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 wonder if you could ask for a suitability review of the property if it’s been adapted for someone with disabilities making it unsuitable for non disabled tenants.

I also second reporting them to EHO at the council for not repairing the damage caused by the wet room flooring - specifically the rotten skirting boards, door and the mould.

If it were me, I'd find a newspaper to take the story (with photos). You have nothing to lose. Name and shame.

Honestly join an image hosting site and post some pics. You can delete them whenever you want and having them posted so publicly might just be the kick in the arse they need!

This is exactly what I said to them, it’s not suitable for an able bodied person and I’m physically unable to keep adjusting my lifestyle. I’ve got food in the wardrobe, I don’t have a kettle or a microwave or anything really. Everything is stored in my bedroom like toilet roll and shower stuff because there’s no storage.
But this is a 2 bed, and would be deemed suitable for a 4 person household.

They didn’t even acknowledge what I’d said and just told me they never remove adaptations and just offer like for life replacements

I was in a HA 2 bed ground floor maisonette. Had problem with black mould in the airing cupboard, hallway, Kitchen, living room and eventually bedroom, and paint peeling off the walls in those areas.

Had numerous plumbers who came out and could find nothing wrong. Eventually had a housing inspector out who agreed something major was going but didn’t know what.

Then had a plumber who basically said yes you have a problem and I’ll find the source. Turns out it was a tiny washer on the toilet and basically water was constantly coming out.

Luckily enough I was offered a 3 bed house which I took. However, I went with a solicitor who took up my case for the loss of belongings and how it affected my mental health.

It’s now been 3 years and the HA are still contesting it. But I refuse to back down.

Whatever you do don’t walk away as you’ll be making yourself intentionally homeless and won’t be housed again (I appreciate how temping it is though!)

As for the flat being adapted, it doesn’t sound like it would meat the needs of a disabled person!

I've lived in a housewith an adapted bathroom. You really need the barrier/strip thing someone linked upthread. They work like a dream. Put it just past the plughole in the middle of the floor. Leave the dehumidifier on all day and night.
Do NOT use a tumble dryer unless you absolutely have to. They pump moisture into the air. Buy a hammer/chisel and rip the skirting off the wall and throw it away. They are replacing the flooring , they are going to have to do it anyway. Tell them you don't want skirting replaced. Who has skirting in a bathroom?
Replace the door yourself, and paint with mould resistant paint

Buy huge bottles of that really cheap white vinegar ( should be at your supermarket). Wipe the walls with that ( straight, not diluted)- cheaper and much less toxic than mould remover and works really well. . As a pp said leave space between furniture and the walls.

Can't figure out your kitchen sorry as seems there should be a place for a worktop but obvs not. Have you got a table?

I also have these for the kitchen. You can put them over the cooker to increase work surface space
https://www.studio.co.uk/shop/university-essentials/university-essentials-kitchen/university-essentials-kitchenware/university-essentials-knives---chopping-boards/set-of-2-bamboo-worktop-savers-cover-plates-23386487?source=D230&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignname}&utm_term=&utm_content={adgroup}&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAqNSsBhAvEiwAn_tmxfzmron3BWeMBhbT8RO2zmqlHlC293KdV9fecRVu-U-ikbzMzky_1hoCl9gQAvD_BwE

I can see why you wouldnt want to post photos here but take a lot of photographs and take them to shelter, your MP, environmental health. Could you get a private plumber round to tell you want the problem really is in the wet room? If you have a qualified opinion on what's wrong it might be more difficult for them to fob you off and you can take that with your photos to a no win no fee lawyer.

Sound familiar? This woman took your HA to court https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-desperate-move-out-mouldy-28081521?fbclid=IwAR24mFJaT_Iu69nIOP5U32X4wEqhyLqzx-nv76_4Xd3QelL3t5Fj5-FTbEk

I have those too! They’re good aren’t they. Not a replacement for an actual worktop mind but I do find them helpful. Just a pain in the arse when I’m using hob and chopping. I don’t use it much now.

If I start ripping skirting boards off etc it’s a breach of tenancy and I’m liable for recharges. I can’t do it. If I could I’d rip the full fucker out and have a nice bathroom. I can’t

It's not that I don't believe you but I just don't understand the kitchen conversion. If you can't cook/store food in it then how's a wheelchair user supposed to use it? Do they not need a kettle/microwave either?

A screenshot of a Facebook post she made

But if you did, how would anyone know,?

I told them about this ironically. Made no difference, I’m “adequately housed” and mould is “lifestyle” and I’ve had 4 inspections in 12 months so won’t be having anymore.

Honeslty I have been fobbed off and lied to for 3 years. I’ve no fight in me anymore. I’ve no hope of exchanging. I’m bankrupt so I don’t think buying will ever be a possibility. I hate those articles. If I could I’d go back in time and rewrite the past 6 years. I never ever once saw myself in this position. Sorry I’m in my feels

They do inspections with photo inventories, I’d have to pay for it to be put back on

Yes, eventually, when you leave. I guess it depends on how long you think you'll be staying as to whether it's worth it.

No ideas to suggest with the bathroom, but with the kitchen, they're preventing you from making structural changes - i.e. fitted cabinets.
They can't stop you putting a work top on legs over the existing units as a PP suggested, or if there is nothing there at all, cheap freestanding units.
I had some cheap ones from IKEA when I first moved here.

No they check every 12 months and take pictures. I don’t understand the kitchen configuration either, I haven’t a clue how anyone who is disabled could cope in it and I’d feel absolutely devastated to think of someone in a wheelchair struggling in this dump. It’s not fit for purpose, but all I get off them is “I accepted the property” and “I’m adequately housed”

@CoconutSky
Have the HA had disabled adaptions specialists in to actually check the problem? It would make sense that if the floor under the wet room is rotten that would need changing, but they'd also need to find the reasoning for this... maybe improperly installed wet room, maybe some previous damage allowed the ingress of water but they need to find a reason really don't they?

If they won't get someone from their own adaptions team to come in and take a proper look then maybe your best bet is to get the services of an independent surveyor because at the moment it seems like someone's taken a cursory look at the wetroom and gone Aha! A simple solution!
That solution of floor replacement and a new wet room installed could be great, but why did the initial one fail? How can they ensure you're not right back in the same situation? And not changing the skirting boards, which I'd assume are full of rot is just crap.

The kitchen is long and narrow, there’s no space for anything free standing. I think what’s happened is they’ve basically done the adaptations, boxed half the kitchen off for fucking electric and gas meters instead of saying “we cannot adapt this property” same with the wet room

This is my argument with them @Jumpingpogosticks theres a reason why a wet room isn’t working

You need to 'play the game'.. which is infuriating, but sadly true.

So you let them put in their extractor fan, you run your dehumidifier, and you document and keep a diary of the mould, film videos of the squishy damp floor.

Then go back to them and say 'I let you try this solution, even though I said it was not the solution. You've tried it. It didn't work. Please address the problem again.'

And yes, go to the papers if/when that doesn't produce results. They will love a nice selection of squishy damp flooring videos and mould photos, particularly alongside the info that you've been stuck in a flat that doesn't meet your needs and is taking away an adapted property from someone who would need those facilities.

I’ve done this, my mum told me exactly the same thing. They told me fans take months to work. I’ve even been told that you can’t decorate in winter as it will cause damp, and that’s what’s happened. It was decorated in June.

The only thing stopping me going to the papers is embarrassment. I lost all my friends when I was with my ex, I don’t want people who knew me as how I was to see that I’m now bankrupt living in squalor, I’m so embarrassed

Hmme. What about getting in touch with that YouTube activist ..
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/kwajo-tweneboa-untold-housing-crisis-channel-4/

Contact your local environmental health department
Hopefully they will come out and survey your flat
It's more than surface damp, sounds like a structural issue
It's dangerous for health for you and DC

Get the strip thing, at least it will confine the water to one part of the bathroom. They will have to rip off the skirting to replace the floor? You're doing them a favour. Sorry you are in such a bad situation. Life just sucks sometimes. Hopefully, better times ahead.