No cooker, heating not working, walls running with water....but can't get out with pets

[ChristmasSprite]

Am I being unreasonable to just want a decent place to live with pets
A few years ago (won't say exactly how many) we had to go into refuge and our animals went into foster care. Its been very chaotic and one of the animals, belonging my mid teen DC died as a result of poor care in foster, housing has been awful. Finally we found a place that would accept our pets and we were so thrilled, but within 3 months they'd decided to sell up!!!! We were nearly homeless and had to jump into a place where theres been drug dealing and a catalogue of things wrong. I am grateful we had a roof over our heads, but its a nightmare. When one of us has a bath or shower, especially when temp nearer to freezing, we have to open the window, as the walls literally run with water anyway, without the added steam!
Its just noone seems to be renting to tenants with pets!. We were rural before where there are lots of animals, left our cottage immaculate, but even rural is so hard to find, an we've ended up in this mess.

I am grateful for the roof, but Aibu to expect that we could actually find somewhere decent to live with our pets!

Nc for this, due to sensitive situation, but been MN many years!

What type and how many pets have you got and how old are your kids?

You need a dehumidifier.

The pets thing is completely irrelevant.

Agree you need a dehumidifier. I only ask about the pets and kids because some people will take one pet with an older child etc etc so its handy to know.
Also, whats wrong with the cooker?

When I had to rent with a puppy I viewed everything available in the area I wanted to live. None were dog friendly. I then spoke directly to landlords about the possibility of considering allowing a dog. Once they had met me and her a one was happy to take us. I had to pay an extra damage deposit but I got every penny back when I moved out. How many pets do you have?

there's a lot of different issues going on in your post

pet care being mixed up with sub-standard housing - which might just be poor ventilation by you - have you tried airing the rooms more regularly? do not dry clothes inside, get a clothes horse and plonk it in the garden if you don't want to do a rain dash (i'm assuming you have a garden or communal line i admit). also a dehumidifier solves a lot of problems fairly cheaply, i've needed one in every house i've ever lived in.

You need a dehumidifier, tbh I wouldn't rent my house out to anyone with pets either.

Why does your cooker and heating not work? if its the landlords cooker he should be fixing it and he's definitely responsible for the heating!

How many pets and what are they?

Any social housing near you, or council housing?
I've gone from private rent to social housing because we'd moved 8 times in 10 years, out of those 8 landlords only one repaired anything or actually used a bond scheme. I'd had enough of moving around so much and started to realise in private rent it will always be such. One house was being repossessed and we had to leave a few weeks after we moved in! And choice was limited because of having the dogs.
But I can see why a decent landlord wouldn't want pets if they've had a bad experience with previous tenants.
I went on the list and got somewhere no one else wanted or had bid on!

It's not free as a lot of people on here believe social housing to be - you do have to pay rent (it's exactly the same as private rent, if you are entitled to housing benefit you get it, of not you pay your rent from your earnings) at least in my area it's on par with private rents. But it's a lot more secure than private renting, and in my area as long as you don't have a shared entrance, you can have pets.

Good Luck OP

I am going to try to put a photo on as I did think I might be facing some blame for the condensation.

Its like I've never encountered before, we've had to live in one bed places before without bathroom ventilation and I've never come across anything like it, its literally like rain.

Dehumidifier doesn't exist powerful enough. I think s combo of no heating and older style property where outhouse converted into bathroom...all newly fitted... Well I will find a pic to post

If the heating or the cooker don't work, then you need to raise that with your landlord - they need to be fixed.

Regarding the water down the walls, firstly you need to make sure you adequately heat and ventilate the house. So keep it heated to a reasonable temperature (at least 16, I would think, during the day), and make sure you are regularly opening the windows and airing the house. Definitely ensure windows are open when showering and when boiling kettles or have pans with water in on the hob. Use lids on saucepans. Don't dry clothes in the house. All things that everyone has to do to reduce condensation. If you still have a problem with water running down the walls after that, then try a dehumidifier.

Almost all properties state 'no pets', I think its standard practice. We viewed a place we really liked so I asked the estate agent/landlord if we could please bring my cat and he said yes. I had to pay a non refundable pet fee (think it was £250) but that was fine by us. Anyway my point is if you find somewhere you like, just ask. Unless you have 25 large noisey dogs or something

shiney yes, that's how I got the cottage before, and I do keep trying that.

the pet thing is irrelevant no, no, its really not. Two med.size ddogs and a dcat. Plus teens

If you’ve got no cooker and no hot water, and your walls are running with water, you need to put your children first and your pets second, and refine them so that your children aren’t living in squalid conditions.

Pic of running water in mornings before any showering/bathing taken place. Have to dry the walls continually

I wouldn't rent to someone with three pets. One well behaved pet, fine.

The issues have been raised, and its been quite difficult as told things like, have you switched it on? The don't believe the state of the running water on walls, and I'm not surprised as I would never have believed it had I not experienced it myself.
The main reason for the issues is having to literally jump into somewhere as we were going to be homeless if we didn't take it, and I basically had been returned, but unfinished, I felt very lucky to have escaped homelessness!
The cooker was not wired in. That's now been planned for fixing.
I just need to find us somewhere that will take pets. I know some places where pets live and they truly are horrendous, but our home is clean, you wouldn't know pets live here but of course I appreciate its a greater risk to wear and tear/damage, so we pay a higher deposit, and has conditions added, fair enough

*and it basically had been refurbed

Ultimately your children’s well-being a and helath must come before your animals. If there has to be a choice and you’ve tried everything else then the pets have to Ben rehomed.

Isn’t hat photo of tiles rather than a wall?

I know that this is a real issue. Finding rented accommodation with pets can be extremely hard. It’s not just a simple matter of rehoming pets either - they are part of your family so I imagine you and the DCs would be bereft without them.
The damp you describe, sounds like a problem with the house design, or that there is damp present in the structure which is not condensation. Sometimes ‘cold bridging’ can occur where the aspect of the house, prevailing winds etc means that damp occurs. Unless the damp is due to a structural issue or leak from say sinks, loo etc, the landlord is not responsible under repair obligations, BUT as long as it’s not down to you not adequately ventilating and heating, it could be a statutory nuisance if it’s “prejudicial to health”, and the local authority can compel a landlord to do remedial work.
HOWEVER, depending on your tenancy agreement, if you make a complaint, the landlord may be able to serve notice (do you have a fixed term?) after an initial 6 months.
This is the catch. No real security means you are vulnerable. Things like the cooker should be repaired if it was clear that a functioning cooker was part of the original agreement. But you are in a very difficult position.
All I can think of is that you go to an agency, explain the position and ask them to double check with landlords to see if they will agree to pets. You may if possible need to offer a separate “pet deposit”. The other thing is maybe going on a local fb page to see if there are any pet friendly landlords there. Are your dogs well behaved? Can previous landlords give you a reference? I’m so sorry you are in this position. It must be so hard. Xx

Ooo agent !? Its not squalid

Have to dry the walls continually

Can you get a Karcher Window Vac? It sucks the moisture into a little tank, then you empty it down the sink. Over time, that will get rid of that running condensation.

Your indoor walls are cold and there's no soft textiles in the room so , when the warmer air inside hits them, that's when you get such condensation. If you can heat the rooms a bit, it should happen less often.

This is a very big problem- rental accommodation is getting fussier and fussier, social housing is hard to obtain, but ordinary families including sometimes with pets can't get easily housed. In some countries, they have to allow you a pet if it is a long-term rental.

It's difficult because as a landlady I may not want smelly pets, but as a renter, I would love to have an animal.

People who haven't tried to rent on the current market don't know how bad it is, it's very expensive, a nightmare trying to even find a place and lots and lots of people are now priced out or just shut out of the market, such as those on UC. Where are they actually going to live? There is a huge housing problem in the UK and it makes for very stressful living.