It’s your move or more likely mine, week 34

The letter has finally come through confirming we have jumped through the section 157 hoop. The letter also states that we will similarly be subject to the same condition when we decide to sell the property.

So the nightmare is over. The funny thing is that after such a struggle and after dealing with so much red tape and bureaucracy, it’s all a bit of an anti-climax. But we aren’t out of the wood yet, we now have to go through the usual channels of property buying including local searches which can sometimes turn up a few problems.

The vendors were extremely relieved; being elderly and having lived in the property for over 30 years, they want the minimum of fuss. I can’t imagine living somewhere for that long. I guess if things had been different and we had found somewhere we liked, then perhaps we would have stayed put.

In the meantime the letting agent sent their three-monthly reminder that they wanted to carry out a property inspection. It’s not just an intrusion and inconvenience, it’s also an appalling waste of time, because they turn up, stand in the hall, ask if everything is OK then leave. They don’t even inspect the property.

They know of our plans, it’s not surprising given the network of estate agents in this area and the fact that half the neighbourhood know, (our neighbour who also rents their property through the same agent told us the agent had asked them if they had heard anything about our move date). But the agent said nothing to us and we have said nothing to them because until it’s a definite, we aren’t taking any chances.

At the risk of tempting fate, I’m starting to think about what’s going with us and what isn’t. After 16 years of faithfully keeping all my personal keepsakes, precious collections and inherited items, pictures and family heirlooms, keeping them in the hope that each year I will be able to unpack them and once more enjoy them; always imagining I would be upsizing as my family grew rather than downsizing.

I now have to face the fact that the house I always dreamed and imagined I would be in by now is not going to happen and many of my possessions will simply have to go. Most of them have been packed away in boxes since 2001 but all of them hold a special memory. Tough as it is, I guess it’s time to start making new memories.