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When I first moved into the present Casa Azahar one of the annoying things was that the toilet didn’t flush properly, but it was a minor issue (then) and there was so much else to do here that I didn’t want to bother the landlord about it. He was already being quite generous (then) about taking care of any repairs, even sending his handyman Tony Black Hands to install all the light fixtures I’d bought, that I didn’t want to push it. When it finally needed addressing about a year later he sent Tony again to change the cistern apparatus thingy, but somehow it didn’t make much difference. Once again, I didn’t want to rock the boat as it was at least a bit better. For a while.
Well SEVEN YEARS LATER the damn thing is finally working. I have a toilet that actually does what it’s supposed to when you press the button. And what did it cost? 40 euros. Duh. Well okay, that was the cost of the thingy, as it turned out that the labour charge (probably double that) was covered by the landlord’s insurance (which is how we are doing things these days). But man, really wish I had done this years ago. It’s just that every time anything goes wrong lately I get this hard knot of anxiety in my gut because it’s become a bit vague about who is responsible for what around here and I really hate confrontation. I think if I didn’t live in constant fear of losing my home every August (contract renewal time) I would feel better about forking out repair money. Maybe I should try and negotiate a five-year contract next August, so I can relax a bit and feel better about having to invest in my home when things need fixing. Because damn I love this place so much.
casa azahar 
You’ve totally been living there long enough to suggest a longer term contract. And presumably that would mean some kind of cap on rent increases year by year. Something you could plan for.
STUFF THAT WORKS is so exhilarating. Never mind all the Broadway numbers about “I’m in love la la la,” plumbing that doesn’t balk and an upright vacuum that doesn’t tip over at a glance and a lock that doesn’t have to be jiggled and windows that aren’t drafty… those are the things that’ll make me run up and down the street skipping and clapping.
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I would also do a fucking backflip if every time I tried to post a reply on WordPress, if the fucking site cannot keep me logged in, the “you are not logged in” process would at least work in a consistent way.
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THIS drives me nuts.
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I think I’ll suggest a longer contract this summer, or some kind of guarantee. Rent increases are already capped. This year I think it’s 3%. Last year the rent was put up double the allowed amount, but as they hadn’t put it up for about three years I didn’t argue. It’s still a good price for the location. But man, would I love to not have this hanging over me all the time. So yeah, maybe five years. Let’s see what happens.
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