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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to think the council should clean your house before you get the keys?

243 replies

Kellyjohnson23 · 28/07/2017 16:43

I'm so sad today,got the keys but it seems totally impossible.
Everywhere is dirty,muck everywhere,the walls are scruffy,the skirting boards and doors are a horrible dirty yellow (that the white has turned into )
I don't have anyone to help me decorate so it's all on me.
I just feel sad

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
Lucysky2017 · 29/07/2017 07:52

It is an interesting issue. When you buy a flat or house it is usually NOT cleaned so it seems like the most expensive most difficult option gest you the worst (short term only) result! Indeed most sellers don't even have time on moving day to go round with the vaccuum cleaner and loads of things will be broken. My daughter bought 2 weeks ago and was listing all the things that don't work to me yesterday but we know that's standard when you buy and if you can' afford to repair them or do them up you just live with it.

Private landlords are competing in some (not all) areas so if the place looks in a bit of a state then it won't find private tenants. That same daughter has tenants moving in next week to her first place and she has made sure it is clean, things are fixed (all the tings that go wrong all the time for all of us in properties - today I've a work man coming round and I feel very glad I can afford him as so often in my life I have not been able to afford to have repairs done (despite or perhaps because I am a private home owner). He is going to fix a broken light switch and a broken window.)

My son let out his house immediately after he bought it and lived at home (only way he could afford it) and his tenants were in a huge rush to move in before Christmas so said they would take it as it stood and leave it like that at the end. However he thought it was better it started in a more reasonable state so paid £2000 for a painter to be in there for a solid week painting all the paint work and walls white (a lovely young family with small children and sticky fingers had been in there for about 8 years before) and lots of perhaps about 20 small repair jobs had to be done. The only thing he didn't have time to get done was cleaning as it was virtually painter packed up his tools and next day tenants moved in but they knew about the situation so it was okay. I had myself cleaned parts of the kitchen so it was not too bad.

Haud, does not surprise me.
I do think there are bad private landlords out there, no doubt at all. People on MN says those of us or our families who have let always come on here holier than thou saying what perfect landlords we are. I suspect many of us who are or have been tend to be accidental landlords after a move for work or we own a 1 bed in London, get a boyfriend who has a flat, move into one of them and let the other and always intend to sell the first or we know we will be moving back into it after a year or two and it is a massive investment so we would never want it in a bad structural state. Contrast that with landlords who want to make a small property into loads of single units and rack in lots of money on social and emergency housing and they may well have a different view and some will be bad landlords.

I suspect at the end of the day there are good and bad landlords and tenants.

Anyone watched that recent series where landlords live in the tenants' properties for a week?

InfiniteSheldon · 29/07/2017 08:01

What a ridiculous flurry of posts Helena the OP's perfectly fine reasonably clean empty seats her tenancy is in no way similar to Grenfell Towers shame on you for hijacking a thread with your tragedy appropriation are you Jeremy Corbyn?

LIZS · 29/07/2017 08:03

We got a remnant of lino for about £25 in carpetright, also try freecycle or your local furniture recycling charity, but tbh that does look fairly recent. You will be surprised what disappears from your consciousness once your furniture and things are in. Sorry you are disappointed but it looks perfectly acceptable as it is to me.

LadyWithLapdog · 29/07/2017 08:23

I think the floors look awful and I wouldn't like my toddler playing on them. Just because it's a council property doesn't mean people and their children shouldn't be respected. I wouldn't want my daughters moving in such a place (I'm referring to the carpets, the rest looks like it'll do for a while).

LIZS · 29/07/2017 08:30

Aren't those the floor surfaces, before carpeting?

HaudYerWheeshtBawbag · 29/07/2017 08:35

They aren't carpets, the floors have been screened, and in need of a clean before new flooring laid.

Original poster
Kellyjohnson23 · 29/07/2017 08:55

Yeah that's just concrete.
I've been up since 4am planning what I'm doing etc
I've decided I'm going to do bathroom glossing today then bedroom,kitchen ,living room etc
Then il deep clean bathroom /kitchen last once decorating is compete.
I think I just felt so alone yesterday but I know once I do it all il feel loads better.

OP posts:
Original poster
Kellyjohnson23 · 29/07/2017 08:57

This is my living room in current house ..do you think if I did my walls light grey these things would still match ? If I bought a grey Throw?

Aibu to think the council should clean your house before you get the keys?
OP posts:
Pengggwn · 29/07/2017 09:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsOverTheRoad · 29/07/2017 09:09

Kelly yes and you could add another colour too...a secondary colour. You could choose a darker red or brown even. It would look warmer then.

MrsOverTheRoad · 29/07/2017 09:10

Not on the walls I mean but in more cushions and accessories.

Original poster
Kellyjohnson23 · 29/07/2017 09:14

Yes that's a good idea with it getting close to Autumn a warmer red would look nice

OP posts:
Abra1d · 29/07/2017 09:18

If you moved privately you could well find the same issues.

Afreshstartplease · 29/07/2017 09:19

Your living room is nice op! I am sure your new place will soon be lovely

PugOnToast · 29/07/2017 09:33

Infinite Grinare you Jeremy Corbin

PugOnToast · 29/07/2017 09:33

Corbyn
Bloody auto correct

youarenotkiddingme · 29/07/2017 09:40

Moving house is meant to be one of the top 5 most stressful life events.

I'm sure moving from difficult neighbours and with a toddler in tow it feels overwhelming right now!

But that's not too bad. It's lovely and light and spacious and I'm sure once you make a dent in the decorating and cleaning you'll relax a little.

I don't think there's so much need for some of the narky comments on here. It was a perfectly simple and valid question and you've been very positive about what difference you can make.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 29/07/2017 09:46

I came here to suggest sugar soap, but see this has moved on a bit.

InvisableLobstee · 29/07/2017 09:49

I think they should clean but on the positive side once you have done all the work on it you will feel it is your own place.

Tw1nsetAndPearls · 29/07/2017 10:55

@PersianCatLady You should be thankful...full stop.

She shouldn't need to be any more grateful than anybody else who has a roof over their heads

Sunshinegirl82 · 29/07/2017 11:54

Slightly off topic but whenever I rented privately it was my responsibility to clean the property when leaving and it was firmly suggested that I paid a professional company to come in and do this. I know loads of people who have had money deducted from their deposits for cleaning even though they gave it a thorough clean before leaving. Professional cleaning seems to be the only deemed necessary by most landlords/agents (at the tenants cost!)

I don't know how the system works with respect to council housing (and I expect it varies by area) but you'd have thought there would be a way to get exiting tenants to clean themselves or be charged for the council to send people in to clean?

Good luck OP, the basic building blocks of a lovely house are there and houses always look a bit rubbish without flooring and furniture. Our new build looked pretty sorry for itself with concrete floors and no curtains! I'm sure once you've given it a proper once over and got everything in it will be ace!

TeaCake5 · 29/07/2017 11:59

Ffs. Some people here comparing grenfell with what looks like a decent place that simply needs flooring and a lick of paint. Idiots.

Hedgehog80 · 29/07/2017 12:13

When I got my council house in 2009 it was filthy and uninhabitable. I cried for days its was so disgusting. Dog shit all over the garden, no window ledges or door frames, graffiti , goes in the walls and years of filth it was horrendous.
We moved in in the January made the front room habitable and got one of those mini cookers with a hob on top. The decoration allowance from the LA was a grand £90!
Only now 8 years later is the house totally 'done' exactly how we like it
I think unfortunately there really is the expectation to be grateful for a council house no matter what state it is in, you're not unreasonable to feel the LA should do it but they won't so you have to make the best of it yourself I'm afraid

everybodysang · 29/07/2017 12:44

I took Helena's point to be against those who jumped in with the "you should just be grateful" etc... i.e. council tenants are not expected to complain about anything at all.

I am a bit shocked at those saying you wouldn't expect a private let to be clean. Er, yes, that's exactly what I'd expect. Only once did I start a private tenancy with a less than spotless flat and I got a £100 reduction on the rent for that month because of it.

Tw1nsetAndPearls · 29/07/2017 13:37

Only once did I start a private tenancy with a less than spotless flat and I got a £100 reduction on the rent for that month because of it.

@everybodysang . I have had a similar experience. Moved into a shared flat and it hadn't been cleaned and it needed a lick of paint. We were given the first month rent free