Pets in temporary accommodation

[Deleted User]

Fastlane wrote: »

We do class ourselves as lucky. We thought we’d end up in a hostel of some sort. We’re obviously bearing with the problems the flat comes with. We could’ve ended up with a lot worse.

My mum is friends with someone who is close to a local MP so I’ll ask her to look into it.

Can I ask how long you were in the massionette before you got moved someone more permanent?

Remember I'm in a different local authority. How they deal with things differs. I was in emergency accommodation for 18 months but as it was a sink estate where they put a lot of people in emergency accommodation in, I heard all sorts of stories about being there for years and not being moved into permanent. Because of the noise (we are all autistic so drunks kicking in garage doors directly below you and all the arguments that used to go on weren't exactly destressing), I did initially think we could bid successfully on a different property and stand a chance of winning. I deliberately bid on the worst properties, didn't bid successfully once.

But the way my council worked, if you were in emergency housing, they classed you as D and there was no way to increase your priority, even if you had special needs. So there was just no way to bid successfully on anything.

I must have made too much noise, nothing they could object to but I did keep asking what to do as I was concerned I'd be forced into another private rental (the private rental LL I had was awful, made life very stressful). I think it became obvious I was a bit stressy lol. So they did something slightly strange and induced a swap with another couple in emergency accommodation (they had one more bedroom than they needed, I had one less). But it was all very badly done, no pre let repairs and two years later I'm still dealing with a 40 year old fally apart kitchen and various other things. But it is permanent accommodation, another ground floor maisonette and this estate is a bit quieter. It also has a new boiler and radiators so is warm (private rental had none of these and was very very cold, boiler kept breaking, had a hole in the roof LL wouldn't repair etc etc).

So not ideal, but it is the miracle of permanent accommodation and I didn't wait overly long to get it. I do have two dogs here now lolol.

I think they broke a few rules doing it. But as I said, it is permanent accommodation. Not a process I'd want to go through again, but its done now. One day I might even get a kitchen where I can open cupboard doors without them falling apart on me (being council, they make it very complicated now to install your own, which I'd be happy to do if they didn't).

BTW my emergency accommodation had damp in the bedroom. I felt the walls, 2 outside walls, always cold compared to other walls (the sun hit the other side of the building never the back), the room was always cold compared to the front of the maisonette. I was certain the damp was caused by condensation from the cold walls, dehunidifier didn't help. I installed insulating wallpaper (see https://www.gowallpaper.co.uk/saarpor-graphite-insulating-lining-paper-single.html) and as soon as it was installed the walls were warm, the room was warm (apparently its like adding a row of concrete blocks to the wall). The damp/mould never returned. This was in spite of the council ignoring everything I said, that there was no mould anywhere else and blaming it on lifestyle (I kept the windows open too). However, your damp problem could also be due to blocked drains or other factors. But people tend to blame damp on the tenants lifestyle, even their breathing, its their 'let out' clause. Its not always the cause. However the wallpaper wasn't cheap (£12 a roll, and I had to buy special pva type glue). For me, it was money well spent, the mould was quite bad.

So I have got a permanent place, but by a back door I wouldn't recommend anyone else go through (because it allowed the council to move me in with no pre-let repairs) Just spent 6 weeks in unbelievable pain removing artex off the walls, where it wasn't falling off the walls on its own, it seems to be have been stuck on with super glue and as I have arthritis and asthma, it took incredible determination to do. I still can't walk well now because of doing this. But it is cheaper than private rental, I don't have to deal with lying LL's making the law up as they go along, and I can keep my dogs here. Swings and roundabouts. There aren't a lot of options. This is as good as it gets. I was lucky in a back handed way to get it. By the council's official rules, I shouldn't have.