The people renting the house we we re about to sign for screwed us around a bit. The agent asked us to fax docs as her bosses weren't sure about us. They were scared of renting to foreigners and didn't want to sign anything with us until Bruce has permanent residency here. So they said no. Then they had a change of heart and asked us to email more docs. We sent those docs to them and they have kept us hanging (officially they haven't given a final no).

We've given up on them and decided that most landlords are going to have a similar sticking point, so our hosts have organised for us to get a short lease in a house currently owned by our host's ex-wife. She's apparently trying to sell it, but not having much luck. She works in another part of the property and is talking of renting us a part of the full house (apparently it's HUGE). We're talking two months at the moment, as we should have residency papers sorted by then and can get a more permanent place. Bruce and I still haven't seen the place, but our hosts assure us it's pretty nice.

We're pretty disappointed about not getting the other place, but our hosts tell us it's a good thing we don't have it as likely to be flooded in a big way sometime in the next few years anyway. Apparently the huge river near here (the Garonne) hasn't flooded in 50 years even though it used to flood once every 30 years. The Garonne is pretty huge already and flows VERY quickly, so I can easily see how it would flood. Our hosts pointed out the flood measure and flood observation tower, which was further away from the river than the house we were looking at and was about the same height as the second floor on the house. So, maybe this is a close save. We'll see.

Posted at 10:22 AM #

Comments:

View Comments »

House news

The people renting the house we we re about to sign for screwed us around a bit. The agent asked us to fax docs as her bosses weren't sure about us. They were scared of renting to foreigners and didn't want to sign anything with us until Bruce has permanent residency here. So they said no. Then they had a change of heart and asked us to email more docs. We sent those docs to them and they have kept us hanging (officially they haven't given a final no).

We've given up on them and decided that most landlords are going to have a similar sticking point, so our hosts have organised for us to get a short lease in a house currently owned by our host's ex-wife. She's apparently trying to sell it, but not having much luck. She works in another part of the property and is talking of renting us a part of the full house (apparently it's HUGE). We're talking two months at the moment, as we should have residency papers sorted by then and can get a more permanent place. Bruce and I still haven't seen the place, but our hosts assure us it's pretty nice.

We're pretty disappointed about not getting the other place, but our hosts tell us it's a good thing we don't have it as likely to be flooded in a big way sometime in the next few years anyway. Apparently the huge river near here (the Garonne) hasn't flooded in 50 years even though it used to flood once every 30 years. The Garonne is pretty huge already and flows VERY quickly, so I can easily see how it would flood. Our hosts pointed out the flood measure and flood observation tower, which was further away from the river than the house we were looking at and was about the same height as the second floor on the house. So, maybe this is a close save. We'll see.