Is Sheffield Council's housing stock the worst in Britain? It seems that Sheffield has lost any committment to the idea of providing decent social housing and has abandoned it's tenants to survive in run down, neglected homes.

I would be grateful to hear what other council tenants feel about the standard of the homes that they are now going to be charged a "fair" rent for under the new system for setting rents.

council houses seam decent at lowedges they have just been fitted with new kitchens!

There are some excellent council houses in sheffield, I know I live in one. Moved into this one nearly twenty seven years ago when it was brand new, and it is very nice.

I know, there are some run down ones, but it is not all the councils fault. Some tenants also are at fault by neglecting their homes and indeed deliberately damage them.

If people would take a pride in their homes and look after them, it wouldnt be neccessary for them to be repaired all the time. :o :lol: :D

I don't know about Shefield been the worst but I think some areas with council houses will be up there with the worst. I seen some streets where there is house after house empty and boarded up ebcause nobody wants to live there. Who wants to live on a road where more than half the houses are boarded up and empty?

Dear f-g
Some Council houses have been fitted with new kitchens. I moved into this flat in November, I had to wait three,count 'em, three months for the contractors to finish the job before I could move in, I'm still trying to find the proper electric socket for the washing machine(I hasten to add I'm using another socket, so I can wash my undies etc.) I think the Lowedges Housing Office is an absolute shambles as far as my dealings with them are concerned. I definitely get the feeling that an estate dweller is somehow second class and should be grateful they get any service at all. What's your view,f-g or anybody?

well AFAIK, they all have double glazing now as well

Dear RPG.
'Fraid I have to disagree withee, my flat only has the kitchen Double glazed.The bathroom has the old metal window frames and the living room and bedrooms have rotting wooden ones. This is Lowedges. I wonder if anyone with any power in the Housing office reads this forum? If so I'll bet any adverse comments are quietly ignored.

I'm not in Lowedges, arbourthorne to be exact. And double glazing would be nice, so would a toilet upstairs in the bathroom! and not at the side of the kitchen.

In order to get central heating we had to 'play' on asthma.

And the kitchen has only two units, and one of them is the sink!

;(

Originally posted by "fronbow"

I'm not in Lowedges, arbourthorne to be exact. And double glazing would be nice, so would a toilet upstairs in the bathroom! and not at the side of the kitchen.

In order to get central heating we had to 'play' on asthma.

And the kitchen has only two units, and one of them is the sink!

;(

You see this just highlights the poor quality of Sheffield Council Housing. Houses that still haven't been modernised. Having a downstairs toilet, What year are we living in? It wouldn't surprise me if someone piped up and said that they still had an outside toilet! anybody out there with a sess pit?

Tell me, are the rents cheaper for un-modernised houses? if so how much cheaper?

dunno, what are the rents like for 'modernised' houses?! (Our rent is round about 38 squid) (Per Week)

Dear Lickzz
Our cess pits been blocked ..... no I'm only kidding, but I do take your point and can do nothing but agree with you. I've had trouble wi't 'ousin'
but nobody seems to want to do anything, does anyone know who I can contact to get some action? Incidentally, I'm paying around £159 per month.

If you think Sheffield council houses are bad, you should see the ones in Newcastle. I've had the 'pleasure' of visiting some and they are truly awful!

Originally posted by "crimbo"

Dear Lickzz
Our cess pits been blocked ..... no I'm only kidding, but I do take your point and can do nothing but agree with you. I've had trouble wi't 'ousin'
but nobody seems to want to do anything, does anyone know who I can contact to get some action? Incidentally, I'm paying around £159 per month.

Well, Seen as your paying rent and I presume that your not in arrears. You shouldn't be messed around where repairs/maintenance is concerned. I'd try the Town Hall and if i get no joy there write to your Local MP about it. What exactly is happening? Are you getting fobbed of on the telephone or are you getting lied to face to face?

Originally posted by "alchresearch"

If you think Sheffield council houses are bad, you should see the ones in Newcastle. I've had the 'pleasure' of visiting some and they are truly awful!

Yes, I can imagine and I expect Liverpool is just as bad.

I moved into a council 6 weeks ago and was told it had been passed as clean and ready to move into and that all necessary repairs had been done. That was a joke. So far repairs done since I moved in are: 7 doors that would not close, a great big hole in the toilet wall (which incidently is downstairs off the kitchen in the porch) 3 kitchen walls plastered, 3 drawers in the kitchen that would not open (2 of which were on the brand new double base unit which had just been fitted(the only unit there is), the kitchen window which would not open, the tap on the bath. Still left to do: step outside front door, 3 floorboards which need replacing, the gas pipe for the fire which is loose as it is only screwed down with one screw and is bent, loose wires in the coalhouse which the electrician doesn't know what they are for, a small window in the kitchen which has been bricked up inside but not outside and is letting in the damp, walls to be plastered inside the base unit and wall cupboard in the kitchen, bricks to be replaced on back of house and wall to be repointed. All this and NO CLEANING ALLOWANCE. Can anyone beat that. I think someone needs a white stick and a guide dog.

Dear Lickszz
No I haven't been lied to ,or fobbed off in this instance, though I have in the past.
I have to be fair and say I am quite difficult to reach by 'phone as I have no access to one during the working day, save for my mobile, which would cost me a lot of money, should I use that to contact them, anyway I'm not allowed to use it at work except at dinner. The way I communicate with them is by letter, which I usually pop in their box on my way to work.the main problem seems to be liason and organisation between housing and direct works.The last time I requested any service the events moved so fast I wasn't allowed time to organise a "house sitter". So,what do you want? you may ask, a bit of organisation is my reply. I shan't go into it, it's all too complicated to write about.

@Crimbo, wouldn't it be nice if they 'catered' for working ppl?! Like coming out when you're not at work ie evenings or weekends - we've still got a hole round our sink where they ripped off the tiles to put a new sink unit in, but then failed to come back and replace the tiles...I'll end up doing it myself eventually!

@mslotus, I would push them for a cleanin allowance - maybe even write to your local MP or visit them?!

I believe that the comments received so far are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to public housing in Sheffield and the Council's attitude towards it and their tenants.

In January, my central heating boiler failed at 4'o'clock on a Friday evening. It was freezing outside and as it is a cobi boiler, it also is our only source of hot water. This system was installed when we moved in at our expense as the Council refused to modernise the property. I n return for 3 quid a week the Council offered to maintain and service the system after we had paid the £1400 to put it in. When it failed, we were informed that heating and hot water were not considered a priority and it could be up to 14 days before an engineer could call. The only practical advice from the Council was that we could boil up water in pans in order to bath our our young child.

It was 6 WEEKS before the Council called to check the heating. By then we had signed up with British Gas and told the Council where they could stick their service agreement.

This illustrates the Council's attitude to tenants, we are regarding as second class citizens and because we ask for a decent, damp free, sound home in which to raise our families we are viewed as being a nuisance and unreasonable.

By the way, any member of the Forum who would like to attend a birthday party for a Council's repair job ticket, I have outstanding one for a dangerous light fitting that will be a year old next week.

To rustybucket. If your child is under 5 years old the council have a legal obligation torepair your heating system on priority i.e. 24 hours.If I were you I would talk to citizens advice and consider taking legal action against them.Do any of your family suffer from asthma or any other medical condition. If so then the same applies. I have spoken to NOMAD regarding a cleaning allowance and they are qworking on it. I forgot to mention before that the council wxpected me to start paying rent from thwe 13th of january when I was unable to occupy the property till the 27th. I had no water till the 15th and no gas till the 17th and we are all asthmatic. They have since agreed to take rent from the 27th.I am prepared to fight them all the way.

Originally posted by "RustyBucket"


By the way, any member of the Forum who would like to attend a birthday party for a Council's repair job ticket, I have outstanding one for a dangerous light fitting that will be a year old next week.

That's nothing - my auntie's roof has been leaking for 26 years.

Originally posted by "RustyBucket"

By the way, any member of the Forum who would like to attend a birthday party for a Council's repair job ticket, I have outstanding one for a dangerous light fitting that will be a year old next week.

I would get onto them about this as we had a similar problem. It turned out that someone in the works dept closed the ticket without actually coming out to do the job! Can't remember what it was for, but we weren't best pleased

Dear fronbow
Yeah it would, but they'd have to pay overtime I should think. That would
mean higher rents /council tax oops! what am I saying, that would never happen would it?
While we're kicking 7 colours out of the Council Housing/Building Services
I have to give them a bouqet as well. The very first day(a Friday) I moved in here the gas wasn't on, the supply had been capped.To cut a very long story short I got in touch with a bloke at the emergency service ,or something like that . That bloke really helped me out, within an hour or two I'd had my gas fire checked and cleaned ,the capping taken off ,and my central heating restored . Question, why wasn't all this done before I moved in?

Bouquet to the sheffield council, just had my central heating repaired
immediately, new valve fitted pipes cleaned out everything put back in working order witrhin one hour. BRILLIANT. another satisfied customer! :lol: :lol: :lol:

What gets me is how some estates seem to get everything and others get nothing. For example I know that the flats on Redmires Road (Westminster) have had TWO lots of central heating, double glazing and they are now having all the rooves re-tiled. This isn't one big project like the one at Netherthorpe for eg, but just general favouritism over numerous years towards this particular estate as I see it (there must be others too).

I had to move last year because my estate is about to be demolished. All flats had metal windows throughout and no central heating. I am now in another flat with metal windows throughout and no central heating... at least they are talking about double glazing within the next four years.

Why is it so unfair and hap hazzard as to who gets what I wonder.

Post No 8 in this thread expresses shock at the thought of a toilet downstairs...we are just about to be done (literally) as part of the Decent Homes Initiative and guess what......our "new decent home" will still have the same toilet and bathroom downstairs on the side of the kitchen that was put there in 1935. Perhaps in the next round of funding Sheffield Homes will offer to fit us a "privvy" at the top of the garden and really bring us up to date.....

i used to live on Buchannan road, and after 2 years of the hot water tank in the loft leaking the bedroom ceiling fell down.

My sister had complained about the ceiling bowing, stating that it was unsafe due to numerous leaks. Then i took the tenancy over and wrote knutton road a letter of complaint. I even told a little lie an said i had child living there to see if anything would be done. A manager called me and basically said "who the hell told you your ceiling wasn't safe" WE did have inspectors round who said this, he said he would personnally come round and see. One holiday day from work, no joy, he didnt turn up!

So again it leaked twice. I called the emergency number as the ceiling had cracked, so the water was escaping. A plumber came out with a screwdriver and poked two holes to let the water escape I assume so the ceiling would stop bowing........ ERM DOH theres a big crack it in.!!

So 2 days later while i am at home letting some other workman in for the boiler, we goes upto the bedroom to see the ceiling all over the bed and floor!" This was a friday afternoon, I went straight over to the housing office, even the workman got on the fone to his gaffer and explained i needed someone out now!! They said they couldnt come til Monday!!

In the end, after numerous arguments the main gaffer who ranted that my ceiling was ok came out on the saturday morining. Took one look and his words were "S**T!!! "" YEAH mate ****! I had to claim on my house insurance for the cream carpets, not a thing from the council!! NOT ONE PENNY OR AN APOLOGY!

Anyone know what teh Council houses in Hillsborough are like?

I'm hoping to get one maybe some time this year or next year.

Anyone know what teh Council houses in Hillsborough are like?

I'm hoping to get one maybe some time this year or next year.


well i hope you've been on the list a long time mate otherwise you'll be bloody lucky!!!

anyone know when colley area is getting modernised? see all around parson cross getting demolished or modernised but nothing round here, is it cos most people have bought there house round here so theres not such a need to tart the area up?/

I need New windows! I have already spent about 8k doing all the rest myself!

well i hope you've been on the list a long time mate otherwise you'll be bloody lucky!!!

I'm not even on teh list yet.. Teh housing association are trying to look for houses in the S6 area for pairing up of disabled adults with autism/aspergers syndrome.

Pairing up?! Sod that, I've always maintained that if I ever move into supported living premises, I want my OWN place, ie on my own.. I know they keep telling me I'd be lonely but to be honest I tend to prefer my own company really.

Not that I'm anti-social, it's just that I've tried the whole shared living thing back in my student days in Grimsby and hated it, you can never get in the bathroom in a morning, too many arguments over the remote, just too problematic overall.

Lots of harrowing tales here, but does nobody involve their local councillors in these disputes ?

Your local councillors go to some trouble to get elected to represent you, why not give them the chance to do it ?