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

[Mydietstartstomorrow]

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!

NAHAALT

Some of us of trying to give a balance, yes some HA's get lots of things wrongs, the rest get things wrong at times, none of them are perfect, but from reading this thread you would think that every HA didn't give a shit and that is not fair on those that work for them who do care and do want to help.

Mermaid I can't remember how long my kitchen took - seemed to last for ever, I think it did pop into the 2nd week. We set up a microwave, toaster and kettle in another room and did a bit of cobbling up meals. Washing up was done in the bath. It was a pita but we didn't have to eat out every night.

Helena Lots of people have to take time off to cover an emergency when something goes wrong at home or with a family member, most people would be understanding, they are also unlikely to know the tenure of the person they are supposed to see.

Whilst I would say YANBU, I do remember when I lived in a HA flat and the kitchen was replaced, it was a total pain.

The kitchens they put in are cheap and nasty. We were given a choice of colour of worktop, doors and flooring but all the choices were basic. They did actually give us plenty of notice though so one of us could book time off work. However the work overran by two days (because the workers were slow and kept sodding off for fag breaks) and the finish was poor. I got the impression they didn't really care, the company had already been paid by the HA.

We also had to have our bath replaced because it developed a crack and it got replaced with a cheap crap bath tub which didn't match the colour of the sink or toilet.

However, I always saw it as we were getting "upgrades" and it wasn't costing us anything. It was essentially the HA making upgrades to their properties and we were just the current tenant so whilst we benefited from it, it wasn't ours to judge/moan about really. Those kitchens and bathrooms are meant to last about 25 years (unlikely) as well so it's not like the tenants are getting new stuff all the time.

Now we own our house, I can chose what kitchen and bathroom we want whereas I wouldn't expect much input in a HA property because it doesn't belong to the tenant.

If they're entitled to a council house they're entitled to a good standard of upkeep. How does this effect you?

@mimibunz I agree with what you are saying- why should anyone in subsidised housing get a fancy kitchen, nothing wrong with Ikea at all. I have an Ikea kitchen and it’s fab! They’re modern but pretty robust.

The problem seems to be poor workmanship and poor management by councils and housing associations. Or at least by some

@HelenaDove

The bullying needs to be addressed, I today received a card through the door telling me to cut the grass to get the property 'up to standard', or action will be taken! I cut it 10 days ago, my last day off when it wasn't pissing down. I use an electric strimmer, don't particularly want to electrocute myself as I need to use an extension lead. It's just over ankle height...... Not like a jungle and it's clear that I'm working on the garden, trees and shrubs in good order, plants growing and tended to, flower beds free of weeds, grass is just a bit long. I'm tempted to ask for the 'regulation' of how long the grass is allowed to grow! I mean it's 10 days worth of growth..... What if I'd gone away for a fortnight?

I agree OP. Most of my family live in council houses and I grew up in one. My family don't work out of choice, claim a series of benefits, have the attitude that the government owes them something and that everything must be handed to them. They moan about work being done on their homes all the time. Their houses are lovely with cheap but modern kitchens, bathrooms, new boilers/central heating etc. They are so far detached from reality it's insane. I understand that it's an inconvenience, especially at short notice, but if somebody offered to redo my kitchen I'd take it in a heartbeat.

I've made a point to spend my time working, scrimping and saving hard in order to afford a house. Which is obviously difficult when you're privately renting. IF I could afford to buy a house one day I'd likely have to save for several more years to be able to afford even a cheap new kitchen/bathroom.

It annoys me when I hear people moan about this stuff. The things that others dream about being able to afford one day!

It annoys me when I hear people moan about this stuff. The things that others dream about being able to afford one day!

Like a house? Because dream about that, and indeed I'm 'making a point' of working hard so I can do just that, it's a bit of dreaming off yet though, even though I'm in social housing, I still need to pay for everything anyone in private rent does (been there, done that) and am here now because I was brought to rock bottom through a bad situation.
I work, all my family work, I've always worked, since 15. Not everyone in social housing is like your family, and we deserve to be treated properly as we're paying for a service without being bullied, and expected to put up with all kinds of crap without a choice to do anything about it.

I grew up in council, And when they refit the bathroom and kitchen they told my mum it takes 12 days.... but they don’t tell you it can be any 12 days. When you can’t use a cooker for 2 months, or a bathtub for nearly 3 it’s stressful.
But yes we’re all entitled.... the lack of shower/bath in the summer was great fun. And no we didn’t have family near by to use their bathrooms.

Also I’ll pointout it’s not always to the best standard, in the new kitchen it started falling apart within a month. Bathroom has never been right, we’ve tried to keep it nice but when things leak or don’t work and it can take years to fix.... yep still entitled.

I disagree
I think tenants have every right to voice their opinion. They do pay rent!! it isn't a free sodding house.

An old friend of mine had a one bedroom council flat, they came during refurbishment and took the bloody toilet door off and took it away. He moved out 6yrs later into a larger council house and still they had never returned with the toilet door!! he said the workmen spoke to him and his partner ( who both worked full time) like as if they had stood in "something"

You for real?!

Why should social housing tenants be treated any worse simply because they're in social housing??!

They still pay rent! Many of them are in employment - which I only mention because it could well be the case that the person complaining about the lack of notice works in a job that requires more notice for employees to take leave or where there is a leave ban on certain months so this IS a problem for them! Or maybe they work from home and this is likely to cause them huge issues on that front?

Or maybe they have young children home during the summer holidays and having such work done is problematic in terms of health and safety and being able to meet their needs eg if the water or power needs to be shut off for long periods for such work to be done?
Quite a few of the childminders around here are in HA properties, having a new bathroom or kitchen fitted in the summer holidays would be a major problem for them!

Maybe the one complaining about a lack of a new bathroom being fitted currently has a bathroom in a very poor state?

How would YOU know any of this purely from overhearing discussions in a shop!

You come across as snobby and as if you think such properties are "given" to people and that they're all in great condition!!

Well aren't you lucky that you don't know better?

There have been HUGE issues with social housing tenants being treated appallingly on such matters - even to the point of being left with dangerous facilities! There's even been issues with dodgy (as in criminal record) workmen being assigned to working with social housing tenants who are particularly vulnerable.

"Suppose you were having a baby or an operation around then, or even guests coming to stay?" Exactly!

"It's not a fancy nice one though, it's a basic budget toilet and bath and lino" unlikely to include lino - flooring is usually down to tenants

I'm currently in HA property, which took almost 9 years to get even though dd and I both disabled. I've mostly been a private tenant, private properties are generally refurbished and updated in between tenancies and tend to be better fitted out than social housing properties, and certainly round here the rent for private places isn't a huge amount more than social housing, but social is more secure, I had to leave last place as landlord was selling because they lost their job and needed the money.

Same happened to a friend, in completely different part of country, and she'd only been in the property 2 months! She'd barely finished unpacking. Unfortunately her landlords company went bust with no warning.

I have mh issues too and having workmen in is incredibly stressful and problematic.

But yea - people in social housing who are likely on low incomes, disabled and otherwise already vulnerable don't deserve compassion or sufficient notice for things which could cause immense distress and even endanger their health or for their personal circumstances to be taken into account at all!

And your subsequent posts op show you really don't care how people are treated.

What is your job where you go into people's homes and see the condition of their homes? Because I can think of very few where this is a regular part of the job where the person with the job shouldn't have a non-judgmental, compassionate and understanding personality.

I've been a council tenant for 9 years now, in my first house I woke up one morning in December to no heating or hot water. I rang the council repairs helpline & told them I had no heating or hot water. I got told that it would be 5 days before someone could come to mend my boiler, because I had an electric shower & a gas fire I wasn't classed as urgent, even though I had a child & was disabled. It was the coldest 5 days of the year, we had no heating except for the living room, it was too cold to use the shower, we were either in the living room or in bed for the 5 days.

Yanbu at all. People are so negative. I'm having my extension done at the moment and it's already been 3 weeks with no further work the digging the footings. I'm paying £30,00 for it but I just think at least it will be lovely when it's done and at a good price. So I'd be really happy with free and only three weeks to wait

And every time something serious happens we keep having a seperate enquiry but we also need a far arcing enquiry.

Its massive cognitive dissonance on a huge scale. We as a society cant keep pretending there is no connection between serious dangerous incidents and the way social housing tenants are seen and portrayed by other members of the public, the media and the housing sector.

www.ioshmagazine.com/article/housing-association-and-lift-co-fined-ps15m-five-year-olds-death-disability-lift

YY Graphista

A critical incident has been declared at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro so all hands on deck

Would likely go down like a cup of cold sick if one of their cleaners phoned in early tomorrow morning and said "i cant come in today as i got a phone call from my HA who say i have to be in for their survey today.

Well @tictac86 how about you grow a spine and tell them you are not happy with the speed of the work. Instead of moaning about tenants who will never see £30"000 a year let alone that to spend on an extension. Its hardly the fault of tenants you havent got the balls to stand up for yourself.

That was a dreadful heart breaking case, just absolutely awful. Thankfully rare to be a fatality though I know near misses do occur.

Informally things happen (local policies looked at and changed) and professionals discuss it, but the above happened because policies and legal frameworks were not followed.

I am not sure that was the best incident to make your point over. I'm actually struggling to formulate why I think it was so wrong to.

i cant come in today as i got a phone call from my HA who say i have to be in for their survey today.

Does this actually happen though? On the day with no prior warning at all? And a continued insistence that they come even when told about work commitments?

I know you are going to accuse me of NAHAALT again, but the few dreadful experiences that people have does not mean it is universal.

From a blog

"radical redhead says:
October 10, 2017 at 12:00 pm

"Myself and a friend of mine live separately in a Home Group housing association block of flats. Over recent years our lives have been made a misery of through endless, industrial scale building repair work. Admittedly, some of it has been necessary, but the bulk of it hasn’t.

I’ve become depressed and anxious about it. Sounds of drilling and hammers make me panic. My friend who lives in a flat in the same block has sometimes been in tears. He’s seen 3 changes of windows in 15 years.

It’s been literally like living within an active building site. Pointing has been replaced (much of it was in good condition already) and masonry has been replaced for different shaped masonry. I’ve had perfectly good doors and windows replaced. The actual site manager once said that they didn’t need replacing but that they were going to replace them anyway.

I know a tenant who left because of it. There is no doubt in my mind that unnecessary jobs have been undertaken simply to make money for the contractors. I have no doubt either that Mears and Home Group are in bed together.

I’ve written to different organisations pleading for help – no one’s interested.

So now, Mears Group are ‘testing’ the electric sockets in my friend’s flat. The flats have all been completely rewired from new approximately ten years ago. Maybe this is justified – maybe not. However, this is a company that has earned a reputation for corruption and shoddy workmanship, who’ve been caught and investigated by the Police for overcharging landlords. I am not paranoid.

I worry for the future because the block of flats I live in is so large that any job, big or small will be lucrative for a contractor.

The official term is ‘Social Housing Contractor Fraud’ and Mears are one of the key players. You can find articles on Google about Mears corruption scandals and it’s happening up and down the country because social housing tenants can’t say ‘no’.

Crucially, it only works if the landlord is complicit. This must take the form of bribes and backhanders being offered to senior management.

It’s a bizarre turn around from the old days of social housing landlords dragging their heels over much needed repairs because they were strapped for cash.

Today the dynamic is different. Now, many large social housing providers have formed cosy relationships with contractors. These contractors are parasites feeding off working class tenants’ rents. Rents go up to pay for it.

I’ve lived in council housing before without any problem. Since moving from council to housing association I’ve noticed a huge difference.

If my fears over new ‘repairs’ being arbitrarily created in the future, year after year prove to be correct then I’ll have no choice but to move. I don’t need the stress. I need peace and quiet."

@TeamUnicorn Yes ive got letters to prove that it does

DH and i have been living in this flat since 1994 and have kept every correspondence we have ever had You can see the attitude and culture change when you look at the older letters compared to the new ones

The most recent was for an access visit for yet another survey on the 20 June We got the letter on 19th June

My parents own their own home but DH has always lived in rented property right from childhood. Hes 69 It used to be very different There was no paternalistic attitude back then

Anybody on or reading this thread live in Salford. Whitebeam Court or Spruce Court?

YABU
She pays her rent just like everyone else.

OP stop being so bloody judgemental.

I had a good job, with a bloody good salary for where I lived, 45k plus dp working. We were saving for a deposit for a house, as we were in private rental.

Then one day, someone decide to not look left as they pulled out of a road, and drove straight into me, and I badly damaged my back. A few year later, something else happen that damage my back further. I had to resign as I could no longer do the driving for my job. Our ‘deposit ’ Was now used to help pay bills and day to day living.

My relationship broke down, my landlord gave me notice as he was selling. I’m now in a HA property. Far, far, far from where I thought I would be. At the moment I’m waiting for surgery on my spine, so unable to work.

I was lucky I got to choose my kitchen units, the handles and the flooring, along with the tiles, bathroom and flooring.

But I would swop this any day to be moaning that I couldn’t afford a new bathroom for my home. Because it would mean I’m no longer disabled, that I’m working, that I still had a good salary, and that I owned my own home!!

Yes I’m grateful for what I have, totally. Doesn’t mean I can’t moan when I’m told tomorrow someone is coming to inspect the boiler, or next month we will be replacing your front door, doesn’t matter that we’ll be on holiday, if it’s not done, we can’t tell you when it will be sorry. As for workmen, I’ve had some amazing guys all credit to them, but I’ve had some who I seriously questioned it they knew what they were doing.

The reality is OP none of us can predict the future, who knows maybe one day something tragic will happen to you or your partner, and you have to sell you property(s) to fund care, and you could well end up in a position like this. That’s it about the future- nome of us knows.