Do all council houses have mould and damp?

[Kirstie20]

I’m curious if every council house in the UK has a mould and damp? because I see it online often and people complaining that their home is damp. Are all council places like this or just a few?

@AllThingsServeTheBeam

No problem

The ones who often have it worst of all - but who usually can't go to the papers - are private renters.

There are some absolute shockers in the private rented sector, but if the tenants complain (to landlord or papers) they'll simply be given notice.

With council, it's mixed. I suppose a bit like private rented and owned. Mould problems in some, others not.

@FTEngineerM

Could it also partly be because as a tenant there’s no vested interest the the property?

So, say drying clothes on rads all winter with the windows closed getting every cold surface mouldy by the time Easter rolls around is less of a headache because it’s not your problem to solve the long term issues it causes.

Just because a tenant hasn’t got a long-term plan to leave a house as an inheritance, blah blah blah, doesn’t mean they treat houses like shit 😂

@cheekychaplin

I think it's more the case of us hearing about it because people of the responsibility. Nobody in a privately owned home is crying in the paper about their mould. I don't think council houses have a disproportionate level of issues.

Thanks for clarifying @cheekychaplin. It was the sentence 'I think it's more the case of us hearing about it because people of the responsibility' is the one that confused me. It doesn't make sense!

I didn’t say they treat the houses like shit @Traumdeuter simply that, just like when you live with parents as a teen and leave every light on, every item tumble dried, demolish all the good food like it’s going out of fashion.. then you move out and have to start paying for all those things yourself.. it becomes a little more restrained.

Drying clothes on radiators and cooking without the extractor fan on is hardly treating a house like shit 😂

I lived in two council homes, both had damp/mould problems. I honestly thought it was something we were doing wrong and went nutty trying to air them out constantly. Now we live in a private rental and have no problems, so it wasn't us.

@Stormwhale

I lived in two council homes, both had damp/mould problems. I honestly thought it was something we were doing wrong and went nutty trying to air them out constantly. Now we live in a private rental and have no problems, so it wasn't us.

It really is pot luck, I guess. Glad you're in a better maintained place now

Living in a mould (or other problem ridden) home can make life so miserable. Particularly with the move to more WFH. Obviously health concerns too.

A friend lived in some terrible private rentals - I mean, really really terrible and not just mould. Rotting window frames, dodgy electrics, the lot.

We caught up with each other recently and it was so lovely to hear how happy she sounded. She'd finally been allocated a council home - and it was so much better than any of her grotty private rentals.

A mixed bag out there. The main difference though is the lack of protections for private renters. Despite the 'revenge eviction' law change, these still happen a lot. All the law change does is - under specific circumstances only (getting environment health involved) - slightly delay the revenge eviction by a few months.

Not all some do some don’t but people like to show they are hard done by sometimes but really they are doing well with their low rent houses with many more upgrades than homeowners can afford

@LidlMiddleLover

Not all some do some don’t but people like to show they are hard done by sometimes but really they are doing well with their low rent houses with many more upgrades than homeowners can afford

They might seem ‘low rent’ to you but for a lot of families the rent is over half their weekly income or more 🤦‍♀️

@LidlMiddleLover

Not all some do some don’t but people like to show they are hard done by sometimes but really they are doing well with their low rent houses with many more upgrades than homeowners can afford

You sound very bitter.

I live in a council flat, it's a nice flat in a quiet area and well maintained by the council.

I did have some condensation, my housing officer came and looked at it and used a damp meter that showed the levels of moisture in the walls were ok. I genuinely didn't know putting furniture against outside walls could cause condensation and damp and have now cleaned it up and made sure the room is well ventilated.

Some council housing is truly terrible, and when people are living in substandard conditions they have a right to complain. There is a housing association in my area which has properties absolutely riddled with damp and they only started to do something about it when it was in the papers.

@LidlMiddleLover

Not all some do some don’t but people like to show they are hard done by sometimes but really they are doing well with their low rent houses with many more upgrades than homeowners can afford

I knew we'd get one. Piss off over the hills and far away on your high high horse.

Ours isn’t damp but it’s brick. It’s very warm. We always have a window open for ventilation, even in winter, some of the other properties do have damp if the occupants don’t ventilate/ reduce condensation.

I’d say it may be that council properties seem disproportionately affected if the occupants can’t afford to have the heating on a lot. The combination of keeping a place warm and then ventilated really helps.