citylover

Duncan Marlow, he's a one man band but very focused and cracks on. I used a company highly recommended from this site who's marketing said they were more detailed than other companies etc and they were really expensive so the next time I had to do up a place I tried Duncan as his cost was more reasonable and I had about what seemed like ten miles of skirting etc to get done and he was better, real attention to detail. I don't have his number to hand but he should come up on a search of the site.

Can anyone recommend a very experienced plumber who is good at finding solutions to tricky pipework routing? This is for a new bathroom, basically the bath and shower will be quite a bit farther than ideal from the external wall where the big pipe is (though can go along the joists, not through, luckily). Someone very good on building regs and with a bit of construction knowledge is what I'm hoping for rather than someone who just does bathroom refits.Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

I'm going to review my agents, LSS (Lawson S Stone) again. I reviewed them when I first started renting through them in 2015 but I think they deserve an update. I moved to them from one of the big high street agents because Daniel had looked after my property when I had some very difficult tenants (upset the neighbours greatly with noise issues etc). He went above and beyond then, it made such a difference and whatever he said he'd do was done so I was happy to move my rentals to him when he set up his own agency. What makes them stand apart is they're just really nice as well as being very good at all the typical stuff you need agents to do. My tenants always love them so if a tricky issue comes up (were they responsible for xyz or I pay for whatever it is etc etc), both sides, me and the tenants, generally agree to let LSS make the decision. If it doesn't go my way I accept it and ditto the tenants because we all respect their fairness and professionalism. All the staff are great in their own way, one in particular has a knack of making you feel everything is fine when you're determined to be as stressed out as you could possibly be that day. Him: Hello, how are you, you sound a bit stressed? Me: Yes, I've got this, this, this and this to do and on top of it all I've got to find time to show this group round to look at the flat. Him: Don't worry, I can do that for you. Me: You can't! Remember I said I was going to find the tenants for this year! Him: Yes, that's right but I've got some time so I can do it anyway. Just give me their number and I'll meet them there. See what I mean, grrr, completely takes the wind out of your sails! If there's an issue that can't wait I've had them call me on their mobiles to update on their days off and meet me for keys at 9.00pm because I couldn't get there any earlier. They really are brilliant and it wasn't till I moved to them that I could go on holiday and just not worry about anything, I got my life back basically and they're worth every penny.

Edited

Nico

Thanks Fizzy, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I hope the mint does the trick for both of us :)

I have done all the usual things for getting rid of/ deterring nice. Blocking every hole is impossible in an old house and though not inundated we have a couple of persistent visitors who have turned up their noses at every food we've tried to bait them with, finding their favourite is an ongoing experiment. We live next to a big patch of green so there's more wildlife around, additionally, downstairs seems to be not bothered and if they don't do their bit it's difficult to prevent the mice making the final part of their trip to us. So, re my tolerance, at the end of the day I'm not going to get disproportionately upset about the odd visit during the cold months but when they start eating cables that's my tolerance limit gone. Thanks very much for the advice, I will look for cable covers, I haven't heard of them before and someone very kindly told me they hate mint so I'm buying that also. Also- don't anyone wrap wire wool etc around a cable because if the mouse chews the cable you could have a fire on your hands, electrocute yourself etc when you touch it. How do I know? Don't even ask.

I was hoping for a solution that wouldn't require regular feeding, possible vet's bills and a be barrier to me going on holiday should I be lucky enough to get the chance, but thank you anyway :-) . I suppose I might be able to borrow one.

Nobody had this, nobody any idea how to deter? Is the best you can do just to try and trap all the mice then? Thanking in advance.

Not sure if this is the right place to post- I've just had to pay a silly amount to make a cable safe that a mouse decided was dinner. How it did it without killing itself I don't know. Does anyone know of a product you can smear on your cables that repels mice? I don't want to have to go through this expense again! For anyone who has this problem, fixing the cable takes an electrician about 5 min so don't be conned into agreeing a high charge prior to him doing it!

Hello, I have a new problem and not sure how to fix. I have a big aluminium window frame with two windows in it, both in their own little frame. The top one, which has an 'arm' on either side as it's open/close mechanism, is dropping on one side a bit, leaving a draughty gap at the top when closed (or as closed as I can get it now). Does anyone know a good local guy/ company that can fix this? Tried to attach a photo but the files too large, if I can work out how to compress it I will add, I'm a bit stone age when I comes to technology unfortunately! I'd be very grateful for any recommendations.

Blabla- yes I do, and this country has always been split, it's a sign of how healthy we are with all our different opinions. A single family will even have splits and huge differences of opinion- what's the problem? It's so egotistical to try and force others to think 'your' (in the general sense) way. Would Leavers have demanded a re-run? I don't think so, it's more of a far-leftist trait, protesting against "wrong" results whether it's a general election or the ref, always seems to be due to people being 'misled' or similar nonsense.

Note to JoeLeg- no, not on medication nor in total denial, rather a pragmatist who just gets on with the job, and knows we've been through worse. I would suggest that patronising comments such as yours from a supposed position of superiority is what had nearly 17 & a half million of us screaming for the leave button! Sigh.

This petition is about as relevant as Charlotte Church stomping down the street with a placard proclaiming 'I'm mad and I'm not going to take it' because the general public didn't vote the way she wanted in the general election. Democracy often means compromise because you can't rely on it to always go your way, a concept difficult for some people to accept apparently.

The upside? Ooo, so difficult, one has to take a while...democracy back, having a vote that counts, being a sovereign state again. All that pales in comparison though to simply being able to tell Juncker and co to get lost and for it to really mean just that.

No crisis, wd voted out and it's all good.

Brexit voters regretting it? Nope. We voted out of the EUSSR and haven't stopped celebrating since. Hello freedom and democracy! Yippee

I'm familiar with Tepilo as a buyer and from that perspective I found it unsatisfactory, I wouldn't use them if I was selling myself. I suppose if the sale is completely straightforward, zero issues it might work but sometimes you need that real communication with an agent. Passwords for accounts etc are a drag also when you're busy.

Hello, when you go for bridging it's because you haven't got any other options! You just need to look at the terms, the interest rates (high) and how long you're going to need it for + have a watertight plan for repaying at the end of the term. You can use a FA but some of these loans you can do yourself and save a ?1,000+ that way. I would say study the terms and if you're confident you can pay the rate for that short term + the cost + know you can pay it off at the end of the term and cover their solicitors fees + you think its worth it to secure a property you really like then try it. They will look at your case and decide whether you are a low risk for them also.

Poor you! My friend had to deal with this in a flat she'd bought, her council had a dedicated department for pests, not sure if all councils do, you pay of course.

I am recommending letting agents, Lawson S Stone, who deal with my property, because they're really good and so nice as well. The director, Daniel, used to be a manager of a branch of one of the big chains round here and he looked after my property then so I moved over to him when he started up his own agency. A couple of years ago I had some pretty bad tenants, they upset the neighbours and ruined the weekends of anyone living nearby with their noise + represented a real risk of damage to me. I was self-managing but they were too much to deal with and I couldn't bear to see the little beasts anymore let alone speak to them so I handed it all over to Daniel. I can't say the rest of the year was a bed of roses, he's not a magician so he couldn't wave a magic wand and make them disappear as I'd have liked him to, but it was a huge improvement and definitely kept a lid on things. He really went out of his way, he would have face to face meetings with them and always made himself available to discuss issues with the neighbours so that they knew problems were being dealt with, and finally I was able to take a break without worrying about what was going to happen next because I could see he was capable and had experience with this sort of thing. His agency is based in Coulsdon but I think quite a few of his old clients moved to him so he manages other properties in the area and it's never been a problem for one or other of the staff to pop round when needed. They've just found me some tenants for this year, who I've met and am happy with- not so easy because I'm super-fussy given the history, so if you want a nice agency who really seem to care about their service I recommend them.0208 668 0000

Hi, thanks for your rec's, I used fabfor in the end, from the forum, because he could fit me in today. Him & his helper did it with no fuss and good humour + reasonable price (especially for forum users) so I recommend.

Hi, has anyone used anyone nice and reasonably priced to pick up furniture? I need to pick up a big 2 seater sofa to be delivered to my place, it's all in the local area but it needs two people to carry it and one of them won't be me because I only count as 1/2 a person for removal purposes. I did a search for man with van here and nothing came up, strangely.

Thank you very much, will give him a try. Any other suggestions welcome- it's always good to have a few to choose from.

You got off lightly,I almost got ruined by a builder off here.I couldn't believe he'd been recommended so I tried to look up his rec. post again and it had disappeared. Luckily I'd copied it and I contacted the poster and he was really nice, he said he'd subsequently realised he was not all he'd said he was so he'd removed the post and he was really sorry. When I have time I'll post more on the forum,the warning signs and how to avoid similar disasters!