h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm feeling a bit vulnerable just at the moment. For a change, it's not just because of all the politics and associated drivel that oozes out of my office. If I'm somewhat more terse and irritable than usual over the next few weeks, here's why...

I had a call from the estate agent this morning, giving me 28 days to vacate the premises. I've been living here since June 2001. The landlord wants his granddaughter to live here, and sadly it's quite legal for him simply to chuck me out like that. Four and a half years of regular rent payments and garden maintenance count or nothing. The agent says she'll help me find another place, but if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that estate agents aren't to be relied upon.

I had a look at a possible new place this evening on the way home. It would be $70 a week more than this one, and it has hardly any garden. It's barely even a courtyard in fact. Worse than that, there were 18 people in the queue ahead of me. (Another 20 or so behind, incidentally.)

So I'm getting drunk. Please join me...

B*st*rd landlord

You only get 28 days' notice? We get 2 months in Qld. Still, it's horrible however long you're given.

Is housing hard to find in Canberra? Could you get somewhere on a short lease (3 months say) and use that time to find a place that better suits you?

I have a spare bedroom or four here if you want to commute? And I can't sub-let, so it would be free

and have a on me. In fact, I'll join you. I'm feeling a bit flat today too... perhaps a Malt will lift my spirits?

Fb

Jeez! Thats not long to find a new place is it I'm sorry to hear that Ivan. I do hope you'll find somewhere and soon
I'll pass on the I have to go to w**k now

Housing has always been in short supply in Canberra - it's a deliberate policy of the local government, to keep prices up. (Sometimes I feel myself lurching sharply to the left of my already leftist politics. ) The shortage isn't helped by the continuing fallout from the 2003 fires; we lost 500 houses in that nightmare. Add to that, it's almost the start of the academic year so students are hunting housing in packs.

A short lease isn't really an option; the rent would be doubled, and I'd probably have storage fees too.

Thanks for the offer of the room , but the commute might kill me. Maybe I should ask to be outposted to our Nambour office. (Note to self: do we have one? Probably.) Maybe I could rig it so I could slide down the laundry chute and land on a pushbike...

Venus, I'll save you a for later.

The worst thing is, I'll have to resign myself to having a garden-free lifestyle for a while.

Oh I'm certain I could position a pushbike right at the bottom of the laundry chute You'd hit the saddle with the helluva bang though

There are a few okay real estate agents out there, honest. I found one when I got this place. I hope that yours is being straight up about helping you

At least this happened on a Monday, so you have all week to try to find a place. It's the sort of thing that usually happens to me last thing on a Friday, so that I have 2 1/2 days to stew and worry before I can do anything Teeth falling out. Car breaking down. Windows breaking. That kind of thing always happens on a Friday afternoon

Nambour does have a Commonwealth Office, although whether it's your bit of the CO I don't know But you are most welcome to come and find out

We have offices in Nambour and Maroochydore; I just checked. All I'd need would be a desk, a PC, internet access, and a safe.

Anyway all I can do right now is get drunk - and feel smug about not having wasted time on the weekend doing dusting and vacuuming.

(This might post twice. The temptation is to poke the hamsters with a stick.)

Damndamndamn! What a stinky thing to have happen. Heck, moving is stressful enough when it's something we *want* to do - being forced to move is a terrible thing!

Well, nothing to do now but hope for the best. What I don't understand is why you got such short notice - surely this wasn't an out-of-the-blue decision. Anyhow . . .




az

Landlords are not good things to own.

The relevant laws state that 21 days' notice is the minimum notice required from either party to terminate an open lease like this one. (It was originally for 12 months, and I've just kept paying for three and a half years on top of that.) The legal position is that they've been generous giving 28 days. The rational real-world position is that they're rotten mongrels who must have known a while ago what they were going to do.

Still. I'm trying to think of this place as a hotel suite that just happens to be furnished in a style I'd choose myself. It'll make it easier to walk out when the moment comes.

Thanks Alex.

*thinks: this is a pretty good excuse for not writing guide entries just at the moment, isn't it...*

oh Ivan, what a horrible thing to happen...........

come and live here in Bundy, I have a garden screaming for a gardener......

speaking of which, we got a chainsaw and a skip last week........, we now need another skip, hubbly went texas with the chainsaw

anyhoo I got to get up at 3am so have a for me

We have an office in Bundy too. This outposting idea is looking more viable all the time.

I have a really big room off the back of he garage.............(well once we clear the junk out of it I am sure it will be big.........)

time for a seachange then Ivan

It is very tempting to just leave... Maybe I should think about this properly when I'm sober.

Sounds to me like maybe this is to be seen in the light of "One door closes & several others open"? You were pi**ed off with the creeps at w**k anyway, so maybe time to find a new set of creeps somewhere else?

We have the same law here in France; normally it's 3 months notice either side *but* if landlord "needs" the place for family, you get a month if you are lucky.Been through this nightmare myself.

Anyway, for now Ivan, just get & start plotting seriously later.



zdt

Cor... Bundy or Nambour? Could be a close run thing

Fb

*sigh* Oh...bother!

to hear that so much upheaval and disquiet has barged into your life just now. However, it looks like you're opening yourself up to some possible alternatives and changes that might just end up suiting you better in the long run. I just wish that having to rethink and overhaul your lifestyle didn't have to be such a forced ordeal like this, though.

Hang in there, Ivan!
There's lots of good that can come out of this in the days ahead.
I'm sincerely hoping for the very best for you!

I'm not much given to optimism these days, Ivan, but I think it's true that an unexpected jolt like that can often get the adrenaline flowing, and cause even the most indecisive (ie me) into action - on the other hand.......

I feel sure that the owners will know that you have been a very good tenant - can you speak to them directly? There may be some room for manoeuvre; after all, the estate agent will soon disappear from the equasion, and the granddaughter might prove flexible...

I'd be very sad to leave the garden, though.

¿Ever thought of moving to España?