One thing

We've lived in a 1st floor flat for just over 20 years and it's never
bothered me. I wouldn't like to live on the ground floor through-
noise, crime and I'd be worried about the furballs getting out (we live
on a very busy road). I like having our little bit of landing so
Redunzel can come out and play "hunt the landing greebling" of  a
morning when I go out to work for 5 minutes and then be picked up and
stroked.

Mind you the neighbours above are the nicest people and they've been
here longer than we have. Might be different if they moved out

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

You've been fortunate indeed. Most of the landlords I've known have been
"from Hell". One particular memory gives me the creeps.... I had rented a
house in the country for a reasonable rate from a lady who seemed quite
reasonable herself. This was in early March of 2000.

This house belonged to her brother who had lived in it with his family for
seventeen years, then put it up for sale, then moved out before finding a
buyer. They left a mess behind. It was bad enough they were *not* going to
get the house sold before it was thoroughly cleaned. Silly me, offered to
clean it in exchange for not paying a deposit, and having my rent start
after I got it into decent condition. The lady agreed and I gave her a check
for my first month's rent, to begin the first of April.

That house was incredibly filthy. I remember filling FOUR vacuum cleaner
bags from JUST the living room carpet, the first day of the job. There was
honey in some of the kitchen drawers. Dog poop under an old non-working
dishwasher. A shed packed with junk. Trash strewn all over the yard.  Fly
spots coating all the walls and ceilings and windows, etc. etc. etc. And I
had to heat water on my propane camp stove in a big pot because the water
heater was busted.

In all, it took me two weeks of eight-hour days (plus 90 minutes/day of
travel time) to get that place clean enough to move into. And on the morning
of the fourth day of occupancy, I found a message on my answering machine,
from the owner's sister, saying the owner wanted me to move out within ten
days.

Well, friends, this came as a bit of a shock. I mean, after spending two
solid weeks on heavy-duty cleaning, followed by four days of heavy moving
with no help at all, my back was killing me, I was in no condition to be
moving again without at least a month of rest. And by law I was to have 30
days' notice, given prior to the start of a rental period. I called the
landlord and told him this. He did not care. He cursed at me.

No reason had been given. I asked for one. "You didn't pay the rent on
time." Huh??? My rent wasn't even due again for more than three weeks!! "You
broke the woodburner." It didn't work when I got there! In fact I had been
without heat the whole time and was still waiting for him to keep his
promise to fix it. "You haven't mowed the lawn." Well, duh, it was barely
past ankle high so far.

These folks knew exactly how far away their house is from the sheriff
department, and how much time they would have to get away (at least 30
minutes, often 45) after any "incident". The "incidents" began that night
around 11:30.... Only a few friends had my new telephone number but I
started getting nasty calls all through the night, and cars coming in and
out the drive spinning their tires and throwing gravel at the windows.

During daylight hours, they had different scare tactics for me. They'd sit
in a truck on the public road at the end of the long driveway and shoot
toward the house with rifles. If I left, they'd let themselves in with their
keys in my absence and rifle through my things. They took whatever they
pleased.

It got so bad that I was afraid to sleep in the house alone. So I got out as
quickly as I could. I was gone by the end of the tenth day. I had to take
the first place I found that would accept pets, and it was not to my liking
and too expensive for my budget, which meant I'd have to move again.

The next move was to this horse farm where I've been since August 2000.
Moving here was approximately my 18th move in less than three years' time,
and all but 3 of those moves were due to the whims of various landlords.

Maintenance can be a bear, especially with an older house (mine is over 40
years old), but since I paid off my mortgage 25 years ago (my payments were
$198 a month), I don't have any monthly payments to make for housing.

Joy

"badwilson" <badSPAMwilson@yahoo.com> wrote in message trip to Australia,
the compressor on the fridge

After I wrote that I thought, duh, they are already getting to Australia as
quickly as is humanly possible.  Purrs for everything to fall into place
just as the right land did.

Jo