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!

Other than a TA in a school, the others can often book annual leave if needed, just like I have today for a hospital appointment.

The issue of workers not turning up, being late, cancelling last minute etc should be addressed separately.

There isn't an easy answer, getting any work done is a ballache and just because someone is paying for work doesn't necessarily mean that they get anymore choice in dates.

I wouldn’t dream of using a builder who somehow expected me to be off six days to accommodate them.

But, this often isn’t needed for social housing tenants either. They may have to let in the workmen but they could give them/ a neighbour a key like everyone else does. Just because they’re SH tenants doesn’t mean they have to sit in the house all day watching the workmen

Lots won’t take a key and my neighbours work so can’t let them in

So how do your neighbours get their kitchen done? Every Ha I’ve worked for would do the whole block/ street at once?

I never said Council tenants didn't deserve new kitchens and bathrooms, or should just be grateful and suck it up, read the post people, it's just the moaning about it. Yes loads of Council properties are in shit state and need updating -
THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE DOING!! It is just not a feasible option for Councils to fit it in to suit thousands of tenants around their schedule. If they gave loads of notice that could then be changed as other jobs run over and then people would moan they didn't turn up when they were supposed to, they cant really win!

Question - what happens if you are in a council property and you do, for example, put a shower in? Would they know? Do they do inspections like with private rented or would you get away with it until you moved out?

I’m just curious! And everyone is entitled to a moan, it was idle chit chat over a counter. Disruption is disruption regardless of circumstances surely.

What started me down this road was (apart from my own experiences) seeing a tenant get forced bullied and gaslighted into having the same dodgy dangerous workmen into her home time and time again. Took them several months to put in a boiler and six rads. 20 appointments. Some they didnt turn up for Some they just turned up to take photos. They flooded her bedroom then insisted the carpet was already wet. And that it wasnt them.

She asked the HA to use someone else They promised they would if LG fucked up again. They did screw up again Then the HA went back on their word. And said Sorry but it will be Liberty Gas attending again.

There have been safety concerns with them as well so i phoned Gas Safety in April 2015 and was told "we cant do anything until something bad happens" So no prevention then.

Grenfell did NOT happen in a vacuum. Its a whole sinister culture towards social housing tenants. Grenfell shocked me but didnt surprise me. Ive kept my PMs notes and my 2015 diary. Because i believe there will be another Grenfell because the culture hasnt changed
This is why there needs to be a full far reaching social housing enquiry.

They can win a little more, by providing a better service. Some of the things tenants experinece are completely unacceptable. They tell their neighbours then of course their neighbours dread having work done too

@InglouriousBasterd no they don’t inspect and they are unlikely to find out you’ve done it until you move out or if they send a surveyor round to spec up for a new bathroom. There isn’t much in the way of consequence- in theory they could make you take it out but in reality as long as it’s safe they won’t- but they will not fix or maintain it, as they would if you had left their shower in.

@Passthecherrycoke Our HA wont come in and do anything without the tenant there

And contents insurance wont pay out if anything goes wrong because the insurance company sees it as you choosing not to be there

Ive explained this so many times im thinking of getting a fucking template made up.

Pass I’m the only person on this road in a council house

We don’t all live in housing estates full of council houses you know

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2595702-To-wonder-how-this-company-is-still-in-business

Many people do @EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall, especially housing association tenants. That’s not usual @HelenaDove and I’m doubly surprised your contents insurance company has a special set of terms and conditions just for social housing tenants

Thanks Pass! I was just wondering. I get that they don’t want shoddy work (other than what they do themselves) but it seems archaic to dictate things like baths only / no curtain rail etc.

YANBU but as suspected, this thread wont go well.
My sister has had two lovely new bathrooms and kitchens, loft insulation, full set of smoke alarms (and even gets free batteries for it) in the space of 15 years. Not many homeowners can afford that.
Oh and she DOES pay far less than the going rate for renting privately too.

You’re supposed to ask permission- most people I’ve worked with are quite practical about granting it but obviously you get the odd jobsworth who thinks it’s easier to say no to everything than actually think about it.

The only exception (more so recently) would be doors, because HAs are now starting to discover how many tenants have replaced their expensive fire doors with other doors and obviously, post Grenfell, they’re hotter on that

@maddiemookins16mum no one is giving her replacement batteries maybe they just gave her a set to get started with.

And what do you mean not many Homeowners can afford that? Of course many can! I’ve done more than that in the last 3 years 4 people on my street are currently having extensions put in

They don't turn up when they're supposed to, or very rarely. Twice they've broken other parts of my house which I've then had to wait weeks to have fixed.
Someone, human, shat in the hallway of my block last summer, in the middle of the stairs, and when I called the number for cleaning they said they don't come out more than twice a year for cleaning now so I should just step over it. It was liquid.
But hey free kitchen.

Oh and the amount of complaints we had from people in block who didn't like the fact we requested that they remove belongings from the communal area was outstanding. We are trying to prevent injury and deaths and yes your door mat may well cause an injury in a smoke filled stairwell.

URGH @vampiretriller that’s beyond grim

Insurance companies wont pay out if you have chosen to leave strangers in your home and something goes wrong whether you are a home owner or a tenant

Ive had the front door of my flat replaced with a fire door. They replaced their OWN door not the imaginary one i installed.

Free batteries
Yes it's lower rent than private, that's the point of council housing, isn't it.

This was a really interesting read this week about the beginnings of local authority housing and where it all began and for who.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/iZKMPd0wjP/council_housing

We had a rewire and they had to rip all our relatively new carpets up and they have never relaid the same again.

We didn't get to choose when it was done either. So couldn't plan to do it when we were considering new carpets for example, just ruined the existing ones we have. I think she has every right to complain. The person you overheard may have recently redecorated. Or may be struggling to get time off work to be there when the work is being done.

Not always Vampire it depends where you live .