Well,
we've seen the house and I've said a provisional "yes", but I still
have certain misgivings that I will go into shortly.
As I had
said I would, I called the other agents that were advertising the house. I
explained the situation to her and she said that she was happy for us to view
the house with the other agents and to get back to her. She even gave me
her mobile phone number to facilitate this.
Now I
will go into a little bit of the background about the agents that we were seeing
the house with today.
This is
the same firm that let Julie's mum's house. The woman that Glenys was dealing
with would regularly telephone Glenys and issue orders about what she had to do
and when by. It got to the stage where I actually had to write to them to
remind them that they were working for Glenys, not the other way round.
The
tenants that were in the house would regularly not pay their rent, usually
because they wanted something done, but when Glenys tried to organise anything
or gain access to the house, they would be very awkward. And the agents always
seemed to side with the tenants.
The final
straw was when Glenys received a letter informing her that the tenants had
given their notice, moved out and the agents had found new tenants. None of
this had been discussed with Glenys.
So these
were the people that I was dealing with. Drew and I arrived at the house about
fifteen minutes early and I immediately noticed a "For Sale"
sign outside, which caused me some concern as I didn't want to be taking on a
short-term lease.
The agent
arrived about five minutes after us. We got out of the car, introduced
ourselves and then he handed each of us the sales literature. This set off a
few alarms and I asked if he was aware that we were looking to rent the house,
not buy it. He wasn't. In fact, he had nothing to do with the lettings, only
the sales.
However,
he let us in, informing us that the family that were living there were moving
out this weekend (even though I'd been told the 8th when I telephoned).
The agent seemed very confused and asked if we were happy to show ourselves
around whilst he made some phone calls. I think that he was also expecting some
other people to view the property.
Drew and
I walked around, and although the property was smaller than it appeared in the pictures,
we both felt that it could be home. The only downside was the fact that it was
for sale as well.
When I
spoke with the agent, he informed me that the house had been rented for the
last 5 years, but the landlord wanted to sell and therefore was renting
it out in the meantime, for a six month lease. Drew and I thanked him for his
time and left.
A little
later I telephoned the other agent and told her that we were interested but
that I had concerns about the fact that the property was also for sale. She
told me that the landlord wanted to sell the property as an investment; the
person buying the property wouldn't move in, but would continue to let the
property. So, yes, the initial lease would be for six months, but it would then
be a rolling twelve month one. However, she couldn't guarantee this, although
she was sure that this was the case.
On that
basis I have said yes. She is phoning the landlord today and I will be going
into her office on Tuesday to set the ball rolling.
I also
telephoned the original agents to tell them that I wasn't
interested and took the opportunity to point out that in future perhaps
they need to communicate more, as their agent at the property was the sales
agent, who had nothing to do with lettings, and that I hadn't been informed
that the house was also up for sale. The person who answered phone assured
me that if I had decided to take the property, it would have been taken off the
market and sounded very surprised when I told him what I had been told earlier
about it being a six month let.
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