At last....

[garynortheast]

I have somewhere to live.

Two bedroom council bungalow on the top side of Llanfyllin to be exact. Front garden, good sized back garden with enough room to erect a 12' x 10' workshop for the bike, enough space for a greenhouse, and still enough room for plenty of veg growing. There is already a brick built outbuilding split into two; one section is good as a garden tool store, the other part has windows, a workbench down one side and will serve as a good sized potting shed. The passage way between my bungalow and next door is comfortably wide enough to get the bike down there. There are five long, shallow steps to go up first so I shall construct five low, wooden ramps which can be placed temporarily each time I go up or down them, and then lifted and stored out of the way.

There are also allotments in Llanfyllin at £30 a year, and I am now on the waiting list.

Moving date is 3 - 4 weeks time, there is maintenance work going on there at the moment. Once it's complete I can move in.

I'm familiar with Llanfyllin and have friends living there. I also have had some involvement with the place via a community arts organisation for more than 20 years.

[Bibio]

superb news Gary. good things come to those who wait. :-)

[Adam Ef]

Yes! Great to hear Gary.

[garynortheast]

Once I'm in and settled, there may have to be a modest celebration.

[DarrenSV650S]

Good stuff Gary! Glad to hear it :smt023

[garynortheast]

Thanks chaps. I'm pretty pleased.

[Sir Trev]

That is fantastic news Gary. We'll have to have a celebration in Barmouth too!

[Seeker]

Congratulations. Good to hear your luck has changed. :D

I note your priorities:

1) Garden big enough for a workshop for bike
2) ...and a greenhouse
3)... and a potting shed
4)...bike access ok
5) nearby allotments.

We assume it has running water, electricity, a roof? Decorating? Who cares you can get back to gardening! ;)

[garynortheast]

That is fantastic news Gary. We'll have to have a celebration in Barmouth too!

I think that may be in order Trev!

Congratulations. Good to hear your luck has changed. :D

I note your priorities:

1) Garden big enough for a workshop for bike
2) ...and a greenhouse
3)... and a potting shed
4)...bike access ok
5) nearby allotments.

We assume it has running water, electricity, a roof? Decorating? Who cares you can get back to gardening! ;)

Ah yes! well I'll check on that at some stage!

[Craig380]

That's brilliant news, Gary, I'm so pleased for you.

[admin]

Very pleased for you Gary. Sounds ideal for you.

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk

[Geodude]

Awesome to read this, long overdue but very well deserved. :D

[Ruffy]

This sounds great. Congrats!

I don't know the full background but having been 'no fault' evicted myself from long term rental last year (and coupled with other demestic issues) I can definitely relate to the stress of dealing with housing uncertainty.

[garynortheast]

This sounds great. Congrats!

I don't know the full background but having been 'no fault' evicted myself from long term rental last year (and coupled with other demestic issues) I can definitely relate to the stress of dealing with housing uncertainty.

Sounds lime we've had a broadly similar experience Ruffy. Not pleasant at all. Hope you are more settled now.

[Luckypants]

Glad to hear that a place is now in sight. Great news Gary.

[shiftin_gear98]

Great news Gary. Sounds worth the wait.

[Ruffy]

Sounds lime we've had a broadly similar experience Ruffy. Not pleasant at all. Hope you are more settled now.
Thanks Gary, appreciate the note. Fortunately we found a place that's decent enough but it was just in the knick of time after a very stressful search and I still can't shake the mental spectre of sometime receiving another notice. It was a shock for sure and I'm mentally scarred - I shudder to think what I'd do if the same happened again, seeing the state of the current market

So, settled? - unfortunately no, not really. I realise I'm fortunate to currently have a decent roof over my head but is it hyperbole to think of myself as 'homeless' knowing I now can't ever settle while renting, with that risk of being evicted for no fault of my own always in the background as a fear? Throw a marriage breakdown and financial challenges into the mix and with (adult) offspring still struggling to get a decent foothold in the world I get close to despair at times tbh. I take responsibility for my prior mismanagement of my life but I find I have formed some quite 'strong' views about 'the system' for housing in the UK etc.:smt068

Now I must stop before my soapboxing takes over your good news thread and starts demoralising you. Sorry! :offtopic::nomore:

[garynortheast]

Thanks Gary, appreciate the note. Fortunately we found a place that's decent enough but it was just in the knick of time after a very stressful search and I still can't shake the mental spectre of sometime receiving another notice. It was a shock for sure and I'm mentally scarred - I shudder to think what I'd do if the same happened again, seeing the state of the current market

So, settled? - unfortunately no, not really. I realise I'm fortunate to currently have a decent roof over my head but is it hyperbole to think of myself as 'homeless' knowing I now can't ever settle while renting, with that risk of being evicted for no fault of my own always in the background as a fear? Throw a marriage breakdown and financial challenges into the mix and with (adult) offspring still struggling to get a decent foothold in the world I get close to despair at times tbh. I take responsibility for my prior mismanagement of my life but I find I have formed some quite 'strong' views about 'the system' for housing in the UK etc.:smt068

Now I must stop before my soapboxing takes over your good news thread and starts demoralising you. Sorry! :offtopic::nomore:

I'd have to say that our experiences are remarkably similar; marriage breakdown, evictions, young adult daughters trying to make their way.
With regard to renting, there is a pretty shocking attitude in Britain on this, where housing is seen less as a need and more as a speculative opportunity. It's why I pushed so hard in my case for council/social housing. It's the only way I feel I will have security of tenure in rented property.

[Ruffy]

With regard to renting, there is a pretty shocking attitude in Britain on this, where housing is seen less as a need and more as a speculative opportunity.
Quite! The way some 'landlords' have presented, I've often wondered if I should suggest they pay me to be the house-sitter/caretaker they obviously want really - my rates would be quite reasonable!:rolleyes:
Sad that it's become more about protecting/growing the money rather than providing homes for decent people.

It's why I pushed so hard in my case for council/social housing. It's the only way I feel I will have security of tenure in rented property.
And good on ya!
Dealing with mine and my wife's situation we're discovering some crazy stuff being expected, even with council/social system let alone private tenancies.:smt119:confused:

[garynortheast]

Dealing with mine and my wife's situation we're discovering some crazy stuff being expected, even with council/social system let alone private tenancies.:smt119:confused:

Indeed, some of the hoops you have to jump through, and the conditions which have to be met for private tenancies are really quite depressing.

The one that in my case really hacks me off is the almost blanket "no pets" stipulation. Over the last couple of years, my lovely lurcher has seen me through thick and thin, and the possibility of being made to part from her in order to find a home was not a good thought. No such problem with a council bungalow thankfully.

[maviczap]

Great news Gary, it isn't nice being in limbo.

Plus you have a garden, which I know is very important to you.

[maviczap]

Thanks Gary, appreciate the note. Fortunately we found a place that's decent enough but it was just in the knick of time after a very stressful search and I still can't shake the mental spectre of sometime receiving another notice. It was a shock for sure and I'm mentally scarred - I shudder to think what I'd do if the same happened again, seeing the state of the current market

So, settled? - unfortunately no, not really. I realise I'm fortunate to currently have a decent roof over my head but is it hyperbole to think of myself as 'homeless' knowing I now can't ever settle while renting, with that risk of being evicted for no fault of my own always in the background as a fear? Throw a marriage breakdown and financial challenges into the mix and with (adult) offspring still struggling to get a decent foothold in the world I get close to despair at times tbh. I take responsibility for my prior mismanagement of my life but I find I have formed some quite 'strong' views about 'the system' for housing in the UK etc.:smt068

Now I must stop before my soapboxing takes over your good news thread and starts demoralising you. Sorry! :offtopic::nomore:

Both Gary & myself have been what you've been through, and I've done the rental property shenanigan's.

What I don't understand, is if you can afford the regular rental payments, why won't they give you a mortgage.

People who took our rental over after we moved out were forking out £1100 a month

My step daughter is paying £1000 a month, its nuts

[Ruffy]

The one that in my case really hacks me off is the almost blanket "no pets" stipulation. Over the last couple of years, my lovely lurcher has seen me through thick and thin, and the possibility of being made to part from her in order to find a home was not a good thought. No such problem with a council bungalow thankfully.
I'm right there with you on that too. Our search was far, far harder due to wanting to be honest about our cats and dog - anyone would think we were proposing to bring the spawn of satan into the property!!! :smt093

Seems like you have a more reasonable council. My wife started exploring council possibilities near us (we're on the border of a multiple jurisdictions). One council official virtually instructed that she needed to put our dog down to have any chance of getting off the homeless list if she put herself on it - (mainly he's her faithful, loyal companion and this was because they'd only be offering an upstairs flat despite her partial disability issues). Needless to say, the answer was a pretty sharp no!

[Ruffy]

What I don't understand, is if you can afford the regular rental payments, why won't they give you a mortgage.
Indeed, it's illogical.

I managed to get trapped with some credit card debts that I'm steadily and reliably paying off (only slowly though, thanks to high interest rates). But apparently I can't afford a debt consolidation loan (at far lower rate) to transfer them to! I even offered to close the card account once debts transferred, but 'computer says no' was still the answer - surely pure profiteering?! :smt096