Being A Tenant worldwide

30 YEARS OF TENANT EXPERIENCE

I see things from both sides. Although I am both a home owner and landlord, in Singapore I was a tenant in 5 properties over a 30 year period. Our first flat was centrally located. It was brand new.

TENANTS' CHALLENGES - WILDLIFE

However,  it had cockroaches. In the kitchen. 

Which is worse, creatures you can see, chase, spray? Or creatures which come out at night and leave behind droppings, trails, holes, smells, or make noises behind the walls.

In England we hear the saying, you are never far from a rat. What about snakes in Singapore? In the USA we were told on a tourist trail though a national park that snakes are scared of noise. You can march heavily, sing, and throw stones ahead to frighten them off the path.

Snakes - invisible

A girl downstairs in our newly built block of lats near central Orchard Road discovered in her school bag a snake skin, which local snakes discard annually. Singapore has 70 species of snake.

 In 30 years I never saw one in the city, except a large one on the fence at a noisy party. It obviously hadn't read that small snakes are scared by noise.

Neither had the London snakes learned to beware of humans, noisy nor silent. My parents in London, England, had had a breeding pair of adders in their garden backing onto woodland in Stanmore in 1978. The snake basked in the sun happily beside our neighbour who had been snoozing in a deck chair. Maybe she should have played the radio, quietly.

Apart from wildlife, in Singapore, I had three main problems. 

TENANTS' Problems

1 Mould PROBLEMS

As  tenants in Singapore, we had mould, from tropical rain running from the flat roof down the outside walls of the skyscraper. 

Mould Solutions

Painting over was a temporary solution. The problem returned the following year. Another company had a more expensive but effective solution of removing plaster and adding a waterproof lining.

In the UK the maintenance company rep showed that a device for detecting damp could show the damp from the top corner, being a ceiling leak from pipes or broken guttering. A mould patch half way could be foliage or an overflow pipe from a kitchen boiler. 

Mould alongside a bed meant that the one pint of water which every adult, two children or two pets breathe out, was going onto an adjoining wall. 

Walls should be free of leaning furniture and furnishing to allow airflow. 

So curtains should not rest against windows and walls.

 Bedding such as headboards and duvets should be a gap away. 

Cupboard contents should be inside racks away from the back wall. Fifties style furniture on feet is best to allow air flow. 

CHAIRS

The oriental and Middle eastern style of living, with cushions around the walls and on the floor is fine for hot, dry climates, But the lack of air flow produces moisture turning into mould.

Also windows should be opened.

TENANTS PROBLEMS

2 Missing Furniture or furnishing

We went into the new property and a shelf was missing in a kitchen cupboard. 

My family said, don't complain, we don't need it.

When we moved out two years later, our leaving inventory showed a missing shelf, so the letting agent charged us for the replacement. Tenant's loss.

The new curtains didn't quite meet. My family said, don't complain. 

3 Street Noise - Tenant's Problem

DAYTIME NOISE

In little India we backed onto a busy street with an Indian temple. We could drown out continuous noise from traffic by playing music. 

However, we had loud intermittent noise from processions. Indian processions for example, Thaipusan. And noise from lion dances at Chinese New Year.

Night NOISE

In Singapore you can report noise at night. 

A friend of ours with a pilot in the family told us they had been disturbed by builders digging by the road nearby late at night. 

The family went out to remonstrate. 

The foreman shrugged, and lied. 'We have to dig now. It's a gas leak.'

The family retorted. 'We have already reported you to police who are on their way. It's not a gas leak. This street is on bottled gas.'

The workmen quickly threw their gear into the truck and drove off.

To conclude on Good Tenants' BEST PRACTICE  

For tenants

1 Pay on time and send a whatsapp saying you have done so.

2 Report leaks and other problems promptly. 

3 Preserve all guarantees, and fire safety stickers on furniture.

4 If you go abroad tell the landlord you are away and who nearby has the key if there is a leak, fire or other problem. 

5 Inform the landlord if you have anybody to stay longer than a fortnight. The landlord is legally obliged to check that he is not renting out to illegals. He or she needs to know that relatives staying in your flat are not squatters.

4 If given notice, leave. You might want a good reference. The landlord who wants to get rid of you might be tempted to give you a good reference but is legally obliged to tell the truth and risks a large fine by not doing so.

3 If you can, clean the oven or have it professionally cleaned. Hire a cleaning company to leave the whole flat as it was when you found it, including carpet cleaning.

-ENDS-

How To Identify & Cope With Alarming Noises In Hotels or holiday homes?

What are those strange noises? Something woke me! You hear different noises in hotels around the world. Here are some which I have encountered. have you heard any of these?

1 Clocks striking the hour throughout the night. You are likely to hear striking cathedral clocks if your hotel is on the Cathedral square in France or anywhere in Europe. That central square has good views but also night time noise.

2 A wailing voice sounding like a fire alarm alert. (Frightened the life out of me on my honeymoon in Morocco. I phoned reception and asked if there was a fire. The receptionist explained, "It's the dawn call to prayer".) Arabic countries and muslim areas may have mosques which have a call to prayer.

3 Cars on gravel next door. Shrieking. (Just foxes mating. London, UK) Not much you can do about this.

3 Mice in the attic at night.

4 Birds cracking nuts on the flat roof and strutting up and down. (London, UK)

5 Spiders on plastic bags. Move plastic bags. Remove spiders. (One remedy is using a vacuum cleaner. You can by anti spider sprays.)

6 Lizards looking for crumbs of chocolate in the empty wrapper by your bed. Then scuttling amongst my shoes. (Happened to me in Greece.) Strange that I was so upset then. Yet, now I would just be amused.

7 Cockroaches. (New York. Singapore.)

8 Draughts from open windows blowing the curtains and paperwork off desks. Draft from door blowing plastic tablecloth up and down. (Singapore.)

9 Neighbours returning home at night, removing their shoes outside their door and fiddling with their keys. (Singapore.)

10 Your partner or another member of your family crept out to the toilet. (London, England.)

11 The pipes are knocking when somebody else in the building has a shower. (UK)

12 People in hotel room alongside, below, above, or a long way away, are watching a late night movie on their bedroom TV.

13 The hotel has given a late arrival your room key by mistake. (In New Orleans we were the hotel guests with the duplicate key. When he opened the door, I said, "This is my room."
He replied, "No it isn't. It's my room."
Along comes the porter with our key, clearly labelled with the man's room number. The porter says, "They've printed duplicate keys to the same room for different people. Not again! That's the third time this week."

14 Rats.


15 Dog outside. (Scotland, hotel.)

16 Cow looking through window. (Scotland hotel)

17 Sheep watching us eat lamb supper. (Australian hotel.)



Australian lambs. Photo by C Goodwin from Wikipedia.

Fishguard Bay Hotel, Wales.hot by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

18 Seagulls on window ledge trying to get in. (Fishguard Bay hotel, Wales.)

19 Crickets at night (Singapore)

Thud, thud, thud, early morning.

Washing machine drum turning at end of spin cycle.

High pitch drill. Renovations 7 storeys below. (Revealed by warning notice on notice board in condo. The management suggests shutting your balcony sliding doors, and bedroom windows, to reduce the noice. Work is banned on Sundays, public holidays, and night time.)

20 Traffic noise outside the bedroom window. Kept me awake all night at the castle hotel in Lisbon. The manager said: "People find they are used to it by the second night and slept through."
He was right. After the first night without sleep, you just flop out on night two.
He said he would move me if I lost more than two night's sleep. But we were there only two nights.

What kind of noises have worried you?

Solutions
You can buy insect sprays and spray bathrooms and kitchens at night.
You can buy ant traps which have ao be replaced every few months.

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Visit A Rescue Centre. You Could Own Exotic Pets Such As Goats - Or Help Man's Best Friend, a Rescue Dog?

Singapore is holding a pet expo April 12-14 2019. this will appeal to residents, expats, and visitors from other countries.

In every country the type of pets kept varies. In American in Florida people keep crocodiles.
I've read about several cases of people who keep large venomous snakes and big cats and bears and species of monkey which grow large. You read about them in the news when the story does not end well.

You probably know the saying, an Englishman's home is his castle. A castle needs a guard dog. The British are known as a nation of dog-lovers. In England lots of people keep goats. British people have small houses but tend to have gardens, small or large.

Dogs have evolved as pets. A century or two ago dogs were working animals. Sheepdogs obviously were kept to herd sheep. German shepherds became guard dogs for the police. Foxhounds were used to catch foxes which ate farm animals.

My late father told me that in the East End of London his family kept a cat. You did not feed it cat food. The cat's job was to catch mice.

What's wrong with wild mice? They eat bread and rice. If you leave food uncovered, rats and mice will eat it and walk all over it with their dirty paws and fur. What's worse, after eating, they urinate in in your food.

Restaurant hygiene rules includes keeping all food covered, no open barrels of fruit or cereals.
After an infestation of rats in a block of flats in London, we were told to keep fruit bowls on high shelves, never on the ground nor a three-tier wheeled tray system, nor on a kitchen table.

In London you can go to petting zoos in some parks, and some suburban farms.

Goats As Pets
The smell of lots of goats might put you off. On the other hand, goats are very friendly. They have large eyes and engage with you and smile and make funny faces.

Apparently loads of people in England keep goats as pets. Celebrities keep goats. Ordinary people keep goats. People with farms and large gardens keep goats.

Goats are smelly, but friendly. If you fancy having a goat instead of or as well as a dog, then read about other goat owners' experience. Goats live about 15 years, a similar life span to that of a dog.

Disadvantages Of Goats As Pets
Compared to dogs: It is expensive to buy a goat. You can get a rescue dog.

Advantages Of Goats As Pets
You can get goats' milk, which you would not get from a dog. You can eat goat meat, whilst you would be pretty unpopular in many countries if you ate your dog.

Rheas
Rheas look like ostriches. In the UK a small number of people keep Rheas. Once in a while the rheas escape. Rheas are flightless birds. That doesn't stop them running off.

Police warn the public are warned no to approach rheas. Rheas are large and can be dangerous, because of the large, sharp claws. Don't run up close to a rhea. Take a photo with your telephoto lens.
You can see rheas in the wild in America and in Germany. Also in zoos.


Family-Friendly Dogs
Why keep a dangerous pet, when there are so many creatures which are known to be friendly. Even amongst dog breeds, you can pick and choose to find a dog which does not grow large, will not attack a neighbour and have to be euthanised.

Dog-Sharing
If you cannot afford the time and money to own a dog, you can do dog-sharing and have a dog just at the weekends. My family dog-share and take their part time pet away to a dog-friendly hotel for a holiday. If a shared dog's main owner is elderly and dies, the animal is not instantly abandoned but has a friend for comfort.

I think it's a good idea to try dog-sharing before adopting a dog. I have heard of people who adopt a puppy or give one as a birthday present, then find that the animal is not house-trained and they can't stand the mess and give away the unfortunate dog which has to get used to a new home. The RSPCA ran a campaign to stop this happening: A Dog Is Not Just For Christmas.

You can make an appointment to visit a dog rescue centre.

Singapore flag

In Singapore, which is a city state, most people live in flats, especially the government HDB flats. To prevent cats leaping off low balconies, if you live in a flat, you have to install a high grille or glass barrier.
In Singapore you can visit a goat diary, Hays Dairies.  (See previous post on visiting the Hay Dairies in Singapore.)

Battersea Rescue Dogs
You can visit dogs rescue centres in the UK in London, England, and windsor, Berkshire, and Brands Hatch in Kent.

The USA also has rescue dog centres.

Mixed breed dog awaiting rescue in Tennessee, USA. Photo by Maelo from Wikipedia.

For the pleasure of armchair travellers, I have humorous poems on rheas around the web including on my humorous poetry blog.

Useful Websites:
Singapore
Pet Expo
https://petexposg.com/
Singapore Dog Rescue
https://www.timeout.com/singapore/things-to-do/the-best-animal-shelters-to-adopt-a-pet-in-singapore

UK
Battersea Dog Rescue UK:
https://www.battersea.org.uk/about-us/visit-us

USA
https://www.petfinder.com/

GENERAL INFO
Choosing Dogs
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/news/a561691/the-top-10-family-friendly-dog-breeds-for-families-with-small-children/
Identifying rheas and other birds
https://www.hbw.com/ibc/family/rheas-rheidae

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.