what kind of landlord do you have?? after having another bad-courier-experience(although this time it was not his fault nor mine- just he arrived at a most inconvenient time...) i am in the mood for a good whine. indulge me.

so back to the topic....


our landlady is one of the most dense creatures we have had the misfortune to deal with. she is descended from unacknowledged royalty - or so she seems to think.

we have sidestepped meeting her at every corner. the one time my hubby had to speak to her on the phone he was so annoyed(a tap was not working- he told her about it and she said:'are you sure you are using it correctly?' ) he reckoned its best to just never meet her. he prefers using emails - this way all correspondence is recorded and she cannot change or deny things.

initially she wanted to let out the place with some weird assortments of paraphenalia in one of the garages...mowers/pots of paint/an old iron kettle / tools all over the walls etc etc etc etc. well we demanded she remove them and after giving us a hard time she took them down.

there are other things she insisted we leave up - i shall go into those some other time...

now our biggest gripe with her is over the damned garden. she is obsessed with the garden. it is about 12m X 8m. hardly what i would call: big. anyway our garden was immaculate when we first moved in. cluttered with some weird stuff like a concrete bench in one corner with bushy-tailed concrete squirrels holding them up, a trellis on one side, an arbor on the other, a wendy house in a corner, some parts are crazy-paved, some are covered in shingle and there is a wee patch of grass, a giant big green kind of conifer thing that grows outwards rather than up- it monopolises the centre-ish part of the garden. the back wall has roses on it, some other creepy tree and a bloody wisteria too!!! whilst it was cluttered it was clutter in a very neat order- not a weed was to be seen, no windows were obscured by the plants....we figured it would be kept this way. foolish foolish.

we have had to suffer 3 different gardners in the time we have been here....they refuse to keep to the days as stipulated in our contract and pitch up as and when they wish. not suitable for me or him. i might want to swing upside down naked while eating a crepe. i dont want an audience or the noise of a lawnmower while im doing it.

she is even more obsessed with the wisteria. it is her pride and joy. nevermind that it obstructs the window and causes a greeny mould to grow on the windows!!! i cant understand why anyone with a brain cell would plant a creeper along a wall that is punctuated with big windows, double sliding doors.

obviously if we clash with her over the wisteria we may prompt a definite parting of the ways. we were happy to sign in the lease that we would not cut the trees- obviously we assumed it would be kept meticulously like when we first saw it. at the moment we are not keen to move... we took this place as i lived elsewhere as did my hubby. it was hard for both of us to find the time away from work to look for a place....

the gardener absconded for 3 weeks and then last thursday they pitched up at 5:20pm for 40 minutes! hubby emailed her and to this day we have had not one word from her. we figure the gardeners pitched due to their panicking over her coming to visit the garden on saturday. her mission was to pay the gardener and go plant a wisteria at her friend's place across the road!

i dont get this wisteria rubbish. why are we supposed to tolerate her decisions!!! we understand that she has emotional attachments to this place- apparently her mom lived here and probably died here too!

yeah you only find out stuff AFTER you move in.


grrrrr!!!! hubby says she looks like 'Babb's cabs' but sounds like 'Tubbs' from The League Of Gentlemen. she wears these huge floral dresses with a string of pearls and speaks in a booming offish voice. ugh.

[sleepydove]

Sorry to hear about your landlord!

My landlord is great - but she's my friend and I live with her so it's not as though I can avoid her.

[iain]

god - landlords can be b*stards.

when i was a student in Glasgow we stayed in a particular flat - private let not through an agency.

when it came to moving out the landlord moaned about everything - even stuff that wasn't our fault.

for example, in my room there was a sideboard with a nasty mirror on it - so i'd taken it off and kept it in the hall cupboard the whole time we were there. when it came to moving out there were brown speckles on the mirror - couldn't really remember if they'd been there at all when we moved in. anyway, the landlord said it was down to damp (presumably from the decidedly damp free cupboard...) and that I'd have to pay for a new mirror.

suspecting that this was in fact bollocks we took the mirror to a glazier to ask what it was. *oh - its a chemical reaction caused by the coating on the back of the mirror - nothing to do with damp* got them to write a note to that effect, and showed it to the landlord. *rubbish* he said, and gave us his own personal glazier's number. so we took it there...*oh - its a chemical reaction caused by the coating on the back of the mirror - nothing to do with damp* got them to write a note to that effect, and showed it to the landlord.

he still wouldn't accept this tho' and insisted i'd still have to pay. when he was at the flat i got slightly argumentative with him about it - he's 6' plus and i'm a short arse - when, and i'll never forget this, he turned round to me (having previously turned his back) and bellowed at me : *be quiet. i've looked into your past and your future is already in jeopordy!*

the other best one was a wooden door in another room - you know the sort - four sunken panels. he *reckoned* we'd marked the door and so would have to get a new one. it was obvious to anyone this was simply the grain of the wood. so yes, we took the door down to a furniture place and got a note from them saying as much.

also had a few candle wax stains in a carpet which we hadn't got out at the time of one of their dawn raids near the end of the tenancy. i was explaining to the landlord's wife about how it had been an accident, and that we'd get rid of them before we left, when the landlord's son (aged about 10) piped up with *yes, but all accidents are preventable!* in a manner typical of a precocious 10 year old.

and who do you suppose that kid was?

none of than Darius.

them were the days...

anyway, rant over - but it still makes my blood boil when i think about it.

Iain

shucks iain...i can see myself going to jail if my landlady ever tries stuff like that. ooooh i get soooo mad at these morons. soooo mad.

we had an 'intense' inventory done when we moved in. the lady who did it was so professional i wished she was my best friend. she noted the scratches, the flaws, the cracks, the shabby handmade curtains(well i dont know how anyone can use a sewing machine and come up with such awful curtains- she refused to allow us to take them down), the little flaws to carpets here and there. everything was noted. when she condensed it all and made a report, our beloved babb'scabs was most indignant claiming that the inventory lady was wrong. haha.

the thing is we could not have known that she would be so insane and that she would pitch up to pay the gardener on saturday and say: 'im ever so pleased with the work you are doing, thank you so much, im so fortunate to have you' to the gardener who just didnt pitch for 3 weeks and then pitched on thurs inconveniencing me!!!

next time we renew the lease, if we stay, we can ask for stronger terms but heck....if she keeps up this shoddy professionalism we will probably have to move.

as far as your ex-landlord, i hope you paid him back. karmically speaking that is. what a nasty horrid person.

i have had some utterly moronic landlords. when i lived overseas we had a landlord who was chairman of the wildlife society. he was also a property developer. again...something you learn AFTER you move in. he made us sign in the lease that we would neither plant nor uproot anything. he left the garden to look like a bloody wasteland. he wanted to plant indigenous plants only - to attract indigenous insects only - to attract indigenous birds only.

just to spite him i planted carnations. haha. he hated roses- oh no they are exotics!!! ghastly things!!

he used to pitch with his wife who resembled a supernerd complete with thick glasses and 1980's style dress. they would 'tend' the garden and pollute it with ever more insiduous plants. ugh.

he even wanted to plant a roof garden. what an idiot! it was a subtropical climate- would he come to kill the giant bugs that would emerge from all that soil and vegetation on the roof??!!!

landlords are usually scum. no matter how educated or common or superficially 'nice' they usually end up showing their true scummy colours.

[PamelaL]

Originally Posted by iain

<snip>
and who do you suppose that kid was?

none of than Darius.

them were the days...

anyway, rant over - but it still makes my blood boil when i think about it.

Iain

Fantastic tale.

Once an officious precocious condescending prat, always an officious precocious condescending prat.

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring

our landlady is one of the most dense creatures we have had the misfortune to deal with. she is descended from unacknowledged royalty - or so she seems to think.

That is a general trait with landlords/ladies, they seem to think *they* are doing *you* the favour by renting you a place, whereas in fact they are a business of which you are a customer.

I've never met one (even resonably OK ones like my current one) who didn't have this sort of attitude.

[sleepydove]

Most of my friends are students and rent and I don't know a single person who has had a problem with their landlord.

[_Ash_]

Originally Posted by iain

when he was at the flat i got slightly argumentative with him about it

You, argumentative.......no.....I'd never have thought that

[blueblade]

As a student I rented a flat jointly with another student. When it got to the time for moving out, he had to depart fairly swiftly because of a family problem, and I was left to settle with the landlord. When he came round the flat, he pointed to a crack in the bathroom hand basin and accused me of doing it. Knowing that it had been there all along, I told him so. But he then started getting aggressive and told me not to contradict him ~ wanted me to pay for a replacement, and stormed off in what I believe was mock temper. Pretty obviously he was trying to find ways to hold onto all or part of the bond payable in advance.

As luck would have it my flat mate was actually in possession of a dated note left by the previous tenant, pointing out the problems of the flat ~ the cracked basin being one of them. So I took it round to him, and he eventually accepted it, although I think at first he thought we'd faked it.

[Missy-em]

I have to say my Landlord is a saint! Garden is lovely and kept that way, they fix anything thats broken in minutes (He lives a few doors down.) And we never really see them except the odd neighbourly exchange. They are lovely people. I feel a bit Guilty reading these. I think I might take him a bottle of wine round!

[iain]

Originally Posted by _Ash_

You, argumentative.......no.....I'd never have thought that

yup - on points of principle, i'll always stand my ground....

Iain

[oulandy]

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring

what kind of landlord do you have?? after having another bad-courier-experience(although this time it was not his fault nor mine- just he arrived at a most inconvenient time...) i am in the mood for a good whine. indulge me.

so back to the topic....


our landlady is one of the most dense creatures we have had the misfortune to deal with. she is descended from unacknowledged royalty - or so she seems to think.

we have sidestepped meeting her at every corner. the one time my hubby had to speak to her on the phone he was so annoyed(a tap was not working- he told her about it and she said:'are you sure you are using it correctly?' ) he reckoned its best to just never meet her. he prefers using emails - this way all correspondence is recorded and she cannot change or deny things.

initially she wanted to let out the place with some weird assortments of paraphenalia in one of the garages...mowers/pots of paint/an old iron kettle / tools all over the walls etc etc etc etc. well we demanded she remove them and after giving us a hard time she took them down.

there are other things she insisted we leave up - i shall go into those some other time...

now our biggest gripe with her is over the damned garden. she is obsessed with the garden. it is about 12m X 8m. hardly what i would call: big. anyway our garden was immaculate when we first moved in. cluttered with some weird stuff like a concrete bench in one corner with bushy-tailed concrete squirrels holding them up, a trellis on one side, an arbor on the other, a wendy house in a corner, some parts are crazy-paved, some are covered in shingle and there is a wee patch of grass, a giant big green kind of conifer thing that grows outwards rather than up- it monopolises the centre-ish part of the garden. the back wall has roses on it, some other creepy tree and a bloody wisteria too!!! whilst it was cluttered it was clutter in a very neat order- not a weed was to be seen, no windows were obscured by the plants....we figured it would be kept this way. foolish foolish.

we have had to suffer 3 different gardners in the time we have been here....they refuse to keep to the days as stipulated in our contract and pitch up as and when they wish. not suitable for me or him. i might want to swing upside down naked while eating a crepe. i dont want an audience or the noise of a lawnmower while im doing it.

she is even more obsessed with the wisteria. it is her pride and joy. nevermind that it obstructs the window and causes a greeny mould to grow on the windows!!! i cant understand why anyone with a brain cell would plant a creeper along a wall that is punctuated with big windows, double sliding doors.

obviously if we clash with her over the wisteria we may prompt a definite parting of the ways. we were happy to sign in the lease that we would not cut the trees- obviously we assumed it would be kept meticulously like when we first saw it. at the moment we are not keen to move... we took this place as i lived elsewhere as did my hubby. it was hard for both of us to find the time away from work to look for a place....

the gardener absconded for 3 weeks and then last thursday they pitched up at 5:20pm for 40 minutes! hubby emailed her and to this day we have had not one word from her. we figure the gardeners pitched due to their panicking over her coming to visit the garden on saturday. her mission was to pay the gardener and go plant a wisteria at her friend's place across the road!

i dont get this wisteria rubbish. why are we supposed to tolerate her decisions!!! we understand that she has emotional attachments to this place- apparently her mom lived here and probably died here too!

yeah you only find out stuff AFTER you move in.


grrrrr!!!! hubby says she looks like 'Babb's mabs' but sounds like 'Tubbs' from The League Of Gentlemen. she wears these huge floral dresses with a string of pearls and speaks in a booming offish voice. ugh.

Wisteria is very valuable as well as being of personal and sentimental value to someone who grew up in a house. Family plants and flowers evoke powerful feelings. What I would give for the tiger lilies, the yellow roses, the lilac or the sweetpea of my childhood. They are irreplaceable and precious. Apart from that, a mature wisteria makes a house very desirable and can add thousands to the value of a house. I should try to love the wisteria. The problem here is the lack of reliable quality gardeners - they are playing fast and loose with the absent owner. You could always make your displeasure known to them and let them know they need to pull up their socks. This might work. They have been getting away with it - that s the trouble. If you could find a better one by asking around in the neighbourhood for a personal recommendation, you would solve a problem for yourself and the landlady.

Originally Posted by oulandy

Wisteria is very valuable as well as being of personal and sentimental value to someone who grew up in a house. Family plants and flowers evoke powerful feelings. What I would give for the tiger lilies, the yellow roses, the lilac or the sweetpea of my childhood. They are irreplaceable and precious. Apart from that, a mature wisteria makes a house very desirable and can add thousands to the value of a house. I should try to love the wisteria. The problem here is the lack of reliable quality gardeners - they are playing fast and loose with the absent owner. You could always make your displeasure known to them and let them know they need to pull up their socks. This might work. They have been getting away with it - that s the trouble. If you could find a better one by asking around in the neighbourhood for a personal recommendation, you would solve a problem for yourself and the landlady.

babbscabs has stipulated that the garden work is her domain. SHE decides who does the gardening. i love trees and plants- AWAY from the house itsself or at the very least AWAY from the windows. every summer when i open the kitchen windows i end up with bugs, ants and other creepy crawlies getting into the kitchen. as it is the kitchen i am loathe to spray bug spray or put powders around.

hubby mentioned the windows getting green mould on them and she dismissed it in her email saying it has never happened before.

i am so sun starved i try to lap up as much sunshine and natural light as i can. if these darn plants cloud my windows i might as well draw the curtains too.

[occasional post]

Sounds pretty poor. But I have been a landlord in my past - and I gave up and sold purely because of bad tenants.

I remember one who asked if she could decorate the bedroom - I asked about colours and she said baige and white - so I said yes. 3 months later I had to go to the flat to inspect a boiler problem and walked past the open bedroom door. I nealt fainted. The ceiling was navy blue with yellow stars, the walls were luminous green. She then refused to repaint, and ran off withoit paying the last monmths rent.

So although you may have bad experiences with landlords - remeber they may have had bad experiences which may have made them wary.

[Fibber McGee]

Originally Posted by occasional post

...I have been a landlord in my past - and I gave up and sold purely because of bad tenants.

Me too.
There are poor landlords, but the signs are often there when you first walk through the door.
A good tenant is like a dog that speaks Swahili - very rare.

[Taglet]

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring

babbscabs has stipulated that the garden work is her domain. SHE decides who does the gardening. i love trees and plants- AWAY from the house itsself or at the very least AWAY from the windows. every summer when i open the kitchen windows i end up with bugs, ants and other creepy crawlies getting into the kitchen. as it is the kitchen i am loathe to spray bug spray or put powders around.

hubby mentioned the windows getting green mould on them and she dismissed it in her email saying it has never happened before.

i am so sun starved i try to lap up as much sunshine and natural light as i can. if these darn plants cloud my windows i might as well draw the curtains too.

The wisteria was presumably there when you moved in - why move into a house with a wisteria around the window if you hate plants near the house

Originally Posted by Taglet

The wisteria was presumably there when you moved in - why move into a house with a wisteria around the window if you hate plants near the house

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring
babbscabs has stipulated that the garden work is her domain. SHE decides who does the gardening. i love trees and plants- AWAY from the house itsself or at the very least AWAY from the windows.


we also viewed the property in winter. everything was also perfectly manicured. babbscabs has no clue what she is doing. there is a cammelia tree squeezed between the leylandii hedge and another quite aggressive shrub...the thing is loaded with blossoms and most of its branches are on the ground. cammelias need more room.

we have a cherry tree in the front garden- very close to the drive - with its growth spurts you can take your eye out if you dont concentrate... she has planted another cherry tree about 2 metres away from the first one. about half a metre away from this 2nd cherry tree she has planted one of those trees that grow up to be huge huge huge- dont know the name of it but trees of its kind are prolific at the present with big lush pink/white or burgundy-pink blossoms.

when you look for a property to rent you cant have everything PERFECT, you make some concessions and sign a lease that goes on endlessly about how the garden will be maintained etc etc. then it does not happen. you try and speak to babbscabs about it and she is deaf deaf deaf.

if it was as black and white as you and i wish, well... we would not have lived here.

[Purity]

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring

she has planted one of those trees that grow up to be huge huge huge- dont know the name of it but trees of its kind are prolific at the present with big lush pink/white or burgundy-pink blossoms.

Magnolia?


(filler)

[charlie1]

Originally Posted by Fibber McGee

Me too.
There are poor landlords, but the signs are often there when you first walk through the door.
A good tenant is like a dog that speaks Swahili - very rare.

I am a good tenant. I keep the house looking immaculate, but wish I got the same immaculate response from the Management Co and the Landlord when it comes to sorting out any problems.
I haven't got a smoke alarm and I thought that was a mandatory requirement in rented homes.
As for HAF having problems with all the plants etc, I wish we had a bit of life in the gardens, as its all grass and nothing else.
You pay these people enough money after all.
Its a landlords market out there.

[Taglet]

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring
babbscabs has stipulated that the garden work is her domain. SHE decides who does the gardening. i love trees and plants- AWAY from the house itsself or at the very least AWAY from the windows.


we also viewed the property in winter. everything was also perfectly manicured. babbscabs has no clue what she is doing. there is a cammelia tree squeezed between the leylandii hedge and another quite aggressive shrub...the thing is loaded with blossoms and most of its branches are on the ground. cammelias need more room.

we have a cherry tree in the front garden- very close to the drive - with its growth spurts you can take your eye out if you dont concentrate... she has planted another cherry tree about 2 metres away from the first one. about half a metre away from this 2nd cherry tree she has planted one of those trees that grow up to be huge huge huge- dont know the name of it but trees of its kind are prolific at the present with big lush pink/white or burgundy-pink blossoms.

when you look for a property to rent you cant have everything PERFECT, you make some concessions and sign a lease that goes on endlessly about how the garden will be maintained etc etc. then it does not happen. you try and speak to babbscabs about it and she is deaf deaf deaf.

if it was as black and white as you and i wish, well... we would not have lived here.

I'm sorry, at first I though you were being a bit unreasonable , but she is definitely a shade mad. If you dont take care the plants will be creaping in through the windows while you are sleeping.

Originally Posted by Purity

Magnolia?


(filler)

hello you smartypants. i think you are right. so in a few years those trees will be competing the heck out of each other. stupid eh.



we have clematis growing above the garage doors. it has not been tied back consistently. we insisted that it be trimmed so we could open the garage doors....and they were trimmed just a weeeeee bit. we had to do it properly...no point asking her as i reckon she would think: 'oh no not the precious clematis....'. if you could see the corner of the house where the side path leads to the back garden- the clematis is so huge and wild it is a spiders haven.

she wants to 'train roses to grow above the front door'. what is with this nutcase? we have to ensure the roses never get too big for their boots naturally....

on the one hand you think....oh its not such a big deal. just, when these issues flare up its so frustrating it seems to eclipse the good things about the property....

Originally Posted by Taglet

I'm sorry, at first I though you were being a bit unreasonable , but she is definitely a shade mad. If you dont take care the plants will be creaping in through the windows while you are sleeping.

yeah thats my fear as well. im phobic about bugs so it does not help. last year a huge dragonfly whizzed into the house. my gran and i hid in the corner like 2 big goofballs.

other times ive had bumblebees fly in while im cooking. i turn the stove off and run away. as you know wisteria flowers like mad and smells divine too- and seeing as how it cascades a lot over the kitchen window the bees are never far away.

we have HUGE spiders in spring and summer. not just wolf spiders but some other kind of big horrid things....i think last year hubby had to kill one every night.

ive lived in very lush sub tropical places but its just madness to have big trees and plants grow unchecked near doors and windows. they obscure the light, attract bugs (which is natural but but but....), can mark windows and walls....

we will have to see what we do about it. obviously if we create an issue, however diplomatically, about the frikking plants she will have a fit.....and if we say nothing then she thinks its ok.... if she wont agree to some stringent requests from us next year then i guess we will bugger off.*sigh*

[Taglet]

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring

yeah thats my fear as well. im phobic about bugs so it does not help. last year a huge dragonfly whizzed into the house. my gran and i hid in the corner like 2 big goofballs.

other times ive had bumblebees fly in while im cooking. i turn the stove off and run away.

we have HUGE spiders in spring and summer. not just wolf spiders but some other kind of big horrid things....i think last year hubby had to kill one every night.

ive lived in very lush sub tropical places but its just madness to have big trees and plants grow unchecked near doors and windows. they obscure the light, attract bugs (which is natural but but but....), can mark windows and walls....

we will have to see what we do about it. obviously if we create an issue, however diplomatically, about the frikking plants she will have a fit.....and if we say nothing then she thinks its ok.... if she wont agree to some stringent requests from us next year then i guess we will bugger off.*sigh*

I recall a TV prog about neighbours where one of them used urine to kill his neighbours prize plants......no-one would see you under all that foliage.....

Originally Posted by Taglet

I recall a TV prog about neighbours that used urine to kill his neighbours prize plants......no-one would see you under all that foliage.....

hahahaa!!! i think my hubby will be eating asparagus by the barrowfull!!! thanks for the advice taglet!

[Purity]

Originally Posted by hiringandfiring

hello you smartypants. i think you are right. so in a few years those trees will be competing the heck out of each other. stupid eh.

I only know because my Dad pointed one out to me yesterday afternoon!