Council house Britain

[The80sweregreat]

Charmain the housing officer is a real star of this documentary as well as pest control !

I loved Andy the Pest Controller! And yes, Charmain is a total star, wish she was my HO

Yes i liked them too. Can't believe that man was asleep and never turned up for the house view.

I was quite surprised at how they 'looked after' their tenants. Does everyone have a housing officer like that if they have a council house?

Ours is HA rather than actual council and we do have a HO but she's nothing like Charmain sadly I was really pleased Salina got the 4 bed, don't think she could believe the guy hadn't got out of bed either!

Wonder how long he'll have to wait for a property now!

The guy who was asleep will never get a place now! You have to be on
The list for ages as well. Obviously not bothered!

Yes. I thought it sad the lady whose house was cluttered and died. The lady who got 4 bedroom house sounds like she had too many kids when living in smaller house. She seemed nice though.

There are always characters on programmes like this. I couldn't get over the man who used to climb a ladder on to his roof and get into his place through the bedroom window as he hadn't had a key...for months !!

Where can I watch this?

@purpleme12

I was quite surprised at how they 'looked after' their tenants. Does everyone have a housing officer like that if they have a council house?

Nope, I've only seen my housing officer once since I got my keys several years ago. She came round and banged on my door telling me she wanted to come in and she had the legal right to entry (which she didn't without letting me know in advance). I've only heard good things about one housing officer who helped a friend of mine who became a single parent and was made redundant within a couple of months and had to go onto UC which caused rent arrears.

It was on C4.

@Gingerkittykat oh right so it's not the norm then!

Purple I would imagine it depends on the area. From watching the show it looks like the Housing Officers mostly seem to be responsible for a specific geographical area or maybe one or two large estates within the borough. If they are responsible for a specific area with a high volume of properties in close proximity then they are probably going to be visiting fairly regularly and so residents will get used to seeing them on site. If they know they will be visiting regularly and recognize them as their HO they will start to just mention small issues if/when they catch them out and about on the estate/area.

In other areas Housing Officers may cover the same number of properties but they're spread over the entire city or many small sites in a few neighbouring towns etc. This means that the HO has more ground to cover and so may not do regular visits to every site/property so residents don't see them unless they make a formal appointment or see them by chance when their HO is visiting a neighbour for a scheduled appointment.

I live in a property owned by a national HA via my local council and everyone is assigned a personal Housing Liasion Officer. In my area the HA is responsible for my block of 6 flats, another 2 blocks, a sheltered housing complex and a handful of houses in my town. Because all of the properties are scattered around town our Liason Officer is based out of an office in the sheltered housing complex and we can drop in for a chat about any issues/problems any time with her or the office manager but she only goes out on site visits if there is a specific reason (inspections, flat viewings for new tenants, pre-arranged appointments etc). In another area the HA is responsible for entire estates of 300+ flats so I imagine they see their HLO out and about in the buildings far more regularly than we do.

I'm quite liking this programme
They seem really nice people in it
The couple at the end were so made up with that flat -I'm not surprised, living with other people when she's going through cancer treatment
Hope it works out for her

Watching last week's.
Quite shocked at the hoarding and the massive fly tipping at the place they're going to build new houses

This hoarder is making me feel really sad

Quite a sad episode really

I hope that the hoarder does clear his house

Oh I cried at the 81 year old

Was that in this week's?

@purpleme12

I was quite surprised at how they 'looked after' their tenants. Does everyone have a housing officer like that if they have a council house?

I work for a HA, my patch is 40 miles from one end to the other and in that patch I have just over 1200 properties. There's no way we can do the same level as an Officer that only covers one or two estates, it's just not doable. It doesn't mean we care any less, just that we can't work miracles.

Love the program though.

yes @purpleme12, last night.

the pest controllers are real characters

Ah ok, I've still to watch last night's. I'm a bit behind!

Oh I cried at the 81 year old so sad and me and dh wondered if he'd been left alone would he still be alive. He was moved to a care home while they renovated his flat and I wonder if thats where he caught coronavirus. I know he couldn't continue living the way he was but it was so upsetting that he got moved to a care home just before the pandemic, no one knew what was coming down the tracks but it makes it so much sadder that he got caught up with it when previously he barely saw another soul so would have been pretty safe in avoiding it

I was nervous when they said he was going into a care home while they redecorated 😔