Tuesday, October 04, 2005
A less than happy birthday
Today in 1830; Belgian Revolution: A provisional government in Brussels declared the creation of the independent and neutral state of Belgium, in revolt against the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Friday, September 29, we thought we found an apartment. It was nice, in a nice area, the right price, and freshly refurbished. We decided to relax for the weekend, check things out at Ikea, and mentally prepared to move in Tuesday and be set to go.
- Monday October 3rd, Maja's birthday, we arrived at the bank to deal with the contracts etc. and we discover something. We are dealing with an English landlord in London. Ok. Representing a company in Hong Kong. Its been done before. And our money is to be transferred into a bank in Latvia. Woah.
- So we take a step back. Each of these developments on their own seems fine, put them together and the risk is way to high for us. He is not doing anything legally wrong, but he obviously avoiding a few taxes. So the bad news is we have to start over again in finding an apartment.
- So we are still stuck in the hostel, though we have laid claim to an apartment available October 16, we are still trying to keep our eye open for something available sooner. We have to find a balance between getting out of the hostel and on with our lives, and getting work done. Today we discovered that though we have no user name access for computers at the school, we can sign in as "guest". Sweet.
Part of the standard process of securing an apartment in Belgium is the set up of a joint account with the landlord consisting of 3 months rent. The renter deposits 3 months worth of rent into this account which can be accessed by both the tenant and the landlord. During the occupancy the account is locked to both parties and is unlocked once the tenant and landlord are satisfied the contract is complete (the landlord takes what is needed to fix the apartment). This account behaves as a savings account, accruing a small interest. Locking away this huge sum of money with the British/Hong Kong/ Latvia deal kinda spooked us.
On top of this sum of money, the first months rent needs to be paid, and furnishings bought.
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- Friday, September 29, we thought we found an apartment. It was nice, in a nice area, the right price, and freshly refurbished. We decided to relax for the weekend, check things out at Ikea, and mentally prepared to move in Tuesday and be set to go.
- Monday October 3rd, Maja's birthday, we arrived at the bank to deal with the contracts etc. and we discover something. We are dealing with an English landlord in London. Ok. Representing a company in Hong Kong. Its been done before. And our money is to be transferred into a bank in Latvia. Woah.
- So we take a step back. Each of these developments on their own seems fine, put them together and the risk is way to high for us. He is not doing anything legally wrong, but he obviously avoiding a few taxes. So the bad news is we have to start over again in finding an apartment.
- So we are still stuck in the hostel, though we have laid claim to an apartment available October 16, we are still trying to keep our eye open for something available sooner. We have to find a balance between getting out of the hostel and on with our lives, and getting work done. Today we discovered that though we have no user name access for computers at the school, we can sign in as "guest". Sweet.
Part of the standard process of securing an apartment in Belgium is the set up of a joint account with the landlord consisting of 3 months rent. The renter deposits 3 months worth of rent into this account which can be accessed by both the tenant and the landlord. During the occupancy the account is locked to both parties and is unlocked once the tenant and landlord are satisfied the contract is complete (the landlord takes what is needed to fix the apartment). This account behaves as a savings account, accruing a small interest. Locking away this huge sum of money with the British/Hong Kong/ Latvia deal kinda spooked us.
On top of this sum of money, the first months rent needs to be paid, and furnishings bought.
# posted by Us : 12:04 p.m.
Hangman
