Month: November 2012

Final West Wales Properties exchange

 

..I hope.

So they now on the one hand take no liability, nor answer my questions and offer a £2000 settlement. On the other they suggest we should go to court. Really disappointing, after the last conversation with Neil Evans the MD I was thinking that perhaps they were all above board. Not now.

They are, of course in the right, I signed the ridiculous sole sellers contract and never shall I again, but they should have tried harder to get a good solution. To only leave a message with Bovis and not have the courtesy to call me back is inexcusable. But that’s business.

 

So West Wales Properties, you will never have any business from me or my family again, and I will ensure that everyone who asks will get an truthful account of your business practices. You are not a nice business, and people will be told…..

 

House Demo

 

Ohh its getting all exciting – had our “house demo” today, where they show you somethings in the house. Took and hour and a half and they go through a lot of stuff, nothing really amazing, but a couple of interesting things which I have probably already forgotten  Both places look good, they are doing a final clean, but in the most part it looks okay, a couple of things noticed on first pass, which will get sorted, but only a couple of days and we’ll get the keys…

In other news the building cert came and sent to Solicitor, she also needed to get confirmation from Sian that she was happy for the money from the mortgage goes into my private special account and not the joint one ;o) Looks like there is nothing outstanding, and Bovis have confirmed they will pick up the West Wales Properties cost.

As far as West Wales goes, Neil replied today, although I left a message previously – so I just put all the facts down, again, and asked for the final charge. Hopefully that will be that.

 

Sian is back to Pembs to pick up the rest of the furniture on Friday, then we just need to drop the keys off and that’s that. Just waiting for the carpets now.

 

 

 

Abergavenny

 

Bit of a miserable day today, but we decided to head up to Abergavenny for a few hours to get out of the house. We are very lucky in that we have lots of decent places within half an hour drive to visit, from cities to towns to just walks in the forest.

On the way up it completely poured down, which didn’t bode well, but when we got there it was okay, no rain at least… So we walked up the main street until we got to the Angel Hotel, I needed to book afternoon tea for us on the 8th Dec, so took the oppertunity to book it in person. The only time they had was 4:45 on the Saturday, which was quite surprising. She also looked at me a little odd when I said i wanted a table for 5 but only three would have the tea..

Had a little stroll through the town, but it was 12:30 and I wanted some nosh – I had checked out a place on the net that did beef and dripping sandwiches, so delicately directed Kate and Sian in the direction of the Hen and Chickens. Its one of those places where when you first walk in you think, Uh ho – this is not were I want to be, how can I leave. But in the end we were very pleased with it. They had plenty of food to choose from (they also did Sunday Dinner), we had soup, chicken burger and faggots for me. They could have done with a bit more gravy, which I am sure they would have brought if i had asked, but they were very nice. They have a jazz band every other Sunday, we were on the other weekend unfortunately but a good place – I would return. There was a bloke in there, who was with a girl when we arrived – after half hour or so, the girl had left and he stayed with his pint. The bar maid came over in due course and said “where is she”, he replied “gone”, “shopping?” she asked, “no for good” he said.. Made me chuckle a little inside…

After grub we continued around the town, and then into the market and then that was it. Would quite like to come over for a good drink one day, it could be a nice place for that.

 

Carpet – Right?

 

Carpet measurer came today – he likes his job. Very professional. Slightly odd. But he knows his carpets and his measurements, and how to make off cuts from no where and add them into the built in cupboards. We are in safe hands?

Had a look at the kitchens for the first time today, and the tiles in the bathrooms – looks really good. Flat is far better, the house is fine, but the bedroom is teeny-tiny. All really coming together.

Price of carpet has expanded by 3 hundred quids now the full measure has taken place, but we know what we want from there and its still 1200 cheaper than Bovis quoted – so can’t be bad?

 

Christmas in Cardiff (already)

What a splendid day. Light and crisp and even – frosty and clean this morning so dragged my fat gut out of bed and got on the road for a five mile jog it was lovely.

Waited for Tesco to deliver – they said 11 – 12, by 12:30 they still had not turned up, so the boys were home now so off we went. (The delivery driver quit half way through his shift) Half hour into Cardiff, and we could tell it was busy as we drove down Newport Road, as we got into Cardiff the signs said three of the car parks were full! Parked in Knox road which was the car park I used to use when I very first started to work in Cardiff a scary 14 years ago. Bit chilly.

Walked down the central drag and came to Santa’s Grotto and lots and lots of people. Then down the Hayes where I happened to spot a large German sausage seller, then some beer, then some pig roast – things were looking up. After sampling some cheese and having a look into all the little Christmas sheds we headed back to the sausage man – yummy. Big thick and delish – Kate had a Greggs and a quite nice eclair.

Full of German goodness we braved Hamleys which has now opened in Cardiff – same as any other toy shop but with a 20% Hamleys mark up. It was packed. Off to the Lego shop to spend Kate’s voucher then over to Marks for a “coffee”. This is new for us, never go for “coffee” – so I had a tea. Odd.

More walking in the cold, then back in the car.

Got home expected the smell of cooking pork, but the Tesco man had not delivered it – he said it was not available and there was no alternative – no alternative to a pork loin, in a massive Tesco’s! So we had to phone a curry. Stuffed. Bed.

 

 

Carpet and Insurance

 

Got the house insurance, £132 which seemed okay – rubbish guy on the phone. I phoned him back when his quote specifically stated “No accidental damage”, and he insisted that it did. No energy to argue so took it anyway.

 

Initial quote from Carpet Right was £2300 for both – seems okay? Bovis wanted £3700 so should be okay. Called into a carpet place in Caldicot and he finally rang back to say what a dope I was for measuring the houses!! After two days that was all he had to say, not an approx quote, just that I was stupid ;o) well…

Also finally arranged a joint account – aren’t I all grown up, never had one before. So joint houses and joint account – nearly all sorted.

Have we made it yet?

 

Contract exchanged – sorted, all done yesterday, with a confirmed Completion for the 30th November. Finally.

I need to get the buildings insurance sorted now – first quote was £140 which seems pretty good to me.

Next is the carpets, Bovis charge £1700 per house – hope that Carpet Right is cheaper – need to agree whether we do full vinyl (with a wood effect) or do the normal carpet route.

Need to hire a van for Becs so that we can pick up some beds and the table from H/West, running out of weeks now, so might have to do this next week.

Need to speak with the rental dudes to make sure the house is marketed as soon as possible – ideally to get someone in for Jan 1st – which is looking difficult at the moment…

In other news, insured the car for the boys – £988 this time, and Tom will have his test in a couple of weeks. Nearly Christmas ;o)

 

Nearly Exchange Time

Went over to see the flat and the house to measure up today. Flat looks great, had a look at a different one with the kitchen already in – looks pretty good. We also went to see the house for the first time – its tiny!!!

Although it is not finished, it doesn’t look very big, but I suppose with just two of you cwtching down in there it would be fine. Bedrooms are not large, but the bathroom is bigger than the last Hilton bathroom we had.

Also spoke to the Solicitor, Bovis are ready to exchange, but only if the electrics are signed off. Whch they are not yet. So looks like they will push back the exchange due to this – they don’t seem too bothered about the actual building cert – just the electrical sign off. Can’t get in touch with Jase at the moment unfortunately y.

So we have the measurements ready to look at the carpets, and we may well be able to get the keys on the 30th November! Coolio.

 

 

Rumbles on

Bovis cannot categorically state that they tried to negotiate with WWP!.

This was quite fundamental, so I have to wait until Friday now to see if they want to provide some evidence as to what was said. If they don’t then I can just drop it and forget about it.

Still waiting for word from Jase – solicitor is on my back now because the certificate is not in – hopefully it gets resolved soon. This may well impact the exchange times now.

Who is the liar

So, got a call from Neil at West Wales today. Which was great. But, he is adamant that his staff did not refuse Bovis the opportunity to continue to sell the house. That is a shock, because the whole case of mine was initiated by the fact that WWP told Bovis where to go, it appears that WWP definitely did not say this – so someone is lying here.

Anyway – if what Neil says is true then that’s that. I just cannot believe Bovis made it up though. Also I made it very plain in my mails to Alison at WWP and it was not mentioned once, just that Bovis might pay it. I cannot believe this is just a mis-understanding.

 

In other news I have found that I don’t have a Final Certificate, so Jase has to come back and sign it off, then I need to take that back to the Building Control people. This is a blocker now on the exchange – so hope it will go well.