Tell me about social housing please?

[justlass]

I've been offered a flat, but can't view it until it's vacated. I'm just wondering what it's likely to be like, whether there'll be appliances in the kitchen, carpet in the rooms, whether I'll need to decorate. Anything in particular I should pay look out for?

I have appliances, but my cooker is an electric one, and I know the property has has central heating, is that likely to mean I'll need a gas cooker as well?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, I just don't know what to expect.

I'm not in social housing, but I have gas central heating and an electric cooker.

It depends. In my area you don't get floor covering or white goods. If the property is in dire need of decorating you get an allowance. In my old area 4 hours away it depends on what the previous tenant left is what you got. Though it was easier to get a decorating allowance

I think a lot of places come pretty empty. Search freecycle, Facebook marketplace place at first for freebies if monies tight so you can decide your priorities.

Thanks for the replies. I've got the basics, but can't afford to get carpet at the moment.

Maybe see if your local council has a household fund you can apply to for carpet.

How strange that it's different in different areas. I'm in Yorkshire, I don't know anyone in social housing here, so not sure what to expect.

Mine was completely empty. No carpets no flooring certainly no white goods. Bare floorboards and concrete flooring downstairs. I saved up for flooring

Ok thanks, I'll expect the bare minimum then and will also have to save up.

Sibling recently moved from WDH house and had to take the carpets even through they were pretty much new.

That seems like such a waste. I would have thought they could let you come to an agreement with the previous tenants about buying things off them. I used to live in a different country and that was a common practice there.

They tend to be empty as anything left in them become the councils problem to fix. Taking floor coverings etc reduce the spread of fleas and lice etc.

I couldn't afford carpet when I first moved in, bought a tonne of white paint to brighten up every room and had to sugar soap all the walls as they were orange from nicotine. I wore slippers until I could afford carpet and put those spongy tiles in DDs room so she had somewhere soft to play.

I had a new bathroom, kitchen and internal doors as they previous tenant left them damaged.

The garden was full of dog faeces and holes and completely overgrown.

But, it was a place to live and I was grateful for it it, decorating properly took place overtime and certainly not all at once.

An electric cooker is good. There may be a clause in the tenancy prohibiting the use of a gas cooker if the property is a flat. You supply your own white goods. Decor may be basic if it's done at all and you may be expected to do it yourself. No carpets. You'll be expected to maintain it to an adequate standard. This doesn't mean show-home, it means no graffiti etc, something on the floor eg carpet, reporting repairs in a timely manner before they get worse, cleaning it regularly etc.

You can buy floor sized rugs on eBay if you can't afford carpet but don't want bare floor.

If a damp-free property is important to you buy a cheap damp meter from a DIY store and poke it on the internal walls randomly when viewing. Poke it on your skin first (not dangerous), then lick your hand and poke it, then poke it on a damp sponge. This gives you an idea of how it responds to different levels of moisture so you know what you're hearing when you poke it on the walls. When deciding whether to accept the flat or not, weigh up whether you have any choice in the matter ie is it this flat or nothing? Also what other plusses and minuses this flat has versus other potential flats and how quickly you need to be housed. If you decide to turn it down, first ask the implications of doing so. Depending on what the implications are, you might want to reconsider a decision to turn it down.

Both mine were completely empty, no cooker, the first one only had 1 1000mm base unit, a 300mm base unit, a 500mm & a 300mm wall unit & a 2.5 metre run of worktop with the sink in the middle. My dad got me an extra 1000mm base & wall unit with worktop. There were bare boards in every room except the kitchen & bathroom, which had paint splattered cracked lino tiles. I got the keys on 22 October & we moved in with it fully decorated, carpeted & burglar alarm fitted on bonfire night.

Regarding the carpet issue....if you have a local marquee company around ask them if they sell their used event carpets (they put carpets down inside marquees sometimes which they seen to do as a single use item usually The ones near us let us take as much as we wanted for a tenner.

Now it is that very short pile scratchy stuff and we had to shake/vacuum off a bit of grass and confetti but it helped cover cold lino floors. We even double layered it. I got 6 rooms worth for £10 (albeit that was 2018).

A HA will usually provide a decorating allowance in the form of vouchers for a certain store for paint.

Carpets-I took out a loan but there are grants available in certain areas if you apply. Also my friend was offered a flat and there was laminate flooring already!

HA properties are basic but the security of the tenancy and the rent rates are way better than private.

How many places are you allowed to turn down? I was told that if I turned a place down, the council wouldn't offer me anything else. Can you overlook any faults if this is your case?

Depends on the LA

We moved flats when my youngest DS was born, and left the wooden flooring, lights we'd changed and carpets down (when I moved in it was a shell, no carpets nothing)

We got charged hundreds by the council as they ripped it all out.

When we moved to our Housing Association house, it had no carpet or white goods

This is genius!

You won't even get curtain rails or lightbulbs.

It's a disgrace the condition social housing is let in.

No wonder people get into a cycle of debt! You basically have to take on £1k min debt just to make social housing habitable.

Then know that if you ever escape it all you've done will just be thrown in the bin.

I've even heard of previous wall paper being part ripped forcing the new tenant to completely redecorate.

It's a scandal and if we had politicians who had ever lived through this they'd change the system as it's bizarre, costly, punitive and demeaning.

Some HAs are running projects where the properties they let are done up to a v high standard, the one I work for has properties with full flooring, kitchens done up, nicely decorated. There is an acceptance that it’s just not alright to let a flat to someone on a low income that needs doing up. Hope it’s ok, I think this is far from the norm at the moment but will hopefully become more common.

When my uncle died we had to completely empty his flat, carpets curtains all appliances, made me sad thinking the new tenant could potentially do with some of the items, we have away to his friends what we could.

I hope you get the flat and have many happy years there.

Does anyone understand the logic behind what seems a common policy of ripping out the previous tenants carpets etc, so the new tenant has to start off with nothing?

It seems utterly bonkers to me but I may be missing something.

It varies from one LA to the next, and only your local housing office can really answer your queries accurately.

Where I am all council-let properties and Association properties are let completely unfurnished, not carpets, no anything. The only exceptions are emergency lets that are owned by private landlords but managed by associations. Those tend to come with floor coverings, basic furniture, and minimal white goods, but the state they'll be in is entirely pot-luck.

If you are offered a tenancy that is completely unfurnished and requires decoration, the LA will normally offer you a small grant/vouchers toward decorating materials, and there are some charities around that will offer 'starter kits' for household goods. In Scotland we have the hardship fund that you can apply to for furniture and white goods, but I'm not sure if there is an equivalent for Yorkshire.

Most properties with Central Heating will still have an outlet to wire-in an Electric cooker even if they also have a gas feed.