Council employee told me my kitchen is dangerous!

Thenotsowyzewun

Hi,

Looking for some advice. I live in a rented Council flat (and will do for some time).
When I moved in in November 2005, a Surveyor visited us from the Council to check out the state of the property.
He informed us (rightly or wrongly) that not having a worksurface beside the cooker in our kitchen is illegal; that the landlord (the council) have a legal obligation to rectify this.
The Surveyor gave us a date to do up our kitchen; April 2006, although this probably wasn't a solid date, just an estimate. Nothing happened, and now, almost a year later, they still haven't been.
Despite us contacting them about this on several occasions, and being told it will be dealt with, they've now given us a revised date of 2008 - 2010!

Is there anything we can do? - if our kitchen is not legal (Health & Safety compliant presumably) and that is a IF - I wouldn't know where to look to find out!, then would it for example be possible for us to get the work done and send them the bill?, or ask them for the money?

Thanks very much for any advice you can give us, our kitchen is very very old (the guy who lived here before probably moved in in the 70's, and it appears nothing has been done to it since then!) and we'd love to improve it, but at the moment we find ourselves waiting forever for the council to get around to it (and as I said before, the new estimate is 2008 - 2010!!!).

pavlovs_dog

no advice, just some sympathies. my mum is in housing association property with single pane windows. they've been saying for years that they will be replaced with double glazing within the next 5-10 years. that time has been and gone.. and still she's waiting :rolleyes:

epz_2

no workspace behide a cooker sounds like balls to me, that about everyone with range cookers and stand alone integrated oven hobs. that said some gas fitter monkey tried to say my mums kitchen was a fire hazzard cause some backing material was to close to the hob, i looked it up and it had a rated heet to 3000 degrees direct heat, what an idiot, needles to say he never got paid.

if you are serious about spending a lot of time there then it may be wothwhile upgradeing it yourself.

seriously i wouldnt trust most council workers to hammer a nail in the right way, ive seen doors painted with it still shut so when it opens the border is the wrong colour, stone henge type window borders cause they haddnt worked out an angled cut and seriosuly dubious electrics all in on house they suposedly spent 25k renovating.

unless you are blind with no thumbs i doubt you will do a worse job. you can probably keep the cubord carcases and a new worktop (say £80-£120) will dramaticaly alter it, as can repainting, tiles and possibly changeing the door pannels.

you may even be able to hit the council up for some cash or a rent rebate, then you also get to live in a nicer enviroment.

weekendwarrior

epz wrote:

no workspace behide a cooker sounds like balls to me, that about everyone with range cookers and stand alone integrated oven hobs. that said some gas fitter monkey tried to say my mums kitchen was a fire hazzard cause some backing material was to close to the hob, i looked it up and it had a rated heet to 3000 degrees direct heat, what an idiot, needles to say he never got paid.

if you are serious about spending a lot of time there then it may be wothwhile upgradeing it yourself.

seriously i wouldnt trust most council workers to hammer a nail in the right way, ive seen doors painted with it still shut so when it opens the border is the wrong colour, stone henge type window borders cause they haddnt worked out an angled cut and seriosuly dubious electrics all in on house they suposedly spent 25k renovating.

unless you are blind with no thumbs i doubt you will do a worse job. you can probably keep the cubord carcases and a new worktop (say £80-£120) will dramaticaly alter it, as can repainting, tiles and possibly changeing the door pannels.

you may even be able to hit the council up for some cash or a rent rebate, then you also get to live in a nicer enviroment.

You are dead right, it sounds like rubbish to me!

P.s don't call council workers, they get upset and will throw their food at you

misgrace

epz wrote:

.

seriously i wouldnt trust most council workers to hammer a nail in the right way, ive seen doors painted with it still shut so when it opens the border is the wrong colour, stone henge type window borders cause they haddnt worked out an angled cut and seriosuly dubious electrics all in on house they suposedly spent 25k renovating..

Ha Ha, your not wrong there, when I lived in council property years ago, I had a date for the council painters to come, I waited and they never turned up, so I went to work next day as usual, and yes, they turned up.

They painted all my window frames with the windows shut:eek: , when I got home that night, they had undercoated glossed, and painted the walls in 1 day, and I couldnt open my window, and it was like the rivers of babylon on all the window cills. What a mess.:mad:


Theno, if your going to live there for some time it may pay to to install a cheapo kitchen yourself, they are cheap enough in all the sales.

My friend did this, but she had to contact the council and tell them first, they wanted to make sure she wasnt removing any walls etc :rolleyes:

Of course they bit her hand off, as she bought the kitchen, and got a friend to help her to fit it, it saves them forking out, and if she leaves the home, they will have a decent kitchen in there for the next tennent.

thekid_2

be careful though, if you install your own kitchen the chances are the council wont work on it should repairs be required. They will get you to sign somethign saying as much too.

I(as a council employee who CAN hammer a nail the right way!) have lost count of the number of nice kitchens I've ripped out of empty houses before they are re-let. It's scandalous really because the ones we replace them with are crap! lol

btk

03022242

hi ive found something from the BRE, im not sure if it applies to all or whether it only applies to rented properties:



the same sort of diagram may also be in the building regs somewhere

Thenotsowyzewun

Hi,

thanks for your responses, the last one might be relevant maybe too - there's no ventilation over the cooker (it's on the opposite side of the room from the windows) although there's no cupboards above it either.

Gonna PM The Kid now to ask about whether the ventilation is a legal thing, sounds like it might be .