Tapescripts

UNIT II. THE RIGHT TO HOUSING.

Listening 1 A.

The nation was horrified when a local council house worth £200,000 was given to unemployed Tim Ellis completely free. Tim, 38, who has never paid any council tax or rent, has been squatting at the four-bedroomed terraced house for the last 16 years.

According to the law, you are entitled to own a property if you are there illegally for more than 12 years without anyone checking that the house is really yours. In this case, the council had simply forgotten that it owned the house.

The council apologized for letting Tim ‘slip through the net’, but other squatters are now queuing up to claim ownership of homes they live in too. Meanwhile, the rest of us are sitting in our small rented bedsits and asking ourselves the question “If everybody did this, nobody would need to pay any rent, so should this be allowed to happen?” We decided to go and find out.

Listening 1 B.

Look, I know I might sound like my Dad here, but when layabouts like him can own a home and normal hard-working people can’t afford a home, then the world really has gone mad! Many taxpayers have trouble affording even a one-bedroom flat – and yet some nobody can just never get a job, live in a council house paid for by taxpayers, and 12 years later, he owns it! If the council was more organised, that building could now be giving a home to two needy families. Tim may claim that he is a needy case, but there are lots of older, sicker people who would benefit from the sale of the house. And, if this is legal, why don’t we give up our jobs, everyone of us, stop paying rent and be as free as a bird? I can’t afford to buy my own house – is that my fault, just because I work full-time and pay my tax? I say throw Tim out, tomorrow!

Listening 1 C.

OK, it’s a frustrating situation for most people, but, let’s face it, you have to admire Tim. He hasn’t broken any laws or done anything wrong – he’s simply beaten the system! It’s not his fault that the council made a mistake. In fact, ten years after Tim moved in, the council did actually order him to leave. But he stayed where he was and they didn’t bother to do anything else about it. If they’d acted before the 12-year deadline, they would have got the property back. But they let it go. Now they’re paying the price! In a way, you could call Tim a sort of a businessman. A capitalist society encourages people to take advantage of opportunities – and that’s what he did. So instead of criticizing him, we should congratulate him!

Listening 1 D.

Ann: What can we do about the homeless?

Jeff: Surely the government provided more shelters with food and accommodation they would get people off the streets?

Jill: But wouldn’t it be better if the government provided more cheap permanent housing. Hostels are just a temporary solution.

Ann: And what about unemployment?

Jill: Well, the government could pay people to stay in education longer.

Jeff: But that would be very expensive. I think the best thing would be to encourage people to look for jobs elsewhere.

Listening 2 Types of easements.

Now, I’d like to move on to another topic which you’ll surely encounter in your work as estate agents. I’m going to tell you a bit about the principal types of easements in our jurisdiction. First, allow me to define the term: an easement is the legal right of another to use part of your property.

Generally speaking, we distinguish between two fundamental types of easements: temporary and permanent. Temporary easements are granted for a definite period of time. The reason for this might be to allow access to property during construction, for example. The second type of easement, a permanent easement, lasts for an indefinite period, as the name suggests. Permanent easements can be classified into three common types. These are the easement in gross, the prescriptive easement and the easement appurtenant. Permanent easements are always recorded on the deeds and survive any sale of the property.

I’ll begin with first type, the easement in gross, which is also the most common. The easement in gross only involves one property, the property subject to the easement. This type includes those easements which are given to a quasi-public corporation, such as the electric or phone company. An easement in gross is usually recorded in the public records when a piece of land is subdivided.

Let’s move on to the second type of easement, prescriptive easement. This refers to the right to use another’s property that is acquired by what is known as an ‘open, notorious and continuous’ use. Open use means that the use is obvious and not secretive, while notorious means that the use has to be clearly visible. The use of the land must have been continuous for the statutory period, which is 20 years in our jurisdiction.

Finally, I’ll come to the third type, the easement appurtenant. When an easement benefits an adjoining property, such as for a driveway or walkway, we call it an easement appurtenant. This type of easement is usually recorded when subdivision is created by dividing a property into two or smaller lots. One important subtype of an easement appurtenant is called an ‘easement by necessity’. This is created to reach a landlocked property, which does not have access to a public road.

What are the legal issues connected with easements? What kinds of disputes can occur and how can they be avoided? Well, we can distinguish three types of dispute which often occur…

Listening 3A. Phoning a landlord

L = Landlord A = Angela

L Hello. 6785423.

AHello. I saw your advertisement for the room.

LOh, oh yea. That's right.

AI wonder if you could give me some more information?

L Yea, well, well what would you like to know?

AWell, I was wondering ... Er ... What's the rent?

L £35 a week.

AAnd what does that include?

L The room, obviously. It's your own room. You don't have to share. It's a single room. You share the bathroom and you can use the kitchen, but there's no meals included.

ARight, uhm ... and what about heating?

LNo, no you don't have to pay for that. There's central heating in all the rooms, so there's nothing extra to pay there.

AOh lovely, and do you want the rent weekly? Is there a deposit?

LYou have to pay weekly, on a Monday. And there's a one-week deposit, payable in advance.

ARight, that sounds fair. Are there any particular house rules, you know, that I've got to keep to?

LHow do you mean?

AWell, like what about guests and hours?

LOh yea, well you can come and go as you want, of course, but you must pay a deposit for the front door key. That's separate from the other deposit, I'm afraid.

AI see.

LAs for guests, they should be out by eleven o’clock. We don't like to say that, but we've had a bit too much trouble, so we have to say it.

ARight. Is it quite near public transport?

L Oh yes. Five minutes to the tube station, and the bus stop is just round the corner with buses into town every ten minutes or so.

ALovely, it sounds very interesting. Do you think I could come and have a look at it this evening?

LYea, of course. I'll give you the address. Now, it's 35, Chestnut Avenue, Walton, How’ll you be coming?

ABy car.

LWell, it's just by the police station and the library.

AYes, well I know it. If I come about eight is that all right?

L That's fine. Could you tell me your name?

AAngela Smiley.

LRight. I'll see you around eight. Goodbye.

ABye-bye.

Listening 3B. Owning vs. renting

Todd and Akane debate house renting vs. house owning.

Todd:So, Akane, I was talking with my friend and he’s just recently married and he was wondering should he rent a home or own a home. That’s a tough call. What do you think?

Akane:It is a tough call but I personally prefer to rent.

Todd:Really? So why would you rather rent?

Akane:Well, because there’s just no extra costs. You don’t have to pay for extra things like maintenance and just keeping up your home. When something gets broken you don’t have to pay to get it fixed. Property tax is already included, things like that.

Todd:Yeah but if you own a home I mean first of all I think the biggest reason is you’re not throwing money away, it’s a solid investment. You can actually make a profit on the home later on.

Akane:That’s true but with this day and age you really never know when you’re going to lose your job or if you’re going to have to move for job reasons and for that reason I think that if you’re stuck with a mortgage and you lose your job then you won’t be able to pay it and what if you can’t sell it?

Todd:That’s a good point actually but you could always rent the house out, right, so… One common thing that rich people all have is that they own property and they own real estate. So you could just rent it to someone else.

Akane: Well that’s a good idea but still I think that’s a lot of work for somebody as busy as me and I’m not a rich person.

Todd: That’s how you get rich!

Akane:Right! Well, I don’t think I could be bothered with the hassle of renting to somebody and first you have to find someone to rent it and then you have to make sure that they pay the rent and then you have to make sure that things are fixed It’s too much of a headache for me.

Todd:That’s a good point. You know, actually I think the main reason why I would ever want to own a home is because you could have a dog.

Akane:Oh that’s a great reason; I love dogs.

Todd: When you rent a house often they won’t allow you to have a pet.

Akane:That’s true. Well you can have a cat or fish and maybe a hamster.

Todd:True, but if you’re a dog lover it’s not the same thing.

Akane:I guess so.

Listening 3C. Owning vs. renting

Mark and Todd debate house renting vs. house owning.

Todd: So Mark, you are going back to America. (Yes) Man, where are you going to live when you go back? Mark: Well, temporarily, I'll stay at my parents in Birmingham, Alabama. Todd: OK, and where're you gonna live after that? Mark: Well, I'm not sure. I might move down to South Florida. Florida is kind of my second home, and, yeah, I'd like to actually one day, get a house down there. Todd: Oh, really. Mark: Yeah. Todd: You're just going to buy a house? Mark: Well, I'd like to someday. I mean, I prefer to own my own home instead of always renting an apartment somewhere. Todd: Yeah, but see, I think it's better to rent, cause you know, when you rent a house, you don't have to worry about losing your job, or if you have to relocate. You don't have to worry about if there's a natural disaster, and in Florida you seem to love those hurricanes down there. Mark: That's definitely true. Todd: You know. Mark: But there's something about owning your own house, that's just, this is my house but I'm renting. It's like someone else, you know, I mean someone else does own your house, and you know, there's that feeling of like, you depend on them, you know for lodging but if it's your house, you own it, then there's a sense of independency there. Todd: Yeah, that true. That's a good point but on the other hand, I just love my free time, and when you rent, you just got more free time. You know when you own a house. You have to do maintenance. You have to do all the paperwork for taxes, and you know, city government stuff, like that. When you rent it's just really easy. Mark: Well, you know, the maintenance stuff can be fun. It depends on how you look at it. Like, you know, if it's your house, you actually might be motivated to make it look better cause it's, you take pride in, you know, where you live and it's your house, and what do you do in your free time anyway? Like what do you do in your free times? Todd: What do I do in my free time? Mark: Yeah. Todd: Well, I don't fix pipes and work on plumbing and garden, that's for sure. Mark: But, well, but why not? I mean. Todd: Good point. That's true.

Listening 4A. Noisy neighbours I

Speaker 1. We used to live above a gym. They did aerobics and all that kind of thing. I say ‘used to’ cause they had to close it down and go somewhere else. Some of the neighbours got together, see, and got someone from the council to come round. Thing was, they weren’t too happy about all that jumping up and down – said it made too much of a racket. It didn’t bother me, though – live and let live, I say. We’ve all got to make a living somehow. I even went down and had a quiet word with the chap that ran the place. Somebody had to let him know what the neighbours were up to – ganging up on him behind his back, they were.

Speaker 2. The trees in the neighbour’s garden are enormous. Absolutely huge, they are. They’re the kind of fir trees that grow very tall, very quickly – and they don’t take much looking after, either. Well, we had to say something. We don’t see the sun out of our window till about half past eleven, it’s that dark in our front room. Anyway, she got a bit cross when we mentioned it to her. In some ways, I suppose, it’s understandable. I mean, it wasn’t her that planted them – they were there when she moved in. But we weren’t asking her to chop them down or anything – just cut them back a bit. She said she’d have to think about it.

Speaker 3. Nothing but trouble, that man. Fancy complaining about cockerel! What does he expect? We live in the countryside, we have animals. Threatened to shoot it, he did, or any other living thing that kept him awake and affected his nerves. What nonsense! A few crows every morning at 5, that’s all it did. That’s hardly going to bring on a nervous breakdown, now is it? Anyway, the silly man took the whole thing to court. Wanted them to force me to have it destroyed. Poor thing. I’d rather have sold it than do that. They saw the sense, thankfully, and just told me to keep it away from his bedroom window.

Speaker 4. Night after night he’d have his television blaring out at full volume, and all we could do was sit there, seething. He said he couldn’t hear if he had it on any lower. Deaf as a post, he was. It really brings out the worst in you, something like that, and it put a tremendous strain on our marriage. We were so stressed out by it all and we rowed like we’ve never rowed before, often about the silliest of things. Anyway, we got so sick of it all, we sold up and bought a place in the country. Shame really, because I like having people around me and our nearest neighbours here live half a mile away. But you can’t have everything, can you? And I’d sooner be here than next door to that telly.

Speaker 5. The problem arises when noise invades our privacy and becomes an intrusion over which we have no control. In the case of disputes between neighbours, there is very often a clash of lifestyles involved – it is not simply a question of how loud the noise is, but how people perceive it, how they let it affect them. One person’s relaxing music, for example, is another person’s unbearable din. Neighbours’ noise can bring on feeling of aggression and hostility, which in turn leads to stress and anxiety. People become frustrated because they feel that the situation is outside of their control, that they have no one to turn to - the law can do very little to protect them so the noise just goes on.

Listening 4B. Noisy neighbours II

Harriet: Psss! Ozzie! Ozzie! Wake up!

Ozzie: Huh? What? What’s the matter? It can’t be seven o’clock already!

Harriet: No. It’s 1.30. It’s those people next door again. Listen!

Ozzie: Oh, yeah. They must be having another party.

Harriet: They must be waking up the whole block. And they have three young children. Those kids couldn’t be sleeping through that racket. It’s disgusting! Somebody should call the police!

Ozzie: They are all laughing. They must be having a good time. They never invite us, do they?

Harriet: Ozzie!

Ozzie: Yes, dear. What is it now?

Harriet: Listen! They must be leaving.

Ozzie: At last! Maybe we’ll get some sleep.

Harriet: I hope so. It’s nearly three o’clock. Good night, dear. Oh, no! Now they are having a fight.

Ozzie: That figures. They always have fights after parties.

Harriet: Uh-oh! They must be throwing the dishes again.

Ozzie: No, I think that was a vase, dear, or maybe the TV set – or both!

Harriet: Ozzie! Listen. There’s someone in the backyard next door.

Ozzie: Huh? It must be a cat.

Harriet: No, it can’t be. It’s too loud.

Ozzie: What time is it?

Harriet: It’s a quarter to five. Who could it be? I’d better took a look. Ooh! It’s Howard, and he is carrying a shovel.

Ozzie: Really? You don’t think he’s killed her, do you?

Harriet: Well, we haven’t heard her voice for a while. No, she’s probably sleeping.

Ozzie: But what could he be doing at this time of the morning?

Harriet: If he has killed her, he might be burying the body!

Ozzie: What! You don’t think so, do you?

Harriet: He couldn’t be planting tomatoes, could he? I’m going to ask him what he’s doing.

Harriet: Hello there, Howard. You’re up bright and early this morning.

Howard: I haven’t been to bed yet. We had a party last night. I hope we didn’t keep you awake.

Harriet: Oh, no, no. We didn’t hear a thing, nothing at all. I slept like a log.

Howard: Well, it was a pretty noisy party. My wife knocked over the kids’ hamster cage while we were cleaning up. The poor hamster died. I’m just burying him before the kids wake up.

Listening 4B. Noise and Sound

1. door creaks open

2. door slams shut

3. “Keep quiet” – hushed voice

4. dog growls

5. “Oh dear” – squeaky\high-pitched voice

6. “Shh – listen!” - hushed voice

7. distant \ constant sound of machinery

8. bell rings

9. noise of machinery fades away

10. muffled sound of angry voices (in other room)

11. unmistakable sound of gunshot

12. high-pitched scream

13. deafening silence

14. dog whines

15. people bursting into room, shouts and fight scene – terrible racket

16. booming voice – “Get back”

Listening 5A. A House to Buy I.

J = Jeremy L = Linda

J What did you think of that place, then? Not bad, was it?

LOh, it was lovely, it was really lovely. A very pretty house, a beautifully modernized cottage.

JMmm. Not as big as the house we 've got at the moment, though.

LNo, not as big, it's true, but it's in a much better location, with the countryside all around, and lovely views from the bedrooms.

JIt's quite a long way from the station, isn't it? If we bought it, we'd have to drive to the station, we couldn't walk.

LThat wouldn't matter. You can walk in summer if it's a nice day. It's a lovely walk across the park.

J I’ll tell you one thing I didn’t like, actually, and that was the low ceilings everywhere, especially in the kitchen.

LYes, but think how expensive it is to heat our house at the moment, and that's partly because the ceilings are so high. If the ceilings were lower it would be much cheaper to heat. I mean our gas bills would really go down.

JI suppose you're right. But the lounge is tiny. You couldn't get more than five people in it.

LYes, I know, but the thing to do with this house is to knock down the wall between the living-room and the dining-room. Then you'd have a good-sized room. And think how cozy it would be on a winter evening, beside that open fire. And the kitchen was big, anyway. And nice and bright.

J Mmm ... I'm afraid I didn't like the bedrooms very much, with one on the first floor and another two in that converted loft.

L Oh I loved the bedrooms, particul... well, all the bedrooms. They're all double bedrooms, and with those views...

J But the main one, the main one is right next to the street, so that would be very noisy.

LBut the street isn't so noisy. I mean, it's only a lane; it's not really a busy road. You wouldn't hear very much.

J Yes, true. And I suppose the children can have the bedrooms on the top floor. The stairs are a bit dangerous. I'd have to fix them. And the roof is leaking. If they don't do something about that soon, the ceiling will come down. It's been raining a lot recently.

LWhat about the outside? What did you think of that?

JI thought it was very attractive, with the courtyard and then the garden. I bet the courtyard catches the sun. We could eat out in summer.

L And it's quite a big garden. And that's a lovely mature apple tree right in the middle. Lots of space for your vegetables. So what do you think?

J Well, I'm not so sure. I don't think it would be big enough for us.

LOK. Think again, then.

Listening 5A. A House to Buy II. Donna Woo is looking for a new house. She’s with the realtor now.

Realtor: Well, Ms. Woo, this is the house that I told you about: 341 Sunlake Drive. The owners are away, but I have the keys.

Donna: When was it built?

Realtor: It was built in 1936.

Donna: Who built it?

Realtor: I have no idea. Is it important?

Donna: No, I guess not. Is that a new roof? It looks new.

Realtor: It’s pretty new. It was put on two years ago.

Realtor: It’s in very good condition. The previous owner was a builder.

Donna: I’m worried about the electric wiring. Has it been rewired?

Realtor: Yes, it has.

Donna: Oh? When was it done?

Realtor: Five years ago. It’s been completely renovated. New central heating and air conditioning have been put in, and a new garage has been built.

Donna: Oh? When was that done?

Realtor: The garage? Last year – I think. It’s a very solid house. It’s built of brick with a tiled roof.

Donna: I have a little boy in elementary school. Does a school bus pass by here?

Realtor: Yes, right here on Sunlake Drive. The children are picked up at eight o’clock, and they are brought home by 3.30.

Donna: It’s really not expensive. I’ve seen a lot of similar houses, and they are more expensive.

Realtor: Oh, yes. It’s a real bargain.

Donna: Are there any plans for new construction in this area?

Realtor: Excuse me? New construction? Well, uh, yes, a new hospital is going to be built about six blocks north of here.

Donna: Anything else?

Realtor: Well, a new interstate highway will be built next year. You’ll be able to get to the city in half the time.

Donna: Where exactly will the interstate be build?

Realtor: Uh… it’ll be built just down the street. Sunlake Drive has been chosen as the main exit for the city. It’ll be interesting. You’ll be able to watch the traffic…..

Listening 5A. A House to Buy III. Michael talks about buying a house in the U.S.

Todd:Michael, this is a beautiful home.

Mike:Yeah, we've lived here for about twelve years and it's too big for us now.

Todd:Really. It's pretty big.

Mike: Well, yeah, I mean, it's got four bedrooms and it's got this big living room area and dining room area, and I've got two kids and both of them are in college now, so they don't live here anymore. (Oh) So my wife and I are thinking about, you know, moving to a smaller house.

Todd:Oh, that makes sense. Well, so where are you going to move?

Mike: Well, this area is called Walnut Creek, it's in the East Bay of San Francisco, and we want to move into an area that's in the Berkeley Hills. It's called Orinda.

Todd:Oh, yeah. That's nice.

Mike:Oh, it's very nice. I mean it's a little more inconvenient, and it's not as convenient as here (Yeah) but it's a little more, there's more privacy, and there's more nature, you know more like old established trees and hills, and a little quieter, and so all those things appeal to us, so we're looking. It's not easy to find a right place but we're, actually today we're gonna meet a realtor, and we're going to be looking at some houses that are available and see if you like any of them.

Todd:You know, actually, I've been thinking about getting a house. I'm kind of getting up there in age. What is the process of buying a house? Like how do you go about it?

Mike:Well the first step to find a place is you, generally you have to work with a realtor, somebody who has access to homes that are for sale, and then you sort of look through the listings and you find ones that you like, that you can afford, and then you visit with the realtor, and say you find a house that you like, like there is one that we're going to visit today that we think we like and we're going to check it out again. After we visit we make an offer sheet, we draw an offer sheet, that says how much we're willing to pay for the house, and the owner looks over the offer sheet. They never meet us directly, they meet only through their (the realtor) the realtors talk to each other. The buyer and the seller never actually talk to each other directly, and in this case, the house is going to have multiple offers. Many people will want this house.

Todd:OK

Mike:So they're not going to look at the offers until next week, and say five or ten people bid on it, they're probably going to take the one, the person who offers the most money for it, so it's competitive.

Todd:That is a tough situation.

Mike:Yeah, so sometimes you'll find a house that you love, and you can afford, but somebody outbids you. Somebody bids more for the house than you do and you lose it, and you have to keep looking so it can take weeks of months.

Todd:Wow, well.

Mike:To find the house you want.

Todd:Sounds tough. Good luck.

Mike:Thanks a lot.

Listening 5B.Interview between a lawyer (Ms Blackwell) and her client (Mr. Watson), who intends to buy a house in Spain.

Ms Blackwell: Hello, Mr. Watson, very good to see you.

Mr. Watson: Hello, good to see you, too, Ms Blackwell.

Ms Blackwell: Please have a seat. Coffee, tea?

Mr. Watson: No, no thank you, I’m fine.

Ms Blackwell: Great. Well, why don’t we get down to business, then? I’ve prepared everything you asked me for – the house looks beautiful, by the way.

Mr. Watson: Yes, it’s lovely, isn’t it?

Ms Blackwell: Right. Why don’t I talk you through the process, tell you what has to be done so you get an idea of the process as a whole and the costs you’ll have, so you know what to expect.

Mr. Watson: OK, fine.

Ms Blackwell: Well, buying a home in Spain is really not that complicated, especially if you have the help of a Spanish lawyer and you basically know what you’re doing. Senor Martinez is very reliable, his English is very good and he is quite experienced in this kind of transaction. I’ve printed out an e-mail from him – here you are – and as you can see, he’s waiting for you to contact him.

Mr. Watson: OK. What about his fee, if I might ask?

Ms Blackwell: He told me that he charges 1,000 euros for assistance throughout the entire process.

Mr. Watson: That’s fine – after all, I don’t want any unpleasant surprises.

Ms Blackwell: Right. Well, first of all, Senor Martinez will draw up a power of attorney, which you’ll have to have made official at the office of a notary. Senor Martinez will officially translate the document for you in front of a notary.

Mr. Watson: Why do I need a power of attorney?

Ms Blackwell: That’s so your solicitor can carry out any necessary steps when you’re back in England.

Mr. Watson: Ah, I see.

Ms Blackwell: Then the two of you’ll go to the National Police – which is called the Policia Nacional in Spanish, I believe – to get a fiscal number, referred to as an NIE. The next step is to set up a bank account for transferring all funds. You’ll need to have 1% of the purchase price of the house in cash. And, of course, you’ll want to talk about financing the house with the bank. I’m sure that Senor Martinez will be able to recommend a good local bank.

Mr. Watson: Right. What about the contract?

Ms Blackwell: Senor Martinez will draw up a contract for you in both English and Spanish stating the terms of the sale. It’ll also set forth the timeframe of the house purchase and include things like deposit payable, furniture included and so on. Then there’ll be the official signing of this contract by you and the Seller, with both Senor Martinez and the estate agent present as well. At this point, you’ll hand over the 1% to the Seller.

Mr. Watson: OK. Could I send you a copy of the contract for your review?

Ms Blackwell: Of course – I was going to suggest that.

Mr. Watson: Good. What’s next?

Ms Blackwell: Well, I suggest you then return home and arrange for the rest of the deposit – that will be 9% of the purchase price – to be transferred to your bank account in Spain. Senor Martinez will be taking care of further paperwork, and when he’s sure everything is in order, he’ll withdraw the money from your account and hand it over to the Seller. Senor Martinez can then sign the relevant part of the contract. Once the rest of the money’s been transferred to your Spanish account, the final documents will be signed on the completion date.

Mr. Watson: Do I have to be there for the signing?

Ms Blackwell: No, Senor Martinez will represent you, and he, the Seller and the estate agent – as well as a representative of the bank if you’ve arranged a mortgage – will undertake the signing in the presence of a notary. Then the money and the keys will be exchanged, and the house is yours!

Mr. Watson: Sounds great!