Crunch Goes the Weasel
Some of you may know (many may not care), but I’ve had a few issues with my Father in Law regarding money. We invested with him in the way of property a few years back, took out a loan for £25k for refurbishment, and let him get on with it. When his son decided we weren’t grateful enough for what they had done for us (not what we had done for them), I decided to sever that friendship. He was the best man at my wedding a few years before.
A few months ago, my FIL fell into a bit of trouble with his property development business, as you can imagine. With eleven BTL mortgages and 2 personal mortgages under his belt, he began to feel the crunch, as it were. Missus w4 and I decided it would be best if we took over the letting aspect of our property ourselves; to relieve him of the pressure of worrying about our property.
We were collecting rent of £480pcm on a mortgage requiring payments of £780pcm. FIL had been making up the difference, and he promised he would continue to do so. However, he refused to let us take over our house. As the house is quite far away from where we live, we decided to visit the house to see it’s state, and review the current let (surely we can get more rent money!). When we arrived, we discovered just how far the £25k went on our house. It bought us:
-a coat of paint
-a new fusebox
-nothing else.
Not too impressed, we were. We decided a calm rational discussion to review our investment was not the way to go, so my wife did yell and scream and gnash her teeth.
Daddy broke down and cried. Not an easy thing to watch.
He confessed to having most of his houses repossessed. He was living out of his car as he had no place to live. His wife was living abroad, on sabbatical, blissfully unaware of the horrible state of affairs. So what to do?
Remembering the kind, sage advice from fellow b3tans regarding money, father in laws, and karma in a previous QOTW, I told him he was not allowed to sleep in his car, he must now sleep in our flat. From there, he could have a bit of a break, get himself on his feet, and begin to work his way through his problems.
He is now in a bad state. He is on antidepressants, and is seeking benefits. He has found an old caravan, and him and his wife have moved into it. They are both in their late fifties. He went from driving a Lexus and owning lots of houses, to living in a £200 caravan in this cold weather. He’s a broken man.
His son, who bragged about being responsible for making the development company so great? He’s disappeared, and will not offer any help to his family. In fact, he whines that if he goes bankrupt, he’ll never get to immigrate to Australia. He refuses to even look for a job, as he is ‘above’ working for other people. He’s 26.
So the ‘crunch’ has been tough on my family. Luckily, I have a good solid steady job that pays well and allows me to support my uni-attending wife, my cat, and my FIL; pays my rent and my mortgage, and lets me have a curry once in a while. Not so luckily, it has torn my wife’s family apart.
Sorry for lack of funnies.
I know! What’s black and white and black and white and black and white?
A penguin rolling down the hill
(w4I4q1O1 was hard at work on, Fri 23 Jan 2009, 12:32, Reply)