My council house always looks dirty despite endless scrubbing – it’s all broken or hanging off hinges & I can’t fix it
A MUM who lives in a council house has insisted it always looks dirty – even when it’s endlessly scrubbed.
Nicole explained that the issues with the house, which she said the council refuse to fix, are responsible for making it look so run down.
Opening up in a video on her TikTok page, Nicole said: “Why having a council house can make your house look unclean even after you’ve cleaned it.”
The first issue is the fact that the window is “falling off the hinges”.
“It’s basically hanging off,” she said.
“You can’t even close it properly!”
Next up, in the bathroom, there’s a badly fitted bath panel that’s “supposedly brand new”, as well as broken tiles she can literally pick up with her hands.
In the bathroom there’s “damp coming through the walls”, with the wallpaper literally peeling off.
And that’s because they “don’t have a window that opens in our bathroom and the ventilator is broken”.
“But that doesn’t seem like an urgent problem to them,” she sighed.
There’s broken and dipped floorboards from water damage, as well as “exposed pipes everywhere”.
“The list goes on – it’s endless!” she said.
Nicole added that while people always tell her to just get on with the repairs herself, she actually isn’t permitted to do them.
“In my housing association, you’re actually not allowed,” she said.
“You have to use their contractors and trying to get them to actually do the jobs.
“It’s a nightmare!”
“I’m not saying that other properties don’t have these issues,” Nicole added in the video caption.
“However if we aren’t allowed to fix these problems ourselves then they need to get better at fixing them.
The reality of living in a council house
LEANNE Hall, Digital Writer at Fabulous, has discussed what it was like growing up in a council house, and why those living in such properties are often judged...
When I was a child I grew up in a council house, and was blissfully unaware of the discrimination that came with that, until I became an adult.
My younger years were spent running up and down the stairs of my flat, meeting with other friends who lived there and making the most of the communal garden.
But now, it seems no matter your circumstance, everyone has something to say about why you shouldn’t be there.
Living just outside of London like I did, rent prices are still high, and as my mum was at home raising three kids at the time, it wasn’t easy to find a job that fit around that.
People in council houses are often labelled as ‘scroungers’ or ‘lazy’ but it’s nothing of the sort.
Most families in council homes experience overcrowding, and let’s not even mention the horrendous amount of damp and mould that comes from living in old social housing that hasn’t had work done to them in 50 or so years.
It’s not ideal for many, but it does provide a secure home without the fear your rent will shoot up every single year, which I would argue is vital to children growing up on the poverty line.
“Council houses are literally falling apart nowadays!!!!”
People were quick to weigh in on Nicole’s situation in the comments section, with one writing: “That window being broken is ridiculous”.
“It’s hanging off and they still haven’t come out!” Nicole replied.
“We have a similar issue with ours,” another said.
“Our front door is rotting away, reported multiple times and still waiting.
“As long as they getting their rent they really don’t care!”
“And then you’re not allowed to withhold rent lol!” Nicole responded.
“Main thing that irks me is my house was empty 8 months before I got it,” a third ranted.
“Kitchen is falling to bits – I was homeless and had to accept it. 5 years later still not sorted.
“It feels grotty and minging!”