Will I ever win against Housing association complaint?

[H12345]

We are unbelievably lucky to have a HA property that we look after and so it’s a beautiful home.

Our HA removed about 60 tiles from our kitchen in August and said they would rebook a job to replace them but we didn’t hear anything. Started chasing after a few weeks and was told a couple of times October / November time that the reason it’s taken so long is they need to get matching tiles or come up with another solution so we were happy to wait till January where we raised a complaint as still not booked.

our complaint sat with the HA for a month with no update even though we chased weekly and no one letting us know what the process is to escalate the complaint further.

we finally got a response February where complaint was raised to stage 2 and £20 compensation offer for inconvenience.

now the complaint is at stage 2 the work was booked in within a week but they will only put up cheap, none matching tiles and basically been told it’s tough if we were told we would get anything else. We postponed the work as wanted to speak to someone first and all the workers still turned up it was literally like we were being massively pushed into making a rushed, uninformed decision.

we have every conversation since August in writing. AIBU to want to HA to honour what they’ve promised and we waited months for?

I find this whole situation so stressful and can’t believe how poorly HA treat their residents so is it really worth the fight?

Can't you buy tiles and do it yourself?

You have a cheap property provided for you and you are complaining about tiles? Just accept the non matching ones or as the pp said, do it yourself.

Why did the HA remove the 60 tiles? Tiles don’t just fall off.

if possible just do yourself. You get what you want then rather than mismatching tiles.

Buy your own tiles?

I'm afraid that, if the HA can't easily source tiles that match the existing ones, then non-matching tiles are what they'll put up. I used to work entirely with clients in social housing, and have seen loads of properties that have non-matching tiles when they haven't been able to match the original.

Social housing landlords do this all the time. They've compensated you for the delay in completing the job, so I doubt if your complaint will get you any further. As upthread, you have the option of having the job done to your specification at your own expense.

I can kind of see it from their point of view more I think; If matching tiles don’t exist they can’t magic them up.

How many more tiles would it take to retile the whole area in new, different but matching tiles?

So those of us in HA housing should accept less?

HA properties are classed as affordable housing not social housing. You'd be surprised at the rent.
We have a 3 bed end of terrace property, HA, been here 6 years. Rent started at £160 per week, and has obv increased yearly... we currently pay £184 per week, going up to £192 in April... not cheap

It looked like around 8 tiles were loose but when they started pulling them off lots came with them! Typical with this house what seems like a quick and easy job turns into a big one.

The frustrating thing is they haven’t even looked for matching tiles. There as been no reason why we waited 6 months just literally been told “we only fit standard”.

We didn’t accept the compensation as don’t want money we just wanted the job to be done to a good, nice standard as the HA promise they do.

We would do job ourselves as do most things but this would cost us tiles and a tiler when it’s not our responsibility.

Contact the Housing Ombudsman if you're unhappy with how they've dealt with your request/complaint.

Generally they are cheaper in comparison to private renting, HA is social housing, you don’t pick them like a private rent. You are writing that like it’s just a sensible choice, and we all know getting a social property is much more involved .

op, I don’t think you will win this, it’s not like they are refusing, you don’t effectively have a right to matching tiles.

the only way round it is if you intend to stay there a long time, do it yourself. Otherwise, you will need to live with it I think

Those saying for OP to do it themselves... People (myself included) in HA homes generally are on lower income and therefore can't afford to do these jobs themselves. Also, some HA don't allow tenants to do these sort of jobs themselves. My tenancy allows basic painting and wallpapering but I wouldn't be allowed to start messing around with tiles.

Difficult to empathise with a non issue like this tbh.

What about getting some stick on tiles? I got some nice ones from home bargains.

You could put tike stickers over the tiles, for example.

Ho much are tiles and a tiler? You could have saved up by now?

I think I would be asking how there came to be non standard times if they only fit standard ones? It might be easier to get them to replace the remaining tiles with the standard tiles than the other way round?

Is there any way to argue they remove the rest of the tiles and do the whole thing in the new tiles, or even make sure it’s a whole wall or something?

Thanks for comments some really helpful suggestions so appreciate them all.

Im definitely going to see if I can source the tiles myself and ask them to fit them or look into the stick on tiles. I would paint them as a huge fan of Frenchic and already painted our kitchen and wrapped our worktops but as new tiles they are suggesting are a totally different size that would look naff.

I thought the standard used to set "affordable" rents was to use the local housing allowance rate.

The LHA rate is based on the average of the bottom 30% of rents, so considerably below the average market rent. Where I live, the LHA for a 3-bed property is only 50% of the average market rent - a bit under £1200 as opposed to £2,400.

Clearly, the difference will not be so marked in all areas, but if that's the standard they use, your rent will still be in the bottom 30% for the area, so cheap in relative terms.

Can’t you just do it yourself? Why do you have to get so stressed and rely on the HA for everything? Then you can have exactly what you want. Tiles are cheap enough from B&Q and there are instructional videos online or you can pay someone a couple of hundred to do it yourself. Make the house your own 🤷‍♀️

@Littleloveydovey
Nope. Social housing is run by local councils. HAs are classed as affordable housing, you have to have an affordability check.
Yes you bid on them, but you don't automatically get them if you are 1st
I know this because we were in social housing (3 bed maisonette at £89 per week) before we moved to our HA property

@SouthCountryGirl that's exactly how some people think about HA tenants or local authority tenants. They should be grateful for any shoddy work they get, they don't deserve them or their homes to be treated with respect.

Let's look at Grenfell, where 72 people lost their lives, 100s made homeless and traumatised.

They had been complaining about windows not fitting, drafty, not opening closing. It was totally shit workmanship and happened in council accommodation, because they absolutely dreadful attitude of "fuck then", they should think themselves lucky we've done anything for them. Those drafts etc helped fuel a deadly fire.

Would that type of shit go on in a private block the the borough of Chelsea & Kensington? No, of course it wouldn't, the companies involved would've dealt with it. The council didn't listen to Grenfell residents, they ignored them, didn't get the companies responsible back, like they would in their own homes. Because the tenants should be grateful for any old shit.

I appreciate that tiles are not a fire threat, but dismayed that because HA tenants are HA tenants then they can have their homes that they live in ruined, by lazy, uncaring people.

OP is also get some tiles yourself, if not maybe they would consider a complete re tile? Certainly you don't want tiles of a different size, it'll annoy you no end

I’m with the OP. Just because it’s a HA doesn’t mean they don’t have rights and should be treated fairly .

i would push for the lot to be done on what ever they are offering so at least they match .

time to stop treating people in social housing as second class citizens . Rent is paid . Therefore a service is expected. Clearly the HA has failed to provide a timely service .

Well, yes. You get what you pay for. I'm on a low income and while I'd love to have a perfectly matching home, I have to make do because I can't afford any better at the moment. Affordable housing provided by a HA should be safe, warm and comfortable. Matching tiles are a nice add on but not worthy of a complaint.