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Marshian

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Everything posted by Marshian

  1. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  2. I bought my first flat in London 11 years ago. I had a good deposit - 32.5% - and my (approx) £30k salary at the time serviced an interest-only mortgage. So a £100k salary should fund a reasonable home IF the lady concerned had a deposit. If not, maybe it was possible to finance the boat 100%, but no such mortgage was available? (Didn't see the programme, which might have covered the decision making reasons)
  3. Stephen - my last comment was strictly 'tongue-in-cheek'. I'm never irate - I much prefer lowrate
  4. Going Back to the OP, I was caught-out by auto renewal 2 weeks early back in February. I had licensed my boat for 3 months at a time up until then. As I was funded-up in February, I intended to get an annual license, but was auto-renewed for 3 months. (I too missed the link to opt-out, or maybe just wasn't expecting it to happen 2 weeks before expiry). If I'm not funded-up for subsequent renewals, I'll have to stick with the 3 month license, which will cost me £100 more over the course of a year. So not happy. On the subject of displaying a license, I don't always - as others have commented, most boats don't have printers. Last summer, moored on the N Oxford or Coventry (can't remember which) a CRT inspector knocked on my boat to enquire why my license wasn't displayed. Explaining as above, I offered to show him the emailed license on my laptop, which he declined as unnecessary. He did suggest a note in the license holder giving the license number. Maybe his handheld gadget couldn't get a signal? Maybe displaying a handwritten note of the license details is not a bad idea, if just to placate irate towpath walkers (Stephen?...)
  5. I accused you and Mr Smelly of talking us into a bad summer
  6. It's Fringlish Shangri-lala land?
  7. Mr Smelly; Nightwatch; j'accuse!
  8. Well, I am unapologetically a fair weather boater. I plan to migrate north in the summer, bird-like, from the Canaries (appropriately!) back to my boat in Staffs. Probably sometime in May, weather permitting. Searching for reassurance about the warm, balmy summer to come, I chance upon this thread – rain, rain and maybe warmer rain . Part of my primitive belief system is that we will influence the weather by our confidence (or otherwise) in it, so please stop convincing it to rain! I have to state, categorically, that there will be a fine, warm summer this year. There will be enough rain (in the early hours on some days) to maintain water levels. No rising rivers and flood warnings. If not, those expressing views to the contrary must shoulder the blame for talking-up the rain!
  9. Well, I am unapologetically a fair weather boater. I plan to migrate north in the summer, bird-like, from the Canaries back to my boat in Staffs. Probably sometime in May, weather permitting. Searching for reassurance about the warm, balmy summer to come, I chance upon this thread – rain, rain and maybe warmer rain . Part of my primitive belief system is that we will influence the weather by our confidence (or otherwise) in it, so please stop convincing it to rain! I have to state, categorically, that there will be a fine, warm summer this year. There will be enough rain (in the early hours on some days) to maintain water levels. No rising rivers and flood warnings. If not, those expressing views to the contrary must shoulder the blame for talking-up the rain!
  10. Also a good crop for canalside farmers. They can sell the (fully grown) bikes to those dear chaps who race up and down the towpath on them
  11. Yes, I abandoned London last year, to spend warm winters in the Canaries, and wet summers on my boat! But I go back as often as I can...
  12. The full canals are a symptom of urban congestion, but London wouldn't be the same place without it. I think it's a case of I'll take it, and you'll leave it Ok, we can agree to not differ
  13. True - I don't boat in London. My boat's a chance to get out of London to the sticks. I keep forgetting what those big, flat green things are - oh yes, that's it, fields... Nice to get away to the sticks, but I wouldn't want to live there
  14. I think the distinction is artificial. Whenever I've offered an empty property at an initial rent, or raised the rent for the current tenant, rents charged within the local rental market would be the sole determining factor. If the costs of the property aren't covered by rent based on that criterion, then I'm in the wrong business!
  15. From your first estimate of rent levels in the area, I would say that the boat is comparable
  16. True enough, but that boat's rent is comparable with 2 bed flats in the area, it's not 3x the rent
  17. I've never rented a houseboat, either as landlord or tenant, but I am a London landlord. That rent seems a lot for Brentford (whereas £1500 for Tower Bridge was a bargain!). I get the impression that the landlord expects a premium from prospective tenants looking for an 'alternative' living arrangement. I also agree with Athy (post #38). You don't squeeze every penny of rent from a good tenant. I've not increased the rent on my property for 4 years. Rents in the area have increased, but a good tenant has a greater value than a bit extra each month. Can't agree that cost of a rental property is a major determinant of the rent charged - it's determined by rent levels in the area. If you bought a property 20 years ago, would you charge a rent that was current at that time? I wouldn't. Similarly, if you're buying a property to rent-out in an area where house prices are proportionately higher than rents, you're not likely to find a tenant prepared to pay a significantly higher rent than average. I'd say that, if the OP wants the experience of living on a boat, the Brentford one might be worth it. If it's just a question of affordable accommodation, rent a flat.
  18. If the LA could discharge its statutory homelessness duty with a cardboard box, I'm sure they would. But they can't. They can, however, argue that the root cause of the liveaboards' homelessness is a CaRT maintenance issue. That's not turning CaRT into a housing authority; it's a housing authority holding CaRT responsible for homelessness due to canal disrepair
  19. The local authority will have a duty under homelessness legislation towards liveaboards prevented from living aboard by the breach. I expect they'd offload that duty onto CaRT, tho'.
  20. +1 for that. I rather think that, by the time writing became an issue, words of any origin had been assimilated into early modern English in the main. Spelling differences largely arose from writers working in isolation - different monasteries, etc. I appreciate there are some salient opposite examples, such as the Vale of Belvoir! An example in favour of my point would be the River Soar. It's spelt the same as the verb, although it's a noun. It comes from a lost language, which pre-dates the earliest forms of Celtic. There's a parallel in Germany - the Saar The Taming of the Shew?
  21. I've found that, once you reach your 'golden years', a bus pass is your friend. It's not too tricky to moor within striking distance of a rural bus route, which gets you to the station, car hire depot, etc. Long taxi rides from 'the stix' to the station work-out expensive...
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