Home is Where the (Troubled) Heart Is!

Steve and I are thinking of moving house. Again. This time it is not for any reason other than the fact we do not feel we are valued as tenants by our current estate agency. We moved in two and a half years ago and there has been one maintenance issue after another - dripping taps, damp patches, ill-fitting doors, leaking radiators - you name it. One by one things are being fixed - but to take two and a half years plus? And it still isn't all done! So about six weeks ago we started to stake out the market. We have told our current agency that we have been looking so it isn't all being done clandestinely. We know what area we want, the size of house we want and what we can realistically afford. We have a good income. We have some savings. We can even supply a guarantor if required. We have viewed at least a dozen properties and contacted at least twice as many other agencies in that six weeks and yet here we still are.

We do understand that neither of us actually want to leave this house. It ticks every box for us - location, size, price - so why would we want to? But having said that some of the other agents we have spoken to have expressed some concern about the way our current agency is handling our tenancy. I mean obviously they would given that they are all in competition with each other but - and it is a big but - where we lived previously we had literally none of the problems we are now experiencing. Repairs were done quickly and efiiciently. Emails were responded to - often within hours instead of weeks and we had a good understanding with our agency and landlord. So what has gone wrong? It is not as if we have ever missed, or even been late with, our rent and we keep the house neat, clean and fresh. It is all a bit of conundrum really. I guess we'll just have to hurry up and win the lottery. Then we can go out to but our forever ... mansion!