Subsidized private rental - kitchen safety issues
Discussion
Not sure if this is the best place for this, but based on what I've seen there will surely be some qualified people here that can offer an opinion. So here goes...
A friend of my wife's (and her 8yr old daughter) has been living with us for a few months now. Through a combination of bad luck and some truly awful personal judgement, they had ended up in a battered women's hostel a few miles away, and it was a dire place. So we offered them our spare room to use until they got back on their feet. Now, that whole affair hasn't been without it's tribulations, but that's not what this post is about.
She recently found a small flat around the corner. I don't understand all the mechanics of it, but it's a private rental that her housing benefit pays for. There are 6 units in the building, and the landlord apparently owns several other properties as well (up to 18 I believe). The issue is that I do not believe these units are being let in a condition that is safe, never mind habitable. Some picture might help illustrate the matter.
This is the view into the kitchen from the lounge area. The tenant has pulled out the carpet throughout the flat, as it stank of piss. The rest is how she received the property.
The stove (not supplied) is supposed to go into that gap. I'm very surprised to see the kitchen cabinets directly over this space. Is that allowed?
About half of the sockets are hanging out like this. Apparently the 'tiler' that the landlord hired didn't feel the need to replace them. Now the landlord doesn't either.
Now, my opinion is that this landlord (who has the cheek to turn up in a newish FFRR, but claims she has cashflow problems that prevent her spending a couple of hundred £ rehabbing a place for a new tenant) is playing on the vulnerabilities of her target market, knowing that many of them are one step from homelessness or just out of it. She collect the rents from the council quite happily (£62/week for this one), and then tells the tenants it's up to them to fix it up, and they can leave if they don't like it.
On the advice of some local folks who know about these things, we told our friend that the first thing to do was try and engage the landlord in a civilized discussion about the issues. She tried that today, and was told exactly the above. Our friend has been working very hard at painting the place (on her dime) and trying to make it a nice place for her daughter to live, and is now terrified that she'll lose it all. There is a lease contract of sorts in place, but I haven't seen it, and don't know what's in it.
So I offer it up to the PH crowd.
First of all, discounting the size, does that kitchen look remotely safe or capable of operating safely in it's current condition and layout?
Second, what should the next steps be to try and rectify the situation? I'm about to embark on a major building project of my own, and don't really need to be getting embroiled with this, but the s
ttiness of the situation just makes me unable to walk away.
Cheers,
Matt
A friend of my wife's (and her 8yr old daughter) has been living with us for a few months now. Through a combination of bad luck and some truly awful personal judgement, they had ended up in a battered women's hostel a few miles away, and it was a dire place. So we offered them our spare room to use until they got back on their feet. Now, that whole affair hasn't been without it's tribulations, but that's not what this post is about.
She recently found a small flat around the corner. I don't understand all the mechanics of it, but it's a private rental that her housing benefit pays for. There are 6 units in the building, and the landlord apparently owns several other properties as well (up to 18 I believe). The issue is that I do not believe these units are being let in a condition that is safe, never mind habitable. Some picture might help illustrate the matter.
This is the view into the kitchen from the lounge area. The tenant has pulled out the carpet throughout the flat, as it stank of piss. The rest is how she received the property.
The stove (not supplied) is supposed to go into that gap. I'm very surprised to see the kitchen cabinets directly over this space. Is that allowed?
About half of the sockets are hanging out like this. Apparently the 'tiler' that the landlord hired didn't feel the need to replace them. Now the landlord doesn't either.
Now, my opinion is that this landlord (who has the cheek to turn up in a newish FFRR, but claims she has cashflow problems that prevent her spending a couple of hundred £ rehabbing a place for a new tenant) is playing on the vulnerabilities of her target market, knowing that many of them are one step from homelessness or just out of it. She collect the rents from the council quite happily (£62/week for this one), and then tells the tenants it's up to them to fix it up, and they can leave if they don't like it.
On the advice of some local folks who know about these things, we told our friend that the first thing to do was try and engage the landlord in a civilized discussion about the issues. She tried that today, and was told exactly the above. Our friend has been working very hard at painting the place (on her dime) and trying to make it a nice place for her daughter to live, and is now terrified that she'll lose it all. There is a lease contract of sorts in place, but I haven't seen it, and don't know what's in it.
So I offer it up to the PH crowd.
First of all, discounting the size, does that kitchen look remotely safe or capable of operating safely in it's current condition and layout?
Second, what should the next steps be to try and rectify the situation? I'm about to embark on a major building project of my own, and don't really need to be getting embroiled with this, but the s
ttiness of the situation just makes me unable to walk away. Cheers,
Matt
What a lovely situation.
Housing Authority said she needs to attempt a civil conversation about fixing things with the landlord first. That just degenerated into a full-on verbal abuse session from the landlord that left the tenant in tears. She's now back in our kitchen, writing out a full time line of events since she agreed to let the place in early August, with monies spent and conversations she's had. We'll see what the HA want to do next.
I've already told her that this obviously isn't going to be a happy relationship and to start looking for somewhere else. Of course, she feels trapped because her mother (late 60's with health issues) has already moved into the flat next door, and the kid is enrolled at the primary school and beginning to calm down a bit for the first time in 18 months.
Next time I'm telling the wife to go find a trio of abandoned puppies instead....
Housing Authority said she needs to attempt a civil conversation about fixing things with the landlord first. That just degenerated into a full-on verbal abuse session from the landlord that left the tenant in tears. She's now back in our kitchen, writing out a full time line of events since she agreed to let the place in early August, with monies spent and conversations she's had. We'll see what the HA want to do next.
I've already told her that this obviously isn't going to be a happy relationship and to start looking for somewhere else. Of course, she feels trapped because her mother (late 60's with health issues) has already moved into the flat next door, and the kid is enrolled at the primary school and beginning to calm down a bit for the first time in 18 months.
Next time I'm telling the wife to go find a trio of abandoned puppies instead....
Well, a very small bit of googling reveals that the landlord was a Conservative councillor from 2007 to 2011, and guess which committees she sat on?
Housing & Community Safety Select Committee
Housing Member Reference Group
Home Safety Association
I suspect she knows exactly where the line is, and how close she can get to it.
Housing & Community Safety Select Committee
Housing Member Reference Group
Home Safety Association
I suspect she knows exactly where the line is, and how close she can get to it.
And that's the sticking point...
The landlord had that new kitchen put in. It wasn't done right, and she doesn't care to fix it.
We're talking about £250 max here. Maybe another £250 if she was generous and put carpet in. Less than 6 weeks rent. For a tenant (x 2, since Mum's next door), that will look after the place and probably stay for a long time.
The mentality of some folks boggles the mind.
The landlord had that new kitchen put in. It wasn't done right, and she doesn't care to fix it.
We're talking about £250 max here. Maybe another £250 if she was generous and put carpet in. Less than 6 weeks rent. For a tenant (x 2, since Mum's next door), that will look after the place and probably stay for a long time.
The mentality of some folks boggles the mind.
Agreed. That's why I'm getting involved in the first place. My brother and I run a couple of students lets in a nearby town. We try and provide better than usual accommodation, and are very quick to fix things that break. I also have a house in the US that I run the same way.
As a result, we're able to charge and get higher rents. Landlords that try and scrape the bottom of the barrel like this really make my blood boil.
As a result, we're able to charge and get higher rents. Landlords that try and scrape the bottom of the barrel like this really make my blood boil.
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