Council tenants complaining about their 'fixtures'

[Delilah21D00LoT]

I know I'm being unreasonable, but I just want to get this off my chest. Please feel free to ignore or have 'your say' too.

I joined a facebook page/forum: www.facebook.com/groups/diyonabudgetofficial/

about 4 weeks ago so that I could follow and get ideas.

There are stacks of people who've been painting their kitchens - as they cannot afford a new one (this includes me) and a heck of a lot of them are Council Tenants complaining about their "shitty, crappy, cheap shit, typical Council Kitchens" when they've posted a picture of these so called "shite kitchens" they look pretty decent - basic - but decent.

One person was complaining that she didn't like the 'beech kitchen' that the council had put in when she moved in the year before and she'd complained to them that she wanted 'white gloss units', but also complained when the council said 'No, we will not change it just because you don't like it"

Others have been complaining of their "shitty, non-flat or wonky walls, wood chipped walls and so on" what do people want? They've got a Council House or Flat - do they expect it to be done up like some brand new property?

We bought our house some 12 years ago - it still requires work. None of our walls are flat, straight or smooth, there are chips and cracks everywhere.

The kitchen is now over 20 years old and has been repaired repeatedly over the years and I painted all the units at the beginning of the year to brighten it up - and it actually looks pretty good.
I come from Council myself and have several friends who are still in Council properties, but they are the older generation (30's, 40's and 50's) and seem incredibly grateful for their home.

I think I'll just leave the group as I can no longer tolerate the selfish people who seem to expect everything to be handed to them.

I need to shut up, I know.

Sorry if I or this has offended anyone.

~ Delilah ~

www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/dartmouth-park-cancer-sufferer-72-ordered-to-leave-home-of-24-years-because-he-is-delaying-sale-1-4902439?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social_Icon&utm_campaign=in_article_social_icons

www.housing.org.uk/how-public-money-is-spent-on-housing/

Since 2010 there has been zero money available to build housing for social rent (council/HA homes). When a HA builds a property, a high percentage of rental income goes back into paying the bank loan they took out to build the property in the first place, not to mention the interest on that loan, the cost of repairing that property, insuring it, funding the staff who let it, manage it, dealing with rent collection, antisocial behaviour, legally required gas checks etc etc etc. It's not a far stretch to see how replacing a perfectly serviceable but ugly kitchen doesn't exactly come as high on their list of priorities. Internal decoration is usually the tenants obligation as part of their tenancy agreement, as are toilet seats and plugs to name a couple of other items. It's simple economics. Build more houses to attempt to mitigate our current housing crisis or make sure everyone who wants one has a white gloss kitchen...

One DD South London, other DD SE, (sussex) similar sized property she pays exactly per week private rent as DD does in London per month.HA

I have a HA house and my kitchen, which was fitted just before I moved in is the ugliest and poorest fitted kitchen ever. It’s not even so much the look (beech) that bugs me but the fact that it (and the whole house) has the worst workmanship I’ve ever seen (think paint and plaster coming off the walls with the slightest knock and kitchen supported doors not even hanging straight or been cut up actually fit the area properly, toilet falling off the wall with a guest sitting in it as it was secured with sink fittings etc) So I see where they’re coming from moaning (and I do moan among my HA neighbours but make sure I’m sensitive to those who are struggling with housing and private rent) but am also of the atttidie that if it gets to me too much I’ll pay to have it changed myself

Oh my the types! Apologies

YANBU. I'm also on the group and was disgusted to see some of the comments. One person posted that they didn't like the colour of their (perfectly usable) bath and there were many comments telling the OP to "take a hammer" to the bath or damage it in other ways. When I posted my opinion I was bombarded with hostility that it was "only council so people should have a choice". The irony seemed to be lost on them when they were complaining about the council not having the money but when I stated that the council would have more money if they didn't have to carry out unnecessary repairs. Also grew up in council housing and am lucky to own but when I was in council accommodation I was bloody grateful for it!

I love, love LOVE my council house. I got it on an exchange so had to take it as seen......the smack heads here before me didn't even leave a door in the place and we found needles between the floor boards! But after 5-8k of my own money thrown at it and lots and LOTS of hard work I have got it 90% decorated, new doors etc. But I would still like the council to give me a new kitchen. This one is tiny, houses a boiler that takes up half of one wall and has GREEN units, black fake marble worktop, beige spotty tiles and grey flooring

I think if you have genuine issues with things that are putting you at risk then people should complain and scream and shout if needed until they get things fixed. HAs and Council's have an obligation to ensure the safety of their tenants. However, they are not there at the whim of their tenants who doesn't like the colour of the bathroom/kitchen and decides to commit criminal damage in order to get what they want.

I've never had to live in a council house but would like to think that if I couldn't afford to house myself without having heavily subsidised accommodation (I appreciateplenty of council tenants do pay rent) I'd at least have the self awareness and good grace to be grateful for the fact that I was being housed at tax payers expense, rather than bitching and moaning about the type of wood my kitchen units were made of.

I've lived in private rented accommodation for the past 9 years and it has included cheap beech kitchen units, ugly terracotta living room walls that hadn't been painted in well over a decade, a carpet with a giant oven burn on it....because that was the level of accommodation I could afford at the time. So yeah, I struggle to see why someone whose accommodation is either heavily subsidised, or free to them, should be complaining about living in comparable conditions to non-subsidised renters!!

YANBU, OP.

" sticky back plastic over kitchen worktops "

Oi! Leave DC Fix out of this.

That stuff works miracles over stained white counter tops. And it lasts surprisingly well.

Miaow I agree! I personally find the Fablon, glitter, CD mosaic collections horrendous! I do feel sorry for those on there that make a real change and have obviously spent money to then be torn down by those who think that the posters are not on a budget because they haven't covered everything in glitter.

This all council housing is heavily subsidised bollocks, again...really?

One of my relatives lives in a council high rise block in the Midlands.

Several flats have been purchased, are now in private hands and two of them are being offered for private rental.

It's a 2 bedroom flat. The rent they pay to the council (because they have jobs) is £68 per week.

The two x 2 bed flats in the same block up for private rental are online advertised at £70 per week.

Around the corner there is newly refurbished 3 bed maisonette on for £82 a week.

Not that big a subsidy, might be more heavily subsidised in London but most areas of the UK are not in London. Council rents were brought much closer to local private sector rents some years ago. I've read the letters informing council tenants of the policy when it came into force.

This notion that social tenants should on their knees forelock tuggingly grateful to live in a shithole with piss poor fixtures and fittings really boils my piss.

There's a limit of course (shouldn't expect granite/oak worktops or high gloss units etc) but it's not wrong to still expect a liveable home with decent fixtures and fittings if the landlord is the local council.

P.S . Many council houses I've been in over the years would be condemned if they had been offered for rent by private landlords...by the local council.

So last night my housing association flat had a big leak thst went through to downstairs. HA sent a plumber pronto who did a fab temp repair job. He ripped my bath panel off to get to it.

HA have said they wont be making the temp job perm, wont be replacing the bath panel (that they ripped) and won't look at the extent of the mould and dampness that actually has a lovely large family of slugs living within.

I have a 14 month old who has bad chest problems and an asd 3 year old. The stuff under my bath clearly shows it isnt the first time.

Yes i am very thankful for security of tenancy but i dont think it is right that on top of everything else i need to deal with i now need to worry about slugs and mould

It’s really odd I was on either that group or a very similar one and a guy behaved exactly as you describe - except he got an absolute pasting from the other posters.

Rightly so too.

^ there was nothing wrong with his kitchen btw. He just didn’t like it because it wasnt fashionable.

I can believe the moaning, people seem to want more and more paid or done for them.

I've seen whining about kitchens, the landlord not cutting hedges, not providing new foooring or white goods in the last few days and that will be just a snap shot. Not content with cheap rent or it being paid for them they want everything handed to them.

There are two issues that seem to be going on here that I think have become conflated. I don't think anyone is being criticised for wanting to live in a safe and secure environment and I firmly believe that HAs, Councils and Landlords need to be held to account to ensure that they're providing for their tenants. However, I think the OP's criticism is of those who demand new kitchens/bathrooms just because they don't like the colour or it isn't currently in fashion. That attitude stinks. I also saw someone on that group state that landlords should replace all kitchens and bathrooms whenever a tenant moves out. Some people just don't have a grip on reality.

I deal with the companies that supply local authorities and their contractors.
Trust me, they do not fit crap!

I have a very elderly relative who has lived in the same council property for the vast majority of her adult life, and she has a similar attitude op.

It also winds me up that if anything needs fixing, decorating, checking, then she fully expects the council workers to immediately flock to her house, or at least on the same day. When they inform her that this may not be possible, she starts telling them how disgusting it is that at her age, and after paying her rent for so many years they can’t meet her expectations.

It also infuriates me that she seems to have no concept of non-council living, and thinks that when you have a mortgage or private rent that you can, and should always be able to get things fixed, or new things installed. For example, she thinks it’s disgusting that we’ve lived in our flat with a mortgage for nearly 4 years without having a new kitchen or bathroom fitted - we simply cannot afford it.

When I was between jobs a few years ago, she would phone me every day to angrily tell me to ‘get a council house,’ and that of course I’ll get one, as other people manage to get one. I’d left my job of my own accord, and lived with my Husband who was earning around £40,000 at the time in a private rented flat that he could afford on his own, nor did we have children etc. I love her to bits, but she seems to think it’s still as easy as it was for her in the 1950’s to get a council house.

Bbbbbb thats appalling Are you on Twitter?

Brilliant post @Andromeida29 - you have summed up exactly how I feel about it!

seen a very worrying post on fb that an HA hasnt paid an employee for weeks.

Ugh they're at it again! In regard to kitchen cupboards "I had this kind of kitchen about 5 years ago, I started breaking doors of and kept on to the council, kept telling them kitchen was falling apart they finally come out and fitted new. Try it, it might work for u"

One of the reasons I left this group...not just council tenants but private as well. One woman was asking what to do with a lean to 'conservatory'...really a green house across the back of the house, and no end demanded that the 'greedy' landlord come and put on a decent conservatory straight away