To ask is your council house or flat well maintained?

[blarblarblarrr]

I have finally got onto the waiting list at our council. Don't know what to expect other than a huge wait but tbh its given me hope that I might have somewhere secure to bring up my children in 2 or 3 years time.

I'm wondering to those of you in council housing or housing association ones are you happy with the condition it's in? I'm getting far ahead of myself but I wondered about what people do if they get offered somewhere that has alot of damp for example. I'm very easy pleased, just want a place that's decent and clean.

Is your place well looked after when it comes to repairs or suchlike?

Thanks

[SaucyJack]

You'd be best off talking to someone local to you.

All councils are different.

I'm not trying to be arsey btw- but the housing conditions of someone living 300 miles away from you won't have any bearing on what you can expect,

[bloodyteenagers]

Agree with Saucy.
I talk to others in one borough, and the repairs are amazing. Every minor thing is sorted rapidly.
This borough water leaks are left until things falls down.
Next borough, only thing they seem to be dealing with is water leaks and boilers.

[blarblarblarrr]

Oh I see. Yes that does make sense, thank you.

[failingatlife]

Agree with previous poster's about different councils having much different standards. We are in a council sheltered disabled house whych is in fair condition. Heating & water issues are dealt with the same/next day but we really need new doors and have done for several years. Council would rather patch up existing ones than provide new. Our shower broke soon after moving in & was replaced same day. We have been rewired & had a new kitchen. Can't complain really😀Good luck with getting a house!

[Fascinate]

House has to be a certain standard to be liveable, there should be housing officers at your local council responsible for making sure both tenants and landlords meet their respective responsibilities. If you are going to be tenant of a housing association, check their website as they will probably have a section detailing what repairs will be done, how quickly they should be done and what the tenant is responsible for.

[HelenaDove]

Check whether they sub contract work out, what sub contractors they use and Google Google Google.

[KC225]

If you live in Wandsworth London then a big fat NO

[StarryIllusion]

When we first moved in it was horrific. Dirty with dead birds everywhere. We had to clean it. But repairs get done quickly, we had a new bathroom and toilet done recently and there has never been anything they refused to sort, although low priority stuff like a dodgy gate took a few months. They were out within the hour once for a gas leak.

[MidsummersNight]

I find ours generally good to deal with. They sub contract all their work to one company and all it takes is an email to the housing agent and someone from the company phones me within the hour to get someone out at some point.

[ohwhatsinausername]

I've recently moved into my first housing association place and I was really disappointed at first. I too didn't know what to expect.

Every room needed decorating (ripped paper left hanging off, exposed plaster etc) there were no carpets throughout and the garden was like a jungle!

I got told there was no budget for anything, so I would have to do it all myself and as a Mum of 2 under 3 (one only 4 months old) I was so worried how I would do it all.

I think it's just a shock at first because when you privately rent - you wouldn't pay for a property unless you thought it was suitable...but with HA, you don't get much choice.

Once I'd looked past the state it was in, I was able to see that it had good sized bedrooms, good sized living room for play space, great sized garden and a fab local school and eventually, in time, I would be able to make it "my own" so any money I had spare to spend on it, would feel worth it.

I've only been here a month and I already have carpets, a new living room and the kitchen is nearly finished and we're really happy here now!

My HA are great with repairs and their staff are friendly. They checked before I signed, if there was anything I would like doing to the property before I moved in (within remit) and if I've needed anything sorting, they've been really prompt.

So even though the house still needs redecorating in most rooms, all in all, it's been a really good experience for me. Good luck.

[x2boys]

when i moved into my housing association house about 18 months ago the whole house needed decorating and flooring[although did get vouchers for decorating] they will fix boiler /heating repairs quickly and since i moved in i have had a new roof and front and back door,however the fencing in my garden is broken and very low and its my responsibility to fix and replace this .

[blarblarblarrr]

Wow thank you for sharing your experiences. Although I understand now it does differ from area to area.

Dead birds that must have been an unpleasant surprise! Dirt and wall paper hanging off not good either of course. No floor would surprise me though is that not very expensive to have to do yourself?

Reassuring that things like a gas leak are sorted quickly though. At the end of the day other stuff is only cosmetic really. I'm good at making a place feel homely so not too worried.

[c3pu]

I lived in a housing association flat for about 5 years. It was OK as far things go, but I I lived in an identical but privately rented flat prior to that, and the privately rented one was infinitely better.

The HA flat had no carpets, curtains of cooker... Fine, but these things aren't cheap to do nicely.
The bathroom was a bit ropey, but usable. Few broken tiles.
The kitchen was a bit ropey, a few broken drawers.

It had been "decorated" before we moved in, which basically meant they chucked some magnolia paint on the walls, so it wasn't too bad.
Had a new vinyl floor in the dining room/kitchen.
Everything else about it was more or less OK, but nothing was of great quality. The double glazing was a bit poor, doors had taken a bit of a bashing over the course of their life.

I've seen a few otherw which have been a bit of a mixed bag. One flat the communal hallway was horrendous, stank of cheesy feet. Blergh!
Ex GF had a nice enough flat, it had a new bathroom which was clearly done by the lowest bidder, pretty rubbish but it was new.
Current GF has a HA flat, which is fairly new and by default is in quite nice order... The hot water tank has been badly installed though, so the cupboard door cannot shut LOL.

Basically, the standard set is gonna be lower than you might expect, but it ought to be "good enough".

[Cleorapter]

Depends on your council entirely, but I wouldn't have high expectations, don't expect flooring or it to be particularly nicely decorated, but do expect it to be clean and safe to live in. Anything more than that is a bonus! Repairs in my area are pretty decent depending on what they are, for example any gas/boiler issues are sorted very quickly, things like leaking taps within a few days, however all my double glazing windows have blown and that still hasn't been sorted after 18 months of being reported.

Good bits are you can pretty much make your mark on the property within reason and you have a lot more freedom than private rented, and obviously it is a lot cheaper. Bad bits are they don't have to give you flooring and things you may expect.

[x2boys]

the thing is you have alot more security in council/housing association so yes we had to carpet and decorate it but its to our style unlike a lot of private rented also we had to provide cooker, fridgefreezer ,washing machine etc which you might get in private rented but its our home now for as long as we want it we are not at the whim of a private rented landlord.

[bloodyteenagers]

Yes it's standard to expect no flooring, needs decoration, no furniture at all and will possibly need cleaning.

Expect walls, doors, kitchen, bathroom, windows and a roof

Also seems gas leaks varies, here you have to call transco (I think that's what they are now called) and repairs are called into the TMO (tenant management organization) or direct to the council repair line.

[gamerchick]

Our council is pretty good and quick at repairs.

You get an empty house that's it. Decorating, floors and furniture etc you'll have to do yourself.

[blarblarblarrr]

Can I aks a stupid question? When you say floors is it bare cement and you have to figure out floorboards and then lino or carpet or whatnot on top?

I have only had to get a new carpet before once in my life and there was a spongey sort of floor thing under that so we only had to choose carpet and underlay I have no idea what was under the underlay It sounds like needing to sort out your own floor is standard so I should probably start learning how to do that now.

[x2boys]

we had ashphalt sp? downstairs and floorboards up stairs so we had the whole house carpeted on top of them.

[blarblarblarrr]

Thank you

[TheHobbitMum]

Mine isn't! We do all repairs and upgrades ourselves as the housing association just bodge everything up

[CheshireChat]

Plain floorboards throughout here. Some big gaps between them upstairs, not so much downstairs.

[CheshireChat]

So you'll need underlay+ flooring, but usable in the interim.

[specialsubject]

Gosh, why aren't shelter aren't screaming about this in their campaigns?

Private landlords have to meet standards but it seems that council properties can be left to fall apart.

[AwaywiththePixies27]

Exactly what SaucyJack said.

I'm in a horrible run down one that they're too shit slow at repairing. They had a huge government grant to repair all these houses as they kept falling into disrepair but I'm afraid that fund got kyboshed when they had to find some corners to cut with the smaller budgets.

My first home I ever lived in was a council home, a ground floor flat and if it wasn't for being just a 1bed I'd have happily have stayed there. Again, both these homes are completely the other side of the same city to each other so it is pot luck.

OP, I see it like this, it's a roof over mine and the DCs heads. For now. That is security as best as you can get it.

Oh, random comment but if you can afford to start putting a little aside to do the house up when you eventually get one. Decorating and such. I haven't been able to decorate mine as it's needed constant repairs and it's never ever felt like 'home'. But I take the beggers cant be choosers approach and I'm grateful for this bit of security until situation improves.