Disagreeing with the home the council have deemed appropriate...

[16more]

I’ve been waiting to be housed by the council for over 3 years. I have an 8yo and a 16mo. Went to see a flat on Wednesday which looked nice from the outside in the picture, and the only reason I put the bid in is because it had an exclusive garden. The flat is awful. No flooring obviously but spikes in the doorways, mould in the corners of and around the windows, cracks in the ceiling etc etc. It’s completely filthy and the whole place needs painting and tidying up. I wasn’t shown the garden when I viewed it. But anyway I turned it down. I was called the next day to say if I don’t take it they will reduce my banding. So obviously I very reluctantly took it. Paid the rent and picked up the keys and went round to see it. The garden is top to bottom front to back covered in 7ft high brambles. No exaggeration what so ever. Can not get a toe in there. Surely this is not right. A very close friend of mine is a builder and he said I’m gonna have to spend about £2k on the inside to make it suitable. Surely this is not right. I have never felt so low before, the thought of having to live there I cannot stop crying as obviously I don’t have £2k to sort the place out. Who can I complain to??

It's the luck of the draw with council housing........my sister had shit literally up as far as the picture rails. She also had 2 DC who have disabilities. The previous tenants were hoarders and the garden has bikes and allsorts buried in it.

We got someone to do some nagging and eventually the probation service were sent to do some digging in the garden and help scrub the shit off the walls. She also got a new kitchen but the bulk of it was on her. Council homes are never carpeted.

We all chipped in, took on a room each and scrubbed/ decorated. The garden took longer but it was worth it, worked through meter by meter. Hired a rotovator or whatever it's called and 8 years on she has a lovely, safe home. It just took time to get there.

We got someone

Posted too soon !

To dig the garden over a year in and lay turf. It made a huge difference. But with any home it takes time

I was offered a house which on paper was too good to be true.

They put in a new kitchen and bathroom before we moved in but they left the walls and floors bare and in a state in the other rooms and the garden was unusable.

The entire time we lived there we didn't have proper flooring, just other people's mismatched carpet offcuts, because while on benefits I couldn't afford to have anything done.

It's a real shame. We moved away from there in the end for other reasons (including the neighborhood kids targeting us) but I'd probably have put up more of a fight to stay there if we had been given a property we were able to make a home out of.

It's an absolute damned disgrace that they've not even brought it up to the minimum standard during the time it was vacant. There will be a minimum requirement to be let and this obviously hasn't met it.

Have you looked online for their policies on food properties?

@bernadette, tell me about it, it is so so gutting to walk into and be told it’s ready to move into. I’ve just had a google and I can’t find anything about that

Unfortunately many, many council properties are this way. It will take time and effort and living with lots of compromises for a while but you have a home and garden for your family and that was the point of being on the list.

Check Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, eBay, Freecycle, etc for free leftover paint, garden shed clearances for gardening tools and carpets people are giving away. For example, lots of people just rip out perfectly fine carpets because they don't like them and give them away for nothing.

A council property is generally the last resort for lots of people and is supppsed to be a forever home, not the nicest home but something for you to make your home out of, in the knowledge you can stay there as long as you want/need to.

I don’t know if all councils do this but a friend was given a £100 voucher to spend at b&q to go towards decorating when he moved into a LA flat.

@kellyhall yeh I will have a look at all those. It’s just so unbelievable daunting. I have zilch decorating skills and no time. When on earth am I supposed to be able to do it all when I’ve got 2 kids to look after and going to work as well. My parents still work full time so can’t really ask them to do much. Just don’t know where on earth to start

I had second hand carpets and a free kitchen from a friend having it ripped out. I ended up refitting the carpet myself.

Also have you tried Betel Uk they offer a gardening service. Also ask at local allotments as they also have strategies for unruly patches

I know it's not ideal but you will get there

Seems like the standard to me, most coucil properties will not be let with flooring, ever. Every council property I have lived in has had concrete/black tar like floors and screws/nails hanging out the floor with no threshold strips. They will not carpet property and only leave it if the previous tenant is willing to, or if is in good enough condition. Sometimes it just gets ripped out either way.

I've had wallpaper hanging off the walls, damp so bad the pillows were mildew, with a new born! And a toilet that was backed up from day one. Even had ivy growing through the wall!

Sounds standard to me, I know it's disheartening but I'd suggest you keep on to them about the damp/cracked ceiling. And ask them if they can do something about the brambles as you are a single? mother with young children and the garden is completely unusable.

Only other suggestion I have is try and slowly save up, buy area rugs to cover the floor as best you can and buy a cheap white paint to do the whole place. This is what we did, I'd also suggest trying to shop around for carpets as you can often buy remnants for a reasonable price and if you go for felt backed you can perhaps get away with no underlay.

Best of luck, I understand how shite it can be! If it starts to affect your MH or quality of life once moved speak to your health visitor and perhaps see if their is someone who can write a letter on your behalf if it is not suitable.

@16more

That is true, my local council work in partnership with dulux and give paint packs , you can pick colours for each room and get dust sheets, brushes, base coat etc.

I know it isn't ideal but an approach we took was tackle one room at a time, live mainly out of one room and paint in the evening when kids aren't around.

This makes me so angry. I'm not in council/HA housing but work with people who are. It wouldn't be acceptable to rent a property on the open market in this condition, so why are council ones? A housing officer once told me that flooring "wasn't essential". It bloody well was to the woman moving in whose child was crawling.
Worth trying some charities online OP, I did eventually get carpeting throughout for my lady.

Also last post (sorry), when you go to sign over, read your tenancy agreement it will probably say something like " As your landlord we must let properties in a liveable, clean condition etc." I'd suggest you challenge that with whoever is signing you over, ask them if they genuinely think it matches the agreement. Walk around the property and point out all unsafe/concerning things as they will probably have to make a note of this and schedule repairs, if challenged. I've found they will try to just let the property in whatever condition they can get away with.

@XmasRibbons yes exactly thank you definitely going to get someone round. Thank you all for your suggestions and advice xx

Op...I have never decorated anything before but I managed to paint both my dcs bedrooms. I watched videos on YouTube and researched online and asked a very helpful man in our local paint shop for advice. I managed to do the walls and skirting boards and even do a feature wall! I did it very slowly as the only time I had was about two hours a day whilst my dd was in nursery.

I feel for you, I really do. Similar happened to us a few years ago. If you are working, you can join a credit union (there are loads around). If you save some cash for three to six months, you can apply for a low interest loan over a year or so. This is how I did it and as where I worked were part of the Credit Union Scheme, it can directly out my wages each month. It meant I could get flooring and stuff. Yeah our house was really filthy when we got it. As someone else posted, just do a room at a time. Ask the Council if they know any charities that sell refurbished white goods etc. You will get there. Loads of bleach. I painted very thing white so as to make it feel clean and fresh. Good luck op.

This is so bad, I’m so sorry 16.
It wasn’t so long ago that the council were responsible
It’s disgraceful

I'm not sure if it differs between areas, but my LA and HAs have a 'lettable standard' policy that properties should meet. Google yours and see if anything comes up, and report anything that hasn't been met. I'm certain things like in your OP would be things that need to be rectified, especially the spikes in the doorway, it should be safe as a minimum.

This might not help as I say, not sure if LAs differ but the in the places I've worked some examples of what's covered and what isn't -

Things like cracks in walls/ceilings might be classed as decorative so tenants responsibility (one HA I worked at for e.g would say if the cracks were no thicker than a £1 coin, they weren't covered by the repair policy).

Painting iirc is in general tenants responsibility too, unless walls are affected by mould. Depending on the area covered, eg if its just in a corner it might just be cleaned off and stainblocked.

Cleanliness would also be dependent of the state of the property - a bit mucky or dusty would be ok, but if completely filthy, it should be done by them.

Gardens are generally tenants responsibility too BUT they should be let as usable and safe. Yours would be cleared for example.

I can't remember if there's a maximum length of time it can be reported under the lettable standard but the sooner the better, because the longer you wait it will be implied you've accepted the issues, or they will try to argue there's no way to prove if you did it or not. Take pictures of it all, too.

I think that's pretty shit tbh.

Before I moved into my HA property they painted everything magnolia, put in a shower (I kept on and on for that) and cut down the jungle that was the garden.

I would ring property service and keep ringing until they agree to cut the brambles down and get rid of the damp.

You can ring up the council repair team to deal with the mould and the cracked ceiling and they should come round and deal with it. Ours normally come out within a couple days but will be longer because of the christmas period. Don't know why they didn't sort it before hand tbh. Flooring unfortunately is the tenants responsibility where I am

It absolutely sucks, but presumably you have no choice now?

When do you move in? Can you get a team together for a day? Parents look after the kids, you and 3-4 mates don rubber gloves, get a huge bucket of watered down bleach each, and just attack it? Once it’s clean, HUGE tub of white paint, get a first coat on every wall? Once you’ve done that, it’ll probably feel liveable.

Garden can wait until spring. Focus on the house for the first month or so.

They should deal will bog standard repairs. Mould is obviously an issue but if it’s just the windows it maybe down to being left empty for a while. Where I’m from flooring and decorating is your own job. You also get your first general cut and garden maintenance free after that you either do it yourself if pay the council.

Take photographs of the garden & small video. Then go back to housing officer and report as it’s not fit to use it needs to be cleared.

Inside obviously clean top to bottom with bleach solution and then sugar soap. Paint in light colours suggest lemon or peach for warmth and easy if you need to return to white if you leave

Pick up off cuts flooring and look for rigs to place onto for extra warmth and easy to take with you if you leave

Don't know why they didn't sort it before hand tbh why sort it out before hand when you can get a tennant in ASAP to pay rent and council tax and then sort it out afterwards...

I'd advise going to CAB/Homestart/school and explaining the situation- there are certain bodies you can apply to for help including the Children In Need Emergency Essentials programme, Buttle UK and see if your local council has a scheme, it'll be called something like 'care and urgent needs'
Good luck