Inside Britain's 'slum-like' social housing crisis

Watch our feature on how one community in Grimsby is dealing with its housing problems head on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr83z5jt6dA

Firstly how can a housing association get away with this. As far as I am concerned these properties should be condemned.

The worst of all this is that it’s preventable with good ventilation and it’s easy to fix! I live in a not so nice neighborhood, on what you call fixed income in Sweden and we don’t have those kind of mold problems because of building regulations. Much cheaper to do it properly from the start, than to repair again and again after each tenant.

This will be compounded this winter as the heating doesn't go on and mold takes hold.

As if this isn’t bad enough, these poor people also now face being charged £5,000 a year for their energy bills. This stupid country is falling apart.

I have rented out my property in Wales a beautiful newly renovated cottage. The first tenant in less than a year damaged the kitchen and dismantled furniture. The current tenant has not allowed access to do basic maintenance and when appointments had finally been arranged by contractors on the day turned them away at the door. It has been almost impossible to communicate with the tenant and the letting agent doesn't care. I should also say I have had good tenants in past. I am told new regulations mean from December 6 months notice to tenants will be required. I have now decided I will sell this property and am not interested in being a landlord, it brings after expenses virtually no income and meanwhile i have watched my property deteriorate. In the future the only people interested in being landlords will be those with slum properties which are run merely for profit. Expect more of these problems.

You can contract repairs privately and recoup the costs through the courts from the housing association. I know this might not be helpful for tenants with little income, but might be useful to some.

That is HORRENDOUS ❗❗❗❗ Are they trying to throw these people away ❓❓❓❓

She must of meant she empties the dehumidifier not fills it?

I got blamed as a tenant for structural caused mold in the states. They were seriously trying to pursue damages bc we "didn't report it in time" but we indeed did a year prior during the renewal inspection (3 years total). The floor in the kitchen would seep with puddles and eventually the boards came off the floor making everything a slipping hazard, mind you the landlord told us to "call your rental insurance, not our problem" and I had a 4yo, 3yo and a 5 month old at the time. My husband was furious we were in that position of having to live in a house falling apart for a day but going to a hotel wasn't an easy proposition when you have young children who take awhile to adjust to disruption to routine so going to a hotel, even when rental insurance covers it, it's just not ideal, your school bus doesn't go there and going from a semi + completely private to communal sleeping arrangement with young kids WHILE MOVING ON NO NOTICE is so difficult. We waited till we found a new rental, but as things were hostile between us and the leasing agency manager, even though the inspectors clearly said it was caused by STRUCTURAL damage that had been going on for years and were never fully resolved beyond a temporary fix when we first moved in 3 years prior with a fresh coat of paint "renovation"... But we found a decent home in a much more ideal neighborhood+part of town (just more convenient and located close to the "hub" of town and downtown, but it's a quiet and family residential area. You know, it's not perfect but it's comfortable enough. Anyways, I live in NC but I'm sure the damp is much worse in the UK. Oh yeah forgot to mention how my kids would get these relentless coughs especially during and after head colds. It was not great at all. It explains a lot. We also had to throw out a couch bc it covered and precipitated a moldy wall and floor (obviously we didn't move it there if we saw damp or damage, it looked fine at the time but the fridge piping eventually leaked into the wall (we didn't install that, they did) and it just destroyed the wall and we had no idea until it was too late. The carpet covered a lot and unless you're intentionally looking for it, you will become blind to it.

He should move away arrive on a dingy and he will be looked after , this country has its priorities wrong

As an ex builder a lot of damp is closed up fireplaces and sealed double glazing , total disaster on old housing stock. And don`t get me started on internally vented tumble dryers or people boiling whites ...

I will not watch mold grow and flourish

It is deliberate in many cases. They left an old person without hot water or heating for 2 years in our area they leave it til the person gets angry then say they can’t do it because the person got angry. The only way to get repairs done is for people to take legal action and most social tenants do not have the knowledge, money or ability to take action. It is the same old story: the vulnerable being taken advantage of. It happens if people become ill. That is when the DWP cut their benefits off and let them starve or freeze to death. Thousands have died this way. In the UK we are all entitled to benefits if we are sick because we have The Welfare State paid for by our National Insurance contributions and taxes. We are all entitled to benefits if we are sick and to free care and medical treatment at the point of use. That is why people pay into the system. 99 percent of Social Housing Landlords are shocking. 99 percent of private landlords are actually very good.

Part of the problem is that some people would rather live like this and moan than take action, because they see it as someone else's job to look after them. I don't disagree that the landlords should do more, but if I was unhappy I would do what I could to make my environment safer, especially if I was sitting at home all day...

These landlords need to be prosecuted so do the council workers

Is it rising damp or penetrating damp ? Cures : rising damp -: is the damp roof membrane sound ? Penetraying damp -: treat walls outside with silicone based water proofing , treat more than once

Yeah if only people could do cleaning themselves or something...

Yes my house is making me sick, this is a UK issue not a hyde issue this is a much much WIDER pandemic

Central air and a half decent HVAC system would fix this. But then again, only 5% of homes in GB have air conditioning. That’s got a lot to do with it.