Let The Madness Commence. April 12th.

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, cuthound said:

 

I know, that is why I clarified my post seconds after first issuing it.

 

Hah!  You're getting as bad as Jo altering posts after they have been replied to

 

[trane]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Thankyou , 'official' instructions from the Government would be helpful, rather than just 'the caravan club are doing it'.

If you want to look at what the legislation says regarding step 2 I've attached a link. It runs to 96 pages but the section relevant to you for tomorrow is on page 57-

 

Step 2 area--Closure of holiday accommodation 12.—(1) Subject to sub-paragraphs (2) to (5), a person responsible for carrying on a business consisting of the provision of holiday accommodation situated in the Step 2 area, whether in a hotel, hostel, bed and breakfast accommodation, holiday apartment, home, cottage or bungalow, campsite, caravan park or boarding house, canal boat or any other vessel must cease to carry on that business......................(5) Holiday accommodation referred to in sub-paragraph (1) may continue to be provided if that accommodation is provided— (a) in a campsite or caravan park, provided that the only shared facilities used by guests at the campsite or caravan park are washing facilities, toilets, water points and waste disposal points, or (b) in separate and self-contained premises. (6) Premises are separate and self-contained for the purposes of this paragraph only if— (a) they are provided for persons who are — (i) members of the same household, or (ii) members of two households which are linked households in relation to each other, and (b) none of the following are shared with the members of any other household— (i) kitchens, (ii) sleeping areas, (iii) bathrooms, or (iv) indoor communal areas. 

 

The legislation for step 3 can be found further down

 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/364/pdfs/uksi_20210364_en.pdf

 

 

[Tonka]

7 minutes ago, Athy said:

Fair enough.

Betws-y-\Coed; does the Welsh Highland Railway go through there? Is it running again yet?

That's good news. Here, we'd rarely exceed that number even in summer!

April 27 is when the railway re-opens  according to their website but it does not go to Betws-y-Coed 

[mrsmelly]

7 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

It's incredible isn't it? A whole industry seems to have sprung up around how to 'work safely in a pandemic'. Whether it be a camp site or a TV production company making a documentary. I can see people with vested interests not wanting this pandemic to go away.

Yep, its been a Godsend for many business who will allow them to continue without giving any service and simply blame covid. I am at present going through the dreadful spectre of using solicitors for both house purchase and probate and every bit of paper work has a huge printed in red cop out time wise blaming covid  FFS they are only paper shuffling anyway and pressing  buttons on a keyboard for their 250 pounds ( plus VAT ) an hour fee so what has changed!! 

[cuthound]

10 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Hah!  You're getting as bad as Jo altering posts after they have been replied to

 

 

?

[Ex Brummie]

14 minutes ago, trane said:

If you want to look at what the legislation says regarding step 2 I've attached a link. It runs to 96 pages but the section relevant to you for tomorrow is on page 57-

 

 

 

 

It's amazing that we have 96 pages of legislation to make us do what responsible people should do in the first place. But then, part of the 'industry' that has grown up around this pandemic is the constant media attention to nit pick and try to find ways of disputing advice and confounding thinking before any of their counterparts, and the selfish individuals who make any excuse to cover holidays as work.

[ditchcrawler]

43 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

It's amazing that we have 96 pages of legislation to make us do what responsible people should do in the first place. But then, part of the 'industry' that has grown up around this pandemic is the constant media attention to nit pick and try to find ways of disputing advice and confounding thinking before any of their counterparts, and the selfish individuals who make any excuse to cover holidays as work.

But that's the problem isn't it. even with 96 pages people were still looking for loopholes 

[Athy]

48 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

It's amazing that we have 96 pages of legislation to make us do what responsible people should do in the first place. 

While I haven't read the 96 pages, I agree whole-heartedly with that sentiment. Responsible people should think along the lines of "How can I best conform to these rules in order to keep myself and other people safe?", not "How can I get round these rules, most of which of course do not apply to me because I'm special?"

Fortunately, most people probably do take that first line of thinking..

Edited April 10, 2021 by Athy

[Arthur Marshall]

2 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Yep, its been a Godsend for many business who will allow them to continue without giving any service and simply blame covid. I am at present going through the dreadful spectre of using solicitors for both house purchase and probate and every bit of paper work has a huge printed in red cop out time wise blaming covid  FFS they are only paper shuffling anyway and pressing  buttons on a keyboard for their 250 pounds ( plus VAT ) an hour fee so what has changed!! 

Certainly for house purchase, most of the work is done by the most junior person, which is why usually the quality is dire. I've been in the middle of selling a house to buy another only to discover that I hadn't actually bought the first one properly years before and had to sort that out before selling, and a solicitor for another who simply refused to supply any paperwork. Oone lot, I only got any action by threatening to report them to the Law Society. My current house, the lawyers missed rights of way across the land. I found if you don't hassle the hell out of them, nothing happens. 

Same with probate, if banks or solicitors are doing it. One of my jobs at the accountancy where I worked was to keep a note of probates and ring them every week, or they'd happily take years over it.

[Arthur Marshall]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

But that's the problem isn't it. even with 96 pages people were still looking for loopholes 

Troubles is, with 96 pages of legalese written by politicians with no training in anything but PR or journalism, you're going to get loopholes. If it had been kept simple and direct, people would know where they were. We're still trying to make head or tail of the situation for band rehearsals - guidance is often self-contradictory and changes every couple of weeks.

There are rules, exceptions, advice, suggestions and interpretations. The guidance for churches is incomprehensible.

[Alan de Enfield]

28 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

The guidance for churches is incomprehensible.

 

That does seem to be a common reaction to the bible.

[David Mack]

46 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Certainly for house purchase, most of the work is done by the most junior person, which is why usually the quality is dire. I've been in the middle of selling a house to buy another only to discover that I hadn't actually bought the first one properly years before and had to sort that out before selling, and a solicitor for another who simply refused to supply any paperwork. Oone lot, I only got any action by threatening to report them to the Law Society. My current house, the lawyers missed rights of way across the land. I found if you don't hassle the hell out of them, nothing happens. 

 

I am in the middle of selling my late father's house. What you write is oh so true. In my case it seems both buyers and sellers solicitors have been slow, each blaming the other. As a result the whole thing is taking weeks longer than it should have, although hopefully we are near the end. The conveyancer I am dealing with is not good at responding to emails, can never be reached on the phone and hardly ever returns calls. So much so that I had to ring the head of the firm's conveyancing section to chivy things along - during our discussion he did mention even he was only able to communicate with the chap by text message!

[David Mack]

52 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

 

Same with probate, if banks or solicitors are doing it.

I can't imagine why anyone gets a bank or solicitor to do probate. My sister and I did Dad's. It was all perfectly straightforward, if tedious, contacting all the banks, financial institutions, insurers, utilities, pension providers and the like to get account balances etc. for probate, and then once probate was issued, contacting them all again to collect the money. I can't see any point in paying someone banker or solicitor rates to do all this work, especially when we would have had to identify all the organisations involved anyway.

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

I can't imagine why anyone gets a bank or solicitor to do probate. My sister and I did Dad's. It was all perfectly straightforward, if tedious, contacting all the banks, financial institutions, insurers, utilities, pension providers and the like to get account balances etc. for probate, and then once probate was issued, contacting them all again to collect the money. I can't see any point in paying someone banker or solicitor rates to do all this work, especially when we would have had to identify all the organisations involved anyway.

 

I agree, I got probate and executed my late Father-in-Laws will.

 

The work is simple, but "bitty", as you often have to wait for others.

 

In total it is probably a couple of days work, but spread over a few weeks.

[AndrewIC]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

 

I am in the middle of selling my late father's house. What you write is oh so true. In my case it seems both buyers and sellers solicitors have been slow, each blaming the other. As a result the whole thing is taking weeks longer than it should have, although hopefully we are near the end. The conveyancer I am dealing with is not good at responding to emails, can never be reached on the phone and hardly ever returns calls. So much so that I had to ring the head of the firm's conveyancing section to chivy things along - during our discussion he did mention even he was only able to communicate with the chap by text message!

When I was selling my father’s house, the whole thing ground to a halt in some sort of stalemate, and I ended up ringing the buyer’s solicitor to get her to tell me exactly which piece of paper she believed she had not received from my conveyancer (my original solicitor having gone bust shortly after being instructed!), so that I could then tell my conveyancer to supply it. After agreeing that we weren’t officially having this conversation because she wasn’t allowed to talk to me, she told me what was missing. It was a form I had filled in several months previously... 

 

Probate? Fiddly but straightforward. HMRC IHT helpline are very helpful. HMCTS less so.

[Arthur Marshall]

2 minutes ago, AndrewIC said:

When I was selling my father’s house, the whole thing ground to a halt in some sort of stalemate, and I ended up ringing the buyer’s solicitor to get her to tell me exactly which piece of paper she believed she had not received from my conveyancer (my original solicitor having gone bust shortly after being instructed!), so that I could then tell my conveyancer to supply it. After agreeing that we weren’t officially having this conversation because she wasn’t allowed to talk to me, she told me what was missing. It was a form I had filled in several months previously... 

 

Probate? Fiddly but straightforward. HMRC IHT helpline are very helpful. HMCTS less so.

The house I was buying had been rented out, and the tenants knew they were moving on in six months, so did the solicitors and so did I.  I just sold my house and moved onto the boat for the interim.  My solicitor rang me, said she was getting nowhere with the vendor and refused to deal with their solicitor any more, so I rang him.  He said "there are tenants in it" I said I know, we're getting ready for me to buy it at the end of their tenancy. He said "But there are tenants in it. Aren't they naughty?" and put the phone down on me. I got off the boat, drove up and tried to kick the practice door in to get at him... luckily they'd closed. Turned out the estate agent played golf with him, said he was away with the doodahs, had alzheimers and they gave him the conveyancing because it kept him out of trouble (he was a senior partner). Estate agent got someone else do do the job...

[MoominPapa]

4 hours ago, Ex Brummie said:

It's amazing that we have 96 pages of legislation to make us do what responsible people should do in the first place. 

 

People expect, quite rightly, that if the law is going to tell us what to do, then it should be unambiguous. You'd be the first to complain if you did what you thought "responsible people should do in the first place" and then a policeman and a judge came along and fined or imprisoned you because they thought the conduct required of a "responsible person" was otherwise to what you did. You'd be referring to the relevant legislation to see exactly what it said about what you were being punished for doing.

 

Of course the law can't be completely unambiguous and can't cover every single scenario: we even have a whole cadre of people, the judges, whose role is to try and decide what the law says, or what was the intention of parliament in draughting it, to make up for these shortcomings but the law has to give them (and us) something to work with.

 

"Don't be a dick" is a great law in theory, and may even be the only one needed to run a society. In practise it's not much use.

 

MP.

 

 

7 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

I'm off to to boat next week.

 

I phoned a local boatyard to check they would be open for diesel. They are also a hire base.

They said "Best not call in on Monday, we've 10 boats going out".

 

Just rock up and stop on the Aqueduct. You'll get rapid service just to get you out of the way.

 

MP.

[mrsmelly]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

I can't imagine why anyone gets a bank or solicitor to do probate. My sister and I did Dad's. It was all perfectly straightforward, if tedious, contacting all the banks, financial institutions, insurers, utilities, pension providers and the like to get account balances etc. for probate, and then once probate was issued, contacting them all again to collect the money. I can't see any point in paying someone banker or solicitor rates to do all this work, especially when we would have had to identify all the organisations involved anyway.

I got them to do probate to be hnest because they only charge about a grand and I cant be arsed messing with poxy forms mostly on line. My sister in law did hers herself a few months ago and it took her six weeks to get probate, I will see how much longer it takes the pros to do it lol. As for house purchase it shouldnt take over a week but always takes months!!

[Cheshire cat]

I've held the opinion that most solicitors bread and butter work could easily be offshored. We did probate for my mother and have just started it for my father in law. It's all very straight forward. Much less so though if you are wealthy and have been avoiding the taxman according to a friend who ended up handing his over to the professionals. 

[john6767]

Well we will be joining the unwashed masses.  
 

Went to boat yesterday and changed the oil and filters etc.  Back there today, filled with water, cleaned the fire out, did some varnishing on the window trims, and took all the tins etc back that we had brought home as emergency supplies.

 

Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow does not look great, so undecided if we go tomorrow or leave it until Monday morning, when it may be fun on Calcutt locks as I would think all the hire boats will be going out on Monday morning.

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, john6767 said:

Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow does not look great, so undecided if we go tomorrow or leave it until Monday morning, when it may be fun on Calcutt locks as I would think all the hire boats will be going out on Monday morning.

 

If you go for a very long day trip tomorrow and stay up quite late (ie not in bed before midnight) it'll then be Monday 12th before you stay overnight ...

[Mike Adams]

I shall be setting of on Monday. I find it better to start at about 6pm and go to 2am.

[TheBiscuits]

4 minutes ago, Mike Adams said:

I shall be setting of on Monday. I find it better to start at about 6pm and go to 2am.

 

Tidal run or just avoiding everyone else?

[nebulae]

Exchanged contracts in 40 mins once , My man purchased searches from a failed purchaser who was glad to get his money back.  Involved me in some running around,but no problem. Purchase of property is normaly childs play.  But watch out for any special issues.  How many first time buyers have purchased a new build and found it is leasehold?  Good scam and legal.  HMRC are very helpfull to laymen applying for probate. Process is not difficult and is much less hasle if you do it yourself.

[john6767]

38 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

If you go for a very long day trip tomorrow and stay up quite late (ie not in bed before midnight) it'll then be Monday 12th before you stay overnight ...

Indeed that is the logic, might just have a nap before midnight though.  Weather looks grim for tomorrow morning though.