Morning bath...

It's like me and my shadow in the flat at the moment... first thing in the morning... in the loo... she's waiting for me to turn on the tap in the bath. It's nice having company... I'm not sure I need company to the lav though there are times even she thinks she's made a mistake with that!! but it seems she likes the running water even if her paws do get wet in the process.

Further to yesterday's drama, I called the Council this morning. There's been no building warrant applied for in that property since 1996 and he needs a warrant for changing the layout of the flat and for putting in the skylight. Tsk tsk.

I left a message with the letting agents for the landlord to phone me. Give him credit, less than an hour later, he called me. Sounds like a young lad says the old person and I suspect this is his first renovation project. 

The fact that he's had total disregard for the other 15 owners and that the roof is communal and not his to chop a hole in seems to have bypassed him completely. Mostly a total lack of any thought rather than deliberate deception I feel. I did tell him that I wasn't too fussed about it provided the job had been done properly and he's prepared to deal with any repairs/issues arising from it. He said that it would remain his responsibility which is fine, but I think that probably needs to be added to the title deeds. He advised that a professional roofer had put in the skylight. I said that I would have assumed that a builder/roofer would be well aware that a building warrant was necessary.  I told him that I wanted to see confirmation that the job had been done properly as my view is that when he comes to sell the flat and then if there's a problem with the skylight, that the new owner of property needs to be made aware that it's their responsibility and not that of all 16 flats. He assured me that he wouldn't be selling the flat, I assured him that I didn't care, I still wanted the correct paperwork in place.

I spoke with someone at work who advised I could go to the Land Registry and have something drawn up to that effect. I'll phone them next. 

I also made mention of the noise issue given that he's now moved the kitchen/living room above the bedroom of the flat downstairs. He immediately said that he didn't think there was a problem with that because there hasn't been any noise as the flat has been empty for the last three weeks.  Bless... I'm not sure whether the cell in there is even working. I explained that when someone moved in, there would be an issue with noise if their living space was above a bedroom. I told him that wasn't really my concern but that his downstairs neighbour would likely be in touch in due course.

He did tell me that he would get in touch with the Council to sort out building warrants and he would call me back this afternoon to discuss what they'd said. I'll wait and see what he comes back with. A steep learning curve I suspect.