The Landlord Part 1.doc

The Landlord Part 1.

My name is Sean and I live in the South West of Ireland near a small village called Dougha. I’m 60 years of age and divorced.  My former wife was a schoolteacher and she left me 10 years ago and married a university lecturer in Cork city.  I felt very lonely after the divorce and I decided to change my house into an apartment complex so that I could offer accommodation to suitable tenants.  In that way I could generate a rental income and also meet people.  I managed to hire a few experienced builders in January 2010 and they succeeded in renovating my home by the end of March that year.  I was very happy with the completed apartment although the cost of labour and materials was a bit excessive.  It actually cost me €400,000 to change my old house into a modern medium sized apartment.  However the building contained 5 rooms and 4 of them were large.  The fifth room was small but it overlooked the beach and sea and offered the inhabitant of the room a splendid view.

I decided to rent rooms to the public last June and the response was slow due to the downturn in the economy.  The Celtic Tiger had died and people did not have as much money available for renting accommodation in scenic country areas.  However I did manage to find one suitable applicant who came from Mallorca in Spain.  He was aged 26 and weighed about 14 stone.  He was very tall and must have been at least 6 feet in height.  His name was Manuel and it was his first time visiting a foreign country.  He used play soccer with a football team in Palma De Nova and he followed Barcelona Football club.  Manuel spoke a little English but he came to Ireland looking for work as a waiter in Tralee so that he could improve his English.  He had saved money when he had attended college in Spain and he wished to meet young Irish people so that he could learn more about their social life and culture.