malumbu

Been trying to sell it for two years thanks. Put tenants in as otherwise I'd continue to pay council tax and the place would have got damp. There is only so much of a hit you can take. Surely some of you have kids going to Liverpool to study - here is a great chance to save on rent! It's a rather sad state of affairs. Some lovely housing stock but depopulation from the 70s coupled with loss of manufacturing has hit hard. Its still a lovely place but many of the middle classes rather than move to the equivalent of East Dulwich would rather move out to Cheshire or the Wirral. BTL and purpose built halls have saturated the student market. Not after a sympathy vote just explaining that outside of our London bubble the world can be very different.

Oh dear. Oh deary deary me. What is the world coming to. Obviously LL needs an adult education centre as gaol is the correct spelling rather than the American jail. I quite like the varient once used of gayhole. Some Irish chap wrote a wonderful poem calld the Ballad of Reading Gayhole at the end of the 19th century. Sorry I am getting a bit childish now. Apparently there is no strict convention of either spellings.

Thanks all. It just took me by surprise, having seen a wide range of tenants in the past. I used to deal with students years ago, having once been one myself I thought that I would know what to expect. Surprised at times, but many of the surprises were good ones. I hadn't expected this from a 'profesional' person with a kid who'd supplied all the references etc. As for tenancy agreements and 'quiet enjoyment' I always gave notice of visiting and 99% of the time this was fine. Ho hum.

Moved down from the NW many moons ago. Kept a terrace up there with a long term let to a family. Should have cashed in years ago. When vacated had to spend several grand on repairs and a refresh. Couldn't sell so let it through the Estate Agents who also managed the tenancy. Tenants did a runner a week ago leaving rubbish and lost of damage after only 5 months. What was the point of using an agent? Was the vetting carried out properly? Did they regularly inspect the property. Not getting much sense out of them. Be interested in hearing good and bad experiences of letting agents. Note this is not in London, rents are a quarter, hence agents have lower income and probably pay for lower caliber of staff. No abuse of BTL landlords please - I've had enough abuse from tenants!

All the young people use Uber. I use Datacars.

Hope this goes viral! Good luck.

My dad drowned stray kittens in a sack. He said it was one of the most awful things he ever did. This was a time before animal charities newtered strays. He's long since departed and it was probably the most humane way he knew of - unless you break into a chemists and steal the chloroform. The first litter he found homes for. He once put a fork through a mouse nest in the compost heap kiling the mother by accident. He then forked through the babies explaining that they would die in any case. Me as a six year old wasn't traumatised. A different world then. I can just about stab slugs. Snails are easier as I try to teach them to fly.

A celebration of drinking (or not as the case may be) from one of Norwich's finest

So cute. Never bothered me but since we blocked various holes up no more. They only came in for food and warmth, and barbie houses. Clever blighters got round humane traps. Or chewed through them.

Head out either via South Norwood or through Beckenham, Hayes then onto Keston. Latter isn't too bad on a Sunday. Normally cheat and get the train back after a pint. Train out to somewhere like Penshurst or Cowden is fine but sometimes engineering works and a change or ride back from somewhere like Selhurst of Herne Hill. Alternatives are to cycle through Deptford and get on the Thames path; do a few laps of Richmond Park, or the Waterlink Way eg get on at Catford Bridge. I used to get the train out to Caterham or to Tatenham Corner and go on one of the North downs off road routes - the OS SE cycle rides book is OK if you are old school (ie don't do it by satnav) Friend brought me a book of London rides last bithday. Sadly London appears to stop at the Elephant going no further South! Bloody Northerners eh?

Disappointed that is took so long to name the Phil in Liverpool. And no one has mentioned the Princess Louise in Holborn. I should have also mentioned the Morpeth on Millbank that used to have wonderfully polished brass and copper pipeware. Now gone following the dreadful refurbish. A final fave was the Anchor in Abingdon by the Thames that had outside gents toilets. Now that was a proper pub. Now sadly gone, as with all Abingdon pubs they have gone generic/ I was also going to start my piece by saying (as I had had a snipe at men's hygiene) that on the odd occasion I have walked into a ladies toilet by mistake you know immediately as they dont smell of wee.

Not strictly one for the blokes as I am sure that many ladies know how useless we are - weeing on the floor or on the seat/bowl. I haven't worked out why so many pubs have got rid of proper urinals - which deals with the above issue. Further the silly little units also spray back. Try weeing next to some one when you are wearing shorts, and you will see. Here's some proper ones http://www.lbc.co.uk/mm/photos/2012/10/1889/460x/27461.jpg https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/08/d3/41/80/the-philharmonic-dining.jpg And no I have not been drinking.

Another things that affects the market are empty nesters sitting on large property, the lack of smaller homes for empty nesters or as exemplified here, financial disincentive to downsize. Perhaps TM should look at helping people in this situation as well as those trying to get on the ladder. Pugwash Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A neighbour purchased a leasehold flat which was a > former right to buy council property ( in a semi > detached house) > 1 bed flat now going for ?575,000. He probably > paid around ?150.000 for it at the time. > > I purchased my house originally for ?16.300 in > 1975. However have re mortgaged the property > several times to pay for essential work. In 2004 > it was valued by surveyors at ?250.000. In the 80s > when interest rates seemed to rise every month. I > increased my payments but did not change them when > rates dropped. Consequently paid off the mortgage > almost a year early. > We want to downsize but want to remain in ED - > even by considering property with 4 rooms less, by > the time we pay legal fees and tax etc the cost of > a smaller property would still be so high that we > would gain very little (if anything)from selling. > Both of us have mobility problems so a very large > flat (3 bed) ground floor with garden is the basic > requirement. We also have 8 grandchildren who when > visiting stay overnight as do not live in London . > We may end up renting out a Monday - Friday room > to help pay the heating costs. 2 bed terraced > houses seem to be going for over ?875,000.

I moved to London in 87/8. The talk of the dinner parties wsa "oh I don't need to work any more as my flat is making more in a month than I do". Then two years later "I can't afford the 15% motgage and have given the keys to the building society. The Labour came in promising to end the cycle of boom/bust. Cue 2008 dinner parties - oh my kids of have got into this or that school and my house has doubled in two years. Then 2016 - oh your house must be worth ???? ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz shallow, shallow, shallow, shallow Look at historic house prices vs averabe earnings and you get peaks and troughs. Function of wages, interest rates, confidence, demand and supply. Still expect lots of money laundering from abroad so top end to retain value. As for those in the middle??? Clearly uncertain times ahead. Some people may have watned this out of Brexit.

I go on from time to time about high streets and independent shops. As a nation we prefer to do much of our shopping on line or at the supermarket at the loss of the old fashioned (and generally long since gone) high street. Once you are weaned off it much of the supermarket stuff is pretty awful - plastic bread (the Chorley Wood method), unripe fruit and veg, rubber cheese and I particularly like the 'taste the difference range' which often seems to be Emporer's new clothes. But it is still a shock at times to see how much more artesan (for want of a better term) stuff costs. I do buy the bread, it is good, but then I try to use it carefully to get maximum taste/vs cost! Some of the stuff like pies and cakes I think I can do better myself at half the price. But then I don't bother. Fruit and veg is OK. When it is closed then we will all whinge about its loss. And of course it put the final nail in the coffin on the Forest Hill Station Farmers Market. Anyway good discussion, hope Horniman is monitoring. PS In Paris what absolutely brilliant street markets and boy were they being used. Those damened Europeans doing things better than us. tut tut.

Doesn't get much better... The England team is a bit like the country. Lots of talent, no leadership, under performing yet a superiority complex and obsessed with former glories. Compare this with the other great nations of Europe! Will BFS be our Teresa May and lead us to a promised land. Or continue the slow decline? I'm not excited about either our nation or football team's prospects.

Thought that the big hole was between Forest Hill and Denmark Hill. Ho ho.

1985, punting on the Cherwell, picnic, booze, afternoon sleep. And avoiding Liveaid. Otherwise pretty good - including the Brooking header (from a non-West Am fan). 81 - Heaven 17, Haircut 100, Soft Cell, Postcard records, New Order and Factory, Wah Heat and Zoo records, Depeche mode and Mute records, Hicks from the Sticks, the tail end of new-wave and ska, the last time UB40 could be considered seriously

If parking is getting you down then it is time to ditch the car - as many urbanites have http://www.zipcar.co.uk/ Think about it - sitting there being unused for 95% of the time, depreciating, costing you loads just standing still. Alternatively on the subject of the sharing economy, share your vehicle with a neighbour. http://www.streetsalive.org.uk/my-street/car-sharing.aspx

Well you live and learn: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/11779941/Flying-ants-everything-you-need-to-know.html Obviously warm and dry beards, with no predators (do you keep anything else in there titch) are particularly attractive.

Bike theft really saddens me. I feel much more attached to my bikes than motorised transport. I've had four nicked in the last 30 years. The last was stolen to order, they cropped through an armoured lock in central London. Ie they were intent on getting it. Disappointed that the police aren't well resourced to chase up such thefts - particularly as there was an ad within an hour of it being nicked on Gumtree.... There is always a balance between the cost of security and the additional weight. So that is the bad news. The good news is that I do not go out of my way to secure components including wheels. I had a small saddle bag stolen and that is it. I try to park where it is pretty visible. When my last bike was nicked if I had left it outside the pub it would have been fine as there were lots of drinkers outside. I always ask whether I can take it into a venue if possible. In Holland and no doubt other countries there are cheap secure bike parks. Wouldn't that we great! I never leave my best bike outside. I'd like to think that my other steeds are old and battered and not worth nicking. But that doesn't necessarily make a difference. I did come back outside the Scala in Kings Cross with a rear wheel kicked in. I suspect that was done for fun....

I am pretty grumpy nowadays but the wonderful documentary of the London 2012 opening ceremony really cheered me up. So here are my memories of good times and bad over the recent decades. 1978-9. Winter of discontent. Good times - latter stages of punk, gigs, girls and football 1989 - and then like Jerico the walls came a tumbling down 1992 - Bad times, realisation that times weren't a changing 1995 - summer of Britpop - a feal feel good factor Summer 96 - Euro 96. Things were brilliant for a while Ditto for May '97 July 05 - getting the Olympic Games - brilliant, then 7/7 awful, then winnng the ashes 05 - 12 Was always a great fan of the Games, despite the numerous moaning minies, and no matter how good the main bash was, the paralympics then took it one stage further. Bloody brillaint. Only disappointment was that I expected to be in a bunker, so didn't apply to be a volunteer. I've not included personal/family joy and tragedy in the above, rather my take on the world. Great to know what are yours

If I remember correctly there are people in the financial markets who make dosh out of good and bad things. Someone I know, not exactly a mate, made great fortune out of the recession, something to do with reinsurance. I should have course put my life savings into Euros a few weeks ago.

I don't know exactly when the museum took over publicising the farmers market, nor exactly what changed (if anything). It used to be popular but now seems to be dying a death. It would be great to hear others views. what is too twee, too expensive or has the novelty warn off? I quite like a few of the stalls and happy to occasionally pay a premium. Bobbsy, raise the soya milk issue with them or pop into my gaff and I'll lend you a cup full.

Had a look up from Barclays - clearly it didn't strike me as unusual Do you like having curtains symetrical and pictures hung level?