The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-03-01
A HOUSE In LONDON.
AN AME ERIcAN's EXPERIENCE IN TRY.
ING TO RENT ONE.


Whether You Take 1t on Lease or
Agreement or Furnished or Unfur-
nished You Are Certain to Get the
Worst of the Transaction.
have an American friend here who got
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 Ameri-
can correspondent liyeo beautifully in
Chelsea, part Of London, ut $3.50 year
rent, another pays $3.50 rent, and another
lives in Earlscourt, in London, in fine
house, for which he pays 5000 rent. For
my part I have paid for various houses
| SIS, $22. 80 and $50 q week, but have al
ways hired furnished houses. Whoever
hires q furnished house pays no taxes, or
'trates," as they call taxes over here, but
If you take an unfurnished house you
must pay the ward or parish rates, which
are usually estimated at about one-th1rd
as much again as your rent, so that II you
agree to pay 5000 rent you must really
part with $500, including the rates.
Well, my friend looked over many houses
| and at last settled upon one at o rental Of
| $500 O year. It was very spacious and
| beautiful He did not admire the gas fix
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 it was taken to
mean that he wanted 1t for seven years,
with the right to renew the bargain on the
same terms for another and another term
Of seven years., IA or 81 years" Is how
they express it. He also found that lease
carries with it 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. I mention this case because
there is nothing peculiar about 1t. 1t Is
| typical, average case, according to Eng
| ush methods.
He also found that the charge for draw
ing up lease is $7s.75 (15 guineas).
Think Of It'll Lawyers have to be employ
ed, and this Is their legal charge for the
service. Old as 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 burdensome
expenses. An agreement is a lease for
any term less than seven years. 1t does
not carry the repairing clause with it, and
it only costs guinea, or about $5. 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
ters awnings, gas fixtures, closet shelves,
gas stoves even the handran up the stairs;
yes, even rail on which to hang towels
| in the bathroom. The man said that these
things were worth 800, and it suited my
friend to buy them. Even strips Of wood
| to keep the draft out Of where the floors
| Joined the walls were included In this new
| bargain.
That being concluded my friend looked
about him and discovered that he had to
buy tenders for all the freplaces, 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
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 were
turned over to him.
I am told that in New York 1t Is better
to rent an unfurnished than q furnished
house. They say that If 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 are
almost q 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 or to their
country houses for the autumn shooting
and again at Christmas time. The conse-
quence Is that tens Of thousands Of well to
do folks rent their houses for six months
or nine months, If 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 opt
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 II his duties were per-
functory.
But, oh, dear reader, you should see
that sarne man when your lease has e1-
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 If the edges are
| nicked, he even makes a note Of spot
| Of rust on pillowcase. He who was SO
slew and Indifferent has changed into
sleuth hound, into microscopist, into q
demon Of conscientious alertness. Lord
pity you If you have had careless servants
or boisterous children or have not done
your utmost to put things back into -
good order as you found them. Your bill,
which they call your "dilapidations &C.
count" will make you M.-Proyidencs
journal.
Transferring q Leaf.
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