How to become a property guardian

I was had only applied to be a guardian with one company (Dot Dot Dot) because I was attracted to their ethos of only housing volunteers. My thinking was that if I live with people that are willing to donate their time to ‘do something good’ I would meet some kind people. Good people. But then my friend, who had been a guardian for over a year, forwarded me an e-mail from the company he was with (Live-in Guardians).

‘Dear Guardians,

We have just taken on a new building in Borehamwood.

It is a 12 bedroom house but we are looking for 6-8 people, a couple of the rooms have a sink in them.

There is a communal lounge, big garden, off street parking, and 2 separate bathrooms. The Property is only 5 minutes’ walk from Elstree and Borehamwood station and then only 20mins on the Thames link into Kings Cross. 

If you have any friends who are interested in moving into this Property then please email me the details.

We believe we will have this Property for around 6 months.  

The room price will be £75 p/w.’

I needed to get a place of my own because I was developing unwanted feelings for the girl whose spare room I was living in, and she had a stable boyfriend. I went to view the Borehamwood property. From the outside the building looked like it had been designed by the Brothers Grimm. It was curiously bulbous as though it had been inflated within a frame of faux Tudor beams. The house used to be a care home owned by Peaceknoll Ltd known, when operational, as Theobald House.

It was huge, decorated in pastel tones, fully furnished, and the kitchen cupboards were stocked with tins of soup and Angel Delight. 

I was shown the many rooms and picked the one that was the warmest and smelt the least. The baths had mechanical chairs that would lower you slowly into hot water.

I would even be able to use all the freshly washed towels and bed linen.

 

 

Living here with five or six other people would be fun I thought. I signed the paperwork, was given the keys and told to transfer the deposit and monthly license fee (rent) over the weekend. Quick and easy, you would never get that level of simplicity from an estate agent.

part 1: what is a property guardian
part 3: what does a property guardian do