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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted -  16/12/2011  :  09:18

RENTAL PURCHASE

I heard a news report the other day about a website that was offering a service whereby you bought a house without the aid or expense of estate agents. There were various comments warning of the dangers of such a transaction without full legal safeguards but I thought “hang on a minute, this is rental purchase!”

For anyone who hasn't come across it, rental purchase was a common way of buying a house in Barlick until fairly recent times (well, recent to me anyway!). My old tackler mate Ernie Roberts bought his condemned cottage on Club Row in the 1960s for £500 on rental purchase. He paid a rent each week which covered the price of the house and the interest and after a specified number of years it was his and the deeds changed hands. It turned out to be a good investment because the demolition order was lifted and the cottages on Club Row are now highly desirable properties. Ernie's dead but I wonder how much it's worth now? Going back to the objections I heard the other day about the website, what struck me was why is it that a private arrangement based on trust was OK in times gone by but is now regarded as dangerous and open to abuse? Could it be that we were more trusting and honest then?

I have another example. I used to work for Richard Drinkall at West Marton who was a cattle dealer. I was driver of his cattle wagon and moved beasts about all over the country. On an average week Richard paid out and received many thousands of pounds and the only paper work was the receipts from the markets where he bought and doubtless invoices sent out to many of his customers. I never saw any of these, we had no delivery notes or proof that the cattle had been actually transferred, everything was done on trust and sealed with a handshake. I remember Richard once asking me to deliver the year's paperwork to his accountant and it was a small folder about an inch thick. I asked him about this and he said that there had never been any problem with the taxman. In later years when we had both moved on I asked him about the level of paperwork needed today and he told me it was enormous and one of the reasons why he had retired. Everything had become far too complicated.

I recently transcribed the Minute Books of the Calf Hall Shed Company and was struck by how simple very large purchases were. An arrangement was agreed, letters exchanged and the matter was settled. The only other paperwork was an invoice for the goods. It's noticeable that as time moved on more and more legal safeguards were introduced to protect the parties involved and standard contracts were evolved for various commodities. I have little doubt that much of this growth of legalities and paperwork was a result of people losing money because of sharp practice but it didn't seem to be getting out of hand.

All this changed during the Second World War when, in order to run a war economy, the government introduced controls on every aspect of life. If a householder wanted to replace a gutter they had to get a licence to allow them to buy it. By the end of the war it was almost as though we had become brainwashed into accepting paperwork as safeguards and even after the end of wartime restrictions this tide of legalities and paperwork spread into all aspects of life. If we go into the supermarket and buy food we end up with receipts and paperwork about the transaction. I lead a very simple life but in order to keep track of my money I have files full of paperwork, a far cry from Ernie and his house purchase in weekly instalments!

What intrigues me about all this is which came first, the chicken or the egg? Could it be that as the tide of legal safeguards and paperwork increased our trust in other people's honesty was eroded? Proof of purchase and evidence of payment became the norm. The only transactions that are done today purely on trust are small arrangements between friends, people you have personal knowledge of. There used to be an assumption of trust and honesty but today the assumption is that safeguards are needed.

There is no doubt that our lives today are far more complicated and that some safeguards are necessary but I can't help getting an impression that some of the paperwork is used to generate work and income for 'service providers'. We are all only too well aware of the need to read the 'fine print' in agreements and contracts to see what nasties are embedded in there. Think of the number of people exposed to exorbitant bank charges but when they complain it is pointed out to them that they agreed to the impositions because they were embedded in the original contract. The problem is that many of these restrictions are common to all banks and service providers, there is no escape. My life today would be virtually impossible without having a list of passwords and PIN numbers embedded in my memory. What happens when my memory fades? If I write the information down and the service provider finds out, I have broken the terms of my contract!

I suppose I am just a sad old man regretting the passing of the world I once knew. I can't turn the clock back, in order to survive I have to play their game but I can't help thinking that on the march towards a 'better world' we have lost something on the way. I think of Ernie coming to an arrangement with his landlord, Richard Drinkall sealing a deal with a handshake and my mother paying the coalman with cash outside the back gate. Remember going into the Gas or Electricity showroom to pay your bill and handing cash over to a human being? Getting your wage in a paper envelope each week? We may have a higher standard of living but I doubt if we are any happier. I think I might be getting Old!

Thirty years ago the Gas showroom on Church Street was part of our lives, we could talk to human beings face to face..


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk

Author Replies  
Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 22/12/2011 : 16:30
"My life today would be virtually
impossible without having a list of passwords and PIN numbers embedded
in my memory. What happens when my memory fades? If I write the
information down and the service provider finds out, I have broken the
terms of my contract!"


This sort of problem is already happening, with people having to write down the passwords and PINs. Another problem is disabled and elderly folk giving the details to carers and then the bank won't compensate them if they are defrauded because they've given away the information.


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 23/12/2011 : 05:37
Ahhhh.... This wonderful modern world where we've never had it so good!


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Cathy
Senior Member


4249 Posts
Posted - 23/12/2011 : 08:13
I write mine down, but they are in disguise.  Frankly I'm sick of being a series of numbers, but the world is so complicated today.  I wonder if they ever run out of numbers as identification codes etc.


All thru the fields and meadows gay  ....  Enjoy   
Take Care...Cathy Go to Top of Page
marilyn
VIP Member


5007 Posts
Posted - 23/12/2011 : 08:32
I heard they will run out of new mobile phone numbers in a few years!

Edited by - marilyn on 23/12/2011 08:42:11 AM


get your people to phone my people and we will do lunch...MAZ Go to Top of Page
Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 23/12/2011 : 09:21
Maz, congratulations on your 5000th post!   Yay


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