Landlords

We're getting some grief from our previous landlord and landlady. They took a bed sheet (pussilakana) to the cleaners as it had pen-marking on it. They will buy a new pillow on our expense, as they claim one dirty. They will also replace a blanket, as apparently one has been chewed on. The dogs were in the kitchen at all times, so they haven't had access to any blankets. Heikki, the kids and I didn't chew on any blankets, either. Perhaps I should write to all those who spent time in our house and ask if they're responsible. Mum, Dad, Milja, Dan, Hanna, Tiku and Andrew - did one of you, by any chance, chew on one of the blankets while at our house? LOL - how ridiculous!

Another thing the landlady wanted for us to pay for was the Internet line rental for the time AFTER our rental agreement had finished and we had moved out. To get the line there, we needed to get the Landlord's premission, as he is the owner of the telephone line agreement, and so according to the company rules he is the only person who can give such a go-ahead. He's also the only person who can disconnect the line rental. Heikki reminded the letting agent about this on two separate occasions (he did this via e-mail, so we have proof of this). He said that the landlord must contact the telephone company to disconnect the line. Well, the landlord didn't. And then the furious landlady demanded we must pay for the line rental as they are pensioners and can't pay for it. She also claimed they hadn't given a permission for it in the first place. This case is, luckily, straightforward.

At least we're going to get most of our deposit back - unlike a friend who lost a considerable sum of money (more than the average preson's yearly salary) on one of these landlord-scams.

Here, I would also like to add, that a certain domestic worker we know also works for a certain landlord's family. (I'm trying to be cautious here). This person has told us stories about these other people, and I can tell you that we have laughed and cried over these stories. They're stories such as: "Go and make a fire outside to heat your tea - that's what you black people do."

Our current landlord and landlady, on the other hand, are absolutely wonderful. But still, it will be nice to move to the house we're buying in Hout Bay.

We're now thinking of what to do with the Littlebury house. We've dropped the asking price of the house, but I'm now looking into letting the house out instead. Rand is behaving so badly, that it would be more or less foolhardy to move more money here at the moment (or at least to move money you didn't desperatley need). In the beginning of the month you could get 10.25 Rands for a Pound. Now you can get 12.65. And in the beginning of the month you could get 7.67 Rands for a Euro, now you can get 8.65. The rates are going up and down daily. Rand was supposed to be weak for only a week or so, but it's just weakened for a couple of additional weeks. No-one can predict what happens, and so if we transfer money over we'll never know how much (or how little) money that turns out to be when we want to take the money away from here. (Most likely it will be 'too little'.)