The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-02-01
4 HoUSEIN LONDON.
AN xMERicAN's EXPERIENCES IN TRY
ING TO RENT ONE.

wAsthsr Yoa Take 1t On Lease 81
Agreement OF Furnished OF Unfurl
nisheA You Are Certain to Get tho
Worst Of the Transaction.
Ihsye an American friend here who rot
tired of hiring furnished apartments and
paying for furniture which he could never
own. Houses are very much cheaper in
London than in New York. One AIneri-
can correspondent lives beautifully In
Chelsea, part Of London, at $3.50 year
rent, another pays $3.50 rent, and another
lives in Earlscourt, In London, in q 1ne
house, for which he pays $500 rent. For
my part have paid for various houses
el6, 422. 80 and $50 week, but have a.
ways hired furnished houses. Whoever
hires a furnished house pays no taxes, or
rates, as they call taxes over here, but
II you take an Nnnfurnished house you
must pay the ward or parish rates, which
arc usually estimated at about one-third
AZ much again as your rent, 80 that II you
agree to pay $500 rent you must really
part with $500, including the rates.
Well my friend looked over many houses
and at last settled upon one at rental Of
$500 a year It was very spacious snd
beautiful He did not admire the gas hxl
lures or the old fashioned gas stoves or the.
gas burners that were stuck in the CRATES
to avoid the use Of COAL but he thought to
put up with them, since the house itself
was Just what he wanted. While he was
bargaining for the house he got small
education. He found that when he spoke
Of leasing" the house 1t was taken to
mean that he wanted 1t for seven years,
with the tight to renew the bargain on the
same terms for another, and aifether term
of seven years., IA or 81 years" ls,how
they express It. He also found that lease
carries with 1t an obligation to put the
house in repair at the end Of the term.
One. hundred and fifty pounds, or $3.50,
was what the house agents told him he
must pay for repairs on surrendering the
dwelling. 4, / mention this case because
there Is nothing peculiar about 1t. 1t Is q
typical, average case, according to Eng
lish methods. III
He also found that the charge for draw
ing up q lease Is e7s.75 (16 guineas).
Think Of I'll Lawyers have to be employ
ed, and this is their legal charge for the
service. Old a. the country Is they have
never yet learned our method of printing
legal forms at few cents each and filing
them up or altering them to suit cases.
He discovered that by taking the house
on an agreement" instead Of lease he
could avoid the worst Of these burdensomp
expenses. An agreement is lease for
any term less than seven years. 1t does
not carry the repairing clause with 1t, and
1t only costs guinea, or about s. So he
took the house for five years in an agree
ment Well, when he got In, he found
that practically nothing but the bare walls
went with the agreement. All the ap-
pointments that he had seen had been
left in the house by the last tenant in the
hope that the next conner would buy
them. These included the window shut
tiers, awnings, gas fixtures, closet shelves,
gas stoves, even the handrail UP the stairs;
yes, even rail on which to hang towels
In the bathroom. The man said that these
things were worth 500, and 1t suited my
friend to buy them. Even strips Of wood
to keep the draft out of where tho floors
Joined the wallsrvere included in this new
bargain.
That being concluded my friend looked
about him and discovered that he had to
buy tenders for all the fireplsces, fire
tongs and pokers, hooks to put in the
closets, bell ropes to work the bedroom
call BELLS and, really have forgotten
nine-tenths Of the expenses, but they
amounted to $3.50 before he finished with
them. At the same time he was presented
with an inventory Of the landlords prop
erty, and this included every window I,
catch, doorknob, key plate, lock, hook,
bell, bolt and fastening or appointment Of
every sort. These he was told must be
left In the same order in which they we're
turned over to him. s...5,,f IF', /
am told that In New York 1t Is better
to rent an unfurnished than . furnished
house. They say that II o New Yorker
tries to rent furnished house the pre-
sumption is that he is hard up and will
stand very close bargaining. Here In Lon
don there is no such feeling, because all,
except the very rich, are in the habit Of
renting their houses furnished. These arc
almost a nomad people. They live in
town in the season, which Is the middle Of
summer. After that they go to the sea-
shore or to the south Of France OF to their
country houses for the autumn shooting
and again at Christmas time The conse-
quenoe is that tens of thousands of well to
do folks rent their houses for six months
or nine months, II not for whole year
When they rent furnished house to
you, they send an agent Of their own to
meet your agent for the purpose Of taking
an inventory Of the furniture. Your agent
is pretty spry. He examines things as
carefully as he knows how and points out
the cracks and kicks and dents and
scratches that he sees as he looks at each
article. The landlords agent seems very
lethargic. He shows no curiosity or in
terest in what is going on, but loafs
through the job as if his duties were per-
functory.
But, oh, dear reader, you should see
that same man when your lease has ex-
pired and he is seeing what damage you
have done. He rings every saucer and
plate with lead pencil, he turns every
chair upside down and studies the bottoms
and legs, he examines the mantelpieces,
he even stares at the doors to see whether
they swing evenly or not, he takes down
the gas globes to see II the edges are
nicked, he oven makes a note Of spot
Of rust on u pillowcase. He who was 30
slow and Indifferent has changed into
sleuth hound, into a microscopic, into
demon Of conscientious alertness. Lord
pity you II you have had careless servants
or boisterous children or have not done
your utmost to put things back into as
good order as you found them. Your bill.
which they call your ''dilapidations &C.
COUNT" will mako you ill.-Providence
Journal
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