To wonder how other people afford to keep their house ‘nice’

Just been searching for similar information on Google. I know it’s a long time since you posted, but how did you get along in the end?

I’m in similar situation. HA home. Repairs are bodged beyond belief. Walls covered in wood chip. Stripped some and found cracks you could fit your flat hand in. They told me it was cosmetic and down to me to sort 😭. It’s clearly a subsidence/ structural issue! They plastered one small wall eventuality. But now the deep cracks have progressed to splitting through the woodchip paper.

Saved to get shower fitted but the pipes make the most awful noise. Literally if we flush the toilet we have to wait to wash our hands or it sounds like a rocket is launching. HA told me not to flush the toilet when unnecessary. I’m afraid that if I pay to have shower fitted that any deeper plumbing issues will be blamed on me!

HA look for every opportunity to do a ‘charge’ on occupant mistreatment. It’s almost like you have to be in the position to afford a mortgage or private rent before you can afford a HA properties repairs.

Exactly this. The kitchens they put in are like cheap flat pack furniture.

I was lucky when I lived in the HA house they updated the kitchen and I looked after it really well. But there's no way it would last 25-39 years.

Even worse if someone's lived there before you and hasn't taken care of it so you're starting off with a dodgy kitchen.

I feel for you op.

I used to live in a HA property (one of the better ones by all accounts). Some people really don't understand what a poor state many of these homes are let in. No shower, old, poor quality, falling apart kitchens, mould and damp, leaky windows, broken fences and windows. No floor coverings. Broken tiles. The HA won't do many of these repairs as it's the tenants responsibility.

It's very depressing when you don't have the money or skills to get your home to where you're not embarrassed.

All that you can do is try to do what you can but at a time. If you could do some wallpapering then you could buy some modern wallpaper or lining paper.

Keeping it as clean as you can will always make things look and feel better.

Cushions, throws, lamps and rugs.

Get on at the HA as they are obligated to update kitchens and bathrooms after a certain amount of time.

Also remembering that your home is to keep you warm and safe, it doesn't have to be a show home. Even when you're looking to buy a property, you'd be surprised at the states of some houses that haven't been updated for decades. Your home probably isn't as bad as you think.

Ask the HA if they are aware of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and what they intend to do wrt the damp and mould and the effect it has on your child's health as stated by your GP.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/social-housing-regulation-act-becomes-law-in-historic-moment-82402

im in a socially rented property and have managed to get them to sort the shit bits out. Anything like work surfaces being shot is a hygiene risk so get on to that and tell them that they need to get it done. I find messaging on social media works better.
They do take the piss so keep on at them about their responsibilities. I had my bathroom done because there was a leak but my HA can leave them in for 30 years.
I don’t have any answers really other than cheap paint and rugs, nice lamps and use things like books and plants to accessorise..go for cosy instead of perfect as that’s rarely achievable in a HA house

Barnardos and oxfam also sell furniture online. Join your local fb pages that isn't facebook marketplace. I know where I live people are always giving things away and post on it to let people know what stuff is outside their house. I've got garden chairs from there before. I picked up a sideboard for a tenner as well!

Tbh I'd not bother with a front fence or I'd buy those cute little picket fences that you just hammer in (think I saw them in B&M last year) with the money you've saved for the fence quote.

Steam the walls, filler and sand, lining paper or paint white again with the money you've saved from not bothering with the front fence. You'd be able to buy a shower mixer tap out of that too.

Get Shelter's advice about the damp, the kitchen and doors. If no luck with the kitchen use the £300 autumn payment to spruce it up.

Having read your updates OP you absolutely need to go to the housing ombudsman. It's not okay for the HA to tell you they can't afford repairs. That's their problem, not yours.

Are you handy op?? You could steam/soak off wallpaper easily for virtually no cost, I’d just buy a ready mixed tub of plaster and a putty knife and patch over the wall myself- sand by hand any bumps and paint one colour- you’d be surprised how much becomes invisible with a coat of white paint!!
Kitchen - put an ad on marketplace or loca groups- see if anyone is dismantling a kitchen and ask if you can have the carcass and/or doors. You can spray paint cheaply and get a good finish. Could you paint or spray paint your existing doors?? And just change the handles? For your worktop - some repair/refurb options: could you tile it? And up the wall a bit like a backsplash to blend it together? You can buy lengths of work top cheaply from ikea; and you can also buy sticky back plastic coating like vinyl (plain or marble effect etc) that you can stick over the top, cut precisely with a Stanley knife & smooth out all air pockets as you go with a credit card. Honestly I would say give everything a coat of white paint. Makes so much difference! And another cheap hack I have to brighten up is to change your lightbulbs. So many people have yellow tone, dim lightbulbs- up the brightness a bit (800lumens or above) and see how it looks.
do you have any good charity shops?? Make it your mission to go and have a look regularly to collect a few textiles - curtains/cushions/art posters etc that you can eventually put together to create a scheme. British heart foundation have some great furniture charity shops around the UK. Take it room by room and keep it as simple as you can.. step by step! Xxx

Yes all of this. You need to contact your HA and explain the state of the property. Ask when it's programmed for a new kitchen and find out how old the current one is.

I’ve lived in council & HA OP, I thought HA was one up from council but they didn’t even come close. The few repairs that they did do ended up worse than before, due to them having very few skilled workmen. Many people gave up asking & fitted their own kitchens & bathrooms …. This is fair enough if you can afford it, but that doesn’t help the people that can’t. I know it’s already been said but list & photograph all repairs & send an email to HA. They’ll probably ignore you or say they don’t do this & they don’t do that, which makes me wonder what the fuck these HA do actually do seeing as they’re quick enough to take the rent. So send an email to your MP, & a copy of the letter & photos that you sent to HA. There’s always the no win no fee thing, google your HA & see what comes up. But I’m sure that your MP will sort something out for you. Couldn’t you move into council accommodation & start again? At least you’d be moving into a hopefully reasonable property. You shouldn’t have to live like this.

HA's do not legally have to replace or maintain fences. They only have to mark a boundary.

Please check your tenancy agreement. It will state how often your HA changes kitchens and bathrooms and their responsibilities towards you and some will assume all is fine if you never tell them otherwise. If the bathroom / kitchen is failing, then report this, and it can be assessed as needing to be replaced earlier, and that also includes other items that are regarded as the building fabric, so anything that is structural is for the HA to bring back to a good standard. So if you think the plaster work has failed, then they need to come and sort it but be prepared for the wait for the work to actually take place and it could run into months! Fences - this again varies from HA to HA and it will state which fence is yours and which is the responsibility of the HA. Try local Reuse / Community Furniture Projects and Paint Exchanges for paint and other decorating items to save money. Often local colleges run courses for those on UC or low incomes, for free, teaching basic decorating and household repair skills, so worth looking at these, or whether you have a Men's Shed locally that can help you out. There is new legislation regarding HAs and their responsibilities and for anyone who is in a HA property I would advise knowing your rights - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/landmark-social-housing-act-receives-royal-assent-to-become-law

I have a HA property OP and I do not do any major repairs! It's for the HA to do. I do minor things like resealing the bath and obviously decorating is up to me but I wouldn't do anything huge. One of my windows was leaking and rotting and I got it replaced.

This!

Absolutely this. Be the squeaky wheel. Get all the help you can in making them stand up to their responsibilities. Particularly in relation to the health aspects with heating and damp.

I know you’ve tried. And I know the consultant wrote about your daughter. But I suspect you gave up because you thought maybe you weren’t entitled to anything. Well, you are entitled to it. Make an appointment to see your MPs office. Take along the consultants letter and pictures of the damp/mould/whatever else problem. Take other picture of the worst bits of the house, and a list, and details of the responses you have had from the HA. Do the same with shelter. And try citizens advice for help too.

This shouldn’t be on you OP. Your HA are not fulfilling their responsibilities.

@GillianMcQueef
There are literally forums full of complaints from people living under this HA saying the same thing..We are luckier than most in that we can afford to carry out repairs .. but we shouldn’t have to and every year the rent goes up £80 a month .
I currently have an ongoing complaint lodged after I had to pay to have three double glazed units replaced as they had failed so badly , after two years of HA refusal to repair and I’ve spent several hundreds having faulty and downright dangerous electrics sorted because HA refused to even come and look .

This is awful. I'm so sorry you're going through this 💐

I have a SH working background, DH still works in SH, I live in SH. I've never heard of a SH LL that allows you to knock down walls or add extensions etc. If you did this without permission, you would be charged by the LL for works to bring the property back to standard when you moved out (the only exception being for adaptations, which the LL would approve and carry out themselves).

There is currently no threshold for earnings either. And LLs are responsible for updating kitchens, not tenants. Social LLs have programmes where they update things like kitchens/bathrooms/windows every 10/15/whatever years. If you'd put your own kitchen in when they came to update it, they simply rip that one out and put the new one in (and charge you for the privilege, most likely).

Why would anyone spend £20k renovating a property that wasn't theirs anyway? In the knowledge that when they move out, they'll be recharged for its removal?

It's strange how on threads like this everyone 'knows' someone who's done expensive renovations on their HA home/swans off on holiday/lives in a council flat but earns £29748829 a year. In reality, those of us who love/work in SH don't know anyone who's done these things.

I’ve lived in a HA house for the last five years.
My. house had no equity when it was sold after my divorce , h was fine as he moved in with OW
initially I couldn’t rave about my HA enough as repairs were always promptly seen to , then in 2021 a new CEO came on board and everything changed , they stopped investing in improvements for their older properties and are only interested in ploughing money into new builds For Shared equity etc .
Managers have left in their droves .
I live in a small cul de sac of Rena homes (non standard construction) and these were built in the fifties . We were told that this year they would be refurbished as they desperately need new roofs , windows doors etc then suddenly they’ve been removed from the major works programme . Most if my neighbours have 30 to forty year old kitchens and bathrooms as the properties weren’t touched when the HA aquired them 10 years ago .

the windows and doors are touching thirty years old and aren’t fit for purpose because as always everything was cheap and shoddily installed to start with .

They refuse to carry out repairs instead telling tenants to do them , themselves including not turning up for emergency things like boilers packing up . Last winter our boiler packed up during the coldest spell in December and the HA left us for ten days with no heating or hot water .. making excuse after excuse . In the end I got my own heating engineer out who repaired it same day at a cost of £400 . I then lodged a formal complaint with my HA who had to admit they were wrong and I was reimbursed .
However , the houses aren’t up to standard , they are literally crumbling as they’ve reached their maximum timeframe before major refurbishment is required .
We were able to have a new front door and bath, sink fitted after lodging yet another complaint but it’s exhausting.
They ignore all repair requests on their website - and when they do agree to come they now send someone to “look at the issue” , you then never hear anything back ..

We revamped our kitchen by essentially giving it a makeover and fitted a new sink etc and have had to pay for roof repairs and window repairs.
It’s disgusting and this HA are now one of the biggest in the U.K. .
To the naked eye out house looks beautiful but I hate it because it’s costing me more money than when I owned my own home and I’m on tenterhooks waiting for the next huge crack to appear in the ceiling or in the wall (the house is visibly subsiding ) the neighbourhood coach is burnt out and stressed from the barage of angry tenants calls etc she gets every day .

Trying to get these people held to account is impossible , our HA is not a registered charity but s for profit assc so seem to be able to do what they like ,we’ve been through the housing ombudsman who were effectively useless and local conservative MP doesn’t respond to any requests like this (we live in a rural affluent area )

Some flats near by have fallen into such a poor state of repair and are literally almost falling down as their non standard construction deteriorates .. that no one wants to live there and now they are used as temporary housing and whole families with several children are being stuffed into the flats

I totally feel your pain OP as I feel that the older housing stock and the tenants are just left to rot by HA’s while they build more new houses (which aren’t up to scratch ) and I actually wish I lived in a council house tbh

I grew up in a council house.
we were poor Hence why we needed one.
you do have to be earning below a certain amount to live in one (£45k) where I’m from.
£45k a year these days is not a lot, certainly not enough to be replacing carpets and kitchens at the drop of a hat.

you can make expensive renovations with permission from your landlord, that includes new kitchens and bathroom, small extensions, knocking down walls etc.

I know people who have literally renovated their whole HA home (I work in the property industry)
new kitchen, bathroom, landscaped garden, conservatories and utility rooms, All new tiling and underfloor heating. And yes they’ve spend well over £20k doing it.

Absolutely this. I missed your post but this reply is spot on. But re damp etc., You also need to show you're doing as they say
You need to air the rooms
You need to make sure they're not over filled. Otherwise they'll just put damp down to tenant behaviour. And tbf we have tenants who fill bedrooms with large wardrobes and 3 kids and never open a window and wonder why it's damp and refuse to change their behaviour, so it does happen. But if you've got an inspection make sure the windows open, make sure the room is tidy etc so they can clearly see this isn't your fault.

Mil is HA and has just had her kitchen fully replaced, they said it’s usually every 20 years - worth a call to yours to ask?

You need to keep reporting every repair to the HA. Every single thing.

Housing ombudsman @WaspLady

https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/

You don't have to be on a low income to be eligible for a HA property. And I doubt very much that people are spending the equivalent of a house deposit (£10k? £20k?) updating a HA home, particularly when they're not allowed to do anything structural (new kitchen/bathroom). That's an awful lot of paint and cushions.

Most HAs don't include flooring when you move in - that's an essential, not a 'renovation'.

The ignorance and prejudice on SH threads is astonishing.