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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this disability discrimination

140 replies

Sweetfa22 · 21/02/2017 18:20

This is my first post (although i do read loads) so please be nice as I'm an emotional wreck. Any friends here will know me and my situation. I need advice on whether you think I may have a case for discrimination against my local housing authority. It's a long one.
My dh and I have 5 kids ranging from 20 to 4. We lived in a lovely council house semi detached in a quiet area which had 6 big stone steps leading up to the front door where there were another 2 large steps to get into the house. I wasn't disabled when we got the house so all was fine. After a year I became registered disabled (I'm 44) due to chronic pain and progressive degenerative sacroilitis. I really struggle to mobilise and have been in and out of hospital loads for pain management. The council managed to adapt the inside of the house to meet my disability needs after much shouting and begging and emails to the chief exec. They installed a wet room into my downstairs bedroom so I could function a bit easier as stairs cripple me. We also spent around £9k landscaping our garden to make it accessible for me to use, with decking area, new lawn etc. It's beautiful. We'd no intention of moving home so we spent the money doing the house up. Now my condition is worsening and I was really struggling to access the house using the wheelie bin ramp that was put in as the stairs are so steep to get bins down. The council have tried everything apparantly to install a metal wheelchair ramp but they say the layour prevents them from getting the proper gradients so it couldn't be done. We were given a letter telling us to find another suitable property either through the home swap system or private rent or bid on other properties. Each option would cost us money we don't have. We've since been offered a property in another town which has level access and we've had no choice but to take it as I'm really struggling to enter/leave my old house. We had literally 2 weeks to move house as we can't afford 2 rents etc. The new place needed fully redecorated and carpeted (our existing carpets wouldn't do and my mum kindy paid for new ones). My issue is that we are now seriously in debt after having to pay for paints brushes new blinds curtains etc. My kitchen has no cooker as we had to buy new integrated oven and separate hob for the old house when it was adapted for me. This new place has no space for any of these appliances and I can't use a normal cooker as I struggle to bend down hence buying the build in oven. These appliances are still in the old house and we need to hand the keys back on Monday. We've had to fork out for a skip for rubbish, pay removal vans and spend a whole heap of money we had to borrow in order to move house. All because I'm disabled and the council couldn't put a wheelchair ramp in. I'm so angry that we get no help no recompense and nothing but debt because of this. As well as having to pay higher rent and double the council tax for a house the same size as we had to leave. If I wasn't disabled then we wouldn't have to move. Aibu to feel really pissed off and discriminated against because I'm now disabled. Do you think I have a case for suing for losses after all the work we've put into the other house, purely because they couldn't make it accessible?

OP posts:
SanitysSake · 21/02/2017 18:51

I'm just going to sit here quietly, and wait for the comments like incoming mortar rounds!

BusterGonad · 21/02/2017 18:54

Maybe you should've put that 9k towards a ramp yourself or better still used it towards a mortgage deposit. I'm not sure why someone with 9k in the bank needs a council house tbh. I thought they were meant for people who had no money!

Waffles80 · 21/02/2017 18:55

I think people do need to be gentle with the OP. I sympathise - it sounds like things have been hard for you.

However, there's no grounds at all for claiming discrimination.

I'm also in agreement that spending so much on the garden was not a good idea at all.

onbroadway89 · 21/02/2017 18:56

I am sorry you are unhappy but everyone, whether disabled or not, encurs much expense when moving. Everyone has a reason for moving. Everyone also "loses" the adaptions and improvements they have made to their properties when they move. Many people have to buy new cookers and carpets. Everyone has to pay removal costs and not many people I know could afford two lots of rent or mortgage, so have to move quickly. Maybe it was unwise in retrospect to spend so much money on the garden? Easy to say now of course but that £9,000 could possibly have covered your removal costs, or certainly been an enormous help towards them. It is a huge amount of money. I understand and sympathise regarding your disability - I have 3 sons with disabilities myself and know there are many, many extra expenses because of it. We also had to move over 150 miles from our home so that we could afford the kind of property they needed, it did not occur to me at all that someone else should pay for that. I wish you luck settling into your new home, but sorry I do not think you should be entitled to sue. Every happiness for you in your new home.

harderandharder2breathe · 21/02/2017 19:00

Surely you could've guessed the steps would become a problem and investigated the options before spending £9K on the garden?

lakehouse · 21/02/2017 19:00

Are you joking? You have a free house, can afford a million kids and you're complaining. You need to get a grip more than a lawsuit!

obeseclarice · 21/02/2017 19:01

I can't believe you spent £9k on the garden of a house you don't own! I grew up in a council house and it was always understood that, whilst you would decorate, carpet etc, there was no point in making substantial or very costly improvements because it wasn't our house.

So painting kitchen walls - yes
Fitting a whole new kitchen - no

Is there not still a rule you have to 'undo' any substantial changes? Growing up one neighbour altered (and arguably improved) the layout of his kitchen, but when he moved he was told to put it back to how it was. Be careful they don't ask you to change your garden back to it's original state!

Piffyonarockbun · 21/02/2017 19:02

Dh and i live in a small new build. We have a mortgage for it. My dh was diagnosed with MS and his legs are getting bad. The house is too small to make enough adaptations to so when the time comes we will have to move. We have lived here a long time and have spent money making the house beautiful as we didnt intend to move. It would never occur to me that i should try and claim something for having to move. My dh is disabled. It sucks. We will have to move. It sucks. We wouldnt have to move if he wasnt disabled. That also sucks but the only people i would expect to pay for that is us. Not fair but unfortunately not much in this life is. I hope you can become happy in your new home over time.

thebear1 · 21/02/2017 19:05

I can understand your frustration but it sounds like they have taken reasonable steps to try and provide you with accessible accommodation. In any other housing situation you would have similar costs.

Buxtonstill · 21/02/2017 19:05

For 9k you could have had an electric outdoor stairlift.

NoraCharlesMartiniGlass · 21/02/2017 19:06

I'm so sad for you reading your OP because I can hear the pain and anger in what you're saying.

I know what it's like to feel you are losing everything that matters because of a disease and I also know something about the huge anger that you feel against a situation you can't influence. You can't be angry (successfully) with a disease, so I think the anger comes out in other places and other ways.

That said, I'm afraid I agree with PP who say that the Council has done what it can and offered the best alternative it can. I'm so sorry that's led to the loss of your garden and the home that you'd made, which clearly meant so much to you.

I wish there had been a better solution for you. Flowers

witsender · 21/02/2017 19:06

At no point has the OP said her house is free, and 5 isn't quite the same a million. Hmm

FeliciaJollygoodfellow · 21/02/2017 19:10

I think you're extremely lucky they've been able to rehouse you in a property that is the same size and adapted to your needs. I am staggered you had £9k to spend and spent it on a garden tbh.

LavenderDoll · 21/02/2017 19:11

It's awful to leave a house you are happy in but struggling to see what Council have done wrong.

Peanutandphoenix · 21/02/2017 19:11

You chose to spend 9k on the garden when you could've put the money towards something else like a ramp the council tried to help you out and now your wanting to sue them for disability discrimination when they tried to help and putting a ramp in for you wouldn't of worked how is that disability discrimination you do realise that even if you did find a solicitor to take on your case you wouldn't win because A) you don't have a leg to stand on when they've tried to help and B) no disability discrimination has taken place.

Original poster
Sweetfa22 · 21/02/2017 19:13

Garden was done before disability was there. And dh works full time as did I until I was unable to work so we've paid our fair share of taxes. We weren't "given" another house. We have to pay higher rent on another house. The only explanation I can find for higher council tax is its a 2 year old house so band e and other house was 1940s band b.

OP posts:
SandlakeRd · 21/02/2017 19:15

It's not clear if it wasn't possible at all or just not possible to get a ramp. Were a step or stair lift discussed? Were they felt to be too expensive or just not possible?

Councils will make their decisions based on then best use of the housing stock. This includes making adaptions v offering alternate housing. Any money you have spent does not come into their decision.

Also, just for info there is a means tested grant available for home owners so it's not strictly true to say people would have to pay for it themselves.

FeliciaJollygoodfellow · 21/02/2017 19:16

You say in your OP you spent it on making it accessible. Whether you did or you didn't you clearly had the opportunity to save a fair few thousand and spent it on something you would never be able to take from a council property.

Loads of people have paid their fair share of taxes and still have to pay mortgage or private rent so it's really unfair for you to say that.

witsender · 21/02/2017 19:17

Sounds like the banding on the old house was wrong then, but you could always ask to have the new one re-assesed.

I thought you said the garden was done to be accessible for you? Which kind of implies done once disabled? £9k is a shit tonne to spend on a garden, especially one you don't own.

If your husband works and earns you are really no different to anyone else, everyone has to bear the costs of a move. Could you have installed a lift? If it was physically possible but you couldn't afford it (after spending £9k on a garden) I could understand your frustration, but it sounds like it was impossible.

witsender · 21/02/2017 19:19

Besides, there comes a point in a limited council budget where endless adaptations are more expensive than a different, accessible property.

RainbowsAndUnicorn · 21/02/2017 19:19

Your OP says the garden was done to make it more accessible for you to use yet now it was fine prior to your disability? Which is it?

SanitysSake · 21/02/2017 19:20
witsender · 21/02/2017 19:21

Are you contributing Sanity?

Spottytop1 · 21/02/2017 19:21

Unfortunate yes - discrimination no

user1487704718 · 21/02/2017 19:22

I'm Disabled myself with exactly the same conditions you have (before I get reported again for supposedly being 'Disablist') but just because you're disabled doesn't mean all those things should be done for free. There are thousands of people out there with Disabilities either waiting for Council's to do something or living in privately rented/own homes with no choice but to cope. Like me! I'm a single mother to a 2yr old after my partner who was my carer left us both (after convincing me to move to a 3 storey house!) and I would cry with gratitude at my l