Landlords refusing to carry out repairs?

[RomanNose]

I would think if you spent as much time sorting the house out as you do moaning and capitualting (nice fancy blog that one) about it you might well live in a really nice house.

Some tenancy agreements won't let you do anything.
Good landlords ( such as mine), do all the work. In fact it's against the tenancy agreement for the tenants to do pretty much anything.
Also they shouldn't have to, considering that renting can be up to 2x more than the cost of mortgaging.
This place doesn't look rentable in the first place.

 

[Slade2]

Some tenancy agreements won't let you do anything.
Good landlords ( such as mine), do all the work. In fact it's against the tenancy agreement for the tenants to do pretty much anything.
Also they shouldn't have to, considering that renting can be up to 2x more than the cost of mortgaging.
This place doesn't look rentable in the first place.

You kind of answered your own question there imho. You are allowed to view before you rent and this is a social housing property so probably not up to the standard required for a commercial let since a commercial let would probably attract a better rent income for the landlord.

I work with buildings for a living and granted I wouldnt be touching the asbestos tiles in the bathroom and the outside bricks do look like they need a bit of work but most of the stuff that the OP is complaining about looks a bit superficious to me and would be easily fixed with a bit of research and minimal cost.

 

[godinman]

Quick question - if you're made redundant and can't pay your bills then you'd still be homeless whether you rent or buy, no?

Mortgage companies don't want to lose a customer, they'll often work out a different temporary rate (low percentage tracker etc) until you're sorted, plus there are insurances against that sort of thing too.

It's a bit better to be buying rather than renting.

 

[Jono8]

Why not just settle for average repairs rather than outstanding ones?

 

[alexakasloth]

The mould and asbestos is an issue that the HA should sort out so just keep on at them until the work is completed. The small cracks you could fix with some polyfilla and emulsion.

 

[Hellsmk2]

Hahaha - good joke.

That's a suicide booth, not a house.

On a serious note - find their Facebook page / other social media outlets and post your blog on it each day. You'll have a response very rapidly at that point. I worked at a HA for several years, and still work with countless HAs in my current job. There's no quicker way to get a response than bombarding their communications team (bad PR).

 

[Bromhead]

From the pictures looks like you need filler, bleach, a truck full of paint and to turn the heating up to 11.

 

[malfunkshun]

From what I have read it is more that the landlord disagrees that repairs are needed, than just refusing to make a repair. Which puts the onus on you to convince them otherwise.
That outside brickwork is nasty, cant tell where the DPC is but it seems to be either missing or below the ground level outside, neither of which is ideal, if its below the level of that gravel, move the gravel. If it is missing or someone has previously raised the ground level outside then that would be a plausible reason for the damp inside being caused by something other than condensation.
Is there an extractor in the bathroom? there should be.
The ceilings look nasty but as long as it is just the plaster and the plasterboard/backing is solid then it will be considered decoration and will fall to you.
That corner in the living room looks wet, properly wet. What is on the otherside of that wall?

 

[anything I don't mind]

With that much mold can't you use the health and safety angle?

I find it shocking although not surprising that people would expect other people to live in such conditions and then when you complain they pretend like its the first time they have seen it. I had some mold in my bedroom a few houses ago, ended up moving bedrooms and renting that room to someone else, but it never got fixed in the end. mold is a difficult thing to fix i think. Have to take the whole wall out sometimes.