The Squatters Are Back - In Style...

I know it's a bank holiday, but I just can't stay away ! Especially after reading this report in the Telegraph.

A group of squatters has moved into a mansion worth £4.5 million in Hampstead, north London. Thankfully we don't have squatters rights here !

They have been living for free in the nine-bedroom house, since apparently finding it empty and boarded up about a month ago.

After "fixing up" the mansion, which has a half-acre garden, the group padlocked the gates and displayed a sign warning that they would "prosecute" any unwanted visitors.

The property sits round the corner from a street known as Millionaire's Row, which has been home to members of the Saudi royal family, the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and the publisher Richard Desmond.

One of the squatters, who gave his name as Phil, 37, said: "I have squatted in some very nice houses but this is probably the most expensive.

"What is a £4.5 million house doing empty for three years? If you have got empty houses like this then give people like us somewhere to live."

Solicitors from the company which owns the house will attempt at a County Court hearing later this month to have the squatters removed. They have taped a warning notice to the house's front gate.

However, the squatters have fixed their own message in a front window. It reads: "Any attempt to enter in to this property without our permission is a criminal offence. If you attempt to enter by violence or by threatening violence we will prosecute you."

Earlier this year two groups of squatters were evicted from multi-million pound mansions in London after being ordered out by the courts.

A group of young artists had been living in a £22.5 million, Grade II*-listed property in Mayfair, since before Christmas.

A second group had been living in two adjoining blocks, worth £11 million in total, which overlook Hyde Park.

Seems the recession isn't affecting them at all.....

Until next time.

Jackson Jr.

Back Home....

You'll all be pleased to hear Mr Jackson Snr is now back home, well I say back home, he's living with us presently in Lossiemouth. He passes on his regards to all his blog readers and thanks them for his cards and their best wishes.

He seems to be on the mend - but it will take a while yet. Whilst I'm on the subjuect of living with your parents, the number of rent-free adults has more than tripled in a year to just under 2m !

That's 18 to 34-year-olds living rent-free with parents, other relatives, friends. This time last year, the figure was around half a million. Now - according to research by Abbey Mortgages - it's 1.6m. And there's a further 300,000 aged 35 to 54. It reminds me of Timothy Lumsden in the sit-com 'Sorry'. Come on kids, get your own place !

I've called in to see Dave & Paul's new property centre in Lossie this week - Wow ! Have you seen their wallpaper ! This is just what Lossiemouth needs to bring it up to date, a modern trendy and professional property centre. Coupled with the new Harbour Tea Rooms - And Virgin's Spaceport We're headed in the right direction !

They were just putting up their ARLA certificates when I popped in - Well done guys - It's not an easy qualification to get ! Already with plenty of properties available to let and buy, may I wish you luck - though I'm sure you won't need it.

I forgot to mention tea and cakes in this post, so here goes, blueberry muffin and an expresso..... That will keep Dad happy.

Until the next time, all the best.

Jackson Jnr.

The last post.

Sadly, I write this on behalf of my father Mr Jackson, who was last week taken into Raigmore hospital, where he may well remain for some considerable time.

Strangely one of the things he was most concerned about was updating his 'Blog'. I've promised him I will keep up to date with this on his behalf.

Thank you to everyone for all your kind comments, flowers and gifts. I never knew he had such an on-line presence !

I look forward to witing this on his behalf and passing on his huge knowledge base of the property market. He's also told me I must mention tea and cakes in every post ??? No doubt someone will fill me in with more details on this.

I look forward to 'blogging' with you soon.

Thanks again !

Adrian Jackson (Junior !).

The good, the bad and the hungry.

Landlord's you may think you've had a bad tenant - Here's a good one (well bad one infact) from The Telegraph.

James Harvard and Janice Gledhill own a caravan park in Essex. One of their tenants - Robert Taylor - had a dispute with them about the rent, so he did what any reasonable tenant would do under the circumstances, he destroyed their house and two cars with a 14-tonne JCB. Now, from prison, he's suing them for selling his caravan.

And, Estate Agents aren't all that bad are they.... ? My son alerted me to this, from across the pond. Troy Reeves and his team from Arizona Unclaimed Homes claim that they have built their reputation not just on promises, but on guarantees-commitments that demand complete follow through.

Shortly after he became an agent, Troy developed the “one hour return call concept” and still commits to it twelve years later. Simply put, any client who gets voice mail and wants a call back within sixty minutes will get it, or Troy will buy that person dinner for two. “This has been a big factor in separating us from the competition. We put our money where our mouth is every day. I recognize the need to separate us from the competition, and we achieved that through uniques marketing and advertising strategies, combined with top-notch service for our clients.

I think I'll test his claim - I'll give him a call in the morning, what with Arizona being 7 hours behind GMT. I'm sure to get a free lunch, I wonder if they have Rington's and Lemon drizzle cake over there.

Here's hoping,

Until next time,

Mr Jackson.

A bite to eat perhaps....

I have found some strange things when visiting vacated properties.

Bits of clothing, furniture, books, cd's, letters, electronics, the odd pound coin, even bits of hair and scabs !

I've not yet been left a pet, thankfully. Unlike the American landlord who on arriving at a vacated property to clean up before the new tenants arrived, found a surprising bit of unwanted tenant property.

The landlord from the Wisconsin town of Beloit arrived a month after the tenant had vacated the rental property, only to discover a hungry two-year-old alligator in one of the rooms.

The landlord got the assistance of a local animal charity who took it in and said that although it was unwell it would probably make a full recovery.

The animal charity said alligators made bad pets. "They are going to look at you as food at some point," he said.

A further incident of tenants trying to take a bite out of their landlord !

The question is would this be covered under landlord insurance policy ?

Just off now for my lunch at Ord Ban in Aviemore, the one I recommended in my blog a month or two back. I'm pleased to say the standard is still excellent and the cakes to die for ! A pear strudle for me today - Thankfully they don't yet serve aligator steaks.

Well worth a trip out if you get the opportunity.

Ord ban restaurant cafe

Yours mouthwateringly.....

Mr Jackson.

Hopeman's a star !

The sleepy fishing / seaside village of Hopeman was on the TV twice last week.

I was fortunate enough to meet Fiona Bruce when she was filming in the village in the Summer. Fiona's links with Hopeman are widely known in the village, where she still has relatives, but these were broadcast to the nation in the new series of 'Who Do You Think You Are?

Her great-grandfather, John Bruce, was the skipper of a fishing boat, while her great-grandmother, Isabella, had a family of eight children to support and would go around selling fish from a huge basket that she carried on her back.

What a lovely lady she is too, I joined her and the crew at at the Harbour Tea rooms in Lossiemouth - I think Mrs Jackson may be slightly jealous, as when we next saw her on the news she kept referring to her as 'my other woman'.

Hopeman was again centre of attention when the Channel 4 show 'A Place In The Sun - Home or USA' filmed in the village, they visited a cottage that was up for sale for ages, which strangely enough I had considered purchasing myself.

The shows presenter Jonnie Irwin showed the couple around and also took them on to Towiemore and Tomintoul, this being the place where the couple decided to purchase a second home.

Now if only Amanda Lamb was presenting this episode and had come to Hopeman, that would have truly made my Summer. I would share a fondant fancy and a pot of Rington's with her any day of the week.....

'You've no Hopeman' as Mrs Jackson tells me, smiling to herself.

Yours 'Hope'fully

Mr Jackson.

Hero to Zero....

I'm fully recovered from my bout of 'Man Flu' you'll be pleaseed to know. (Thanks to everyone for their good wishes). Unlike the economy and the interest rates which seem to be in freefall, plummeting to their doom ?

The Daily Mail (I'm not a reader by the way - It was in the Bakehouse Cafe at Findhorn, and I couldn't resist a read) reported some homeowners could see their monthly mortgage payments drop as low as zero this week.

The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to just 1 per cent on Thursday, bringing a windfall to those with interest-only tracker loans.

If it does, Cheltenham & Gloucester customers who took out a deal at 1.01 percentage points below the Bank's base rate will be paying no interest at all. For technical reasons, they will still have to make payments - 8p a month for a £100,000 loan - but the money will be refunded.

Those with repayment mortgages will need to pay around £333 a month on the same-sized loan.

When they have reduced the interest rate to zero and it still hasn't fixed the problem - what do they do then?

The crash will go into overdrive as soon as it's realised that all the government's headline grabbing manoeuvres with interest rates etc have close to zero impact on the dire state of the economy.

I've buried my head in the sand (not literally) and thought I'm too old to be worrying about all this. I simply cheered myself up with a hot chocolate and a double chocolate muffin.

Hope that you can do the same - many I fear will not, soon it seems we may have to print more currency, lets hope it does not go the same way as the Ugandan Dollar !

Keep Safe,

Mr Jackson.