• UK: 4 in 10 homes fail to meet cleanliness, space and safety standards
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[IMG]http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/13D20/production/_91948118_022521448-1.jpg[/IMG] [QUOTE]More than four in 10 homes in Britain do not reach acceptable standards in areas such as cleanliness, safety and space, housing charity Shelter says. Shelter's new Living Home Standard considers affordability, neighbourhood, decent conditions, stability and space. It said affordability was the biggest problem, and people should "live and thrive" in homes, not just "get by". The government said housing was an absolute priority and its affordable housing budget was doubling. The measurement of homes meeting the standard was calculated based on results from a survey of 1,961 adults across Britain.[/QUOTE] Source: [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37655908"]BBC NEWS[/URL] [url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/16/four-in-10-british-homes-not-up-to-standard-says-shelter]The Guardian UK[/url] [url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/shelter-living-home-standard-squalid-uk-figures-show-four-in-10-britons-living-in-substandard-a7364671.html]The Independent[/url] The BBC source includes a video which interviews a couple who live in an apartment that's failed the standards test.
The same is happening here. It's getting to the point were a house that your grand parents bought that was normal size then and just barely getting by is now a mansion in the eyes of the media and most home buyers.
To add to this, private landlords can be scummy as fuck. I have personally experienced ones who deliberately try to misuse holiday lets to try to trick people into forfeiting their rights, claiming that you do not have a shorthold tenancy agreement, and instead using a holiday let, just so they can claim favourable tax rates from it, and also avoiding the protections given by the law to STA renters. No, I will not accept you trying to sell me a STA, describing an STA, having me put down the initial fee, then as soon as you show me the contract, it stating it is a holiday let. (spoiler alert, it was over the time period for a holiday let and was a permanent residence, not my home away from home, so 2 factors proved it wasn't a holiday let, no matter what you claim) There are limited liability companies that are scummy as fuck too. It's common for them to screw people over, then for the owner to just make a new company. Was a shock to be in a place for a month, then my landlord to suddenly email me announcing they changed the company to a new one. It's fucking despicable the way it runs. Even if the landlord or letting agent isn't scummy, they are often neglectful of their property. The place before said holiday let scummy bastards was totally infested with damp. All of the plaster had totally rotted, bathroom lacked proper airflow, there were a total of 3 radiators in the entire place, and with the damp, they couldn't heat anything. Oh yeah, and the ceiling fell down on me.
Affordability is a problem everywhere due to low interest rates allowing loads of very stupid people to take massive loans which allows them to bid ridiculous amounts on homes. Don't worry, the interest rate will go up again at some point at which the housing market crashes, a lot of baby-boomers go broke and the rest of us can afford a home with only one or two years wages.
We rent from a housing association and they never get in contact back when we complain about problems with the house, they send a guy out to check but the work is never started. Mould makes people ill and it only gets worse in the winters. But hey they only get active when you miss a payment...
[QUOTE=Thomo_UK;51215194]Snip-O[/QUOTE] Wouldn't their house come under health and safety? after all it is a business.
Tell me about it, 425 pounds a month for a one bedroom, tiny flat in the Highlands of Scotland. Most jobs around here are 0 hour contracts or part-time less than 30 hrs p/w. I have enough money to buy food and pay the bills, recreation is out of he question [editline]17th October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Zang-Pog;51215305]If you have mold in your apartment, get somebody to come in and look at it. Once they detect it and verify it's existence, sue the shit out of whoever is renting the place to you[/QUOTE] Not a big sueing culture here in the UK, I have black mold in my bathroom so is that a good case?
My uncle and his family have had to live in a god-damned mould-infested house that's been declared unfit for habitation because the council can't find a place to rehouse them. It's fucking stupid. I know someone else who's got a wife and two kids living in a 2 bedroom flat (his kids are opposite gender, btw) but the council won't move him to a council house because he's not "high priority". Also, the right to buy your council home is a great idea on paper but the sad reality of it is that you had people who'd buy them, then end up losing them when their lost their jobs/became unable to pay off their mortgages but instead of going back to the council they went to private real estate owners who then jacked the prices up beyond what the council would've charged. Even in the midlands, my dad pays nearly as much rent monthly as my mum and stepdad pay for their mortgage. The fact that renting a home costs almost if not as much as paying off a mortgage is bloody ridiculous. His old landlord was also a bit of an asshat who did sod all when loose roof tiles damaged his car. Then my aunt's old landlord refused to return her deposit when she moved out and claimed she'd left the flat in a mess despite her taking photos to prove she'd cleaned up the place. This seems to happen quite a lot and yet sod all's done about it. There are good landlords out there but there's also a lot of scummy/shady people who need to have the boot put to their throats. Proper rent controls and more oversight needs to be introduced. When new housing is built, landlords end up buying out a significant chunk of it when really there needs to be a cap put on that. Of course with the current government I really don't see that happening as these same landlords are part of the tories' voting base. And here's the thing, if you don't already own property/have a substantial amount of cash you're pretty screwed as IIRC you need to put down a set deposit when getting a mortage, which most first-time buyers won't be able to do for reasons which should be obvious to all. The only people of my generation who'll be able to own their homes at this rate are either people who inherit from their parents/family or people who are significantly wealthy enough that they can afford to put away enough savings for a mortgage. Then there's the middle class baby boomers who just sit there and talk about "back in our day we worked our fingers to the bone and earned everything we did" ignorant to the fact that in their time there was a lot less obstruction in working your way up to a higher, well-paid position in a job and that housing was far more affordable back then. A lot of baby boomers are still taking up their higher positions and stopping younger people from moving up. But that's a dead horse that's been beaten to a pulp, so yeah.
In the UK letting agents are actually more scummy than private landlords whenever I move house I search for private lets first because generally they don't ask for a ridiculous sized deposit and terms/price can be negociated. Fucking rental agencies like to lock your deposit up in limbo and charge you money for every little thing even if it's their fault. My family got stuck on a one-month rolling contract when our letting agent couldn't get in touch with our landlord, but when we wanted to move out they forced us to give them a months notice despite the fact we could have gotten less than a week's notice to move out. Housing in this country is a joke. I'm happy to have a roof over my head but the costs are ridiculous even if you earn the "national living wage".
My rent was literally more than my parents mortgage when I was living away from home.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;51215456]My rent was literally more than my parents mortgage when I was living away from home.[/QUOTE] I think that's almost a given nowadays, depressingly
[QUOTE=joshthesmith;51215308]Tell me about it, 425 pounds a month for a one bedroom, tiny flat in the Highlands of Scotland. Most jobs around here are 0 hour contracts or part-time less than 30 hrs p/w. I have enough money to buy food and pay the bills, recreation is out of he question [editline]17th October 2016[/editline] Not a big sueing culture here in the UK, I have black mold in my bathroom so is that a good case?[/QUOTE] Afaik, getting rid of mould is entirely your responsibility if its due to lack of heating/ventilation, but its the landlord's responsibility if its due to any kind of issue with the house (Problem with walls, leaking pipes etc) Our last flat was quite susceptible to damp, I would seriously recommend getting a bottle of mould killer (The stuff you spray on, leave for a bit then wipe off), it usually clears problem areas up and prevents it growing there again for a decent amount of time. Mould can be an extremely dangerous thing to allow to grow in your house. [QUOTE=Terminutter;51215184] Even if the landlord or letting agent isn't scummy, they are often neglectful of their property. The place before said holiday let scummy bastards was totally infested with damp. All of the plaster had totally rotted, bathroom lacked proper airflow, there were a total of 3 radiators in the entire place, and with the damp, they couldn't heat anything. Oh yeah, and the ceiling fell down on me.[/QUOTE] Problem is most landlords/agencies want to spend as little on the property as possible to maximize profits, which is why you have completely stupid situations where they refuse to fix serious issues. If your landlord/letting agency is a bellend, make sure to check up that your deposit is properly protected in a protection agency otherwise you can get quite a chunk of money off them in compensation.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;51215184]To add to this, private landlords can be scummy as fuck. I have personally experienced ones who deliberately try to misuse holiday lets to try to trick people into forfeiting their rights, claiming that you do not have a shorthold tenancy agreement, and instead using a holiday let, just so they can claim favourable tax rates from it, and also avoiding the protections given by the law to STA renters. No, I will not accept you trying to sell me a STA, describing an STA, having me put down the initial fee, then as soon as you show me the contract, it stating it is a holiday let. (spoiler alert, it was over the time period for a holiday let and was a permanent residence, not my home away from home, so 2 factors proved it wasn't a holiday let, no matter what you claim) There are limited liability companies that are scummy as fuck too. It's common for them to screw people over, then for the owner to just make a new company. Was a shock to be in a place for a month, then my landlord to suddenly email me announcing they changed the company to a new one. It's fucking despicable the way it runs. Even if the landlord or letting agent isn't scummy, they are often neglectful of their property. The place before said holiday let scummy bastards was totally infested with damp. All of the plaster had totally rotted, bathroom lacked proper airflow, there were a total of 3 radiators in the entire place, and with the damp, they couldn't heat anything. Oh yeah, and the ceiling fell down on me.[/QUOTE] Holy shit that last paragraph reminded me so much of a one house I lived in for a year then me and my parents got kicked out by landlords because we complained too much about the conditions. We moved in, it looked all fine, then over time we started noticing things like damp, sewage leaking in our bathroom from the flat above, mould growing on walls everywhere, plaster falling off, it was just getting worse, then one day we had rat infestation and they'd come up from below the floor in our bedrooms near radiator pipes.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;51215456]My rent was literally more than my parents mortgage when I was living away from home.[/QUOTE] Yeah my rent is higher than my parent's mortgage right now, it's hilarious
My first flat I moved into was this tiny studio flat that had obviously been used to grow drugs previously. You could see the faint marks where tin foil had been glued to the walls, the electric bill was horrific for such a small place, and the moment it got cold there was an obvious problem with damp. But worst of all, When we moved in the letter-box had been smashed in, leaving a gap big enough for me to put my whole arm through it, easily reaching the latch on the door, where someone had previously forced entry. Bearing in mind this is a studio flat, so crouching down in front of the door and looking in through the letter box afforded you a view of the entire flat minus the bathroom. The flat door was located directly in front of the main door to our part of the building, which was accessible from a fire escape steps out the back of the building. I desperately needed a place to live, so I didn't really have a choice, We moved in and covered the hole in binliners. Over the first few weeks we constantly reported all of these problems to the landlord, literally no response. The problem with the door got even more urgent when someone pushed their hand through the bin bags, while I was in bed and [i] Unlocked my door from the outside.[/i] Luckily I think they expected the place to be empty still, because they sprinted out the door and down the fire escape when they heard me running at the door, yelling. This time the landlord sent a maintenance man. The dude stood around eating a banana like a gormless tosser and said "yep. it's definitely broken." before getting in his car and driving away. Speeding up walking slightly when we started calling after him, asking what he was going to do about it from the top of the stairs, and driving off without acknowledging us. When we finally found a new place to live the landlord desperately tried to hold onto our deposit, accusing us of causing all of the damage we had been complaining about. This was the first bit of direct contact we had from him [b] all year. [/b]
[QUOTE=Cushie;51215614] Problem is most landlords/agencies want to spend as little on the property as possible to maximize profits, which is why you have completely stupid situations where they refuse to fix serious issues. If your landlord/letting agency is a bellend, make sure to check up that your deposit is properly protected in a protection agency otherwise you can get quite a chunk of money off them in compensation.[/QUOTE] That's exactly what I did to one of my landlords, got them to fix stuff fairly quickly. Of course that is part of the reason you have to beware of landlords and agencies selling holiday lets rather than STAs, as holiday lets don't require the deposit to be given into one of 3 government managed schemes.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;51216053]That's exactly what I did to one of my landlords, got them to fix stuff fairly quickly. [B]Of course that is part of the reason you have to beware of landlords and agencies selling holiday lets rather than STAs, as holiday lets don't require the deposit to be given into one of 3 government managed schemes.[/B][/QUOTE] This is bollocks btw, similarly to some landlords putting specific wording to make it sound like it isnt a deposit, they can't skirt around the law just by calling it something it isnt, and your landlord can be forced to pay you compensation and full deposit back if you make a claim on it because it is infact a short hold tenancy and they need to have the deposit protected. If the place you sign the contract for is going to be your only/main home for the duration then it is not a holiday let regardless of what contract you signed.
My flat is absolutely a fire hazard, its so small I still have boxes everywhere from when I moved in. I'd trip and break my neck if I was trying to get out at any kind of speed.
[QUOTE=Cushie;51217432]This is bollocks btw, similarly to some landlords putting specific wording to make it sound like it isnt a deposit, they can't skirt around the law just by calling it something it isnt, and your landlord can be forced to pay you compensation and full deposit back if you make a claim on it because it is infact a short hold tenancy and they need to have the deposit protected. If the place you sign the contract for is going to be your only/main home for the duration then it is not a holiday let regardless of what contract you signed.[/QUOTE] Yep, that's the exact argument I used until they backed off, and I got my stuff sorted, all it took was a couple of minutes with Shelter's adviser and I had it understood. It's just easier to try to avoid a landlord like that rather than argue with them. Legally if it is your only, full time home, or if it is over (180 days I believe) a certain period of time, it IS a STA, and you can claim the deposit be placed into a protected scheme or else they can be sanctioned to pay it back, plus 3 times its value.
[url]http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/in-which-i-learn-from-shelter-that-my-flat-is-unacceptable[/url] Some criticisms of the requirements to make a home acceptable (I would say that despite housing here being a disaster, 4 in 10 is probably too high) [QUOTE]Most of the 'essential attributes' are indeed pretty bog-standard – a house should have a toilet and a shower or a bath, should have plug sockets and not be easy to break into, etc. But some are dubious. "There is enough space for all members of the household to comfortably spend time together in the same room" is important for families but not for co-habiting young people. I know lots of people who’ve had the option of a flat with a sitting room but have chosen one without, because the rent is cheaper and/or the bedrooms are bigger for the same price. "The household has enough control over how long they can live in the home" – does this preclude assured shorthold tenancies of 12 months? I don’t know – the data is not available without emailing Shelter to ask (more on that below) – but if so pretty much every flat I’ve lived in since leaving university, even the decent ones, fails the test. "There is enough space to allow all members of the household to have privacy, for example when they wish to be alone" – I shared a bedroom with my brother growing up, so I guess none of my childhood homes meet this standard. Well, OK, I thought they were fine. (These criteria are sometimes contradictory, because another point suggests that it’s OK for kids to share rooms.) In many respects rental properties used by young professionals cannot hope to win. For example, to qualify as ‘acceptable’ one of these three must be satisfied: being allowed to redecorate the home (repainting the walls, etc), being allowed to have a pet, or being assured of being there for long enough to 'participate in the local community'. None of those three apply to my current flat, which I quite like and certainly do not think is an unacceptable place to live. Remember: failing any one of these criteria would make a home fail the 'Living Home Standard'. And there are places that could fail or pass on the sole question of whether you're allowed to keep a pet hamster in your bedroom.[/QUOTE]
It's not better in the states either.
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