The state of the rental sector in the UK is outrageous - there is so little security for tenants. Plus I will never forgive the thatcher govt for flogging off all the social housing without bothering to build much more
I totally understand the struggle with renting and not being sure how long it will last. In New York we have rent stabilization, which is great because it only increases the rent by a fixed amount each year but the best part that’s talked about less is that your landlord can never kick you out. Is there anything like that in the UK?
Totally hear you on the will I have to move again front. I’ve been in my current place for almost 7 years, but 2 years in the landlord put it up for sale. Thankfully it didn’t sell, he took it off the market and hasn’t put it back on since. I didn’t have the money to move then and I don’t have it now. Plus everywhere around me is much more expensive than the flat I live in as my rent’s stayed in line with what it was when I moved in while everywhere else has rocketed. The worry that one day I’ll be turfed out with nowhere to go is pretty constant.
I just found out I have to move from a place I have been in almost ten years (living in a rural place with very few rental options makes this even more not fun) and am having SO many thoughts and feelings about it all. I’m glad you were able to find a new place and hope you can stay there for a long time. Thank you for this interview and your newsletter in general!
Your pre-payment meter woes brought back to my mind our last house move, when we bought our current house and Dylan was not quite two. A week and a bit in, and the heating and hot water stopped. Called out British Gas (£149) to be told we had a pre-payment gas meter (we didn’t know this, we’d never had one before and weirdly the electricity meter was a normal credit meter ) and our credit had run out. The sellers hadn’t left us the pre-payment card for it, we had no idea.
The Eon lady on the phone was brilliant and told me exactly what to do and found where the nearest card to me was that I could pick up. But I had to a) go get that card from a random corner shop a 20 min drive away b) bring it home and put it in our meter to register it and then c) go to our local shop and actually buy gas credit.
I felt so, so lucky to have a car. If I’d had to do all that on buses with a 1 year old, in the winter, it would have taken HOURS and we’d have been freezing.
Also we then had to be credit checked and pay £100 to have a credit meter fitted AND that created a gas leak and we had to pay for two different men to come out to try and fix the leak 😱
I’m so sorry that happened, it’s a really crappy situation. I think the Eon lady literally phoned round all the Payzone shops for me and came back to me with the nearest one that had a blank card in stock so I didn’t have to do the trek round that you did. I suspect she didn’t have to do that but felt sorry for me and did it just to be nice.
The state of the rental sector in the UK is outrageous - there is so little security for tenants. Plus I will never forgive the thatcher govt for flogging off all the social housing without bothering to build much more
I totally understand the struggle with renting and not being sure how long it will last. In New York we have rent stabilization, which is great because it only increases the rent by a fixed amount each year but the best part that’s talked about less is that your landlord can never kick you out. Is there anything like that in the UK?
For a moment was thinking you have *very* expensive taste in loo brushes:
"£33.00 for a new loo brush..."
And then I read on:
"...and curtains for the 15yo’s room."
Was wondering if it was a NASA loo brush, or something. (They must have them in space, right?)
Totally hear you on the will I have to move again front. I’ve been in my current place for almost 7 years, but 2 years in the landlord put it up for sale. Thankfully it didn’t sell, he took it off the market and hasn’t put it back on since. I didn’t have the money to move then and I don’t have it now. Plus everywhere around me is much more expensive than the flat I live in as my rent’s stayed in line with what it was when I moved in while everywhere else has rocketed. The worry that one day I’ll be turfed out with nowhere to go is pretty constant.
I just found out I have to move from a place I have been in almost ten years (living in a rural place with very few rental options makes this even more not fun) and am having SO many thoughts and feelings about it all. I’m glad you were able to find a new place and hope you can stay there for a long time. Thank you for this interview and your newsletter in general!
Your pre-payment meter woes brought back to my mind our last house move, when we bought our current house and Dylan was not quite two. A week and a bit in, and the heating and hot water stopped. Called out British Gas (£149) to be told we had a pre-payment gas meter (we didn’t know this, we’d never had one before and weirdly the electricity meter was a normal credit meter ) and our credit had run out. The sellers hadn’t left us the pre-payment card for it, we had no idea.
The Eon lady on the phone was brilliant and told me exactly what to do and found where the nearest card to me was that I could pick up. But I had to a) go get that card from a random corner shop a 20 min drive away b) bring it home and put it in our meter to register it and then c) go to our local shop and actually buy gas credit.
I felt so, so lucky to have a car. If I’d had to do all that on buses with a 1 year old, in the winter, it would have taken HOURS and we’d have been freezing.
Also we then had to be credit checked and pay £100 to have a credit meter fitted AND that created a gas leak and we had to pay for two different men to come out to try and fix the leak 😱
I’m so sorry that happened, it’s a really crappy situation. I think the Eon lady literally phoned round all the Payzone shops for me and came back to me with the nearest one that had a blank card in stock so I didn’t have to do the trek round that you did. I suspect she didn’t have to do that but felt sorry for me and did it just to be nice.