Regular readers might remember that a few weeks ago I had dealings with ALP in Aberystwyth, a letting agency. This afternoon I received a phone call from a representative of them.

He seemed to be threatening to take legal action because of “discrepancies in the allegations” I’d made in my weblog post. Of course, I don’t ever want to be responsible for any libel, so I gave him an e-mail address to which he can address his concerns, so that I can deal with them speedily. It’d be particularly troublesome if we couldn’t come to an agreement over the terms used, because it’d be a real bother to have to look into U.S. libel laws (Scatmania is, of course, hosted in the United States of America, which has significantly different laws on things like libel – and, if I remember correctly, any legal case would have to be raised over there).

Just in case any other letting agencies or landlords read this, I’d like to make it clear that I just “say what I see”. And, to demonstrate this, I’d like to say a few words about some of the other property letting agencies in Aberystwyth that we’ve been dealing with in our hunt for a new home. In order that I remembered them:

• GD Lettings don’t open on Saturdays, which is remarkably inconvenient, but seemed friendly and pleasant.
• Lloyd, Herbert and Jones are friendly and willing to discuss pretty much any arrangement – RECOMMENDED.
• Alexanders charge £35 for a credit check before you can let with them, which is a minor concern, but are extremely professional and knowledgeable about what they do.
• ABA charge £50 “agents fee” before you start letting with them, which seems a little steep, but always seem to have plenty of interesting properties to look at. The staff are laid-back and friendly.
• I’ve heard mixed things about Phillip Evans, but nothing to cause me excess concern. Sadly, they never seem have any interesting properties available when I’m looking for one, but otherwise they’re good. Plus, their plastic business cards are great for opening locks to which you’ve lost they key.

All in all, the Aberystwyth letting scene is good (if a little expensive, but that’s just the area, I guess). In my mind, it’s only a minority that are disappointing.

Claire and I are off to Norfolk this evening, for her dad’s wedding tomorrow. He and his lady have finally decided that “living in sin” wasn’t for them, and they’re tying the knot.

Traditionally, wedding gifts were household goods, appliances, etc., but both John (Claire’s dad) and Pat both own their own houses, fully stocked, and so – contrarily – we might find that for this couple, who already own two toasters, two food mixers, two washing machines, etc., the best gift they could possibly receive would be an eBay account from which to sell all of the duplicated homewares when they formally move in together, soon.

It’s interesting to see how the traditions of marriage are having to grow to fit the times: with fewer and fewer couples for whom getting married is synomymous with “leaving home and starting a family of your own” – and particularly in this case, which two retirees exchanging rings – the conventional symbols of marriage (what does “their wedding night” honestly mean any more?) and weddings (what do you buy for a couple who’ve already started their lives in the bigger wider world?) are dying out.

For a moment there, there was a risk that I’d be perceived as a traditionalist, or, worse yet, as a fundamentalist: to the contrary – I think that the ideas behind marriage are well overdue for an overhaul, and, as many of you know, I have personal objections to marriage which mean that you’re not ever likely to hear wedding bells from anywhere near where I’m standing.

Nonetheless, weddings are a fun excuse for a party. Like funerals, they bring families together in a rare bonding moment, but unlike funerals you don’t feel so guilty for getting pissed and hitting on your cousin. And in the end, isn’t that what life is all about?

Claire and I have sorted out where we’re going to live following the announcement that we were to move out of The Flat on Cambrian Place.

Despite a fruitless first few weeks of house-hunting we’ve finally found somewhere which is pretty much ideal: a little larger than The Flat, not too much more expensive, and still centrally located. More information on the move and the steps it will involve can be found on the RockMonkey page “TheFlat“, including a debate on naming the new residence.

We’ll be moving on Wednesday 14th December. Time to start cashing in on all those favours we’ve built up by helping everybody we know move house over the last three years! (Kit can be let off with not helping)

Fab.

What follows is a true account of my dealings with ALP, a property management and lettings agency in Aberystwyth.

READERS ARE REMINDED THAT THIS POST CONSTITUTES THE OPINIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS ONLY OF THE AUTHOR, AND THESE ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN AS REFLECTIVE OF THE OPINIONS OF ANY OTHER PERSON. (since this blogpost, ALP have phoned me)

Like many of you, I’d heard the horror stories about ALP, the property management/letting agency at the roundabout at the end of Alexandra Terrace, in Aberystwyth. A friend of mine reports that while he rented part of a shared house with them, an agent would frequently let himself in and refuse to leave until due rent was paid in cash. I’ve also heard reports of them witholding deposits without cause (until taked to court to reclaim them), among other atrocities.

But perhaps that’s just the way they treat the tenants of the ‘student houses’ they let out. Or perhaps these are isolated cases. In any case, they can’t be that bad. There’s certainly no harm in viewing a property they manage, is there? So Claire and I thought…

At half past nine we met up with ALP’s agent at their offices, and he took us out to see the flat we’d expressed an interest in: a third-and-fourth floor two-bedroomed flat on Albert Place, opposite the council offices. The agent unlocked the door and led us upstairs, where the usual tour began: this is the main bedroom, this is the bathroom, blah blah blah. We got to the door to the living room, on the upper floor. The agent tried to open it, but only got it ajar before it jammed against something. The agent put on a pleasant tone: “I’ve just got some tenants I’d like to show around,” he called in.

“Why don’t you come back at the agreed time, 2pm?” came the response: slightly shaky, slightly rehearsed. The agent pretended not to hear him.

“I said I’ve got some tenants to show around,” he repeated, pushing the door a little further. Through the crack, I could see that the tenant had wedged a chair against the door handle and retreated to the opposite corner of the room.

“Why don’t you come back at the agreed time, 2pm?” the tenant answered again. So this was a rehearsed response.

The agent pretended to the tenant that he hadn’t heard him, and continued to jiggle the door handle to try to dislodge the chair. He turned to us and imitated the tenant’s words in a mocking mime. The tenant repeated his message, adding, “You said you’d only bring people after 2pm.”

The agent made his little performance again, showing us what he thought of the tenant’s concerns. Then, having moved the door enough to get his hand around it, he manuevered the chair carefully out of the way and entered.

I needn’t even discuss the legality of what he did. We were sufficiently disgusted with the attitude towards tenants to not even consider renting property from ALP. As we left, the agent tried to belittle the problems with the tenant, implying that he was paranoid delusional. Whether or not this is the case is completely irrelevant, of course, to the fact that the agent unlawfully entered the home of a tenant, and, when asked to leave, continued to force entry, thereby technically being a tresspasser. God knows how intimidated the tenant feels by them to resort to trying to barricade the doors of their own home.

I’ve not sure I’ve ever been so disgusted by the actions of a company disregarding it’s customers’ rights. Sony’s rootkit‘s got nothing on ALP.

• ALP phoned me regarding this post on 9th December 2005.
• A man who’d like to remain anonymous has allowed me to publish the story of his dealings with ALP, in June 2006

Well, I’m still limping, but I’m not in quite so much pain. Claire has parodied my attitude to my injury in the current episode of her webcomic, The Aber Effect.

In other news, I received a pipe-cleaner e-mail out of the blue from my old friend Gary, who I speak to about once every couple of years, recently. Apparently I’ve made a Scatmania-reader out of him, but I’d never have known, because he never leaves a comment. Ah well. Let this be him told.