked the middle option for everything as I didn't want flat mates who'd stay in and be boring all the time.
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I'd go for single sex.
Women have a different view of "clean enough" than men - neither's wrong nor right, just different, it creates endless hastle.
You end up sleeping with all the members of the opposite sex that live in the place, this also creates endless hastle.
Mixed sex has good points as well. So if you end up in a mixed sex place - try and think like a girl over cleaning, and try not to knob anybody who lives there, you'll be so much happier in the long run.
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what are people's experiences like of shared accommodation?
A mix of misery, bickering, childish sulks, unpaid bills, filthy fridges, noisy sexual activities and someone's girlfriend microwaving her knickers to kill the yeast.
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...someone's girlfriend microwaving her knickers to kill the yeast.
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Yup...that's where Marmite comes from... :?
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Cheers for this, what are people's experiences like of shared accommodation?
When I start uni I'll be with 3 to 6 people, I got to pick which type of people to live with but I just picked the middle option for everything as I didn't want flat mates who'd stay in and be boring all the time.
though initially worried about shared accommodation, I've been sharing since I left home (not sure when that was now, maybe 10 years?) and its brilliant. obviously you have to move in with the right peeps, but i really like that outside influence. and it stops me going peculiar which is good. mixed sex all the way i reckon - 50/50 split if possible.
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Cheers for this, what are people's experiences like of shared accommodation?
When I start uni I'll be with 3 to 6 people, I got to pick which type of people to live with but I just picked the middle option for everything as I didn't want flat mates who'd stay in and be boring all the time.
terrible was my experience, get to know them first! ask if anyone is an insomniac (most important question) you want to live somewhere where you can sleep and eat safely, also never pay rent until the landlord fixes the house, make a rotor for washing up etc, you will ALWAYS get one person who does no jobs and expects everyone to clean for them. Don't live with druggies, hippies or alcoholics who go out leaving the front door unlocked whilst you are asleep :D
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^ this :lol:
And the problem is, you'll be thinking someone is doing no jobs, or whatever else is annoying... and they'll be thinking the same about you... :lol:
Several people are concerned about going "peculiar" if you live on your own, and maybe you do, but overall (having experienced both) I'd rather risk going peculiar myself!
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^ this :lol:
And the problem is, you'll be thinking someone is doing no jobs, or whatever else is annoying... and they'll be thinking the same about you... :lol:
Several people are concerned about going "peculiar" if you live on your own, and maybe you do, but overall (having experienced both) I'd rather risk going peculiar myself!
I think I got very unlucky in my case, the guy above my room was an insomniac and there was about 30cm or floor space with no insulation so when he moved it sounded like a hammer on the ceiling lol don't know how I coped looking back