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.

No they don’t actually remove skirting. There was new flooring put down when I moved in, they just put it to the skirting board like new lino. It’s not curved up like wet room floor should be. Its just like normal floor

Thank you, I hope there are better times ahead too. Maybe one day!

I wish organisations like this could be taken to court.

I think you should go back to your MP and tell them that you are a victim of DV but that if need be you will be contacting the Daily Mail (obviously your name would be kept out of it) and you will be quoting the MP on whatever they say to you. There's an election soon - that might make them take action. It's disgraceful.

And I think you should go to your doctor, not for ADs or anything but to tell them that you are living in such dreadful conditions and that you are worried about your health and your DC's health.

How about contacting Dan Hewitt with your whole story, especially underlining that there are other tenants who have had the same issue with the HA as you have. He is the ITV journalist who has repeatedly covered this & led the major reporting into Clarion's failure to maintain properties. Sadly, negative press coverage might be the only way you can get them to do anything.

https://www.itv.com/news/meet-the-team/daniel-hewitt
https://twitter.com/danielhewittitv?lang=en

I've got one of these which is great, an would fit over a sink - very minor issue in the scheme of things I know!

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/laemplig-chopping-board-bamboo-00309829/

I'm trying to imagine the kitchen - is it that you've got normal base cabinets, but instead of worktop on top of them they've put the wall cabinets right down on top so someone in a wheelchair could reach them?

Nope! Even weirder, no base cabinets at all

I think you should contact your councillors (especially if you were nominated to the housing association through a council housing list) or your MP. And a housing advice organisation (like Shelter - there may be others in your area).

Your flat doesn't sound fit for you to live in, but it also doesn't sound very suitable for disabled people who need adaptations, if existing adaptations, especially the bathroom, have been so badly done. I wouldn't assume that all disabled people need the same adaptations for different disabilities, but the kitchen doesn't sound like it can be wheelchair accessible - how is the property accessible (or not) in other senses? From your description, if your tenancy agreement doesn't allow you to make changes, and the wet room is a disaster, the flat is going to be damaged, and there's also potential for damage in the building.

That's absolutely batshit.

So lower than normal wall cabinets with... Nothing under them?

Are the wall ones too low down to squeeze a table or something under?

Or something like this https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/hornavan-trolley-white-70243873/

Go to the papers. Believe me. I work for a HA and its the only thing that gets people off their arses and making things happen.

I'm so sorry you have to live like this OP x

At this point I’ve had all their excuses, all their bullshit that I don’t give a fuck about damage to the flat. It’s not my problem, it can rot to the bricks for me. The money I’ve spent since I moved in, on decorating, carpets, even side tables and the lot has had to go in the bin cos of the mould. Carpets rotten it’s all had to come up especially the hallway as water from wet room has gone under the door and rotted carpet.
I don’t even phone for repairs now, I don’t care if it goes to ruin. It’s my idea of hell, as far as I’m concerned it can crumble. Thankfully DD has no health issues, but the day she does she’ll have to go to my mums because I already feel bad for what that little girl has been through. Living in refuges etc.

The wall ones are all over things, like ones over the washer, ones over the mini fridge, there’s literally no under counter space. It’s honestly so so weird

Well no surprise that you've got a damp problem then! Sorry OP, they sound utterly incompetent. I wonder if someone like environmental health would look at the construction of the space as well as the result?

You can get plastic skirting that looks the same as normal skirting. Once the floors done, if you got it in the same design and ripped off the old skirting and put plastic on, could you just blag it and say you 'painted it'? It'd just look whiter / cleaner than the previous photos.

Probably outing my location here. But we don’t have environmental health, it’s called housing standards. They won’t inspect anything, they just send an email reiterating what I’ve said. It’s just a waste of time honestly

I know what you mean about no base cupboards, it;s so you can get the wheelchair under. The top should be a worktop though! There are swingout boards, would be making a change though.

Are you on social media OP?

There's a guy called Kwajo Tweneboa who campaigns about poor quality housing - he's had a number of successes, particularly regarding mould. He's on twitter.

Also - have you asked your neighbours about whether they are also having issues with damp & mould?

If there's a number of you it gives your complaint more weight. Best of luck.

It sounds incredibly frustrating indeed and like you have been very proactive trying to do things to improve the situation. What is the difference between your rent and a private rental? Your rent sounds very reasonable for somewhere like London but maybe not so much less than a regular rental in the NORTH. It is obviously really affecting you- could you put up ads to see if someone would swap with you or have you done that already? You should not have to work this hard to get safe healthy housing. I really wonder how people will be adequately housed in the UK in the future as it is at crisis point now with not enough affordable housing. That makes you feel you have to be grateful for your affordable place but at the same time if it is affecting your health, it's not good.

Private round here is on average £1100. Whether I sound selfish or not I’m not and never will be greatful for this shit hole

They’ve got answers for everything, I literally said there’s no one else in this block who has issues with damp, and no one else has an adapted property. They flew it back with “we’ve not had complaints from the last tenant about damp in here” but the last tenant was barely here, was a crackhead and when I moved in the flat was such a cesspit we had to hire an industrial cleaner to come and fix it up it was ROTTEN. The adaptations have been in over 12 years

I came on to say contact environmental health. The mould is a danger.

I don't get why it takes months for ventilation fans to work.

I also spent a lot of money decorating my council flat. I had black mould above the door, green mould and wood lice. The council were really good. They got someone to remove the mould and put the fans in the kitchen and bathroom. They come on automatically.

It doesn’t. They’re full of shit

Dont want to swap houses do you 👀 😂

I’ve got woodlice as well. And silverfish. And cellar spiders. Apparently all are completely normal during autumn. Must be fucking autumn all year round then.

Swallow your pride and go to the local press. Honestly - you have nothing to be ashamed of. You fled DV and now you are on to your next battle.

Living like that is no way to live. Put embarrassment aside and throw everything at getting rehoused or your flat adapted to be suitable and safe for your and your DC.

Councillor
MP
Press
Twitter
Post pics
Make a fucking fuss

Good luck OP

Ok.. just thoughts.
Could you speak to advisor at student Union?
Would they pay a support fund payment if they could find somewhere else?
Could you apply to another council?
I would phone environmental health. They were brilliant with me- had an orbit property and next door kept a garden full of rubbish. We ended up with rats in the wall cavities and environmental health ordered them to resolve it.
Go back to ombudsman and say adaptions have not worked.
Failing that...
Social media. Don't feel embarrassed think of it as problem solved.

I had a chronically damp lower ground / half basement flat. I was allocated it via the local authority bid system but it was a Housing Association flat.

I asked Environmental Health to do an inspection and they actually condemned it as unfit for habitation on numerous grounds. The HA already knew that when they moved me in, evil.

Even so, this did not help my situation much as still nobody would actually do anything. The council didn't even put me back into the bid system which was my legal right at that time. But here is what I found out about the law.

The law only means anything as much as you can enforce it. If your home is in disrepair and you can't get a solicitor to take your case against the council or HA you're pretty screwed. Maybe you can get a solicitor.

In the end I got a solicitor onto my case - a housing disrepair solicitor who took my case on Conditional Fee Arrangement (CFA) which is effectively 'no win no fee'. My HA was given a court ordered schedule of work to bring my home back into liveable standard and I was 'decanted' for 8 weeks. However, the HA never did the work and that's another long story.

Your best bets are - go to your Council Environmental Health and ask for an urgent inspection. Go to your local Councillor and write to your MP or even go to see them in person. Make sure your GP knows all of this and how badly it's affecting your health and wellbeing and mental health.

Go back on to your council website and re-register as a social housing applicant - the form will ask if you're already a tenant and on what grounds you need to be moved, this will flare an investigation into your situation and could possibly open up a fresh housing application for you so that you can try to bid for a different property.

Do use the home exchange and homeswapper sites, you never know what someone has in mind. Also depending how old you are, if you're over 55, check out whether you can apply to your local authority over 55s housing / sheltered housing / supported housing as that could be a way out of your current home. Also look at the seaside and country home or 'get out of area' schemes.

Take legal advice about whether you can commission the repair work to be done yourself and re-charge it or withhold rent to cover it (this is a rare and highly legal circumstance and must never be attempted without legally binding approval).

Attend any housing advice or legal advice drop in sessions at local community law centres or the CAB etc. If you can't find any, seek out Housing Solicitors for two things - to try and get a 'housing disrepair' case solicitor or to try and get legal backing to support your right to be re-housed. Unfortunately in the current climate this is not easy as solicitors are mostly helping people fight eviction.

In my opinion, DO NOT walk away from a council house tenancy. You could be considered 'intentionally homeless', you may risk any benefits or support you're on and you will absolutely be refused future help from the same Local Authority. You could try and speak to Shelter on this issue.

Also check out if there's any Housing Co-operatives or Housing Associations in your area that you'd be eligible to apply to directly as there are some few cases of housing organisations that actually don't operate via the Council bid systems and are their own independent bodies, especially co-operatives.