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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 · 09/07/2019 14:33

you just sound jealous to be honest.

of having a brand new kitchen or bathroom installed absolutely free? Why would anyone be jealous I wonder Hmm

IHaveBrilloHair · 09/07/2019 14:35

I got lots of choice of colours/handles/worktop etc, it's a Howdens kitchen but mine is better than standard because I have a disability.
You can have that if you like?

InsertFunnyUsername · 09/07/2019 14:37

Maybe ask the council if they will do you a one off favour, get a new kitchen in a nice shade of green...

Twotome · 09/07/2019 14:38

@that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 then make a post about that. Saying they aren’t allowed to moan about the disruption it will cause is just odd.

TrendyNorthLondonTeen · 09/07/2019 14:39

My heart bleeds for you OP.

DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult · 09/07/2019 14:39

of having a brand new kitchen or bathroom installed absolutely free? Why would anyone be jealous I wonder

Yes because we don't pay rent on our free houses with our free kitchens, that we get very little notice of getting installed, no choice in the look or layout of, and have our households disrupted for a week.

The council house envy on here is ridiculous.

Council houses are not free. We pay rent, and as tenants we are entitled to have decent living conditions, and we are even allowed to have a moan about things too if we want.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 09/07/2019 14:40

Yep wow. Again how not to be as ignorant as you. But please please do some research before posting nasty judgemental posts like this or try not being a goady fucker it will honestly make you a nicer person.

Its taken me 2 years 2 years to get a new door and lock fixed, tbf only 6 months worth of really chasing it up but 4 visits of oh we've come to fix your door, oh thats very damaged we're only a lock smith, next week some one else, same story, four visits of this, hours on the phone.

I was out when the people came round for the "stock check" i have the audasity of having a job, i get a letter saying as you weren't in tough shit we'll look again in 3 years.

Amd oh yeah you do only qualify if the kitchen and bathroom have been in 25 years yes!

My boiler is in the housing assoccations own words one of the oldest boilers they've seen but hay its working so.

Do you want to oay my mortage so i can own my own house? Are you offering op. Cos oh poor you owning your own house, how disadvantaged you are, do you own your own car as well?

Sorry my parents own their own homes, my brother is stuck paying two mortages because hes working in london and his house in the midlands won't sell. I completely understand the difficulties of having no money to upgrade your own home. But jeez your post is vile.

EssentialHummus · 09/07/2019 14:41

I think it’s fair to moan about cavalier workmen causing disruption and showing little regard for the tenants who live there (which seems to be a theme). But I’d secretly be thinking “You want a free kitchen in your lower than market rent home*, put up with it.”

*Certainly in London, anyway.

vampirethriller · 09/07/2019 14:44

It's not freeHmm and we pay rent and council tax too you know.

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 09/07/2019 14:44

If you rented a house (and yes, council tenants pay rent), how would you like three weeks' notice that the house you pay to live in in going to be subject to building works?

You may not be able to afford to refurbish your bathroom at the moment (nor can I), but if you could, you'd be bloody well scheduling it around your life (work, school dropoff, medical appointments) wouldn't you?

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 09/07/2019 14:44

Sorry - free kitchen??? Why do people keep going on about free????

We do pay rent the same as every other fucker

LadyRannaldini · 09/07/2019 14:45

When my late mother's house was modernised she was moved out for a couple of months, took us days to empty all her cupboards, she'd been there for thirty some years. I assume they don't do that now.

that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 · 09/07/2019 14:45

DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult
no one is saying you don't pay rent, but you don't get a bill for your new bathroom or kitchen do you? I don't know many private landlords who will change a bathroom and kitchen, and if they did then not up the rent to match!

Council rents here at at most a quarter of the private sector rates btw, whilst I completely understand it's not true anywhere, let's also be realistic about it. I can think of properties in central London with rents of a couple of hundred pounds when all the private properties around cost million to buy and thousands to rent. Just go on rightmove and look at the local prices, the figures don't come out of thin air.

If it's not the interest of the tenant to have things modernised for them, what is.

The sense of entitlement of some posters is astonishing.

CitadelsofScience · 09/07/2019 14:45

Three weeks notice is not a lot when the school holidays start in two weeks, Christ I'd never, ever book a major project like that in over the summer holidays.

And I assume they don't rock up with their outdoor toilet cubicle thing like builders doing major projects do. So she's potentially got kids in the house with major disruption, no access to make them lunch and to top it off she'll have workmen messing up her bloody loos!

Yes sounds utterly, bloody wonderful...

YetAnotherUser · 09/07/2019 14:46

Having seen the shite job the housing association did on "installing" the new kitchen in my kids mums flat, I think anyone is entitled to moan at the prospect of having it inflicted upon themselves.

that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 · 09/07/2019 14:47

We do pay rent the same as every other fucker
yes, rent, you don't get an extra invoice for the kitchen and bathroom do you? Hmm

WhoKnewBeefStew · 09/07/2019 14:47

YANBU

Magenta82 · 09/07/2019 14:48

The extractor fan in our bathroom is broken, it is causing everything to be covered in black mould, the paint is peeling off the celling because of the damp.

I could get a new fan and fit it myself for £30 or even pay a professional for £150 but we're not allowed.

If they do eventually get round to fixing it then we will get a couple of day's notice and I will have to take a day off work, they will replace it with the same cheap version that will break again and we will be back to square one.

Twotome · 09/07/2019 14:49

This post is nothing more than a council tenant bashing post. And all it comes down to is jealousy.

EssentialHummus · 09/07/2019 14:50

What that25 said. I also spent many years renting (at market price) and paying council tax, never got a kitchen into the bargain. There are probably lots of reasons to moan about being a council tenant, but this doesn’t seem to be one of them.

Gingerkittykat · 09/07/2019 14:50

YABU

Council houses are modernised to bring them up to a decent condition, not luxury renovations.

They treated me terribly when getting work done, turning up unannounced and expecting access to the whole house to do a survey even though it is on file I need notice of visits because of my mental health condition.

All I asked for is a little consideration, I was willing to be flexible.

They broke my neighbours cooker and washing machine and made loads of mistakes, she is still fighting them 2 years on. Unlike if you are paying privately you have no way to make sure them bring works up to standard.

People pay rent to live in council houses. They deserve them to be maintained and for the tenant to be treated with respect.

that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 · 09/07/2019 14:51

you can't defend the right to moan by telling other moaners to shut up because they're jealous Grin
if they are so jealous, then there must something to be jealous of 🤷

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 09/07/2019 14:51

Someone once posted on here that their friend had this happen to them, in the first week back from hospital with a newborn.

On what planet would any woman want contractors taking out the bathroom when she had a newborn?

LucheroTena · 09/07/2019 14:51

The council seem to be employing better contractors than they did years ago. My mum had hers done a couple of years ago (she had no choice in materials used, colours etc, it quite literally was a job lot). This was the first time it had been done since she moved in there as a toddler (my mum is now 70)! She was too dreading it as every time something needed doing it had been by Bodgit and Scarper Ltd. but they actually did a good job. As is usual for builders they kept disappearing to other jobs but they had a project manager who kept things reasonably tight. I reckon my poor mum has paid for that house several times over in rent.

purpleme12 · 09/07/2019 14:52

Well I private rent and to be honest if the landlord ever said to me I want to modernise your bathroom/ kitchen I'd be really happy. (He won't lol)
I be grateful yes because I would think it would never happen in the first place and I can't afford it