jtaylor

I use an MSI U180 (with ram upgrade) running Ubuntu Gnome. Super light. Not very fast, but brilliant for emails and a bit of typing. Lots of similar stuff on the market. I've got a tablet too and, well, it's pretty useless for writing anything more than a few lines - unless I hook up a bluetooth keyboard....... Even then, NOWHERE NEAR as versatile.

Thanks everyone! And no, not a woman on her own - not that it makes much difference, IMHO! @hyper He has kept us (more or less) up to date with the jobs ahead of us in the queue and we are "next". If he's being subbed by a builder, he's deliberately misled us. We've got a date now for August, but if that doesn't materialise and there's no firm date in a reasonable time, then yeah, notice and small claim for unreasonable delay, I think. @spider1 It's harsh putting a name up while I think the roofer is still acting in good faith - small businesses can struggle from time to time. He's said he's deliberately not accepting more work until he's got over this problem year, so fair enough. Plenty of good comments from other people in the past about the company..... Basically, I'd rather he did the work (and get back on his feet) than have me put in a small claim, possibly get a CCJ, wreck his business etc. etc....... Last resort. I think he'd probably conclude it is better to return the deposit anyway, if the claim is likely to succeed.

Thanks for the feedback. 1) Paperwork: yes, we have a full paper trail for everything we've paid. We'd have to make a small claim based on "unreasonable delay" under the Goods And Service Act 1982, by the sound of it. 2) The company/deposits: I won't name them while there's still a chance they'll pull through. I know there's a debate on whether deposits are a good or a bad thing, but this is a full reroof and all the trimmings - gutters, downpipes, repointing, fibreglass flat roof. 3) Date: I've had a pretty sketchy date from them for August. Basically, we were going to give it until end of August and then find someone else and do the claim, but I was really wondering about the unreasonable delay side of the equation, because there doesn't seem much info about it....

Interesting situation. We paid a deposit for roofing work about 8 months ago. Roofer has delayed for various reasons (some definitely more valid than others, including major delay on one project), but still hasn't given us dates for start and end of works. The deposit is non-refundable after a 14-day cooling off period. But would it be possible to claim it back on grounds of unreasonable delay? Anyone had something similar? The roofer - understandably - is telling us "no way do you get the deposit back". But eight months and still no confirmed start date?! Thanks in advance.

£60 per month with electricity sounds like a bargain! Garages are thin on the ground... I know of some in Sharrow at £50/£60 per month, but no electricity and almost definitely none available Have you considered upgrading the security on your current studio yourself? Might be cheaper/less hassle.

Perhaps direct evidence of how confusing the ticketing pricing system is?!

Which I think supports dutch's original point - why do the people paying for the railway have to go to extraordinary lengths to buy a ticket at a competitive price? I think mutual respect and trust between customers and companies on the railway broke down a long time ago, if it ever existed... The franchise documents are clearly focused on 'revenue protection...', i.e. screwing as much money out of the system as possible. Perhaps people wouldn't be looking to cut corners all the time if they thought the fares were actually fair (pun intended). There's no mention (that I could see) of pensioners and the disabled - surely a hot topic right now.

See also the recent (short) article in Private Eye 1369 (p. 11). 'Dr B Ching' says that in effect they want to raise fares where Northeners are paying _below_ the national average but not _cut_ them where they are already paying more.

@Nicotrod Yep, that's what I was getting at above. S7 is good value. And at £500 a month, you could get a pretty sweet 1 bed flat!

What sort of price are you looking for? Are you going to be living in/paying for the flat on your own? PM me if you're interest in London Road/Sharrow Lane area.

The section of The Moor around the new market is busier than I've ever seen it. What would be interesting to know is how much of that is going to the market itself or how much to Poundland, Iceland and TJ Hughes-land... Anyone have any solid figures?

In our block, I've had a few (very temporary) neighbours come round and beg for broadband. Generally they were in some dodgy deal on short-term lets or just too lazy to sort it out for themselves... I know another neighbour is paying their neighbour for broadband - less than ideal! It's usually short-term/fly-by-night tenants this is going to be a big issue for - the kind you probably don't want because your transaction costs (your time included) for getting new tenants in just increase and you don't want to go all black-market, I'm sure... I would just explain to potential tenants that they would be best off sorting out BB as soon as the ink is dry on the contract so that it's set up as soon as they move in. You could help let in any engineer etc. as necessary (brownie points before your tenant has even moved in!). Would that work? Don't forget that tenants (anyone in fact) can normally move a contract with them from wherever they're coming from - often the most economical way of doing it. Really worth reminding potential tenants of this.

Suggestion - try The Stag on Psalter Lane. No one is ever there during the day and they have wifi. You can pretty much take up a massive table or even a whole room just for yourself. Not quite sure why they stay open all day... Just buy a coffee or something... Opening times: Monday - Sat 11.30am - 11.30pm, Sunday 12 noon - 11pm Failing that, you could try upstairs at The Rude Shipyard on abbeydale road! There's a proper working environment there on workdays... sometimes. There are coffee shops all down Sharrow Vale and Eccy Roads, but they tend to be small and/or very busy... ---------- Post added 07-06-2014 at 16:35 ---------- Not trying to knock libraries... The Highfield branch is just not very conducive to work - limited table space downstairs - probably because of all the big desktop computers...

This is the blurb from Yorkshire Water: There's no need to worry if you change your mind, you can revert to non metered charges at a later date as long as you write to us within 12 months of the meter being installed and the original application was made by you. We had ours put in recently and the savings are definitely building up. Problem was that the pipework was a mess so they wouldn't install one until we'd had that sorted - it means we're not going to be making savings for a while yet... We weren't worried about future occupants because we're just in a small flat anyway. @mafya Yes - it could be a big problem for 4-bed house. Maybe worth calling Yorkshire Water to check on what options a future occupant would have. A four bed house could house a lot of people.

STC is just a way of making sure that the terms of the sales contract as agreed on paper between the solicitors are the _only_ terms of the contract. The thinking is that this keeps this crystal clear. Once the contracts have been 'exchanged' (actually, the solicitors probably just call each other), there is a binding contract (assuming there hasn't been a HUGE mistake - e.g. you don't actually have the money...). At that point, you would have a remedy if the vendor then failed to transfer the property to you on the completion date - you'd want specific performance of the contract. Of course, the vendor would have remedy against YOU. So, looking at its from the vendor's AND the purchaser's point of view, the contract is a big deal for BOTH parties. Exchange contracts too early, and you might have to buy a house that's a complete wreck or has something else seriously wrong with it (purchaser) or you may be pretty much compelled to transfer title when actually you've realised you don't want to (vendor)