Never Ending Saga

I haven’t written lately as I’ve had other things on my mind, so I will keep the boating short.

Heading down the Aylesbury Arm was fun. It’s little used and very shallow, I wondered at times if I would get through. Reeds were spreading across the canal leaving a narrow channel through the middle. Perseverance paid off as I reached the basin and was made welcome and given a free hookup for the two weeks I was there. John and Cath arrived soon after a nice sociable couple. They told me a story about a guy on a nearby boat in

their marina who they can never get away from. I experienced the same problem with them and spotted the common denominator.

My mind has been more focused on trying to get the house sale through. It’s been problematic for the past nine months and lately has been getting close to actually happening. There has still been time a more unexpected spanners in the works, one of them being my solicitor. The Pre-Contract Report was finally ready, all I had to do was drive over from Aylesbury to pick it up, read the thing and sign the contract. The report was riddled with errors as follows:

• Conveyance - Partially duplicated, page 8 missing from both reports.
• Local Search copy - Missing.
• Environmental Search - All even pages missing.
• Planning Documents - 2007 and 1981 pages mixed.
• Property Information - Only contained pages 1-5 of 12.
• Fittings and Contents Form - Missing.

I telephoned them when I realised the Fittings and Contents Form was missing to be told by I would receive it by the end of the day. It was never sent. I received no apology and a photocopying error was blamed. Clearly it was much more than a photocopying error as obviously no checks had been carried out which led me to doubt if any document content had ever been checked.

All this has come after it had taken them more than three weeks to get a quote for the survey and searches being purchased from the previous buyer, the idea being it would save time as the searches would take a week.

I couldn’t trust any of their work so took the reprinted Pre-Contract Report to another solicitor to check at a cost of £200. Other errors were found. I wrote them a letter of complaint to which they have stated they rare surprised and disappointed. I am still waiting an apology. I could be waiting a long time.

The other solicitor suggested I get the boiler checked as it hadn’t been serviced since 2008. Mine needed to be done too so they were both done on the same day by the same company. I called my neighbours and asked them to unlock the front door in the morning. They forgot! Frantic phone calls followed as the guys waited on the doorstep. Mrs Next Door Neighbour arrived home and couldn’t find the key, so dashed to the Estate Agent in Woodstock to collect their key. Thankfully it was serviced successfully and without any problems. Unfortunately the same could not be said of the boiler in the house I am buying. The main thingy had rusted through and was leaking water requiring it to be drained and switched off. It’s knackered and needs to be replaced, the bill coming to £3,000! Mr and Mrs Swapsy Housey are not very happy and rang me up with sob sob stories. I think they would like me to pay for it. They have conveniently forgotten I am already giving them £2,500 more than they previous buyers, and how they insisted I sort out the dampness that returned after the flooding in December.

Will this sale ever go through?