Council refurb...am I expecting too much ?aibu?

[bringitbackks]

I leave in a two bed house which I rent from my local council.
Lived here 10 years and love it.
I decorated 6 months ago then received a letter saying I was getting a new kitchen plus rewire done.
So a month ago works started and it was going to take 10 working days.
So I pack everything away and box it up and protective flooring gets lay.
The first day nobody arrived ...the second day nobody arrived (after having a day by day itinerary ) nobody told me why or informed me they weren't coming.
They left me with holes in the walls with wires on show ,the kitchen hasn't been painted (painters were meant to be here two weeks ago)
The kitchen cupboard shelves have all collapsed as the brackets have snapped (I was told they were a dodgy batch )
Two weeks I have rang the site manager to be told "work will be finished tomorrow " and nobody turns up
Nobody now replies to my messages and the site manager doesn't answer the phone to
Me.
So like I say my kitchen isn't painted or floor put down,holes everywhere (even tho the plasterer has been three weeks ago -he missed these holes )
And now my shelves in the cupboards have collapsed.
Aibu to think this is disgrace?
The protective floor is covered in pieces of wall from the wire and also cement /plaster and god knows what else.
I can't get at any of my stuff as it's all boxed up
I honestly want to cry
If they would tell me when they are coming back to finish the work I wouldn't mind as much also no decorating vouchers that were promised

Get off MN and on the phone/email to your landlord and council housing office NOW. This unacceptable.

Sounds like a nightmare OP.

I do get annoyed hearing 'you should be grateful'. I'm a council tenant and work and pay full rent.
Moved in here 7 years ago to bare floorboards, fence panels missing from back garden, broken gates, whole house desperately needing plastering and decorating. I was told that besides the actual 'structure' of the house, plumbing boiler and electrics, I am responsible for any other improvements/repairs. I had to carpet the whole house, plaster, decorate everything myself and pay for new fencing and gates. This has never been the case in any private rented housing I've lived in. Council tenants are not 'lucky' in terms of being given everything for free. I do feel lucky in terms of security of tenancy and affordable, although not cheap, rent. Agree that work carried out is often shoddy and sticking a plaster on problems rather than actually sorting them.

Hope you get sorted ASAP OP x

For those saying the kitchen is free and they pay a mortgage so don't get a free kitchen...
The rent covering the cost has already been covered, however, in addition and more to the point, if you OWN your house, you OWN your kitchen. A new kitchen that you fit and pay for adds value to your house, therefore adding to your own wealth. Hence you invest to increase your wealth.
As a renter, you don't own the kitchen, it is your landlords asset and raises the value of the landlords asset. The renter doesn't benefit from the growth in property value, and actually has no choice either. The OP hasn't asked for the kitchen to be redone, the council has it scheduled into their plan to maintain the value of THEIR OWN assets!
Some people on here really love to knock HA tenants, unfortunately in doing so not only do they show their really bad character, they also make themselves look pretty ignorant in the process.
I am a home owner by the way.

Formal complaint to CE of council and your local councillor, pictures on social media, send email to local papers, tv, just send the issue viral. You pay for these updates in your rent and they should not be about the cheapest work possible, but fit for purpose. Some of that you've shown appears unsafe and the contractors need sacking. The white paper on social housing is going to really hit this poor repair and care and they will be fined / very heavily penalised for not doing as they really should!! In some areas social housing only have new bathrooms /kitchens after 30 years and often what is removed was better than that which replaces it. Check out the changes www.housing.org.uk/our-work/together-with-tenants/social-housing-white-paper/

The jealousy on this post is crazy!! Oh its a council/HA property so be grateful since it's FREE! it isn't FREE! Us social housing tenants pay our rent and all our bills the same as you in private rented accommodation we just aren't paying out our backsides to a greedy landlord (which I guess is where the jealousy comes from)

To the OP what's happened to your home isn't acceptable, keep getting on at the housing provider and contact the MP/Council etc. Ignore the posters here who assume it's free and who emit jealousy because they think they have it harder than us in social housing. Those posters who own their own house need to get their jealousy in check as well, everyone knows when you OWN a house YOU pay EVERYTHING that the house needs doing. It's pathetic reading some of these comments and the discrimination is still sadly real. We have to be grateful for a bodge Job because we are 'lucky' enough to have a social house! Bet they also think we got given the house for free as well! Sorry to burst your bubbles we have to pay a deposit just like you guys!

To those with an underline of jealousy, please, don’t be, unless you would also like a replacement kitchen that lasts fuck all time before things start falling off or breaking. We had ours done in 2016, we take good car of it but I’ve lost count of how many cuboard doors fall off, they then come round and fit a plate thing on and reattach them which works for a while…. Mine was painted in incorrect type of paint so literally a week after it was signed off cracks started appearing and now it’s cracked and peeling everywhere, the plasterwork also blew and we have distemper in the plaster on the ceiling so that also looks awful. The extractor fan doesn’t work so we have to have the windows in the kitchen open all year round otherwise we get black mould.

we get damp throughout the property despite airing it out daily and minimising damp activities, every time a door hinge breaks, they come around, chisel out a section of the woodwork and splice in (badly) some more wood to screw the hinge into. My stopcock doesn’t fully turn off so we had to repair our dishwasher whilst water ran into a bucket that we had to empty every few minutes, if we ever have a leak we are expected to go outside to the street and turn it off there!

the contractors who come out aren’t always pleasant or honest, some I’ve know years and are lovely but some have an definite attitude of “well nobody does work on my house for free” which is appalling coming from someone working for an HA! My last encounter with neighbours builders he repeatedly swore at me after I asked a polite question! No point in reporting either as she had a workmate with him who would deny what was said.

when the property was being painted on the outside, the scaffolders borrowed(without asking) our nearly new wheelbarrow, flung metal clips etc into in and ruined it.

being jealous about someone having a kitchen put in is silly, it almost always involves substandard work, multiple problems/ongoing issues and a whole lot of wasted time waiting for builders/taking time off work etc etc

Some councils are really despicable. Many years ago, I lived in a council flat and the whole block got new kitchens. Well, some kitchen I should say, as they only allocated a certain number of units, meaning my kitchen was left with ridiculous gaps therefore I had to purchase the extra myself. The kitchens were from Magnet, so you may assume of decent quality, but no, these kitchens weren't in Magnet's brochure for "paying" customers, they were some budget, terrible quality ones they passed onto the council for an over-inflated price.

Many of their contractors aren't proper kitchen fitters. My neighbour's kitchen was fitted terribly, all handles wonky etc. She got the inspector round to complain and brought him into my flat to show difference in workmanship. The inspector noticed I'd put a small stud wall in, to house my freezer and my neighbour had installed spotlights in her kitchen ceiling. He told her if she was "awkward" regarding the fitting, he would report both of us for the work we'd undertaken without permission and we'd be forced to remove it all. He implied we should think ourselves lucky we got a "free" kitchen and did we expect the same quality as people who paid thousands to get theirs fitted?

Obviously we should have reported him, but we were young and he was really intimidating.

Give them hell. You deserve a decent, well fitted kitchen. Good luck.

Ignore the posters who hate Council tenants and don't understand how budgeting works
Call the housing officer. Contact Shelter or CAB. Go see your local councillor at their surgery. And if none of that helps, call the local newspaper and offer them a 'sad face' story.
Seriously, they shouldn't have left you like that. It sounds as though it's fallen through the cracks (possibly the ones they've left all over your house). You need to put yourself back at the top of their pile by being as pushy as possible.

How.is free?
The Op is renting a house from the council ,who is her landlord, and have updated the kitchen any landlord might do 🙄

Nah as clearly I’m as thick as shit. I have rented and I now finally own. It doesn’t matter it’s still a ‘free’ kitchen as someone else said so don’t speak to me like I’m a tit.
Should the work take this long no, but the person only said at least it’s free.

No, they don't. Because when you chose to purchase your home you took responsibility for saving and paying separately for these things. In return, your mortgage payments will be lower than the market or social rent on your property.

Wow can't believe it
Contacted the actual manger of the company and she was disgusted in the standards
Just had a message they will be here Tuesday at 8 am to complete everything

@TwinkleChristmas @Johnnysgirl @Hymnulop

It's not free. Yous have had some responses but no one actually tagging yous so yous see it's not free.

My rent has increased by £56 per month since moving in 5 years ago and it will continue to go up per month every April.

Every April they increase the rent per month to cover costs of maintenance! So let me assure you that nothing is free.

Kitchens/bathrooms/maintenence are paid for through yearly rent increases and majority of council rents are alot higher than what most people pay for mortgages. For example, my friends mortgage for a 3 bedroom detached house is less than my rent on a 2 bedroom council flat.

Nah as clearly I’m as thick as shit. I have rented and I now finally own. It doesn’t matter it’s still a ‘free’ kitchen as someone else said so don’t speak to me like I’m a tit. Should the work take this long no, but the person only said at least it’s free

Please explain how its free. Where is the actual money coming from to pay for it?

From the council/HA bank account. Which only has money in because rents are paid into it.

Not mears is it? My mother had a right mare with them over this type of stuff.

Great update. Hope it all goes well 😊 Enjoy your new kitchen.

@bringitbackks Great job! If they are not there by 8.01am on Tuesday get back on the phone to her.

Ignore all the people saying 'Oooh it's a free kitchen so put up with it.' You don't currently HAVE a kitchen and you pay your rent and council tax like everyone else.

Hope it gets properly sorted on Tuesday and get them to sort out those wonky sockets! Absolutely no excuse for it. Just shoddy work.

It doesn’t matter who pays what for what or who the kitchen adds wealth to. The point is that someone said at least it’s free they didn’t say the service was acceptable. The op isn’t paying for the kitchen so it is free. At least she hasn’t shelled out thousands of pounds to get this shoddy service. She’s got it sorted now and that’s great people jumping on someone because of their choice of words is ridiculous.

Oh that's brilliant. Really hope they turn up and everything gets sorted. I would be so upset in your shoes. That's beyond a bodge - absolute cowboys!

This is good advice but email and send the photos.

Sorry too late hopefully!

Eh yeah, but then you can rent any house and the landlord would renew faulty items/update kitchens. Rent is rent she hasn’t paid for a kitchen out her own pocket ffs she pays to live there.

I live in a council road. My neighbours are tenants like you (I'm a leaseholder so don't get kitchen refurbs, etc!) and they rarely deal with the contractors - if there is any problem, they are straight onto the council housing department. Next door are having a replacement brick balcony, which has involved scaffolding in their downstairs neighbour's lovely garden and rubbish all over her garden and then the builders all just left it like that and went "to another job" but we think they went on holiday. It's been like this ever since (about 5 weeks now). They were straight onto the council and a council person came to inspect and kept checking back and trying to contact builders. So, if the council are paying for the work, it is them you need to ask to chase it.

We had a new kitchen fitted ,just before the pandemic with our housing association, God they were terrible ,spent ad little time as possible actually doing any work ,left the tiling unfinished ,cupboards with mismatched doors because they didn't get enough doors of the same type a kitchen sink that didn't work properly ,cracked tiles.
When it was inspected i listed all the things wrong, and they then decided to get another company in to fix it all ,this was right in the middle of the pandemic, do they moved us out for two weeks to another property to finish it .

Eh yeah, but then you can rent any house and the landlord would renew faulty items/update kitchens. Rent is rent she hasn’t paid for a kitchen out her own pocket ffs she pays to live there

Where do you think the money comes from for replacement kitchens?

From the rental income

I need a fucking lie down.