Working families £18k worse off than benefits claimants after budget

[shoelances]

This is madness. Can the last taxpayer in the UK please close the door behind them.

www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/households-on-handouts-to-be-18-000-better-off-than-families-on-modest-wages/ar-AA1RqxlQ

Is your landlord willing to deal with it, or refusing to like the landlord in @phantomofthepopera friend’s situation?

I think I posted either earlier on this thread or on another thread. They are currently unable to decide what is causing it and so cannot decide how to fix it or which team needs to fix it, so atm they are stuck at the stage of sending various specialists around to gaze at it for a while every week or so.

We've so far had a painter and decorator, a plasterer, a "technician", and a surveyor come to stare at it. All have had different causes and solutions. We're currently awaiting the report from the surveyor.

Have they checked the guttering?

The technician said there was nothing wrong with the guttering or the roof. The surveyor disagreed and said the roof above the lintel needs to be replaced, all the plaster needs stripping back to bare brick and redoing, he has no clue why the plasterers said it was caused by water coming through the single brick wall and getting stuck under the vinyl wallpaper because it is a cavity wall and the cavity wall insulation and damp coursing needs redoing. He is also very unimpressed at the state of the bathroom and that it has not been fixed yet, despite being reported over a month ago, ditto the state of the kitchen ceiling. He has promised to take personal responsibility for all the repairs needed.

He seemed like a decent bloke, but I've heard all this before, so I'm not holding my breath. Usually, I have to lose my temper and start threatening legal action before they actually fix things (HA house).

How are you managing all these visits from them around your job?

I am hybrid, I can work from home when needed.

Oh good Ive just recently finished reading this. You might find it interesting.

https://hqnetwork.co.uk/news/book-review-middle-ground-a-frontline-journey-in-social-housing/

Quite.

I don't see many threads attacking the billionaires.

Some years ago, friends of ours divorced. Their joint endowment mortgage was somehow changed to an interest only mortgage in the wife’s name, and she stayed in the house with their 2 young kids. She had no income, other than support payments from her ex, so she was able to claim the mortgage payments as benefits. Worked out cheaper than rehousing her in council accommodation, apparently.

I agree. I've been through it all with MIL and it's far from easy.

From May 2026 there are no more "no fault" evictions so she can really make a fuss after that date.

@phantomofthepopera She shouldn't have to do this, but we found running a dehumidifier during the day helps minimise the mold. It needs to be one of the proper ones, not one of the little tubs of gel, but you can sometimes pick them up for a reasonable price on Marketplace or Nextdoor.

You can’t just redecorate with anti fungal
It doesnt get rid of the problem

Ventilation
Remove all mould
Check leaks re down pipes and for dpm
Dry out walls completely preferably naturally ( so not in winter)
Redecorate with breathable materials ( so no glue based paints and no wallpaper)
Ventilate all rooms throughout the year

Your vinyl wallpaper is trapping moisture
All cavities have moisture within them

We removed the vinyl wallpaper weeks ago. We're currently trying to redecorate, and this is how we are finding all these issues. The mold was all behind a built-in wardrobe we ripped out (with permission).

I say trying to because every time we find an issue, we have to stop and wait months for the HA to come and fix it. Currently, DD's room has no wallpaper/paint because we are waiting for the mold to be fixed, the work in the hall has been halted because we noticed the wall (internal stud wall) is being held up only by the wallpaper, and we don't want to risk it falling down and having to wait months for it to be repaired while we're still waiting on dozens of other repairs.

The kitchen is half-painted, but we had to stop because of a leak, which caused the ceiling to bow. The ceiling cannot be fixed until the wet room leak is fixed, but that needs approval from a manager, and he is not very eager to approve it.

The living room is also half decorated because we had to stop when we noticed damp on that wall.

My room has no curtains because that wall is also damp, and no matter how strong the wall plugs I use are, the curtain pole just falls off because the wall is literally crumbling away.

I'm 100% sure we will find more issues as we go on. Half of these I would pay for/do myself, but I'm not allowed. The bathroom, for example, I hate the wetroom, I've always hated the wetroom. I would happily rip the lot out and pay for a new bathroom to be fitted, but I can't.

I know it won’t cure it, but we hoped that sealing the walls might help. As I said, we know where the water is coming from. The whole building needs repointing, and the water comes in every time it rains. It won’t help that it’s always freezing in there so it never dries out. She just couldn’t afford to have the heating on as much as it needs to be.

It’s reassuring that next year she’ll be able to kick up a stink about it. Unfortunately when she took the flat she had no credit history in the UK, which ruled out the majority of landlords. Slum landlords exist to take advantage of people in her situation. She had to save six months rent and pay upfront for this hovel. Her plan was to build her credit rating and then look for somewhere else. But at the moment she has no chance of affording anything better.

She never complains. She is so grateful for everything the UK has done for her and for other Ukrainians and she’s just happy to have a roof over their head. She couldn’t speak English 3.5 years ago, now she has an English GCSE amongst other qualifications. She has worked so bloody hard to get this far. Despite what some on here might think of her, I am unspeakably proud of her.

Clearly lack of ventilation then
with moisture trapped behind the wardrobe

Suggest modern plaster is removed in problem areas and replaced with lime.( after it’s been allowed to completely dry out and the wall checked with a moisture meter) lime plaster breaths . You will get push back on this as you need someone specialised in lime plastering

Buy a humidity tester to leave in your rooms. About £20.

If the humidity is high it shows moisture is getting in but being trapped.

When you come to paint only use fully breathable paints.

We have walls without any dpm , dpc or cavity but we do not have any mould. We do have a winter humidity issue as we are single glazed by we control it with ventilation ( and a dehumidifier in our book room because books need a really low level. If we didn’t hav so many books we wouldn’t need this )
The point is. You can have solid walls without mould and crumbling walls if the natural moisture in the air is allowed to ventilate and this includes with breathable materials , vents etc

Said it before. DD and I both work full
timenand have less disposable income and smaller house than some families on benefits in the same school:

We currently have a wet room leak too. In our case, it's an issue with the draining after a shower.

I don't think it will be sorted any time soon but so far, we seem to be avoiding any damp. I'm definitely concerned about it happening though.

Assume you’ve checked the outlet for hair clogging it up

( apologies if I’m teaching you to suck eggs )

Guessing that wet room might be to accommodate disabled people

Yes, the house was previously let to a disabled man who had it adapted for his needs, but it is a three-bedroom family house with a reasonably sized garden, so I don't understand why we need to keep the adaptations, but according to the HA, they need ever so many adapted properties, so we're not allowed to touch the wetroom.

Yep.

They think there's an actual issue with the draining system and are supposed to be looking into it but I need to call them and give them another nag.

It's like we have the same house.

Ours is an adapted 3 bedroom with a reasonably sized garden and dodgy wet room too. 😂

Your HA are correct in that requirement

Its basically what used to be called a lifetime home