A bit council Vol 2
Discussion
Tnts doing DIY costs “us” landlords an absolute fortune. Roll back to the 90’s and it was “changing rooms” programmes that hit us, everyone was painting their plug sockets and light switches in purple paint. Added to that, people loved building monuments in stone for fireplaces or wood cladding everything and adding dado rails all over the place. I’d bet I’ve been in 1000’s of homes and I’m well placed to judge- you just do not see good home improvements, especially when it comes to fitting kitchens, bathrooms, building decking, patios etc.
People sticking hot tubs (or sex ponds) as I like to call them is a new trend- they cause little issue- apart from the anti-social behaviour that goes with it. However I did once see a sunken bath in a house- which I couldn’t understand how they’d done it (I went upstairs first)- till I went into the kitchen- the bottom of the bath was hanging through the kitchen ceiling.
Anyway when tenants start “improving” their homes like this it’s always with dodgy cash. Lady on her own, but piles of cash coming in from an unknown partner who “doesn’t live here”. Even when they buy their council homes: they’ll buy them for a pittance, then max out mortgages, re-mortgaging. Then comes the American RV, quad bikes, foreign holidays and guess what ?
Eviction for non-payment of a crippling mortgage, because funnily enough the bank will not stand for late payments like their council landlord once did. They come back into the homeless service, demanding another council house, on the same street……. As if.
On a theme, one of the girls at work, just moved into the area, is quite posh, has of all things bought an ex council house on one of our estates. For a mere £215k. That’s right: on a council estate in Bradford. Now obviously it’s a nice house in an ok area. She will not listen to the rest of us when we point out the scumbags she will be living next door to. The fact the shops/schools will all have estate’rs in them, the fact that her neighbours will just be “greggnant” single mums. My word she’s in for a shock when she spends a night there and see’s how these feral people really live. Even if you look on google maps, you can see the state of other peoples homes/gardens- i.e. zero kerb appeal.
People sticking hot tubs (or sex ponds) as I like to call them is a new trend- they cause little issue- apart from the anti-social behaviour that goes with it. However I did once see a sunken bath in a house- which I couldn’t understand how they’d done it (I went upstairs first)- till I went into the kitchen- the bottom of the bath was hanging through the kitchen ceiling.
Anyway when tenants start “improving” their homes like this it’s always with dodgy cash. Lady on her own, but piles of cash coming in from an unknown partner who “doesn’t live here”. Even when they buy their council homes: they’ll buy them for a pittance, then max out mortgages, re-mortgaging. Then comes the American RV, quad bikes, foreign holidays and guess what ?
Eviction for non-payment of a crippling mortgage, because funnily enough the bank will not stand for late payments like their council landlord once did. They come back into the homeless service, demanding another council house, on the same street……. As if.
On a theme, one of the girls at work, just moved into the area, is quite posh, has of all things bought an ex council house on one of our estates. For a mere £215k. That’s right: on a council estate in Bradford. Now obviously it’s a nice house in an ok area. She will not listen to the rest of us when we point out the scumbags she will be living next door to. The fact the shops/schools will all have estate’rs in them, the fact that her neighbours will just be “greggnant” single mums. My word she’s in for a shock when she spends a night there and see’s how these feral people really live. Even if you look on google maps, you can see the state of other peoples homes/gardens- i.e. zero kerb appeal.
austinsmirk said:
Tnts doing DIY costs “us” landlords an absolute fortune. Roll back to the 90’s and it was “changing rooms” programmes that hit us, everyone was painting their plug sockets and light switches in purple paint. Added to that, people loved building monuments in stone for fireplaces or wood cladding everything and adding dado rails all over the place. I’d bet I’ve been in 1000’s of homes and I’m well placed to judge- you just do not see good home improvements, especially when it comes to fitting kitchens, bathrooms, building decking, patios etc.
I'll agree with this, I've seen some pretty disgusting houses, the sort you see on Channel 4 documentaries with rubbish from floor to ceiling and faeces filing the bath, but even the most disgusting will only cost a few thousand to put right (deep clean £500, redecorate £2000, and a few new kitchen units £1000) at most. On the other hand, these houses that have been 'improved' by the tenants can often run to tens of thousands to put right and the worst thing about it is that the tenant won't believe they've done anything wrong and fight tooth and nail against any attempt to recoup the costs.
We bought our first house and the first owner was a bad diyer, was a private house
foot went through from the loft, dont fix it, put some computer listing paper over it, then put a suspended ceiling in like a 70s Chinese takeaway.
inconvenient live wire, just lop it off at the surface and leave it live for the plasterer to find, remove the electric shower and replace with a gas one, leave the wire folded neatly with some electricians tape over the live ends.
Paper over the air bricks.
Many other examples,
foot went through from the loft, dont fix it, put some computer listing paper over it, then put a suspended ceiling in like a 70s Chinese takeaway.
inconvenient live wire, just lop it off at the surface and leave it live for the plasterer to find, remove the electric shower and replace with a gas one, leave the wire folded neatly with some electricians tape over the live ends.
Paper over the air bricks.
Many other examples,
austinsmirk said:
Tnts doing DIY costs “us” landlords an absolute fortune. Roll back to the 90’s and it was “changing rooms” programmes that hit us, everyone was painting their plug sockets and light switches in purple paint. Added to that, people loved building monuments in stone for fireplaces or wood cladding everything and adding dado rails all over the place. I’d bet I’ve been in 1000’s of homes and I’m well placed to judge- you just do not see good home improvements, especially when it comes to fitting kitchens, bathrooms, building decking, patios etc.
People sticking hot tubs (or sex ponds) as I like to call them is a new trend- they cause little issue- apart from the anti-social behaviour that goes with it. However I did once see a sunken bath in a house- which I couldn’t understand how they’d done it (I went upstairs first)- till I went into the kitchen- the bottom of the bath was hanging through the kitchen ceiling.
Anyway when tenants start “improving” their homes like this it’s always with dodgy cash. Lady on her own, but piles of cash coming in from an unknown partner who “doesn’t live here”. Even when they buy their council homes: they’ll buy them for a pittance, then max out mortgages, re-mortgaging. Then comes the American RV, quad bikes, foreign holidays and guess what ?
Eviction for non-payment of a crippling mortgage, because funnily enough the bank will not stand for late payments like their council landlord once did. They come back into the homeless service, demanding another council house, on the same street……. As if.
On a theme, one of the girls at work, just moved into the area, is quite posh, has of all things bought an ex council house on one of our estates. For a mere £215k. That’s right: on a council estate in Bradford. Now obviously it’s a nice house in an ok area. She will not listen to the rest of us when we point out the scumbags she will be living next door to. The fact the shops/schools will all have estate’rs in them, the fact that her neighbours will just be “greggnant” single mums. My word she’s in for a shock when she spends a night there and see’s how these feral people really live. Even if you look on google maps, you can see the state of other peoples homes/gardens- i.e. zero kerb appeal.
Always makes me laught on "Location Location" when Kirsty Allsopp is set a nigh-on impossible brief by the buyers and ends up showing them a former RTB house or flat (she'll call it an apartment) and then props up her argument with "these are well-built (true) and we've been told this is an up and coming area". Maybe in 50 years time, Kirsty, but meanwhile.........People sticking hot tubs (or sex ponds) as I like to call them is a new trend- they cause little issue- apart from the anti-social behaviour that goes with it. However I did once see a sunken bath in a house- which I couldn’t understand how they’d done it (I went upstairs first)- till I went into the kitchen- the bottom of the bath was hanging through the kitchen ceiling.
Anyway when tenants start “improving” their homes like this it’s always with dodgy cash. Lady on her own, but piles of cash coming in from an unknown partner who “doesn’t live here”. Even when they buy their council homes: they’ll buy them for a pittance, then max out mortgages, re-mortgaging. Then comes the American RV, quad bikes, foreign holidays and guess what ?
Eviction for non-payment of a crippling mortgage, because funnily enough the bank will not stand for late payments like their council landlord once did. They come back into the homeless service, demanding another council house, on the same street……. As if.
On a theme, one of the girls at work, just moved into the area, is quite posh, has of all things bought an ex council house on one of our estates. For a mere £215k. That’s right: on a council estate in Bradford. Now obviously it’s a nice house in an ok area. She will not listen to the rest of us when we point out the scumbags she will be living next door to. The fact the shops/schools will all have estate’rs in them, the fact that her neighbours will just be “greggnant” single mums. My word she’s in for a shock when she spends a night there and see’s how these feral people really live. Even if you look on google maps, you can see the state of other peoples homes/gardens- i.e. zero kerb appeal.
austinsmirk said:
Tnts doing DIY costs “us” landlords an absolute fortune. Roll back to the 90’s and it was “changing rooms” programmes that hit us, everyone was painting their plug sockets and light switches in purple paint. Added to that, people loved building monuments in stone for fireplaces or wood cladding everything and adding dado rails all over the place. I’d bet I’ve been in 1000’s of homes and I’m well placed to judge- you just do not see good home improvements, especially when it comes to fitting kitchens, bathrooms, building decking, patios etc.
When I had tenants evicted from my old house, at first glance it didn't seem so bad. Upon closer inspection...Laminate floors had been painted.
Sockets and switches painted over - thankfully with emulsion, so fixable.
Bathroom floor ripped up and replaced with thin plastic sticky-backed tiles from The Range.
Kitchen painted in gloss orange. Gloss f****n Orange?! That took a weekend in itself to sort out.
on the few occasions they cut the grass, the clippings were put in bin bags and thrown in the shed. On top of the few bits of furniture that I had left there. the grass had rotted down to resemble babys
t.The "decking" they installed was actually a load of pallets nailed together.
The ceramic towel rails and toilet roll holders had been painted over.
The glass shower cubicle had been painted.
And many other issues... Luckily the vast majority was cosmetic, and sorted out with manpower. I took them to court over the unpaid rent and damages, and will be getting £50 a month for the next few years.
They are doing the same to heir new house - LL didn't seek references, but we have spoken since, and similarly, they have stopped paying rent to him, because "they had to take their 20 month baby to Disneyland in Florida." just like they "had" to take her there when she was 6 months old and living in my house rent free...
funkyrobot said:
WowCaden? Adalyn? I've never heard those names before, sound horrible. The only Grayson I've ever seen is the character in Bad Education.
You want council names my uncle who is the absolute picture of council (council flat with an England flag hanging out the window, 6 kids by 4 women, tattoos on his hands) named his poor daughter Leighella.
funkyrobot said:
The girls column is doing alright until about number 12 (7 and 8 excluded), but the boys column doesn't fare so well does it?! I think re: location/location/location: arguably if on a limited income, buying an ex council prop can give you a great home, for say £100k somewhere. it'll give you a start in life. they tend to be good sized, good gardens. buy well and you'll buy next to other owners. clearly in village locations there are some gems to be had.
the issue with the TV prog, is in la la la london land: no ex council flat/house is worth that sort of cuckoo money, because your neighbours and that entire area will be utterly awful. £500k in la la land isn't buying a nice place where you'd be happy being on the streets at night. But to have that sort of money is some achievement in itself, eg in respect of earning power etc.
I recall seeing a prog, showing the countries first £1m ex council flat. Jeez if I'd rented that place for a weekend break in landan, I'd have been unhappy about the state of the place outside.
Ive just been on a brand new, new build estate (social housing). maybe 100 houses. its all let to Pakistani's. the area, paths, drives and the houses I've been in were all filthy. these are houses built on a size scale that the landan folk will never in a million years be able to own.
10 mins later I'm on an entirely white traditional 1930's and 50's built council estate. the area, paths, drives and the houses I've been in were all filthy.
I just do not get why people decide to live in filth and fail to tidy their own environments up. I sort of get 70 years of things slipping: but brand spanking new homes.
apparently we have a housing crisis. I wish to goodness the government would read this thread because its news to me.
the issue with the TV prog, is in la la la london land: no ex council flat/house is worth that sort of cuckoo money, because your neighbours and that entire area will be utterly awful. £500k in la la land isn't buying a nice place where you'd be happy being on the streets at night. But to have that sort of money is some achievement in itself, eg in respect of earning power etc.
I recall seeing a prog, showing the countries first £1m ex council flat. Jeez if I'd rented that place for a weekend break in landan, I'd have been unhappy about the state of the place outside.
Ive just been on a brand new, new build estate (social housing). maybe 100 houses. its all let to Pakistani's. the area, paths, drives and the houses I've been in were all filthy. these are houses built on a size scale that the landan folk will never in a million years be able to own.
10 mins later I'm on an entirely white traditional 1930's and 50's built council estate. the area, paths, drives and the houses I've been in were all filthy.
I just do not get why people decide to live in filth and fail to tidy their own environments up. I sort of get 70 years of things slipping: but brand spanking new homes.
apparently we have a housing crisis. I wish to goodness the government would read this thread because its news to me.
Howard- said:
funkyrobot said:
The girls column is doing alright until about number 12 (7 and 8 excluded), but the boys column doesn't fare so well does it?! Howard- said:
funkyrobot said:
The girls column is doing alright until about number 12 (7 and 8 excluded), but the boys column doesn't fare so well does it?! 
) but my childrens names don't appear in the top 100 list.Am I Council or not? Please advise......!
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