Burn the world. Let them know it's LARTing time.

[reddragdiva]

No gas fitter today. Gosh! etc. I called the cheap idiot landlord and left a fiery message of Biblical vengeance, pointing out that if he wasn't a cheap bastard then this would have been fixed by now, and if he couldn't afford a thousand pounds for the expensive repair then he certainly can't afford the five thousand that the Health and Safety Executive would fine him for this gross breach of the law. Per house. He called back quaking with the fear of God and swearing someone would be around tomorrow. Uh huh. We realised we didn't have his actual address to tell the HSE, so redcountess called the agent, who said they'd been doing what they could to arse-enable him. So TRA LA LA LA FUCKING LA! I'm as pleased as ever.

I'd really like all of this to just be fixed, because with the new Ikea stuff (which is all still in boxes) the house is actually getting quite cosy and livable. Just getting a second bedside table has made an enormous difference. arkady and I have worked out how to organise her room to include a three-sided crib in the right place. Things like that.

My first on-call weekend was pretty good. Broken thing report on Friday, which turned out to be NTL semi-competence. Imagine that. Quiet Saturday and Sunday. Working from home for a week is HEAVENLY. I think I'm going to keep a limpet-like grasp on this job.

Update: I have just scientifically proven that I can successfully do my job sitting watching television without any pants on. Thank goodness my work phone is not a picturephone.

Comments

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

He had the nice option earlier... "This could all get fixed quietly, and it's stuff you *need* to do anyway. Hiding from it won't make it go away. Banks LOVE these kinds of loans if you're short of cash to do it, becuase they're small and obviously for a paricular purpose." Now that friendliness has worn thin, and the depth of the hole is yawning beneath his feet...

[gothgirlyana.livejournal.com]

Fantastic!! =D

Sounds (more than) promising *fingers crossed* *touch wood* etc...

I've been SO lucky with Landlords but no matter how good mine have been, they all seem to be cheap! Thing is, it ends up costing them a lot more in the long run :S

[ladystardust-xs.livejournal.com]

I love your job too. :D

There are some address and people-finding extensions for Mozilla. And there's this (http://www.tracesmart.co.uk/?page=peoplesearch) I found too.

Turn him in.

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

My morons didn't show up today, after writing a check for $80 to the tile place, so I expect fully to have the BBB complaint stand, and I'm going to put the saga of the whole thing on my Verizon website and go post links to the site in a couple of Philly Craigs List groups.

If the guy makes any excuses at all, then go to your title registry and find out what his address of record is.

In this country at least, the more they whinge about how they're sorry they have left you/me with excuses, the more excuses they make.

I don't believe for a nano second that Rick Marquette is going to even be remotely capable to having me with a working bathroom by Thanksgiving Day.

If you don't just drop the dime on this scum, you're going to become progressively more infuriated with the excuses.

I suspect that HSE can find him.

His not having gotten someone to you today is bad faith. You've got no heat. I've had no bathroom since October 12.

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

See, this is why we hesitate renting out our upstairs flat. We own a two-family building, but we're using the upstairs mostly for storage right now. That way, when something goes wrong we can fix it RIGHT AWAY if we want to. But if something's wrong, and we think we can live with it and avoid the expense for a while, well, that's up to us too. If we had renters then we'd have to fix everything immediately.

Although, I've gotta say, a faulty gas vent would be right up there at the top of the fix RIGHT AWAY list.

[deathboy.livejournal.com]

report him, man. :P

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

His address isn't in your contract?

I still think you should get the fuck out of there...

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the deposit on a new place and the cost of moving would be rather expensive. One cannot just simply move on a whim - especially when you take into account we only just moved (with all the expense that entails)) barely two months ago.

It's very easy to tell someone else to "get the fuck out of there" if you're not the one having to organise it all and find the cash - particularly if you only have yourself to worry about, rather than two other people (one pregnant, one ill with fibro) plus four cats.

If we move, the landlord is damned well going to pay for it. Going by past experience, this will not happen (a) easily or (b) soon.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

We intend to. We played nice; he played stupid. His problem.

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

Sure - I didn't say moving would be cheap or easy..

You probably are stuck there for a few months more - but the nearer to full term you get the harder it'll be to move.

It would be a nightmare to move even just for me as I have no money whatsoever..

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I'm well aware of the difficulties inherant in being close to full term; this is my third child. I know precisely what the impact on my movement is likely to be; and I think you underestimate the powers of the nesting instinct in the third trimester - particularly if there's a perceived threat to the health and wellbeing of the baby to be considered.

I'm pregnant, not crippled. Simply means things take a bit more thought and effort.

[reddragdiva]

Trust me when I say that I am keenly aware of the choice between "worse" and "worser" ...

What really pisses me off is that we're just getting this house cosy for us. Like, non-suck.

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

I feel I'm adding to your stress and that wasn't the intention. Sorry :(

[reddragdiva]

My apologies - we're all JUST A LITTLE TENSE AT PRESENT!!

Yeah, but...

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

If you can do all the repairs yourselves, then renting isn't that big a headache. If not, you're between the work crew and the tenant.

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

I hate giving group hugs on live journal but you guys massively need one.

{{{HUGS}}}

Understood

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

I keep telling myself at least my mess isn't potentially lethal.

Can you borrow electric heaters from friends? My guess is that if the job is that botched, and it sounds like the boiler is broken, too, that you might be in for a legitimate wait (a week, say).

I've lived without running water in my bohippiean days and heated water with a plug in immersion heater. If you can get buckets of water heated and mixed for something of a shower, ratio of one boiling to two cold seems to give reasonably warm wash water.

I'd think that you should be able to get the landlord to pay for extra heating beyond the usual bills for the gas boiler.

Now I must dump the collected urine in the toilet chair down the kitchen drains.

I'm heading for NYC tomorrow. I hope when I get back that we both have better news.

[octalbunny.livejournal.com]

His address isn't in your contract?

I'm not sure, but if it isn't that may be a LART on the agent too.

[sinibar.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm trying hard to remember the module on contract law I did in my degree and not doing so very well.

I could be talking bollocks here so check it out. I take it in this case your contract is actually with the agent, not with the landlord.

The landlord signs a contract with the agent agreeing to indemnify them against all liability resulting from the rental of the property. You then sign a contract with the agent for the actual rental of the property. You can then LART the agent, and the agent LARTs the landlord.

In practical terms, LARTing the landlord direct is the best option for most things, but it is impossible to indemnify someone against certain criminal offences. If a crime has been committed, then it may well be the agent that is prosecutable.

LARTing the agent then may well produce the wrath of a thousand vengeful gods upon the landlord.

I must stress that this is all from very hazy memory and therefore may be complete tosh. Get someone who actually knows what they're talking about to check it out.