Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

If either yourself, or anyone you know, is suffering from squalid conditions in a privately-rented place, your local authority should have officers dedicated to policing and enforcing standards on the private rented sector. If necessary, they will move to prosecute, and hefty fines or even imprisonment can result.

Unless you tell them, they won't know there is a problem, however.

We do have tenants in social housing who get a clean and orderly home and turn it into a filth pit in the matter of months. Two new fitted kitchens destroyed in one home in 3 years? Piles of dog feces on the floor, so much so that you can barely walk between them? Soiled disposable nappies pitched out of windows into gardens, instead of put into the wheelie bin?

That's the people, not the place, I'm afraid.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

If either yourself, or anyone you know, is suffering from squalid conditions in a privately-rented place, your local authority should have officers dedicated to policing and enforcing standards on the private rented sector. If necessary, they will move to prosecute, and hefty fines or even imprisonment can result.

Unless you tell them, they won't know there is a problem, however.

We do have tenants in social housing who get a clean and orderly home and turn it into a filth pit in the matter of months. Two new fitted kitchens destroyed in one home in 3 years? Piles of dog feces on the floor, so much so that you can barely walk between them? Soiled disposable nappies pitched out of windows into gardens, instead of put into the wheelie bin?

That's the people, not the place, I'm afraid.

I would agree with you, but that also applies to landlords.

I rent privately and all but one has been good. I get inspected every six months and have never had a problem. Only yesterday a door handle came off so I went out and replaced the bolt holding it to the door. Cost £1.50 for a pack of 10 bolts, so have 9 for future repairs.

The one landlord that was bad had renovated a place to such a low standard that it lacked any insulation and was very draughty. So much so that you could see sunlight through cracks in the door panels. It looked fine but everything was superficial and the sash windows were so loose that they rattled at the slightest wind.

GreyQueen

I've no love for the private landlord species as a whole, although I accept that there are exceptions to the low standards which so many keep. My own experience from age 18 to 39 was totally in the private rented sector and the lowest end of that.

Edited lowlights included windowframes so rotted that every rain shower saw me with all my mugs and glasses lined up in rows along the sills catching the drips, bedbugs, furniture you woudn't want to fish out of a skip (someone clearly had, tho ) and botched repairs done by incompetant hirelings.

My last private flat had a small bolt fitted on the inside of the living room door, because the howling gale which blew through the place otherwise sucked the door open. And when it rained heavily you had to be ready to bail.

I did as much to help myself as I could, within what was affordable/ permissable, but was very glad when my almost 10 years on the housing register resulted me getting a clean, dry towerblock flat with what would later become my employer.

I do think that there ought to be more resources devoted to the enforcement of standards in the private-rented sector, though. Bad landlords ought to be hit where it hurts (wallet) and perhaps loss of liberty for some of the shocking things which go on.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

I do think that there ought to be more resources devoted to the enforcement of standards in the private-rented sector, though. Bad landlords ought to be hit where it hurts (wallet) and perhaps loss of liberty for some of the shocking things which go on.

You could also hit them with travel bans. Strip them and their families of their passports for ten years. No point having a home abroad if you can never get to it. Their families would be living off the benefits of the slums so should also suffer. If held by a company then make sure all the directors are hit with being stripped of their passports. If you are a high level company director and unable to travel you will struggle to keep your job. Prevention is far better than cure. Though for most landlords this will be a non issue.

VJsmum

GreyQueen wrote: »

I've no love for the private landlord species as a whole, although I accept that there are exceptions to the low standards which so many keep. My own experience from age 18 to 39 was totally in the private rented sector and the lowest end of that.

Edited lowlights included windowframes so rotted that every rain shower saw me with all my mugs and glasses lined up in rows along the sills catching the drips, bedbugs, furniture you woudn't want to fish out of a skip (someone clearly had, tho ) and botched repairs done by incompetant hirelings.

My last private flat had a small bolt fitted on the inside of the living room door, because the howling gale which blew through the place otherwise sucked the door open. And when it rained heavily you had to be ready to bail.

I did as much to help myself as I could, within what was affordable/ permissable, but was very glad when my almost 10 years on the housing register resulted me getting a clean, dry towerblock flat with what would later become my employer.

I do think that there ought to be more resources devoted to the enforcement of standards in the private-rented sector, though. Bad landlords ought to be hit where it hurts (wallet) and perhaps loss of liberty for some of the shocking things which go on.

As some know, we are private landlords (it is our pension pot), but we wouldn't let our property get into bad repair - what is the sense of that? I also think it doesn't encourage tenants to look after the property.

GreyQueen

I know some of our regulars like yourself and jk0 are landlords. It makes sense to maintain your financial asset in good condition.

But it doesn't always happen. One of my former LLs was so cheap that he allowed a substantial stone-built townhouse (which he'd inherited) to develop severe damp because he didn't have the stonework repointed when it needed it. He was a business owner with a humungous detached home on one of the most exclusive roads in a major city, so not short of a bob or two.

Another LL is the same city bought flats pretending to his lender (s) that he was an owner-occupier, ripped out the kitchens, installed a kitchenette in what had been a cupboard, and rented each room out as a bedsit. Lived on the bliddy Costa del Sol and came back occasionally to count his money with his permatan and gold bling. He rented to those of us who needed to claim state benefits and couldn't get a conventional landlord to touch us, and bled the State white for HB, whilst providing p-poor accomodations.

In Shoebox Towers, which are tiny 1 bed flats, with the only bedroom just a bit bigger than a double bed, owners rent their flats out to couples with 2 children........... For a fair few people, buy 'em cheap and pack 'em in is the way to coin in a lot of rental income for a small amount of outlay, and a rising market means that even in poor condition, their investment is likely to be saleable for more than they paid for it.

Butterfly_Brain

Cheapskate wrote: »

Most of my edible crops look average, at best, this year. I've replanted my pea seedling, in the vain hope that I might get a few, but not hopeful. The blackcurrants number less than a dozen, might have a few pounds of spuds, but the brambles look stonking!

We're looking at new windows for the whole house, composite or wood, loathe plastic, as the heat loss from the old windows is beyond a joke now, as if energy prices continue to go up we need to conserve as mush as possible. Dh has finally come around to the idea that we need 'em - only 18 years after we moved here!:eek:

I've been learning to knit - have almost finished some fingerless gloves for me, then will try some proper scarves and blankets for us all. DD25 is expecting a baby early November, so will make some baby blankets, too, just to keep practising! I was given a ball of real wool and it feels so good, far nicer than acrylic, but it's expensive. Will have to source some cheaper, but I know real wool is so much better.

I have 2 garden forks, 2 rams and a hoe - is that nearly as good as a pitchfork? :rotfl:

Got a woolly question - do any of you who knit or crochet have any suggestions for real wool stockists, that don't cost the earth?

A xo

Try
http://www.abakhan.co.uk/knitting/knitting-yarn.html
or
http://www.deramores.com/cheap-knitting-yarn

I get a lot on ebay

Butterfly_Brain

tessasmum wrote: »

We have had a bit of a SHTF moment this last week in that my husband has died, and with it, virtually all our income has stopped apart from CTC and Child Benefit. Thank God that we had seen this coming years ago and made preparations for it - whilst short term benefits are being sorted out, the girls and I are able to eat from the storecupboard, and freezers, so grocery shopping is cut to a bare minimum. We also have months of TP and laundry powder, there are vegetables growing in the garden too, and we have savings in the bank for the funeral and expenses there. There are several months worth of logs in the store for the winter heat, which will keep us warm this coming season.
Our elder DD will be off to uni in the autumn, so it will just be DD14 and I here so it will make sense to downsize to a smaller property and in doing so, cut costs further.
Years of preparation for this time mean that although we are all devastated by this, we are not going to fall apart financially right now. I have been reading this thread for ages, and taking note, and have long been a fan of the OS board, and it is a great deal of help.

I am so sorry for your loss xx

jk0

GreyQueen wrote: »

In Shoebox Towers, which are tiny 1 bed flats, with the only bedroom just a bit bigger than a double bed, owners rent their flats out to couples with 2 children........... For a fair few people, buy 'em cheap and pack 'em in is the way to coin in a lot of rental income for a small amount of outlay, and a rising market means that even in poor condition, their investment is likely to be saleable for more than they paid for it.

A number of my flats have been like this. Not because I let them out like that. They were let to single folk from, how can I put this politically correctly, the third world.

Often I don't find out about this until I get the place back and see from the post that arrives.

Two of my one single, one double bedroom flats were occupied by five people, and a two double bedroom flat was occupied by two families.

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

A number of my flats have been like this. Not because I let them out like that. They were let to single folk from, how can I put this politically correctly, the third world.

Often I don't find out about this until I get the place back and see from the post that arrives.

Two of my one single, one double bedroom flats were occupied by five people, and a two double bedroom flat was occupied by two families.

I suspect that might be down to the simple facts that rents are increasingly becoming unaffordable even for those that work. Also if you cram yourself into an overly small property it does give people far more points if they are on the housing waiting list. I doubt that many actually do this. Though I suspect that migrants do this because it really cuts the overheads who are trying to save as much as possible before returning home with as much money as possible. The problem is that anything that the government do to help home owners only ends up pushing house prices ever higher and all the benefits end up with the banks. In America where they cut property taxes to home owners all it did was allow those wanting to buy to push up house prices and so if you did move you had to buy into a much higher market, again with all the gains effectively going to the banks. I suspect that the exact same process happened when they cut the rates and switched it to poll tax and then council tax. Those at the high end ended up with significantly lower tax bills and so could buy even bigger homes.