Buying My Own Place Was A Mistake

 

Buying my own place to live was a mistake. I have never felt more stressed and upset in my entire life. People say that buying a property is stressful. Yes, purchasing my maisonette did not go to plan. I should have received the keys on 12^th October, but I ended out waiting until 31^st January. Waiting to get the keys and have the purchase finalized was frustrating, and the estate agent made everything difficult and stressful for me – she will not be getting a thank you card. In fact, it is because of her that I am now facing a bit of a mess.

My maisonette has no gas or electricity. There is gas and electricity connected to the property, but it is apparently on a pre-payment meter, which is the property of British Gas. Unless the prepayment meter is behind the fridge-freezer, behind the washing machine, in the loft or under the floorboards, there is not one. At first, I was told, over the phone, at the British Gas UK call centre, that there was nothing they could do to help me, if there were not any meters on the property and they hung up. So, I contacted the British Gas online chat. They told me that until the previous owner gives them consent to close her account, then there is nothing they can do. The property was a repossession and, according to the neighbours, the previous owner has gone to live with family, therefore will not be updating British Gas on her address. If she owed them money, she is not going to willingly contact them, is she? Then, I tried the British Gas Help direct messenger, on X. They were really helpful, and set me up with an account number, for both the gas and electricity, but they said that was all they were able to do. I then received an email telling me that there is a meter on the property and, “Sorry you don’t know how to find it.” And I was told that there was nothing anyone could do to help me. Then, I phoned the British Gas pre-payment meter number, which you require an account number to get through to someone. This call centre is based in India. I explained (ever tearfully) to the customer service person what the problem was. They were whispering about me in the background, which made me feel even worse. Then they told me the pre-payment meter is located in the kitchen. The boiler is in the kitchen, I can find that. A Honeywell hot water thermostat is in the kitchen too. Unless the pre-payment metre is behind the fridge-freezer or washing machine, that the previous owner left behind, then it is not there. Also, if the pre-payment meter is behind the fridge=freezer or the washing machine, does that mean that once a week or more often than that, I have to hire someone to move the fridge-freezer or un-plumb and re-plumb the washing machine? I just keep being told that the pre-payment meter is there and, “Sorry you don’t know how to find it.” They keep telling me to go to the off-licence around the corner, buy a pre-payment stick for the gas and electric and ask the person on the till to help me. Are they for real? That is like going into a supermarket, buying a packet of rice and asking the cashier how long it will take to cook. How on earth would they know? Do you want to know what else? Not one person at British Gas has said, “Congratulations on your new home.” Not one! I am just a stupid woman to them, because I cannot find the missing or very well hidden electricity and gas pre-payment meters.

I am not too concerned about the gas, but without electricity, I have been unable to clean the maisonette, which means that I have not been able to decorate or do anything. I just want to wash the walls and floor, but I cannot do that without hot water, and I cannot paint the walls without them being clean. I cannot even use the electricity until I have the fuse box fixed, but my electrician cannot fix the fuse box, until I have access to electricity, because he needs to do an entire building inspection, for me, to ensure the plug sockets are safe. He cannot do this without having any electricity to test.

There are loose hanging wires in a lot of places, pipes all over the walls. There are large holes in the plaster in various places. There are cracks in the walls. All of these things were unable to be detected, when I looked around, back in August, because there was furniture everywhere. The estate agent would not let me re-view the property after the furniture was removed, nor would she let me get the gas or electricity checked, which is why I am in the mess that I am. The estate agent just kept telling me that, “You don’t do that with a repossession,” and if I held the sale up, I would have to pay the company selling the property an extra 4% on top of the property price.

The kitchen is completely unusable. The fridge-freezer, that the previous owner left behind, is full of a brown gooey gunk that smells like a dead body. The washing machine is smashed up. The oven is caked in the thickest amount of oil I have ever seen (and I worked in a cheap restaurant for eighteen months). Inside the cupboards is either smashed up or full or oil or a the poopy-coloured gunk that smells of dead people. The main reason why I wanted to move out of where I live now, is because I have no access to a kitchen. The cost to have a the kitchen pulled out and a completely new, very cheap one, refitted is the entire amount of money that I have left.

I have just spent two and a half hours online to the British Gas online chat. They passed me through to three separate people, two of them managers, before they disconnected the chat. They just keep saying that there is a meter and I need to locate it. They will not send an engineer to the property to find it. They will not send me a new pre-payment card, which means I have to pay the debt of the previous owner. They will not let me cancel. The pre-payment metre phone line and chat is an Indian call centre who do not have the authority to do anything. There is no UK pre-payment metre person to talk to. I cannot find the pre-payment meter. My mum has been to the property, both with and without me and she cannot find the pre-payment meter. I paid an internal designer to come out to the property and help me find the meter and we searched a tiny one bedroom, one reception room, one bathroom, one kitchen property for one hour and a half. We could not find it. I have told British Gas this.  Have told them that wherever the pre-payment meter is, I need it moving, because I obvious cannot access it, but they keep saying that there is nothing they can do to help. I asked are my only options to either not have gas and electricity forever or sell the maisonette and they keep repeating, “Sorry you cannot find the meter,” and, “We cannot provide an engineer visit service.”

So, I have spent my entire life’s savings, purchasing a maisonette that I can never live in and I do not have any money to sell it. I am paying the mortgage on it and council tax, but I am paying rent where I am currently living too. I only got paid on the last day of January and I have zero in my bank account until I get paid on the last day of February. I do not even have money for bus fare or food, if I had the mental capacity to get public transport or step inside of a shop.

Buying my own place was the worst thing I have ever done in my entire life.

- Josie -