housing and adaptations in long term temporary property

Useless

Please can anyone help.Family of 4 with mental health issues MS wheelchair user and arthiritis. I think i have put our issues under some sort of profile and it was meant for this page. So i will try and briefly state what our issue is. The council have left us with no heating for nearly two years in a property that is in a state of disrepair and has been for over seven years, holes in ceiling, hole in front door, windows you cannot open, damp mould, etc i could go on.  The council have agreed to decant us into long term temporary property and have said the house we are currently in does not meet our needs. So we are stuck. Finally after complaining to Michael gove, and the ombudsman the council offered a us a 3 storey house with 4 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS WITH NO STAIRLIFT EVEN THOUGH THEY SAID THERE WAS ONE AND ALSO THERE WAS NO HANDRAIL.   So we asked if we could have a handrail put in as they know of our physical disabilities. The council said they will not put a handrail in as its a temporary yet according to the councils decant polilcy they are supposed to take in medical issues and adaptations when moving even on a temproary basis, the staircase was so wide it was difficult to get up even for me. I found out that building regs state if the staircase is wider than a metre you are supposed to fit two handrails and not one. We never refused this property, we were waiting on a response about fitting a handrail and we got an email back saying the council ASSUMED that we did not want the property because it lacked a handrail. we never refused. Do we complain and point out this was them using discrimination because on the day we viewed the property before we answered they gave this property to someone else, However this was in october and we looked recently at this property and its still emtpy and this is owned by the council. we dont want to get their backs up but at the same time this is likely to happen again if we don't say something. Any advice would be welcome.    

Useless

Hello community,Feeling useless so hence the username. We are a family with mental health issues and MS and bowel issues and arthritis in back. We have had no heating for nearly two years now and major repairs are needed to our council property that have not been done for over seven years. Complained to MPs got the ombudsman involved months ago and was offered a temporary property only in october.( 3 storey house, 4 flights of stairs with no handrails and no stairlift to a wheelchair user)then the council withdrew the offer because we asked for a handrail to be clear we did not refuse the offer and according to councils  decants policy they are supposed to take into consideration medical needs and adaptations even when considering a long temporary move. The council have also stated that we cannot bid for a new property now we have been approved for a decant. The house we are in is so bad holes in ceilings, cannot open windows, damp mould i could go on etcs. Council have said the work to our property is likely to take 6 months or more.  Do we complain and highlight their discrimination. We were supposed to give an answer on the day of the viewing but they offered this 3 storey to some other family on the same day. Property is empty  two months on and is owned by the council themselves not a leaseholder.  Just to let you know the staircase we looked at was quite wide and therefore we looked into building regs and found that if a staircase is wider than a metre you must put two handrails up. There was no fixed handrail to the wall of this property we looked at and only a flimsy plywood moulded board to support the inside of the stairs in the house. We never refused the house and said so in an email so we asked for a handrail and the council refused saying its a temporary property but like i said according their decant policy the council are supposed to take adaptations into account and that is what we asked for. Got an email back saying they ASSUMED that we  did not want the property. the council are just box ticking i think. any one out there able to help we would be very grateful.
We are freezing. contractors supplied us with tiny expensive to run fan heater. they are useless.  

Rosie_Scope

Hi @Useless, really sorry you've been through all this with your housing, it doesn't sound easy. Have the council given any alternatives or suggestions for what to do next other than the house you saw? 

Have you had any contact with Citizens Advice at all? They might be able to point you in the right direction or advise you on what steps to try next.

Useless

Message for rosie and jimme, thank you for replying. The MP can do nothing. We even sent an email to michael gove and heard nothing back. the minister for people with disabilities tom pursglove (at the time he was the minister i think its someone called dimi who is in charge now). Anyway tom did reply in his words its not his constituency but in the spirit of goodwill he would contact someone. thats the last we heard.
Cllrs are not returning our emails and we keep chasing our housing manager who is not helping at all. Incase you are wondering its haringey council who have been reprimanded by the ombudsman and the government for failing to handle complaints and if you read the cases under housing ombudsman special report on haringey its heartbreaking how long people have had to wait to get things sorted.

Our MP blamed the tories but its a labour run council who has messed this up. We are not allowed to bid on a home as we have been awarded a temporary decant over 4 years ago and they still have not found us anywhere. Then we got the ombudsman involved and low and behold one place came up and we said we wanted it can we have a handrail and they said no and withdrew the offer. they said this place thats been empty for over 4 months has been signed up to a family and they are waiting for a date to move. Its been four months it can't take that long.  We were offered this property back in October and its still empty we checked only yesterday. This property is council owned as it says on the land registry but we were told we cannot use the garage and we cannot make any alterations to the property so they withdrew the offer. Something fishy going on here. Property is still empty we checked yesterday.

 Honestly can it take up to four months for a family to move in and they are still waiting on a date so the council says ?.  We are not allowed to bid on properties so can anyone answer why this is as they are refusing to tell us. The report is 43 pages long and there are numerous cases with references names protected but the situations people have gone through its astounding and horrible that people have had to wait so long. if anyone can answer about the bidding process as the council are refusing to help.  Not coping anymore and the carers assessor keeps cancelling on me as she wants to do a telephone assessment not a home visit. She knows the property is in a bad state of disrepair i wonder if this is what is putting her off. its not overcluttered (there are no boxes and no stuff piled high to the ceiling but there are belongings in boxes as we were ready to begin moving out ) I have been in this property for over 30 years what do they expect. My fingers are freezing as we still have no heating and this stupid council knows up in the main bedroom plug points are hanging off the walls as the plaster is blown and  you cannot overload existing extension leads from other plug points and how the hell am i supposed to heat the bathroom with an electrical heater when everyone knows electrics and water is dangerous. Any ideas anyone please help. thanks.   Best wishes from useless (as that how this council makes me feel) Thanks for your responses anyway.

Rosie_Scope

That sounds so frustrating @Useless. Sorry the MP couldn't help, it sounds like you've tried all sorts of avenues already. 

Turn2Us have an advice finder that you might find useful. Perhaps there's a specialist housing adviser nearby that could give you some ideas? It might even be time to seek some legal help to see if there's anything that could be done to speed up some kind of conclusion for you.

I'm not too familiar with the bidding process for housing, but hopefully some of our members might be able to share their experiences on that part.

Useless

Thanks rosie, wanted to say thank you privately and perhaps explain a little bit more. All this stress is making him more depressed and angry and guess who is in the firing line. all i am trying to do is help sort this. How could we accept a property with 4 flights of stairs with no stairlift and no handrail to someone who uses a wheelchair, yet somehow they think im to blame. I have also tried to log into this website 3 times today. It kept telling me there was no match to my credentials. Technology and me do not mix just like electric and water. I ask you whats the point of going on. from useless.

Albus_Scope

Hi @Useless I'm so sorry to hear things are dragging on so much, I can only imagine your frustration.

With regard to the little electric heater, have you looked into oil filled radiators?  They are a lot cheaper to run, plus safer and a small 9 finned radiator can easily keep two rooms warm for less money.