Looks like we won't be moving into that house afterall. I'm disappointed to say the least. I was looking forward to finally getting out of this place but it won't be happening now.
I called the estate agents this morning myself to find out some more information about the house. Specifically, I wanted to know exactly how much the deposit was, as last night, it emerged that my mum/Gary was willing to put up the �1700 needed to cover both the deposit and the first months rent and we'd all pay it back over time. In return, my name would be on the lease. I wanted to double check if this would be the amount needed.
The estate agent confirmed it and I said goodbye, but I called back about ten minutes later, after I had forgotten to ask if the landlord would accept housing benefit. I got a different person this time, but his answer was that no, the landlord would probably not accept it and that "I think he just wants professionals" living there. This meant that my way of paying the rent was not going to be possible so I began to think about how else I could pay my way in the house and I thought about just paying for everyone's utilities instead.
However, Liam text me an hour or two later and he said that we all needed to meet up to talk about it in the AJ's. That wasn't going to happen though anyway, so I called him and I told him that I'd called the estate agents and that the landlord probably wouldn't want us living there. He agreed that it probably wasn't likely that we'd be getting the place. Very disappointed. However, I guess I'm a bit annoyed at Liam for not finding this information out sooner, as it was he who was supposedly sorting everything out. Finding out whether the landlord would actually allow us to live there is quite an important thing to know I would of thought!
So, sadly, I won't be moving.
Yet.
My mum came home with Gary today. They've been in Denmark and Germany since last Friday. They got home on Tuesday, but they've been staying at Gary's and I've been phoning my mum now and then since then, updating her about the house. I told her about my call with the estate agents and Gary as well.
They both arrived here a few minutes before Liam text me. I went to tell both of them that I wasn't going to get the place.
They're arranging big things between them. To be honest, I don't want to know about half of it, but I do know that my mum has either sold the house to Gary or somehow part-sold it to him. In return, he's giving my mum 40k. In addition, he's also refurbishing the whole house. Of course, my mum is very happy about this, but I'm a lot more cautious. I think she's just seeing the money side of things and not why Gary is doing this. Gary is a fairly nice guy, but he's still a businessman and I'm not quite sure where his profit is coming from by doing this. I have to admit that it's a bit unsettling knowing that the home you're living in isn't owned by you, or rather, your mum. But that's another story.
I told Gary about the fact that I was now not going to be moving out. He told me that perhaps the landlord would sublet the house. Rent the house to my mum and then my mum would rent it to us. I wasn't really sure why any landlord would do this though. Being the owner of a few houses himself, I asked Gary if he'd do that if he owned this one we wanted and he said yes.
I asked him to give the estate agents a call and ask whether the landlord would agree to sublet. When Gary called however, the estate agents told him that apparntly the landlord had someone who was privately interested in the place. Gary made something up about how he and my mum had travelled all the way back from Denmark to give us the money for the place and the landlord having a private buyer was a bit unfair, when we thought we'd pretty much got the place. So that was it pretty much for that house.
However, Gary then asked if there were any other six bedroomed houses that they were offering to rent. They said no. He then asked if they had any to buy as an offhand remark. They did and he was surprised and livened up. He began asking for the details of the house and then asked if the information could be sent to his address. He told them that he couldn't look at the information till Monday, but his closing line to them was "and hopefully the exchange will take place within ten days". He hung up and looked over and me.
"There you go, I'll buy you a house!", he said.
I have to admit, I was impressed by his wealth and ability to do that.
I didn't want to act all excited about it though, simply because I don't act the way my mum does when it comes to money and I don't want him to think that I can be easily impressed with it because I'd like to think I can't be. But, as I say, I was very impressed that he'd just said he was interested in buying something with a �190,000 price tag.
So, while there is no chance that I'll be moving into the house I viewed, there is a good chance that I may be moving into a house about 10 minutes drive from it, courtesy of Gary.
In addition to this bit of news, my mum has given me �1000, cash, from the money she's been given from Gary for the deal with the house. Both my mum and Gary had a kind of grin on their faces as my mum told me and yet, no smile came over my face once I was told. I was just a bit...confused more than anything.
"What for?", I asked.
"Anything", my mum replied. "And I'm buying Laura a car", she added, "and giving her �1000 too."
"Which will come out of her �1000", Gary added.
The fact that Gary added that though makes me think that Laura will actually be getting the car (Which is about �460 I think) plus �1000. There are things that Gary says which are meant to reassure me under false pretences I think and this is one of them, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, whatever. Something feels quite wrong in accepting this money, but the truth is that I desperately need it, simply for things like getting to college, nothing fancy, just getting me to college.
So, to recap, the house I was moving into, I'm now no longer moving into.
Gary is more than likely buying a house specifically for us all to move into. - I've not told any of them about this though, because it still may turn out to be a pipe dream.
I have a bundle of �20's adding up to �1000 on my desk.
What a surreal entry.
