Well, we spent a lovely - if wet - day with the wolfhound (AKA The Great Hairy Fule) in Clumber Park with several others from the Facebook group of owners.  For "Facebook Group" read "Support Group".


Today, I've discovered that my rented home's electrical wiring is "scary" according to a qualified sparks.  All I wanted to do was power my shed in which resides my books, my PC, my music ... and me for much of the time!  To quote this nice, and very qualified bloke - "I can't see how the owner thinks he can rent with a house wired like this!  He leases through an agency?  Then the agents are at fault for not checking the certificates."


So we're living in a death trap ... er ... problem home and I've got to tell the agents that either they or the owner has let a bunch of "cowboys" play around with the electricity mains!


This is going to be fun, considering the tale of the dripping tap ...


Since we'd moved in, the kitchen tap has dripped.  On inspection, we'd commented on it and the agents told us that "the owner" had it fixed.
Nope.
Since then, drip in the kitchen tap has got bigger.  Since we're on metered water, every drip costs us money!
Three weeks ago we again reported it to the agents.  They got a plumber to give a quote.  They passed this onto the owner, who also gave a quote: "That's too much, I'll do it myself."
That was the last we've heard of the issue.  The tap still drips.


So you can imagine my joy at the prospect of telling the agents that the house wiring is illegal and needs to be re-done.  It reflects on their business if they've overlooked shoddy - and possibly - dangerous work.  But I can see them reporting back to the owner, the owner thinking that we (the complainers) are too expensive and looking to evict us.


And in case anyone thinks this can't be done, it happens.  Litigation takes money and time.  Meanwhile, we've lives to lead, kids to go into school and me to tip-tap on this keyboard!  And my family - being renters rather than mortgage-owners - is at the mercy of an antiquated system which favours property owners over people who live in properties.  Thanks to the 80's, the concept of owning land rises supreme over actually using it.  There's rules about what can be rented and is safe to rent ... but the rules about finding and looking after a place to rent are still lacking.