After agonising for weeks over which letting agent to go with - the ’salesman’ letting agents with a thousand lines to spin, or the nice friendly and seemingly honest agents that were going to charge me an unjustifiable fortune – I thought that actually getting tenants in my house had gone swimmingly easy.

My first viewing was a very nice Polish couple who loved the place. They saw my house on Saturday and were eager to come around and see it again with the guy’s father-in-law the following day. On the Monday they put in an asking price offer, which I accepted. I thought “great! How easy was that?” and rejoyced at the fact that I no longer had to keep the house imaculately tidy on the off chance someone would be shown around while I was at work.

On Tuesday afternoon I got a call from the letting agents to tell me that a couple of women had been shown around (thankfully the house was unusually tidy still) and they liked the house and were putting in a lower, but seemingly more secure offer.

I am keen to be a nice, friendly and ethical landlord, and was a little concerned that the letting agent was advising me to overturn the agreement made with the Polish couple. However, apparently they hadn’t put down a holding deposit.

I agreed to meet the two women who were from NZ and had an ability to talk the hind leg off a donkey, but were really very nice. However, the next day, concerned that the Polish couple hadn’t been suitable informed that they could loose the house if they didn’t put the holding deposit down, I asked the letting agent to make them aware of the situation.

At lunch time I was informed that the agent had inadvertently accepted holding deposits from both sets of prospective tenants just 5 minutes apart and I needed to make a decision as to who I wanted! I chose to go with the people who put the deposit down first – the NZ women. I hope this is the ethical decision – I feel guilty nonetheless. 

Yikes – it is 5 weeks now until I touch down at Sydney Airport and start my new life in Australia. I can’t wait – it has been soooooooo long since I saw John.

Plans are now all becoming a serious reality. On Wednesday I offiicially handed in my notice – meaning there is just one month left of working at Matrix. Today I handed keys over to the letting agents, and now I have to keep my house in a constant state of sparse cleanliness, which isn’t easy for me at the best of times, but especially when I’m trying to pack my life in to boxes. 

Hey-ho – another new blog!