To ask to be temporarily rehoused whilst new kitchen installed?

[SENwoes]

I will preface this by saying I KNOW I’m very lucky to have a HA house, and I KNOW I’m very lucky to be getting a brand new kitchen for free.

So as above, I have work commencing on 22nd January to rip out the old kitchen and replace it. I don’t have a choice in this, according to the documents, I am unable to say no it’s fine, I’ll keep the old one. I’ve been told the works will take 2 weeks, as it also involves taking up the tiled floor and replacing it with lino.

It’s just dawning on me what a nightmare this will be. I have to completely empty the kitchen obviously, but there’s not really anywhere to put the stuff, it’s a very small house (just living room leading to kitchen/diner downstairs). The big appliances will go outside in the back yard apparently, but everything else will have to be boxed up and kept somewhere. I’ll have no cooking or washing up facilities, and no way of washing or drying clothes.

That’s all pretty standard I know, but my main concern is that I have a disability (CFS) and also both DC are diagnosed with ASD and currently in the house all the time as neither in education. We will essentially be trapped in our bedrooms for 2 weeks as we won’t be able to move in the front room as realistically that’s the only place everything from the kitchen can go. I need to rest…a lot, and the works will be noisy, which will also affect both DC as they struggle badly with loud noises and not being in a calm environment. They’ll also struggle with a team of workmen being in their space for 2 weeks, They both have completely different food aversions and neither of their limited range of foods is conducive to being able to batch cook and set the microwave up somewhere. Realistically it will mean a lot of eating out, but that’s not really affordable for 2 weeks.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and WIBU to ask the HA if there’s anything that could be done to move us while the works are going on? The only family member I could stay with is my DM but she’s a long way away and having works done on her own house which means she doesn’t have a functioning bathroom, so that’s not ideal really.

But she did need it, the electrics and gas were not right.

I'm in an HA property and the landlord has changed a few times, the latest one actually looked at all the housing stock and found loads of problems.

Little things like the consumer unit being wired incorrectly.

It took me two years to get my bathroom floor to actually act like a floor not a swamp because the builders were crap and thought a drain that was higher than the floor was adequate in a wet room.

As for finances, I can't really move no matter how high my rent goes (it's wheelchair accessible), and it goes up every year.

Mine was a new build and is on a council estate, the properties around me have more bedrooms and two living rooms, their rent was half mine when I moved in.

They are in council tax band A, I'm in band C.

I'm glad I have a secure tenancy but it is not all plain sailing.

Yes you have to save up for a new kitchen but you get to choose how and when it is done, you get to choose the contractor, if they are crap you can go elsewhere.

They're not "free", the costs are covered out of the rental income that comes from tenants.

All social landlords have a programme of replacing kitchens, bathrooms, boilers etc on a set cycle, to ensure that their properties meet the required standards. Decent private landlords will do the same but, sadly, many don't.

Maybe you should have put a bit of money aside every week/month, then you'd have the money for your kitchen already. And, unlike the OP, you'll be able to have whatever kitchen you fancy and make any changes to layout etc that you like, and have it done when it's convenient for you, rather than just being told it's happening on X date.

On benefits? Most people in social housing work. Get no help? You managed to get a bank to lend you some money. Then you’ve been “helped” by artificially low interest rates for years. You made that choice. Leave other people alone.

It’s not “free”. Tenants pay rent. The HA is not out to make a profit. It invests in the properties. There is always one ill-informed, jealous person trying to spoil something nice. Go and comment on something you know about.

So get yourself a cheap HA style kitchen, mine cost under £900 when it was put in, or do you think we all have top of the range Wren kitchens for our "free" (not free), homes?

As i said i was wrong so happy to hold my hands up and say that, i apologise for my ill informed view and I think your kitchen looks lovely OP xx

@Needmorelego yeah generally speaking the music wasn’t too bad except on that Tuesday, I can handle Greatest Hits radio!

@WiddlinDiddlin so glad the end is finally in sight for you, and you’ve STILL got your sense of humour about it, you’re some kind of saint I think 🤣. That’s a bit tight that they’ll only paint certain bits. But yes I also found the workmen were quite happy to go off piste - when the ones in charge came to design the kitchen I asked if there’s anything could be done about all the really fugly pipes under the boiler, and they said no it will just stay like that. But then one day one of the workmen turned up with some white MDF and made a very professional looking box to box all that in. And the only being able to paint it white or magnolia was shit talk too. I honestly can’t sing their praises enough, I think supplying them with tea, coffee, chocolate digestives and bantz (when I was able to get up) definitely paid off. Got the big cheese coming again next week to inspect it and sign it off, then all done ✅.

@Mummyoflittledragon yes I’ve completely done myself over, I ache everywhere and my throat is sore and my glands are up which happens when I’m crashing. Going to stay in bed for a good while today I think, which is annoying because I just want to finish putting the kitchen stuff away and getting my living room back. The paint I used was Dulux easycare in blush pink, it was very easy to work with, it’s the first time ever I risked cutting in without using masking tape and it was fine. It’s on offer in both Homebase and B&Q at the moment, two big tins for £42.

@Mamabear2424 thank you, I appreciate that.

What would you eat in a travelodge anyway? You'd be spending more than £36 on food for 3 people

Edit: missed th date on original post!

So pleased that it’s all over and that you are happy with your new kitchen 😃.
@WhatTheHeckyPeck Is it really possible to get a new kitchen that cheaply? I only ask as with labour etc I always thought that the minimum would be at least £5K. My house needs an endless amount of work doing to it and looks like a building site. The kitchen is falling apart so I would be interested in this if it’s possible to find.

@Socalmnow the guys told me yesterday that it costs about £5k to do each kitchen including the labour - and that’s with very basic everything and obviously no integrated appliances. They were all HA employees too apart from the flooring guys, so I’d imagine cheaper labour than tradespeople running their own thing.

Very happy for you @SENwoes I have been following your thread with interest. The kitchen and dining room look fab now and I really like the blush pink. Well done on keeping going throughout. Rest and enjoy now.

It's a very small kitchen and that's what the bloke told me. I don't know if he included his labour costs (probably not), but I'm just quoting what was said to me.

We were private renting and the landlord used an absolute set of cowboys to renovate the house. We ended up putting a tent up in the back garden and lived as though we were camping for 2 weeks. In retrospect ot was hell as we had no water or power for 5 days in a cold snap in January. The kids were little, and we spent the evenings with all of us sitting in our double bed watching films on the laptops that DH charged at work.
I remember it as sheer hell, but the kids remember it as a big adventure!
Of course, once we had suffered through all the renovations, we were promptly handed a section 21, so we never even got the benefits of the renovations! And the cherry on the ake was the "redecorating charge" that was built into our contract.
This was way before deposit protection by the way, but it still makes me angry thinking about it!

@fliptopbin that’s awful! Hope you have a better landlord or living situation now.

Thank you @SENwoes and @WhatTheHeckyPeck. Yes, sadly I think 5K would be the very minimum so it won’t be happening.
I hope that you enjoy your new kitchens. @SENwoes kitchen looks great! The pink works really well.