No place to live, no schools for our kids.....

Housing and school frustrations

20 April 2011

Here we are entering our 4^th week in London.  You’d think the kids would be in school, we’d be settling into our new home, and life would be good. 

Not so.

Things are not looking good on either front.

We still enjoy the experience, and there are positives, but here is the reality.

For housing – today we were supposed to take possession of our townhouse.  Unfortunately, there are several problems, and we did not take possession.  At this point we are waiting to hear back from the agency tomorrow, but both sides are already talking about legal action.  This has been a big learning experience for us, that’s for sure.  I don’t think we’ll ever sign a lease without some serious hesitation first. 

The house is supposed to include use of a garage.  Although we don’t intend to get a car, one of the reasons we could actually get this place was because we planned to put stuff that doesn’t fit into the garage.  It’s smaller than what we planned to find.  The location and layout are really nice so it was a trade-off.  We also cannot wait to get bikes for the family.  London is perfect for biking and there is so much to see and do within a few miles of our home.  It would be fabulous, and we plan to put the bikes in the garage, along with the other odds and ends and sporting equipment accumulated by children at this stage. 

There were furnishings in the house when we viewed it, and we said we wanted it unfurnished; we are bringing most of our furniture from the US.  Apparently the agency took all the furnishings out of the home and is storing them in our garage space.  We see this as absolutely unacceptable and our relocation agents agree.  You’d think the landlord would just make other arrangements (hello? Put your furniture in storage like we did in the US!) but apparently he isn’t budging. 

Hopefully this will be resolved (one option suggested by our agents is that the landlord pays for any storage that we need, and we’d accept that).  Otherwise, it may go into litigation.  SERIOUSLY.   UGH!!  We signed the lease and put a damage deposit and one and a half months rent already – a HUGE amount of money that we obviously need returned.   I’ve looked on-line and there are other options – good ones – in the area we want, so we have no need to stick with this place if we can get out of it. 

There were other problems as well.  The agent convinced us how fabulous it is to be in Westminster because the council taxes are so much lower, it is a huge savings.   It turns out, we are NOT in Westminster, but in Camden.   Secondly, in the brochure it advertises that there are AC units in all rooms – but none of them have the remotes to actually use them.  Finally, we did not want any furniture in the house (again – we don’t think what we have will fit as it is).  The landlord said a wall unit would be staying.  We stated we can accept that, if indeed it is a built-in unit and cannot be removed.  Yes, they told us, it’s built in.   It turns out, it is not – it’s a free standing unit!! 

We’ve been manipulated and lied to, and we’re feeling quite frustrated, and can’t believe this has happened. 

At this point, we just want our money back and we’ll start over – there are plenty of other options. 

FOR SCHOOLS:  my children still have no school to attend.   The three schools we’ve looked at are full for spring.  For fall, one child has a spot at our 3^rd and “questionable” (according to our relocation agency) choice (it’s a bilingual school).   We’ve also applied to one American school and one International school.  Both applications were grueling.  The American school comes off a bit snobby at first.  But upon further research, we’ve learned that most children do indeed get in eventually.  This week I was told that there is indeed space for our 6 year old, but he needs to “be observed” for a day at the school.  Now a 6 year old boy can be very unpredictable.  I’m hoping for the best, and he’s capable, but it sure makes me nervous!  They say our 10 year old is a good candidate but at the moment they are full for September.  Finally for our 12 year old, they say they are full for September and furthermore that his application is insufficient.  The reason stated is a combination of my homeschooling him this year and the fact that his teacher from last year did not provide details (the real story is, very very unfortunately, he is dying from cancer).  Our 12 year old may be invited to do a day visit but we have to wait and see.  In the meantime I’ve asked the principal from his school k-5 to write a letter of support to the school…we’ll see if he does that.   I’m not sure what else to do.

Here is a picture of the back of the house for which we've signed the lease, and now have learned that they put their furniture in "our" garage and closets for their storage.  This is taken the day that we expected to take possession of it.  I planted the kids in the back patio, instructed them to do their school work, and then spent 3 hours waiting & watching 2 agnents going through details inspections of the property.

So, to summarize, we have nowhere to live and nowhere for our children to go to school at the moment.

Lovely, brilliant (I’m saying this with my fake British accent – can you hear it?)!!!!