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

Well done OP, glad it's sorted.
For those who still think the kitchen/bathroom replacements are "free" they are not. The rent increase next year will be %wise slightly more than previous years. It may not be much but it will be there, so even if we don't pay full whack outright we do pay towards it. The same as if a private LL does a referb, it's added to the rent the tenants pay....because no LL is going to do it for free are they?

Even if it was free (which clearly anyone with more than a toddlers grasp of economics can figure out it ISN'T!)...

This is shitty work and shitty service, and someone is being paid good money to provide said shitty work and shitty service, and I bet when they bid for the job, they didn't say 'we will do a shitty job of it' did they!

What will you lot say when I get a DFG funded kitchen and bathroom - will it be ok if that all falls apart on me, if the trades people trash my home, piss me about and do a sub-standard job, purely because I won't be paying for it (actually I'll have to pay for all the bits that are not deemed necessary within the remit of the grant, meaning if they only do the 'free' bit, I'd have just 2/3 of a kitchen and it would be unusable).

OP, kick up a big fuss, loads of photos, not just to the housing officer but the company the fitters are from, be the squeaky wheel it is the only way!

SH landlords only buy contract kitchens and they get them at a substantial discount because they do so many refurbs every year. They get them much more cheaply than any individual could.

Council housing rental income is ringfenced, it can't be used for anything other than the management and maintenance of the properties they own, and it can't be subsidised from councils' revenue budgets. They build up a small surplus from rents every year to pay for upgrades, ie they save up for it, just like owner occupiers do.

But the money to pay for it comes from the tenants, so it's not free.

For massive refurbishments of whole council estates, they get permission from central government to borrow the money. But even then, it's not free, because the money has to be repaid from rental income, so in that sense it's like having a mortgage and using part of the rent to pay off the loan. I suspect HA's have a similar arrangement.

That's not how it works at all. But thanks for the Jackanaory story.

Get everything in writing - email your housing officer , local councillors and MP with a timeline, details of the broken agreements and withdrawal of communication and include photos. Say that you will need to claim payment for any further time taken off to get this shoddy work corrected and finished. And invite the councillors and/or MP over for a cup of tea to view the lovely mess that you have been left in in person. Don't rely on anything said by the council or contractor in a phone call - if they make arrangements or any more excuses repeat them back word for word in an email copied to all parties. I suspect that a solution will soon be speeding towards you.

@Owlsinmybedroom

We are in a similar situation. We do have a sink as the utility was ok.

Our house did have a ‘kitchen’ for mortgage, which was units saturated from a broken toilet leakage 🤢

Obviously we removed that as you can’t cook or store anything in that.

But I agree we are on the same team. PP was an idiot if they bought a house without knowing full well they can’t afford a kitchen.

We bought knowing full well we would live out of a makeshift kitchen for a number of years; a sacrifice to maximise house budget and it’s got absolutely nothing to do with OPs shoddy council kitchen. PP is being a quite a bit silly.

I'm pretty sure the rent for a year on the place I live is more than the council paid for it when they bought it

It's not hard to understand that the rent paid goes towards maintanance of the house , it's not like it's mortgaged. Having a new kitchen every 20 years that starts falling to bits fairly soon after it is put in is hardly a luxury

Mine works out about £100 a month less than those around me that are private rented. They all have much better kitchens and bathrooms than I do as have all the private rented places I've lived in

Of course you pay more rent thats how rent works.

Also it is free, I have been renting for 15 years nearly and dont get a new kitchen. I rent privately because there are no spare council houses (I was homeless and on the top of the list for 3 YEARS before private renting).

People who own dont get free work, people who rent privately dont get free work, most people cant even get a concil house and on top of the free work you also have the right to buy your home in the end at discounted rates... you are very lucky compared to most.

Also it is free, I have been renting for 15 years nearly and dont get a new kitchen. I rent privately because there are no spare council houses (I was homeless and on the top of the list for 3 YEARS before private renting).

I guarantee that if your LL put in a new kitchen your rent will increase more than usual in order to pay for it, or a portion of the rent you are paying now pays for any repairs or future referbs.....or do you think you are just paying for the "bare bones" of the home you live in?

Also it is free, I have been renting for 15 years nearly and dont get a new kitchen. I rent privately because there are no spare council houses (I was homeless and on the top of the list for 3 YEARS before private renting)

When your kitchen needs replacing, your landlord will replace it. And he or she will use the money they've collected in rent from you to pay for it.

Lots of people on here are adamant that the tenants rent covers refurbishments, have they ever worked in the finance department of social housing providers? I have, and l disagree.
Social housing providers have huge staff overheads compared to private landlords, as there is legislation holding them to higher standards. They need housing officers to deal with the anti social behaviour, & to try to minimise rent arrears, both those roles involed much staff time driving out to visit and try and help tenants.
In one role I saw the overall budgets, there was no excess of income over expenditure to add to a fund for major repairs as many on here are claiming happens; all income was needed for overheads and what they class as 'responsive' or 'day to day' repairs. I can't remember now but there was probably also an allocation for planned maintenance, eg programme of repainting exteriors, but not for any improvements or major repairs (capital expenditure), when this was done a grant was given by the Housing and Communities Agency, funded by central government.
If properties are still owned by a council, they can and do fund refurbishments from council tax ( I do realise that a minority of the tenants will be working and paying full council tax themselves), here is an example from the council tax expenditure for this year for Southend, which l am surprised to see includes funding for new builds, I had no idea this could be funded from council tax. I have also included figures for 2017 as that year came up when l searched, it shows £7.8m from council tax to be spent on improving council housing. I know that another earlier year around 20% of the entire council tax spend was for fitting new kitchens and bathrooms to the tower blocks they own, which they now plan to demolish!

A working kitchen isn't a "freebie" that tenants get as an extra!

A kitchen is part of the rental agreement - when you rent a house it has to come with a kitchen, bathroom, heating, a water supply.

It's like going to a restaurant and saying I paid for a meal, but I got a chair to sit in while I was there FREE!!!
Don't complain that your chair only has 3 legs and is falling over, it's a freebie
If you were eating at home you'd have to pay for your own chair FFS

I own my home, and before I bought it I rented privately for 15 years (and at no point had my kitchen replaced). I am also capable of understanding the concept of a housing revenue account and don't believe we should be aiming to drag social housing down to the standards of the grabbiest private landlord.

Why not aim to build more social housing, or hold private landlords to some sort of standards (really any standards will do)? Who benefits when we all act like crabs in a bucket?

Of course private rented houses get 'free work'
What do you think will happen if the kitchen in your rental home needs replacing?
Will you have to do it yourself?
Will you just live without a kitchen?
No, the landlord will replace it.

In my last rented house do you think I got a 'free boiler' and a 'free kitchen tap' because they had to be replaced? I couldn't take them with me when I moved though...

My kitchen hasn't been updated since the 1940s. If I were getting a free one I wouldn't care if it took a year.

Why do people think it’s free to rent? It’s hugely expensive. And the kitchen will never belong to the tenant. (Tho in this case that’s a good thing). People are so sour. If you own your home you’re lucky.

Why don’t you put one in yourself then? What are you waiting for?

The council only put in new kitchens and bathrooms when they are forced to by decent homes policy. The tenant doesn’t get to choose new kitchens when they fancy. And the work is done as cheaply as possible. If you doubt me read the op and look at the photos.

Is it falling to bits after all that time ? If not I'll swop you for my council one

I agree the cost is free in that the tenant is not responsible for the cost of the refurbishment however it’s not free in terms of time/stress/ mess and at times even cost (phone calls, annual leave) etc… most tenants will have to use annual leave and spend much needed downtime trying to resolve issues that should have been fixed first time around/timely manner.

What do you imagine this " free " kitchen might look like?

Well if you can afford to take a year off work, then use that money to replace your 1940s kitchen?

The kitchen is "free" at the point of installation, however it is being paid for via rent both before and after that point.

What do people think the council are doing with the rent, putting it into their bank account and not using it and saving it up for their retirement? No they are paying staff, servicing properties, upgrading properties etc?

Tbh a 1940,s kitchen would probably be in better condition then my "free" housing association kitchen, things were built to last in those days .

This. I'm sick of being made to feel that l should be grateful when the council does something in my home. They never keep to times and expect you to be in all day. Its a legal contract l pay for living there and being provided with the service they have outlined in said contract