"MM" wrote in message
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That's why I'd like to buy an old property again. This brand-new house
has no history and consequently no character.

You'll have to give it some!

I think it takes years and several owners/occupiers before that
happens. Also, in my previous property I had expended a lot of effort
ripping off six layers of wallpaper, painting, laying floors, re-doing
the garden etc etc, and in the end I felt like I had become part of
the property. This new property needs zilch done to it, and there are
a few things about it that I don't like. I don't like the alarm system
and the hermetically sealed doors and windows (ideal enclosure for
carbon monoxide-induced suicide, by the way),

I thought there had to be some form of ventilation by law ...

the horrid low-voltage
lights that don't come on immediately like good old-fashioned bulbs,

What I don't like about those is the quality of the light. But surely you
can eplcethem with tungsten in?

the almost white carpets that pose a continual problem trying to keep
them clean,

They're mad. But was it down when you bought the house? I've never heard of
a built-in carpet!

the pancake-like surface of the 'topsoil' the builders put
down in the back 'garden',

Hire a rotovator.

the cost of metered water

Now that surprises me. Our water bill has been reduced to a munuscule amount
since we installed a meter.

....need I go on?

'Sup to you!

Actually, across the road is an identical property now on the market
for almost £11,000 more than I paid. If they get it fairly soon, I
shall be off to pastures new (and older, much older).

But then you'll have to spend all that time and effort getting rid of the
evidence of previous owners' bad tastes and DIY skills!

Mary

MM