I need to write. Stress stress stress Wow. Nothing like a good legal drama to get the blood pumping. We were thinking all we need now is to uncover a government conspiracy and a few murders and we have all the ingredients for a true life high court Grisham drama.

We spent three hours this afternoon on the phone to various commercial litigators from the best law firms in Christchurch and got a good dose of reality. For a start it would go to the High Court, could take 2 years and 60-80k worth of fees to resolve and at $370 per hour billable rates its easy to see why! But despite this they all say our case is good, but that nothing is certain in court.

To the credit of most of the lawyers we spoke to they have all been extremely helpful giving us free advice and trying to help us get enough 'untenantability' testimonials together to avoid court. However Harcouts the Real Estate agents have also entered the arena with their own big hitting lawyer and have taken their 17k commission out of our deposit and will not be refunding this, which is well within their legal right. But in lawyer speak its not worth going to court over something as small as this! F$#*!

The settlement notice expires on 10th November so we should know whether the vendors will take court proceedings, extend the notice or walk away with a big loss.
Alex