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Find out what it’s like to live in a Resi Land property and all the services we provide in our new series showcasing the range and variety of our Resi Residents. This week newlyweds Billy and Sandra* talk about how Resi Land help them get some much-needed space from the in-laws…

Some people told us the best part of getting married would be the honeymoon. A few cynical so-and-sos said it would be the tax breaks. (For the record, not one person said it would be the actual wedding).

Well they were all wrong.

SANDRA: We’d been living with Billy’s parents for what felt like forever. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but after a few months there’s no denying you start getting under each others’ feet. We weren’t arguing or anything, but you become very self-conscious about how much time you’re spending in the bathroom, don’t you? Or how much of a mess you’re making in the kitchen. You just start wishing you had a place of your own.

BILLY: My mum would have been happy for us to stay but from the moment I proposed to Sandra, I knew I wanted us to start our life together in a place of our own. It couldn’t be just anywhere, though. It had to be perfect. And – perhaps dangerously – it had to be a surprise.

SANDRA: Billy’s a mummy’s boy. It’s one of the things I love about him – you can always tell you’ve got a good one by the way he treats his mother. But at the same time… you can see why I might have been getting a bit worried. With the big date looming and no plan in place, his mum kept talking about how nice it will be to have “the lovebirds” staying with “mummy and daddy” for a bit longer after the wedding.

BILLY: Mum and dad were in on it, obviously, just winding her up a tiny bit. I know I was playing a risky game not telling her, but I was working on finding somewhere – on my lunch break, while she was out with mates. While she was asleep even! Then I remembered my firm used this landlord Residential Land to find places for guys we had coming over from abroad. I had a chat with Mike over in marketing and what he told me about his apartment was music to my ears…

SANDRA: Okay, so I knew he was up to something. He’d have been a maniac not to be, and he must have seen a glint of fury in my eye at some point because he started winking and saying “I’m sorting it” instead of just shrugging and saying “we’ll figure it out… eventually.” So I was more curious than impatient by then. If I’m honest, I was glad he was (presumably) dealing with the hell of decision-making – I hate decisions.

BILLY: Sandra hates decisions. Not me. As soon as I was hooked up with Resi Land I was in deep – checking out loads of places, looking for that perfect one. I knew I wanted Hammersmith sort of area – loads of our early dates were in that area; Arctic Monkeys at the Hammersmith Apollo… walks along the river bank… dinner at the River Cafe. I wanted that to be our life, at least for now. And then I saw Hamlet Gardens – a beautiful Victorian building, beautiful glazed tiles in the hallways, and beautifully bang-up-to-date interiors. A history buff who loves her home comforts, Sandra was going to love it.

SANDRA: We got married, and it was the happiest, most stressful day of my life. You want everything to go off exactly to plan, and there are so many little details to keep on top of – I know you’re supposed to relax and let everyone else take care of it, but I can assure you that literally isn’t possible.

BILLY: The wedding was amazing, but I could see Sandra was on edge. What she didn’t know, though, was I’d had a few mates go round and pack up our stuff at home. While we were raising our glasses at the reception, Residential Land had arranged for movers to pick up our things, drive them to Hamlet Gardens and unpack. It was amazing – I just relaxed and let everyone else take care of it.

SANDRA: We weren’t entirely sober when we were loaded into the back of the limo, cans jangling and confetti flying all over the place. But I was sober enough to know the car wasn’t heading towards the hotel Billy had told me he’d booked. He refused to say where we were going but I was starting to get excited again… and a little nervous. We pulled up to a beautiful red brick Victorian building – we were on the edge of Ravenscourt Park, where we’d had our first kiss. I asked him what the hell we were doing here, and he just said “this is where we live now.”

BILLY: Her wide eyes and that big smile… that was why it had to be a surprise. I carried her up the staircase and over the threshold of our new home.

SANDRA: He opened the door and all our things were already there, unpacked onto and around gorgeous furniture I’d never seen before. We spent the most wonderful night in our new home, and in the morning we were off to Bali on our honeymoon.

But like we said, the best bit of getting married wasn’t the honeymoon; it was coming home at the end of it.

 

*As with all our Resi Residents in this series Billy and Sandra are fictional characters serving to illustrate the range of tenants we have.