I know this story has a moral. I just don't know what it is.

Anyone who has actually read previous posts will be aware that thanks to a missing email I had to find accommodation at short notice.

Well thanks to a (presumably) incompetent landlady, I had to find more at even shorter notice.

I actually went around and looked for housing, and came across what seemed to be a nice place, good value, needed some work doing but the people doing it were starting the week after I looked at the house, and the rest of the place was fine.

An Email and a copy of the contract seem to have gone missing (separately), but given previous events that's not unacceptable. The problems began when it came to move in.

From here details will be kept vague, since my parents want compensation for costs.

I planned to move in on the Saturday of the august bank holiday, and so sent an email to the landlady the previous week to arrange to move in. Some slight confusion with mentions of changes to the locks (so previous tenants who don't return keys can't get in) and yes I can move in on that day. On the day before I leave, however, I get an email asking me to ring the landlady No other information on why, just a number. Now because I didn't check my email between it's arrival and that evening (y'know, because I do stuff other than check my emails every then seconds), I didn't pick up the email until the evening, by which point she wasn't answering.

Not sure what was happening, and still having no answer, on either the provided number or the mobile number she provided when I signed the contract, we ('we' being me and my parents, who were taking me, since I a) don't have a car, and b) had too much stuff to take on the train) set off the next day, first having sent an email letting the landlady know we were leaving and giving her my mobile number and a message that I couldn't pick up emails anymore and were were leave, so call me. She didn't. We arrived early and went and knocked on the door of the house to see if any of the current tenants knew anything. It turns out the girl who answered was living in my room, and was paying rent on it over the summer, whilst I was paying it as well. She'd had a weeks notice to leave, and was told I was arriving two days later than I was planning to. She had no other numbers, and couldn't contact the landlady either.

So, with apparently nowhere to stay (we had no idea if the landlady would show up at the agreed time) I was booked into the hotel my parents were staying at, and then we had a look at a private hall of residence. They had a cancellation and we got a tour of the room (well a different one since the description and room number given by the person in the office didn't match and the warden guessed wrong), and it's actually a better place than the house anyway (you get one guess where I'm typing this blog from).

We went back to the house at the meeting time, so we couldn't be accused of not showing up, and spoke to the tenant again (well my mother did, but she's chatty and knew what she was talking about, and I'm not and wouldn't have), telling her (a foreign student) about her rights as a tenant (like not being kicked out with a week's notice). No-one turned up with my key, so we went off and did some other stuff (which is supposed to be secret so I won't go into details), stayed in the hotel, and then went home.

On getting home I found two emails from the landlady. One explaining that the tenant was in my room and I would have to stay in another room for a couple of days, which was sent after I sent an email saying I would be leaving and unable to pick up emails, and another claiming that someone showed up at the meeting time (they didn't) and waited for 40 minutes (which based on timing seems unlikely) for me to show up (when I was on the doorstep). She also said if I had rung her (on a number neither I nor the tenant had) I could have collected the keys from her other property (firstly, I did ring her, she just hadn't given me a number she would have picked up, and secondly why leave them at that property as opposed to the one the keys are for?).

Anyway since I've gone on long enough, I'll sum it up by saying my mother spoke to her on the phone, (since my mother's assertive and stuff) and the contract was cancelled, and I now have my money back, my parents are going to try for the expenses of a wasted trip, and I'm in the private halls, which have their own issues but lack someone else in the same room as me (yet)

Anyway, to the moral of this tale. What is it? I see several, and they don't all seem to work together. Don't trust people? Be assertive? Always try for things even if it seems unlikely? Ignore people unless they explain themselves? Go with the flow because it will work itself out? I don't know. Maybe you could leave one of those comment thingys and tell me. Or not, because it doesn't matter.

Next time, an unexpected bonus of the mix-up; a visit to a railway. Then I should probably do some deep reflection on something, but I'll probably just have a moan about the troubles of settling into these halls and any difficulties with my new flatmates (who may or may not be of Asian decent, but if they are there's a good chance my dad just emptied the post which arrived before they did out of the letterbox)