to be really annoyed that my kitchen's costing thousands while a friends having hers done free - AND she's moaning about it.

[Jamum]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

My friends has a HA house, and this years has had new double glazing and guttering - all paid for. And is now just had a lovely new kitchen fitted.

She chose the units and tiles. Has had a team of fitters, and is now waiting for the inspection team to check all the finishing touches.

AND then she's going to buy the house - but only once all the work has been completed for free.

Sorry but this makes my blood boil. We have had to save up for years to afford a new kitchen and certainly won't end up with a nice a one as she has got that my taxes have paid for.

(yes I know - it's jealousy and sour grapes)

Anyway - rant over.

Oh don't worry colditz, every bugger thinks that yes she is being unreasonable

Oh yes, indeed. They do that....

The little old lady next door to us has lived in her council house for 50+ years - same house all this time. Its kept well maintained by her sons. She has JUST had the heating done and a kitchen fitted. Three days before Christmas they finally changed the awful Crittle windows for double glazing. THREE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS FFS!

She's a little old lady she must have been freezing!

That's joined up thinking, that is

Where I used to live, there was an old man who had lived in his house since it was built so about 1950s, he had never had a new kitchen, the cupboards were falling apart and the kickboards were rotten. The council still refused to redo his kitchen as the whole area was due to have new kitchens in 2009. He died last year so never saw his new kitchen.

i have a biiiiiiiiiiiiig tv.

dh wants a LCD tv thingy. i told him he can have one when this one breaks. so far i have had 'has the soound gone' 'ooo is the picture funny' errr no

oooo i am getting new free flooring, but only becaus emy insurence company are paying out.

Some women are in hostels as they have no homes. Some people are on the street because they've no where to go. i can understand it might be annoying. But everyone is different. Some are not in a postition to buy some are. Rent goes up every year also. I have a HA house, as i left my ex husband with two children and i am very lucky to have got it. i was on benefits for a while but now i am not.
My kitchen is the cheapest of cheap B&Q. It's ok it does the job.
Can't you think' well we've worked really hard for this kitchen' and be proud of all the saving etc. ??

she probably can think like that Dan4Han...and may be more likely to after this thread.....

and well done you, if you don't mind me saying.

I can see how it could be annoying if you've spent lodes on a new kitchen and someones got there's done for free. But sometimes the grass isn't always greener.

i have a lovely new council fitted kitchen, which they started in June last year and still haven't finished

the floor is lifting, like misdee i have ridiculous amounts of cupboards for the size of house, the sink is fitted incorrectly so the draining board doesn't drain, there are gaps under the cupboards and the paint is peeling off the wall.

they're not that great really!

i was actually told that my kitchen was up to standard. it contained: a sink unit with cupboard underneath (obviously) and 2ft of worktop. that's it. i had a wall cupboard strangely placed inside a built in cupboard, in the back porch area where i kept my food. my house is unmodernised and so i still have a pantry complete with one slab shelf, in the living room which was where i kept my plates, saucepans, pyrex dishes, oven trays, mugs, glasses etc all piled on top of each other. nothing could be used without washing again as it was covered in spiders! according to the council that was fine, as regulations said you have to have one wall cupboard, which i did.

only had a proper kitchen in 3 years ago, which the council did not fit or pay for i might add.

we're dead spoilt in these council houses

Well, as Hatrick quite rightly pointed out - its not actually their kitchen, so its of no financial coup is it?

Haven't read entire thread, but when we lived in a HA flat, they PUT white tiles in, shit or bust. She is lucky to get a choice.

But apart from that, good luck to her. I don't blame her for getting all the expensive work done first before she buys. She is just lucky that they are doing it in her area at the moment.

One point though, HA don't always own properties on estates. Mine was the only HA flat in a street of private houses, conversion, upstairs had already bought. At the time, you couldn't buy a HA, but now you can but only for something like 16k cheaper than market value.

VVVQV.....i was trying to say that people who think HA/council tenants get things handed to them on a plate are wrong!

I wasnt responding to you nightowl, more emphasising dan4's point.

ah was skimming, is late and suffering from children-have-frazzled-my-brain-ness. what is it with this extra daylight? i should keep them shut away more i think.

My Mum has lived in a council house for 43 years. She has paid the full rent for all of these 43 years (39 years in her current house). Do I think she should have repairs/improvements done by the council? Yes, too bl**dy right. She has paid way more than the market value of the house in rent over the years and obviously has nothing to sell should she want to. She had new double glazing a few years ago and the council have offered her central heating (she only has heating in her living room and kitchen at the moment). She decided not to have it as she didn't want the upheaval of it all. She still has the same kitchen after 39 years. To be honest she may have been offered one, I don't know, but I can imagine she may have said "och no - this one'll do me!" Please don't tar people who live in council houses as money grabbing scroungers. My Mum (and Dad) worked very hard for a living and have always been proud to have paid their way.

She could now excercise her right to buy her council house but she thinks this is wrong because if everyone in a decent council house buys it then there will be none available for the younger generations - she's got a good point!

They regretted never being given the chance to buy their own house. When they started their married life in the 50s they were unable to get a mortgage. These were reserved for people earning salaries not a weekly wage. You could work as hard as you wanted but it was the middle classes way of keeping the working class in their place.

the reason many of you are hearing about HA or council tenants having kitchens and bthrooms fitted is becuase all councils and Housing associations are working to @decent homes standards@ standards set out by the govt. all housing accross england ( and wales i think) must be completed by 2012 - although this deadline must be extended becuase its not going to happen.

there is a pot of money st aside by the govt to allow HA's to carry out this work

you know, to allow people to have - erm a decent home.

so in fact your taxes are paying for this

i would suggest anything done over 4 or years ago was not part of this scheme and therefore came out of the money the HAs/council get through rental income. or part of a stock transfer.

ellieK if your kitchenis unfinished after a year - i would suggest to you that your HA does know nothing of it and that you ask for an official complaints form and fill it in.

in answer to the title of this thread.

i presume your children will benefit from thousands of pounds worth of legacy from which you can afford to build through owning your own home?

I haven't read all the posts on this thread, but I don't think you are being unreasonable.

We live in an ex-council house and have done for the last 6 years. We bought it as a private sale from the person who had bought it from the council.

It's a small estate and about half the houses are privately owned. The year after we moved in the council replaced the windows in the one's that tenants lived in and last year replaced all the roofs.

We replaced our windows costing £5000, we have not replaced our roof because we cannot afford to.

I agree that the council are acting as landlords therefore should maintain the property, but if you rented privately and the property had a kitchen that was usable how many private landlords would come along and say 'I'm replacing this kitchen with an expensive one, would you like to choose it for me?', in a privately rented house you would only expect a brand new expensive kitchen if the rent was high.

It used to really annoy me and in a way still does, but at least one day I will have the house I want and the mortgage will be paid off.

The council houses here were signed over to a HA. The HA is now putting in new kitchens and bathrooms which the tenants can choose. We had to turn down the offer because there is no way that my 2 boys could have tolerated the noise, disruption and change. The rent for all of the houses will be rising to help pay for the work. Essentially I will be paying extra without getting any benefit from it but I still don't begrudge anyone having the work done. Most houses here still have/had the original bathrooms that were installed in the 1960s.

In answer to the thread title, yes you are being unreasonable.

Ive lived in my 2bed council flat for over 7years, I would love to own my own home but there is no way we can afford it and as for renting privately, by the time we pay £800 per month plus bills we wouldnt be able to afford to live (also if we could afford to waste that much paying someone else for the privelege of living in their house then we could afford a mortgage ) We try to keep our flat looking perfect, yes we have a nice size tv and we have other 'luxuries' but we are not rich, we have to save for such things. When we moved in the flat was a dump, the garden was overgrown and uneven (too dangerous for children to go out there)as well as all the surrounding walls falling down, and then we discovered it also had the added bonus of having a serious damp problem. We have had to work hard to get the gardens sorted and are always having to redecorate and replace things because of the damp.

Yes we have had a new kitchen fitted by the council but it isnt anything to brag about, i did get the chance to choose the colour scheme ie units worktop,floor but i had no say in the layout. I used to have a lot more cupboard space, my washing machine, cooker etc used to fit perfectly in their gaps but now they stick out from under the worktop because the council moved all the pipes and they have even managed to make the damp problem worse, whereas the kitchen was always the best room in the house it now has one wall which is always damp and turning black. On top of all that the electrician went a bit overboard with his drilling and went sraight through the wall into our front room, the hole was filled up and painted but it is a totally different colour to the rest of the walls but we were basically told it was tough so anyone who thinks that people living in coucil/HA houses have it easy have obviously never had to live in one.