More chapters in the house saga: fixing the cottage

When I bought my house there were tenants living in the cottage and I allowed them to stay. That place was in a terrible state of disrepair and I did some basic maintenance to stop things leaking and left the rent really cheap because the place was so awful. Three years down the line, I got completely sick of all the noise and mayhem these tenants cause and their kid breaking the concrete basin was the final straw for me and I gave them notice 2 months later. When they finally left, it was a terrible mess and of course the "man" of the house had to start a huge fight with me. Suffice to say, I have no respect left for him after the insults thrown.

Now I have a month and a shoestring budget to make this horror-show hovel habitable. Without further ado, let me present the hell-hole in all its glory:

The lounge: filthy walls and broken flooring. Doesn't need much beyond cleaning the floor and walls and removing the wardrobe

The kitchen: pure horror, I have decided to replaster the walls, redo the floor and turn this into the bedroom

The "bedroom" was made by roofing over a passage between two buildings. Completely illegal in terms of building regulations because there is supposed to be a meter between buildings adjoining the neighbour's property. I have decided to remove this "room" completely and turn the space into storage for garden tools, etc.

The bathroom isn't bad, I fixed it up last year. The remaining problem is making a new kitchen. There's a small alcove room that was partitioned off with board and turned into a "sitting room" for the small flat that was created next door. I decided to remove the partition, brick up the other wall and turn this space into a kitchen.

There's a huge amount of work ahead but I think the place will actually be habitable when I am done and I can get a higher rental for the place. Of course, the trick is to find tenants that pay on time and don't drive me insane.
Watch this space for the final result

First posted here on my blog in WeKu