An Englishman's home is his castle?

You see, I don't complain about the place we live in so much anymore. Before the reincarnation of this blog I used to complain at length about the last place we lived in. In truth, it was pretty nasty and so much had to be done to it. Upon moving into a house, we thought that were were home and dry in terms of somewhere nice, warm and homely to live. We were a little bit wrong on that count.

Perhaps we have a strange set-up? We get a house along with The Boss's job. I have to say, that's pretty cool. It means that we don't have to worry so much about finding a place to live, and we're not paying £1000+ a month for the going rate of houses in this area. Some people would probably wonder what dare we complain about? I'll point out a few good things about this place.

The good

• A nice, large garden


• A driveway


• A spare bedroom


• It's quiet


• It's not on-site

That's all good. And at first glance, it seemed like a nice place. However, shortly after we moved in, we noticed the enormous cracks in the walls around the doors. We saw how the internal doors no longer close, or in some cases open, because the house shifts so much. We could also see how the doors have been adjusted for this - there are massive gaps (in one door, big enough for me to get my arm through) at the top and bottom of the doors. The front door needs regular adjustment by the glaziers. The kitchen floor has separated from the wall, and thus there is a huge gap. Mold grows on the bathroom walls because it is plagued by damp. The garage is falling down.

Almost two years ago we brought most of these things to the attention of, what we will call, the maintenance department. Our particular concerns were with the internal doors, the garage, and the drastic shifting of the building after a little rain. So we waited...and we waited...and we waited harder...and we waited longer...and longer...and longer...until now.

About a month ago the new guy in charge of the maintenance department promised to come round and have a look at our biggest concerns. We thought something may get done as he was new, thus a good rapport could be struck up with him. He never fucking turned up. So, cue me being rather pissed off (since when is that different to normal?). There was no apology from him, he just didn't bother to turn up. Nice, eh?

Today, I was told that he was going to turn up this morning to have a look around. Then I was told it would be this afternoon, or rather "after lunch". As someone who works much the same times as the maintenance department, I know that after lunch would normally mean after 12.30. I'm still waiting, and it's 1pm. Not long, I grant you, but I don't think he will come round at all.

The problem with living in accommodation that belongs to your employer is that they can and do demand to come into your house for various reasons, at any given time. If that got things done, I would be fine with it. Instead, it gets nothing done. It is almost an exercise for them to come and have a snoop round at how other people live. Later this week, someone is coming to value the house. Not a good time to be selling, and an even worse time when they see the problems with it - of course, it doesn't belong to the people who are getting the estate agents in, so they can't sell it. Who would want to buy a place looking like this? Or more importantly, who would want to buy a place after hearing such scathing things about it?

I do not think that anything will be done to this place while we are living here. It is quite obviously not on anyone's agenda, despite the dire need. And while I appreciate that there are more important things - we have been asking for these things to be done for 2 years. Some people stride in and get things done with a few days. Our house has not seen anyone from that department in two years, and even then it was only someone painting a wall.

Nothing will ever get done to this place. Why? Because the new guy won't even bother to turn up. Again.
So much for an Englishman's home being his castle.

Edited to add: Fuck me. He did come round. That was a turn up for the books indeed. He has made all sorts of promises about the problems and how they will be fixed. We'll see...