To just walk out my council house.

[CoconutSky]

I hate despise this flat.
I’ve ended up in an adapted property with a wet room.
It’s riddled with damp because of the wet room, I’ve spent thousands on painting and decorating, carpeting when I moved in to make it nice. I fled DV, after less than 2 years it’s all had to come up and be replaced.
Wet room is being “repaired” but I don’t hold much hope.
I’ve no worktops, 4 kitchen cupboards and no space whatsoever and I’ve just had enough. I only realised the further adaptations when comparing my flat to my neighbours and I just feel like walking out. Communal hallway also stinks of cigarettes which comes into my home, HA are aware and have done nothing but send letters out. Despite it being a communal hallway an inspectors also said that the other tenants are okay to smoke cigarettes as it’s not illegal. It might not be illegal but I can’t open my windows cos it comes in all the bedrooms. DD’s stinks so bad of fags she’s in with me and that’s with the window closed.

Im so miserable, the wet room stinks, my shoes and bags have always got mould in. Im on the mutual exchange but no one wants flats and I can’t get a managed move, property is 2 beds and I’m “adequately housed”
I even asked if the housing association had a special register for adapted properties but they don’t.
I can’t afford private rented and wouldn’t pass a credit check due to my ex getting me in debt.

I don’t know what to do, I’m sick of phoning the housing association, sick of being upset and seeing plaster and paint just fall off the wall. I’m at my wits end and I feel like I’m trapped in this place.

I had an idea - I wonder if there's any engineering / architecture department at your university that you turn to for help and ideas?

Ditto law students or architecture / town planning / building control / facilities management students?

They might be willing to help on a friendly basis?

I commented the other day but still reading ,, consider fleeing domestic violence /abuse again, u can choose any council , they have to help you move even if you have to go to a refuge for a small amount of time … if this is your last resort take advantage you have suffered and been through DV in the past , so you’re not taking the piss it’s not nice to be living in these conditions .. stay strong ❤️

I also had an idea re the cigarette smoke - could you politely and gently approach your neighbours and ask them to smoke elsewhere? Tell them you've got asthma or some polite excuse so they don't think you're the 'smoking police' and get all ansty with you?

Also, you could write a polite and very carefully worded note (bearing in mind any one of them could show it to the housing and / or police and say you're harassing them - this is the sort of thing social housing tenants do in my experience).

The upside of any backlash would be it could support you needing to move. I've got violent criminally behaved neighbours. The more I complain about them, the more the housing pressure me to move to an alternate flat and they even wrote me support letters. Often they want the complainant 'out of the way' as they know they're not actually going to do repairs or deal with ASB.

Keep copies of all your dealings with the HA. Send a recorded delivery letter explaining that you are prepared to escalate the damp problem etc further to The Housing Ombudsman and remind them politely of their obligations as a Social Housing Provider including a gentle reminder of the new legislation including Awaabs Law. Contact your local Councillor . Keep your flat ventilated and see if you can borrow or purchase a Dehumidifier. I would ask if the HA can help you out to see if you are entitled to any help through the Household Support Grant available through your local council . You should also make them aware that you are covered by the reasonable homes standards so should have equal cupboards etc as your neighbours including adjustments that are reasonable if you are disabled etc. If you are please contact Scope who are very helpful and also Carers First closest to you as they are often more aware of what help will be locally available to you. Are you able to bid on other properties?

Complain again explaining that you have followed everything that you were told to do and it’s getting worse. Email Michael Gove at the Houses of parliament and ask him to get it looked into

Can you contract an independent surveyor? Present their findings to the Housing Dept alongside advice from CAB and Shelter? Make an appt to meet your MP and take photos. Call the local newspaper and have them run a 'sad face' article.

I was just coming to suggest something similar to@stargirl1701. Can you afford to get an independent agency to do a damp assessment?

I expect you'll have to play the game for the 3 month thing though, so they cannot say you haven't given it a chance. I think you're going to have to take a breather after the last fight and pysch yourself up for a second round. I know the Ombudsman have closed the case, but I would very much hope they would view it differently if you're straight back though the complaints system with evidence their "solution" hasn't worked.

Don't give up, you deserve the security of a HA place after everything you've been through.

HAs are complete cunts. Ive just received a letter saying that if i cancel the electric check with less than 24 hours notice this will be treated as failure to provide access to your property and legal action may follow. God forbid i have an emergency with my elderly mum or finally get the GP appointment to get my change in bowel habits looked into.

I take it you've cancelled the electrical check before then? They are a legal requirement for your landlord to complete. If tenants don't allow it to happen - even if you have a GP appointment - they can be in big trouble.

Be pragmatic. It's for your safety and has to be done in every rented property in the country. It's a big piece of logistical work for social landlords with lots of properties.

People have to be warned about the consequences of refusing access as there are plenty of people who will refuse just for the buggerance factor. Add in people who don't like people entering their homes, others with things to hide in their homes (extra people, pets, drugs, hoarding, whatever) and those for whom it's just plain complicated (health, communication etc) and LA have a lot to deal with.

If you have a genuine emergency and let them know as early as you can, it's vanishingly unlikely they'll treat it as a refusal.

@CornishPorsche Nope Been here thirty years this year and this will be the first electrical check

So all the more reason it needs done.

Its been booked

I own my home and unfortunately have to put up with a neighbours cigarette smoke. Leaving will probably end you up homeless.

Can you use shower curtains on suction cups to help ensure the wetroom shower drains? buy something like a large silicon bucket or even a baby bath to stand in, and position the hole over the wetroom drain hole.

Then run the humidifier in there as much as you can. Leave the door to the wetroom open when showering so that steam can escape.

You will have no kitchen cupboards at all and even less space in a travelodge.

You'd be mad to walk out.

You are a student, with a child. You are bankrupt (how are you even affording to study?)

If you want to be better off, you are more likely to get in a better position if you work, get off benefits and get yourself into a better position financially. The bankruptcy won't stay on your record forever and when its done you need to be ready to rebuild your life.

The council flat is your best chance at that, you aren't working to earn the money get anything better in the private sector

Oh they love a bit of this type of thing because it's legit reasons why they can apply to a court to have your tenancy revoked.

They're completely unreasonable and once they feel like targeting a tenant for harassment, it's relentless, but they never do repairs, maintenance, or deal with the real people perpetrating ASB or crime.

Keep it all in writing and get proof, dates, and times, and names of people you speak to when moving / cancelling appointments.

Why are you so hostile?

There are laws about how much notice a landlord or their agent needs to provide to enter the property.

If you think I'm hostile@LittleMissSunshiner rather than practical, that's definitely a you problem.

That poster had the correct notice by the sounds of it, it's for their own benefit yet chooses to call the LA cunts rather than consider the wider issues behind the letter they have received. It was a simple explanation of why they would receive a letter with legal ramifications clearly spelt out.

Less than 24 hrs is not correct notice

Maybe I misunderstood the tone of what you'd written

I live in HA property in a large estate and altho my HA refuse to do any repairs / maintenance / or deal with ASB and crime, they do have an incessant trail of randoms roaming round the estate who may or may not be genuine, door knocking and asking to check this that or the other inside our flats on various issues.

Because I live in a dangerous high crime area, I decided not to allow anyone into my home unless they had pre-arranged it after first checking my legal rights.

Oddly, nobody wants to check the important things like fire alarms or electrics and in all my time in tenancy this has never been done despite me requesting it. HAs are so shady and everything they do is disorganised and random.

I do agree that when properly requested to do so a tenant must always allow the landlord / agent to enter the flat, most especially in relation to fire, electrics, and gas safety checks.

I think you misread the PP first - she has been given plenty of notice by the sounds of it. She has, however been warned that cancelling it with less than 24hrs notice is problematic. Not the same thing.

Please will you stop derailing every HA related threads with your beef with your HA.

Your contribution is of no benefit to the OP.

I’m not on benefits. I do work. I get student finance also. “How am I affording to study” by being bankrupt and not paying the debts that my daughters father obtained in my name.

@CoconutSky she assumed you are on benefits because you live in social housing There is a LOT of that kind of shit on here.

You'll have a lot better chance of alternative private accommodation once the bankruptcy is discharged - how long ago was it?

When was the extractor fan put in?

You have options to try now to a. improve the situation and b. complain to higher levels of the organisation.

@Benibidibici People on benefits, supplementary benefits, very low incomes are able to study for virtually free. It does make sense to study if you can for the longer term gain. Taking a lower paid job will not enhance your housing propects

OP, any chance of that photo of the bathroom and the floor so we can see if theres a) something just batshit wrong with it that you can put into another complaint and/or b) something we can suggest to make it better?