So I met this man who knew a man who knew....

That title is most likely the most understandable part of this next post, take a Tylenol now, you may need it.
Today, well no money went into the bank. Ugh. Off we go again, went into the benefits office and ....oh hang on, I missed a bit.
You know landlady B said that we can move into a long term house as soon as it is vacated, she said it was occupied right now by a 'madman' who was trashing it. So, we were told it was empty and we drove by yesterday, just to look at it. Empty. Except for the trash and broken furniture, the smashed this and that, the broken pipes, the weeds, you know how it looks, same old same old. WE did see that it could be a lovely house ( RING RING..ALARM BELLS WALK AWAY NOW!) but still, no garden, no parking, top of steep hill, no thankyou.
Back to benefits office. I was approached by a scary man, piercings, goatie beard with bizarre bead things on the ends. Tattoos perhaps, but was so terrified I forgot to look away from his eyes ( quite nice ones) he walked up to me and said
" you been to my house?"
"Pardon me?"
"have you been over to my house at steep hill crap filled garden road?"
"Well, we were there yesterday, yes"
" You and your husband"
"yes, that's right" ( gripping buttock cheeks in fear)
" Why?"
"Well, Bridget is our landlady, do I need to say anymore?"
"Oh my God....she is going to put you in there isn't she?"
"well she wants to but we have said no"
"And you used to live at .....beautiful Barn and before that perfect house in town?"
( oh my sweet heaven, the man with the piercings and beads and scariness knows my whole life story)
" Please tell me you aren't living in Derelict shit house?"
"well we are, except now it is a bit lovely and smells nice and we did it all and landlady has disappeared on holiday.....now we have no money and are in dire straights..."
Rest of story cut short. Madman isn't mad, he is victim of being landlady's friend and has been seriously screwed over, as are we. He had with him a social worker who has helped him and who told us the steps to try and undo some of this mess. Also he said that we are on solid ground with the council now, this house is CONDEMNED and she knew it. He said to contact environmental health, get them out to see what is going on and the state of things. He said that even though we have fixed it up it is still unsuitable and as such, added to the reputation landlady now has with the council ( at least 3 other families are taking action against her) we stand a very high chance of getting the help we need.
Amazing ( and yet still quite scary) that this man was where I was, I sort of laughed and told him how frightening it is that he knew we had been at the old house, that he knew where we were etc. then he explained that while we were at the perfect house in town he had been out to make repairs on the bathroom, ding ding..recall that. He said he also rented from her and despite asking for repairs to be done, she refused and as a result a ceiling fell on his daughter, when he complained, that is when things turned nasty for him. He also said the biggest mistake he made was imagining that he could be 'friends' with landlady and that she had his best interests at heart. So when his neighbours had told him who they had seen at the house, he remembered us, knew the other houses she owned and put 2 and 2 together as to where we might be now.
So, I have now been to the council office and have a specific plan in hand as to what to do next. It is going to be tough and I suspect not fun. I still don't have the tenancy agreement in hand, until we have that we are on incredibly shaky ground. I am trying to get in touch with her partner and see if I can get HIM to get me an agreement immediately, otherwise we have another week probably until we are anyway covered.
It all sounds complicated and it is, although we are told that we actually have the upper hand. I hate confrontation, this time I will have to bite the bullet and just do it. This woman has taken advantage and we have been foolish enough to think we are helping and also gaining from this relationship. A lesson learned is that we should have kept things professional, and as slow and irritating as it may have been we should have expected her to do repairs, asked her to keep things written and formal, we will be making sure that from now that is the way things will be done.
Who knows what will happen from here, I hope Mr pierced face and goatie beads doesn't take it upon himself to visit us. Oh dear. Anyone got a house we can move to????
Oh and by the way I managed to sort out the money situation for now but if she doesn't hurry up and get that blasted tenancy agreement to us soon it could all come undone again. Ptttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhh.
But then I walk out of my door and ahhhhhhhhh, look, *sigh* Happy.





Crunchy gravel and pretty pots all ready to burst into gorgeousness.




Happy Mallow tree.



Hmmm, still have a large pot, hanging basket and .........no, must not go to delightful garden center and buy plants and perhaps have a hot chocolate and feel as though life is really alright and everything is under control, or maybe that is EXACTLY what I should do. Votes and opinions please and anyone want to come with me?? Jane? Adele? Debbie? Julie? Gemma? You know you want to......