Situation Report

I hadn't thought there were more than a handful of people reading this site, but as my brief last note seems to have triggered waves of rumour and emails I think, although it is a personal matter, I should clarify.

My, I hope temporary, suspension of adding to this page is nothing to do with the recent dispute with The Independent which, credit to their legal department, has both been settled amicably, and caused them to work to keeping obituaries permanently available on their site.

What has happened is this. On August 4th. the lease on the house we have rented for around four years was due for renewal.. the lease is the standard (in the UK) 6-month short-term tenancy agreement. The landlord was advised that the agreement forms he'd been using (inherited from the original letting agency) were out of date, left him legally exposed, and that to create a new tenancy with proper documentation our tenancy had to be broken and a new lease prepared. He was told, and then told us, that this would take between a few days and a week and asked if we could leave the house for at most a week so that locks could be changed and the legal paperwork completed. As we had had a perfectly good relationship with the landlord this seemed, though inconvenient, not much to do so he could sort out his affairs. So we packed two small suitcases, our grandson who had work in Cambridge moved to a friend's floor, and we went down to family in Lewes for a few days.

The following week, on the early morning of the day we were due to return to Cambridge to meet the landlord with new lease and keys, he telephoned to say he had to go into hospital for a prostate procedure. Appointments were made for the following week, again broken, stories of hospital visits to London, etc. etc. During this time (and to date) everything except what was in the suitcases, has been locked in the house to which we have no access -- including mail.

Towards the end of August he telephoned to make an appointment on September 1st. We returned to Cambridge (thanks to one friend who drove to Sussex to pick us up, and two other friends who generously let us stay in their house): the appointment was then changed to September 4th "as the fourth of the month was the date of the original agreement". That didn't happen. His lawyer then telephoned saying he would bring the lease and keys last Monday (September 8th). He didn't turn up "because of floods". The following day he arrived, with no lease and the news that the landlord "was dithering......he thinks he now wants to sell the house." He did have the keys, and we were able to retrieve a month's mail and a couple of sweaters.

And that is how things stand at the moment. The past almost six weeks have been totally wasted. We now have to find somewhere to live: difficult enough without money for deposits, moving expenses etc..... and probably impossible in Cambridge with its inflated prices. All of our property is not accessible -- though in legal terms it now is.... meaning we can telephone the lawyer in Norwich, and if we reach him make an appointment for him to drive the 60 miles to open the door briefly.

So you'll understand why, at present, I have not time, nor energy, nor inclination to play with this website.

UPDATE September 28

Our ex-landlord did decide to sell the house; and quickly. So we had access finally and spent a week packing everything while plasterers and painters tarted things up (rotten wall.... wet rot in one floor revealed and boarded over... caveat emptor). Everything except a few essentials is now moved into storage in Sussex and we are out of Cambridge. We shall look for somewhere to live on a sort of Lewes, Brighton, Bognor axis, to be nearer family. Exhausted but grateful for family and good friends. Certainly an odd two months. But brightened yesterday by Lloyd's 50th birthday party. Lewes until Tuesday, then to Bognor.