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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU in thinking if you have a Council house and the Council are modernising it you shouldn't really moan about it?!

455 replies

Mydietstartstomorrow · 09/07/2019 14:00

So I'm in B&M in the queue listening to a customer moan on and on about how the Council have only given her 3 weeks notice that she is getting a new kitchen and bathroom fitted and this is totally unacceptable and how it's going to disrupt her life! Checkout lady then moans that she contacted her Housing Association to find out she's not entitled to a new bathroom for some time yet. AIBU to think some people feel so entitled? What about the people (me) who own their own home and cant currently ever imagine having the money to have a new kitchen and bathroom fitted?! Oh, and the loft was being insulated also!

OP posts:
NameChangeNugget · 09/07/2019 14:01

YANBU.

purpleme12 · 09/07/2019 14:07

Wow yes ynbu no way a private landlord would fix anything unless it was broken! I'd love to get a nice new kitchen and bathroom!

Imustbemad00 · 09/07/2019 14:10

It’s still her home. She’s allowed to feel inconvenienced. I had mine done and it was a horrendous experience, I moaned a lot. It took nearly 6 months, the workmanship was shoddy, communication terrible and they seemed to think I could keep taking days off to wait. Should I not complain about any of that and just put
Up because it’s ‘free’.

I pay £600 a month rent to the council which is more or equal to some mortgages. We’re not allowed to put our own kitchens in, therefore the council has to do it. Every 25 years. So hardly a lot.

RubberTreePlant · 09/07/2019 14:11

Have you seen the cheapo kitchens the social tenants get? I wouldn't want one. I wouldn't want a timetable foisted on me, either.

I count myself lucky I got onto the housing ladder and so get to choose for myself. So should you.

Tutlefru · 09/07/2019 14:12

Poor you owning your own home!

That may be something the people you were listening to may never get the chance to have.

You’re judging them on a snippet of information you heard in a queue. Maybe she works from home?

patientzero · 09/07/2019 14:12

Gonna come at this one from a slightly different perspective. The school summer holidays start soon so it’s potentially a load of upheaval whilst trying to keep your kids entertained and possibly not having enough money to take them out every day and get away from it all. I’d love a free kitchen and bathroom too but if i was told I had to have it within the next 6-8 weeks with no consultation I’d have to turn it down. I’m not sure council tenants (or any tenants) get much of a choice.

LakieLady · 09/07/2019 14:13

Christ, I'd need a year's notice before having a new kitchen fitted. It'd take me that long to clear out the cupboards. I found something best before Sept 2008 the other day.

Three weeks is pretty short notice though. Suppose you were having a baby or an operation around then, or even guests coming to stay?

Having stuff refurbed and upgraded is one of the things you pay for in your rent for when you're in social housing. Social landlords, unlike private landlords, are obliged to meet certain minimum standards.

DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult · 09/07/2019 14:13

YABU they changed my heating over and my whole house was disrupted for a week, they wrecked the decorating in 4 areas of the house and carpets in 2 rooms and I got £100 to compensate for that which covered precisely nothing.

Us council house scum are allowed to feel aggravated too you know Hmm

vampirethriller · 09/07/2019 14:14

It's not a fancy nice one though, it's a basic budget toilet and bath and lino, the minimum. You have to pay weekly for the oven, fridge, etc, no matter how long you have them. And they're not changed til they absolutely can't function any more. You can't pick colour or style.
I live in a council flat. I have to pay weekly for my carpet, too. You choose black or brown. It's not as good a deal as you think it is and it's not free

ashvivienne · 09/07/2019 14:15

YABU work colleague has been in her council property 2 years was given 2 weeks notice on modernisation and it was an inconvenience. Time needed off work to let work men in and be there to see what was happening, kids needed arrangements for after school so they could have dinner and not be somewhere where there is work going on. You don’t know the condition of the woman’s house my colleagues house didn’t even have a shower just a bath now she has the ability to shower in her own home. You have a home that you own that is completely yours and that you can sell and make money people in council accommodation do not have that investment.

Inferiorbeing · 09/07/2019 14:15

My neighbour is in council and desperately needs a new door, kitchen and bathroom and is having to chase them all the time to find out as it's actually unsafe for her children! Yeah I would like someone to do mine for me, but if I wasnt allowed to do it myself, had to beg because of safety and still get no warning when it will be done I would be irritated too..

InsertFunnyUsername · 09/07/2019 14:16

YABU, its still annoying having workmen in, especially without much notice. I hate having them in even when it's been booked for months, its stressful.

WiddlinDiddlin · 09/07/2019 14:16

She won't be getting a new kitchen to replace an 'as new kitchen'.

She will be getting a low quality 'new' kitchen to replace probably a 20 or 30 year old low quality kitchen.

Shes unlikely to have much if any say in design, colour or lay out.

She will be unlikely to have any say in who does the work or when they do the work.

Shes probably going to be told multiple different start dates and in reality, get maybe 48 hours notice of the actual start date of the work.

It is highly likely it will be VERY disruptive and she will have no control, and no easy recourse to complain when corners are cut and she's messed about.

She may not even WANT it doing, she won't have any choice there either.

So yeah, YABU and she may very well NOT BU at all.

Opossooom · 09/07/2019 14:18

People in council houses are scum aren’t they OP? 🙄 I appreciate I’m being a dick, but c’mon.

gamerchick · 09/07/2019 14:19

We benefited from that scheme around 10 years ago. For the whole of November my front door was open while they rewired the house, new boiler and heating system, kitchen and bathroom. I had 3 kids, one of them being a toddler. It was an utter freezing cold nightmare and I had no choice at all.

I got 200 in vouchers to redecorate that could only be redeemed at the Dulux centre which hardly covered one room at their prices. They wrecked the floorboards, a foot came through the ceiling and I had to replace all the floors as well as the mess they just left after the rewiring.

I felt well entitled to moan about it, it was hell on earth. The kitchen I had before was better than the cheap chatty shit they put in and it cost me an absolute fortune to get the house back to normal. The heating system is crap and apparently I have to choose whether I can heat the upstairs or downstairs. Not both.

Just because it's 'free' doesn't mean people get to judge. I wouldn't do that nightmare again for fuck all.

Not that I have a choice because the rewiring only lasts 20 year.

InsertFunnyUsername · 09/07/2019 14:19

You should probably stop listening to other peoples conversations too.

Weezol · 09/07/2019 14:22

I'm a social housing tenant - slightly over the 25 year limit for new kitchen so must chase it up. We get input into the planning and although it will be a budget job, the current units are falling to bits so I can't bloody wait!

Got the bathroom done two years ago after becoming disabled - it's the only one in the block with a shower afaik.

When I was working I enquired about paying for a new kitchen, but was told no, ditto shower despite offering to work with facilities and give them sign off on plans, materials and contractors and taking out appropriate insurance.

I'm not allowed to improve my own home and by default, their property, at my own expense. Too damn right they'll being doing the work at a time that's convenient to me.

HUZZAH212 · 09/07/2019 14:23

When mine was done i had to just leave the workman with a key as I couldn't take the time off work to be in the house. The flooring all came up including laminate so wasn't cheap to replace. I had to really push to get them to come back to as doors weren't even close to hung properly and switches really wonky. Oh! and a radiator wasn't put back on properly so a ceiling collapsed! (That was fun to come home to/electrics were all shorted and more flooring wrecked)... So nope my 'free' kitchen/bathroom were far from a bargain.

that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 · 09/07/2019 14:24

of course YANBU

yes, it's disruptive but she won't have to pay for it.People moan if the property is not maintained, modernised and improved, then they moan when it is.

She has the choice of moving out, it's not prison. I don't think may people enjoy living in a building site, but there's nothing malicious. Look at the state of many houses on the market, their owners haven't had a chance to do any improvement in decades!

Bishalisha · 09/07/2019 14:25

I have a housing association house that had the most ugly, cheap and horrendously fitted kitchen put in before I moved in 8 years ago. It’s vile, peeling, and falling apart- I am not allowed to change it! And yes I do openly moan about it

that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 · 09/07/2019 14:26

I'm not allowed to improve my own home and by default, their property, at my own expense.

I honestly don't think many landlords, private or LA, would allow any "improvement". It's too risky mainly, they can end up with badly done work, unsafe and would cost a fortune to fix for the next tenant.

MindyStClair · 09/07/2019 14:26

I used to inspect council houses as part of my job (for a number of different Councils), and the mess some contractors left when ‘modernising’ houses was quite shocking. Kitchens fitted really badly, doors that wouldn’t close because they’d been hung wrong, impractical socket locations, tiling jobs that my dyspraxic self could have done better.

It’s possible that she’s heard some horror stories and is worried about the whole thing - tenants told me they didn’t have the choice about getting the work done.

On the other side, I’ve been in Council flats (bedsits, usually) that clearly haven’t been touched at all in decades (an avocado suite is a big clue). They’re really sad to see. A private landlord would at least have had to stick a B&Q bathroom/kitchen in these places to get them let in the areas I was in, but they had been overlooked by the Council.

So while, yes, in theory it would be nice to have refurbishments done for you, in reality when you have very little control over things it can be unpleasant.

that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 · 09/07/2019 14:28

the mess some contractors left when ‘modernising’ houses was quite shocking.

if they are the same contractors who work in new-builts that end up in the news, it's hardly surprising.
Not acceptable, but not surprising. System should allow anyone to chose people not based on cost only!

Twotome · 09/07/2019 14:29

YABU. Council tenants are allowed to moan as much as everyone else. Get over yourself - you just sound jealous to be honest.

suzy2b · 09/07/2019 14:30

My friend has just had new kitchen she had a choice of handles choice of 3 different colours and it's really nice not cheap crap wish i lived in a HA house