It’s a great house in a lovely garden, and yet there is so much here that needs fixing. It’s like the previous owners have only invested the bare minimum they had to – in both time and money – to keep it in an OK shape. It’s not run-down or dilapidated, and nothing is really broken… but they’ve done almost no work outside the house, and all work inside has been done as cheaply as possibly.

The stairs from the gate to the house are crumbling. I keep stumbling and I can barely get the pushchair down.

The lilacs and the jasminephiladelphus are totally overgrown. A maple tree has put its roots down in the middle of the jasminephiladelphus and had enough time to grow 3 metres tall, instead of being cut down straight away. And there are birches of various sizes (ranging from “small enough to pull up by the roots” to “as tall as the house”) growing up through the base of the fence.

There is a big tangle of nettles right next to the house.

The pillars supporting the veranda are too short so a few wooden plank ends have been wedged in between each pillar and the veranda floor above it.

The bathroom looks like something from a cheap youth hostel. If’s fully functional, and nothing is broken, but it’s also got stark white walls, an ugly gray-green plastic floor, a leaky shower head, a wonky curtain rail, a chipped sink, and fixtures with no style whatsoever.

The numerous wardrobes have almost no interior fittings. Either the previous owners made do with some sort of drawer trolleys, or they just piled their stuff in there, or they didn’t use the wardrobes at all.

Lots of work to do!