Unit 2 Phoning a Landlord

A – Angela, L – Landlord

L. Hello. 6785423

A. I saw your advertisement for the room.

L. Oh, oh yes. That’s right.

A. I wonder if you could give me some more information?

L. Yes, well, well, what would you like to know?

A. Well, I was wondering .. Er … What’s the rent?

L. $ 35 a week.

A. And what does this include?

L. The room, obviously. It’s your own room. You don’t have to share. It’s a single room. You share the bathroom and you can use the kitchen, but there are no meals included.

A. Right, uhm … and what about heating?

L. No, no, you don’t have to pay for that. There’s central heating in all the rooms, so there’s nothing extra to pay there.

A. Oh, lovely, and do you want the rent weekly? Is there a deposit?

L. You have to pay weekly, on a Monday. And there’s one-week deposit payable in advance.

A. Right, that sounds fair. Are there any particular house rules, you know, that I’ve got to keep to?

L. What do you mean?

A. Well, like what about guests and hours?

L. Oh yes, well you can come and go as you want, of course, but you must pay a deposit for the front-door key. That’s separate from the other deposit, I’m afraid. As for guests they should be out by eleven o’clock. We don’t like to say that, but we’ve had a bit too much trouble, so we have to say it.

A. Right. Is it quite near public transport?

L. Oh, yes. Five minutes to the tube station, and the bus stop is just round the corner with buses into town every ten minutes or so.

A. Lovely, it sounds very interesting. Do you think I could come and have a look at it this evening?

L. Yes, of course. I’ll give you the address. Now, it’s 35 Chestnut Avenue, Walton. How’ll you be coming?

A. By car.

L. Well, it’s just by the police station and the library.

A. Yes, well, I know it. If I come about eight, is that all right?

L. That’s fine. Could you tell me your name?

A. Angela Smiley.

L. Right. I’ll see you around eight. Goodbye.

A. Bye-bye.

Unit 3 Looking for a House to Buy

J = Jeremy

L = Linda

J: What did you think of that place, then? Not bad, was it?

L: Oh, it was lovely, it was really lovely. A very pretty house, a beautifully modernized cottage.

J: Mmm. Not as big as the house we’ve got at the moment, though.

L: No, not as big, it’s true, but it’s in a much better location, with the countryside all around, and lovely views from the bedrooms.

J: It’s quite a long way from the station, isn’t it? If we bought it, we’d have to drive to the station, we couldn’t walk.

L: That wouldn’t matter. You can walk in summer if it’s a nice day. It’s a lovely walk across the park.

J: I’ll tell you one thing I didn’t like, actually, and that was the low ceilings everywhere, especially in the kitchen.

L: Yes, but think how expensive it is to heat our house at the moment, and that’s partly because the ceilings are so high. If the ceilings were lower it would be much cheaper to heat. I mean our gas bills would really go down.

J: I suppose you’re right. But the lounge is tiny. You couldn’t get more than five people in it.

L: Yes, I know, but the thing to do with this house is to knock down the wall between the living-room and the dining-room. Then you’d have a good-sized room. And think how cosy it would be on a winter evening, beside that open fire. And the kitchen was big, anyway. And nice and bright.

J: Mmmm… I’m afraid I didn’t like the bedrooms very much, with one on the first floor and another two in that converted loft.

L: Oh I loved the bedrooms, particul… well, all the bedrooms. They’re all double bedrooms, and with those views…

J: But the main one, the main one is right next to the street, so that would be very noisy.

L: But the street isn’t so noisy. I mean, it’s only a lane, it’s not really a busy road. You wouldn’t hear very much.

J: Yes, true. And I suppose the children can have the bedrooms on the top floor. The stairs are a big dangerous. I’d have to fix them. And the roof is leaking. If they don’t do something about that soon, the ceiling will come down. It’s been raining a lot recently.

L: What about the outside? What did you think of that?

J: I thought it was very attractive with the courtyard and then the garden. I bet the courtyard catches the sun. We could eat out in summer.

L: And it’s quite a big garden. And that’s a lovely mature apple tree right in the middle. Lots of space for your vegetables. So what do you think?

J: Well, I’m not so sure. I don’t think it would be big enough for us.

L: OK. Think again, then.