To clarify exactly what a council house looks like

[Lifegoeson5]

So many posts about council housing and 'benefit scroungers' getting 'free' housing.
I pay £150 a week for this...

Cactus there are many tenants who have been left without running water One of whom used to post on MN I dont know whether she still does. Its not so rare.

I spotted this horror on rightmove, today. There's probably landlords out there who would spend nowhere near £5000 on it before letting it out.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-75837505.html

"Many private landlords also do botch jobs on repairs, when they do repairs at all, that create risks themselves"

Meanwhile in the real world of social housing.........
www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/havering-council-tenants-report-to-ombudsman-1-6383664?fbclid=IwAR2I9CxUOlE7kAPHgPyGuJkzsRGFPXRWtAO8D8onrpDM_5GwqnQWZ6Bp-vo

A family is planning to take legal action against Havering Council after three years of misery in a home contractors said was up to scratch.

Retired bailiff Paul Lewis, 52, daughter Sophie and her three-year-old son moved into the house in Hilldene Avenue in September 2016
An inspection in the summer had given the council property a clean bill of health after basic renovations costing £6,700.

But from their first night, the tenants said, a series of nightmares - from chronic leaks to mould to rats, and the recent discovery of asbestos in the roof - have blighted their lives and led to further repair works costing tens of thousands to the taxpayer.

Mr Lewis, who is disabled and cared for full-time by his daughter, said: "We told them we've had enough of this place. We can't go on living like this

"This was meant to be my last home but it hasn't worked out. Instead they're digging their heels in, my grandson is caged up like an animal in the summer and we're running alive with rats."

In June 2016 an operative for Harold Hill-based contractor the Breyer Group inspected the empty property and found no issues with the plumbing or electrics.

Breyer was awarded a £35million contract in 2014 for repairs and void works in Havering's 10,000 homes

The move was controversial at the time as the firm's last contract with Southwark Council had been terminated over a "life-threatening incident
The contract expired in March 2019 but has been extended until 2021, at a rough cost of £3.3m a year, before Havering begins re-procurement.

On the night the family moved in, the upstairs flooded as the radiators turned out to only be gaffa-taped to the walls

Mr Lewis said, "An emergency plumber came out and said 'How the hell have they signed this place off?'."

Black mould that had been "washed down" for £8.82 in the summer was already re-growing and rainwater seeped through the ceilings from a a leak in the roof. The leaks, the family said, "destroyed everything we had

Builders were drafted in in October 2017 to replace the old tiles and rip down the chimney stack, which it emerged was on the brink of collapse.

The electrics cabinet was out of date and pronounced "unsatisfactory" in a later inspection, while wiring in the ceiling roses were not earthed: a possible fire hazard

In mid-2017 the family reported concerns about rats and mice to the council. The garden was baited but huge rats have been found scuttling across the garden and in the kitchen cupboards, and are now thought to be living in the cavity walls.

Sophie Lewis, a former NHS secretary, told the Recorder: "My son wakes up screaming 'The rats are going to bite me, mummy'.

We lost our whole summer; we couldn't have the back doors open. How do you explain to a three-year-old that he can't go outside and play?".

Mr Lewis's floor had to be torn up after birds found their way in through a hole left open in the wall

The bathroom - which the council paid £2,700 to be brought up to "decent homes standard" in 2016 - has now been ripped out and replaced three times
n spring 2019, contractors investigating the rats in the loft made another discovery: a full sheet of chrysotile asbestos, somehow not flagged up by roofers in 2017.

One thing the Breyer operative had flagged up in summer 2016 was the need for an asbestos survey.

And throughout the roof works in 2017 dust from that part of the house had been flooding the living room.

The family, two of whom have asthma, were told that they would be moved as a matter of urgency. But then the council said it was safe for them to stay as long as the material was not "disturbed" - although the sheet was already broken

The family complained to Havering Council and the Housing Ombudsman. In June 2019, a member of Havering's complaints team upheld it, saying: "I have seen evidence of service failure and evidence procedures have not been followed."

They also apologised "for the failure in services provided to you dating back to the start of your tenancy."

But in a letter to Julia Lopez MP in August, the council's interim head of housing, Bernadette Marjoram, wrote that to date all repairs issues in the property were caused by "wear and tear", adding: "The correct processes were followed at the time."

The family have said that once re-housed, they will be seeking compensation for the council for the thousands they have paid on independent expert help.

Mr Lewis said one sub-contractor alone told him they had made more than £60,000 from work since they moved in

He said: "A few months ago they knew we didn't want to be around anymore and fudged it internally, and they still haven't dealt with the problems. I can't carry on living like this. They owe me compensation for everything we've been through."

Analysis by homelessness charity Shelter this year found that one in 10 social housing tenants had reported an issue with their home more than 10 times

Some 56 per cent of tenants surveyed in the UK had experienced a problem - from electrical hazards to gas leaks to faulty lifts - in the past three years

The charity has backed calls from campaign group Grenfell United for a new regulator for social housing Chief executive Polly Neate said:

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: "Tinkering with the current system just isn't good enough when people have lost trust in it to keep them safe."

The Breyer Group did not respond to a request for comment and Havering Council did not initially respond.

However, upon publication of this article, a Havering Council spokesman did then respond, describing Mr Lewis' case as "very complex" and claiming that the issues highlighted in our reporting of his living conditions "do not tell the whole story".

The spokesman added: "We have done and continue to do everything we can to resolve certain problems at the property. We are also supporting the tenants in finding a new home where we hope they will be happier.

And aye, DH grew up in social housing and his parents worked - dad down the mines for as long as he could manage between there being any mines left to work in and his health allowing him to work.

helena so why don't you and everyone else with problems give up your tenancies and move to the private sector if its so much better? Why do social housing waiting lists exist outside London rather than just a waiting list for cheaper private's?

Why dont private tenants give up their tenancies and buy if its so much better?

See more than one can play that game.

Private tenants are renting because they cant afford a mortgage. So will reply with "we cant afford to"

So what makes you think social housing tenants can afford private rentals Its the same principle.

Certain leaseholders saw themselves as better than SH tenants too. Till they realised they had the same/similar cladding too. Then all of a sudden they wanted the support from tenant campaigns.

The fact that you have only posed the question to the social tenant tells me all i need to know.

Im not in London and have no desire to be.

The fact that you have only posed the question to the social tenant tells me all i need to know.

You do complain an awful lot about social housing. It does kind of beg the question, what are you getting out of it? If it's cheaper rent, then maybe that's something to be happy about.

YANBU.

I lived in housing association properties for 10 years and it was never like this. Give environmental health a call and make sure you inform your council in writing of this and any further actions.

At no point have I disputed that private is more expensive helena but as you did, I thought you must have some alternative explanation.

I'm fully aware that private is unaffordable for many, including many in them that are on lower incomes than some in social housing. And that in most parts of the uk benefits will cover sh rent but not private, so people are paying top ups from the minimum the law says they should live on.

I'm aware there are dodgy smaller private landlords, but compared to sh their tenants have very little power to complain.

I'm aware that bedroom tax has effectively always applied in private but only relatively recently and with exclusions in sh.

I'm aware that even the newer sh shorter tenancies are more secure than private.

I know full well why many people are desperate for social homes, but as you seemed so keen to imply social tenants are getting the worst deal I assumed you had some grounds for your belief.

Entropy that post has the distinct whiff of pissed offness that im able to back up what im saying.

So if the private renters on this thread suddenly got a rent decrease tommorrow you would be telling them the same

Im just interested................

I do have grounds Its all over my posting history FFS. Gaslight much?!

Why do you want a race to the bottom?

"'m aware there are dodgy smaller private landlords, but compared to sh their tenants have very little power to complain"

You are aware that housing associations do NOT come under the FOI right?

helena I posed it to the only person repeatedly banging on about how bad social housing is compared to private.

Why are you accusing people of gaslighting you? Surely we should reserve that for people who are, you know, actively engaged in gaslighting?

I wasnt comparing I was trying to point out that ALL tenures have the same problem. No matter who you are renting from. The tenancies in SH have changed too. I simply linked in examples.

These threads are always the same. People poke at social tenants then get annoyed when the SH tenant points out that its not quite like that

In my example above i have even highlighted the bits where a contractor got other SH contracts despite a life threatening incident. Rydon had no trouble procuring contracts post June 2017 either,

But no its cheaper rent is the reply.

And its not always cheaper as @x2boys myself and others have pointed out.

Gaslighting? ffs, victim complex much.

Your posting history is full of social housing complaints, I know. What I'm asking is what grounds do you have to continue with the fallacy that the tenants are getting a worse deal than their counterparts in private?

You're aware that disabled Joe Bloggs, low income Jane and Bill the carer are too frightened of eviction to complain about their ll, Mr btl get rich quick, and even if all three are aware of each other they don't have the same power as a residents association?

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/the-rise-and-fall-of-council-housing-56139

The policy shift reflected a political division between Conservative politicians who believed council housing should properly be reserved for the neediest (the market would provide for the rest) and those on the left who saw it as serving ‘general needs

Full employment and rising living standards after the Second World War reinvigorated the sense that council housing catered predominantly for a relatively prosperous and aspirational working class. But, from the 1970s, politics and economics combined to lower its status and that of its community. The National Rent Rebate Scheme implemented in 1973 (it became housing benefit in 1982), increasing access to council housing for the less well-off, was a significant factor in the shift

In the 1980s, residualisation may have been a partly unintended consequence of housing policies pursued with varying ideological intent

Since 2010, and more so since the return of single-party Conservative government in 2015, we’ve seen something further: welfarisation – ‘a conception of social housing as a very small, highly residualised sector catering only for the very poorest, and those with additional social “vulnerabilities”, on a short-term “ambulance” basis

You clearly havent read my posting history that well Or you would know that my DH is disabled.

Hope OP isnt a journo doing a piece on MNs attitudes to SH tenants

YABU, that's what your council house looks like.

I have recently moved to a 2 bedroom council property that is £90pw. I worked with the council to get it cleaned up, I e I stripped all the bedrooms and living room of the 70's wallpaper painted 19million times, they came in and re plastered each room.

I then painted the rooms matt white, except DS who wanted a "soft green" bedroom. I provided carpets and furniture and steam cleaned the house top to bottom.

Each day the windows are opened for 30minutes to "air" the property and then the heating goes on 6pm till 9pm then 5am till 7am each day.

I clean, I hear I air the property, no problem with damp or condensation.

If she is shes struck gold!

I never said they are getting a worse deal They are now getting the SAME deal because of people wanting a race to the bottom

I grew up in a council house and it wasn't like that. It was lovely. Wish I could have the opportunity to have one as my private rent is pricey making it harder to be able to save for a deposit for a house.

The mould you would have to sort yourself. I heard black mould remover is pretty good at removing it. The picture of your window looks like it is badly aired and a bathroom window? So definitely air it out.
The little crack in your wall is easy to repair with a bit of filler and paint so they probably won't do that either.

The windowsill they should definitely do though as no offence that's a sight for sore eyes and not fair to leave you with that.