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Metal theft. The biters bit
On Feb 20, 1:19*pm, (Cynic) wrote:
On Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:48:44 -0800 (PST), Ste wrote: It's not just the electrical appliances, there are tiles falling off the wall, doors falling off the cabinets and so on. Those things *are* the landlord's responsibility if not caused by the tenant, as is reasonable redecoration. =A0I appreciate that many landlords drag their heels, but any tenant should be able to get it done with persistance. It's often necessary to simply withhold the rent to get repairs done, and people who I know in that position simply don't want the risk of upheaval if the landlord decides they are too much hassle or too demanding and so terminates their tenancy. In which case they would probably benefit from moving to a place with a more reasonable landlord, as much of a pain as it will be. It's a question of finding such a landlord. In the end, a competitive rental market and a competitive society, is not going to yield many "reasonable landlords", because it is always more profitable to be a Hoogstraten. And from the other side of the coin, landlords are often loath to make repairs to properties that the tenants do not take any real care of, and themselves cause either careless damage or wilful damage in the course of arguments/fights and such (though not necessarily the same damage as the disrepair complained of), which the tenants themselves are in no financial position to make good. Perhaps you should be taking issue with the behaviour of the tenants in that case instead of moaning about the landlord? I don't recall "moaning about the landlord". As for the behaviour of the tenants, again to take pride in your surroundings, you have to have some degree of security, some degree of personalisation, and some sense that it's of a commensurate social standard. So too, whereas middle class partners might replace any crockery and fittings damaged in a plate-throwing argument, the poor cannot generally afford to do so (their income was not sufficient to have afforded those fittings even in the first place). =A0In any case those things can usually be tided sufficiently to not be an eyesore, and do not make the place less comfortable. Are you really as comfortable in a house with no doors on the kitchen cabinets and tiles falling off the wall, as one with a sound kitchen? Or is it just double standards? I have two hands and a brain, and would most certainly be able to effect sufficient repairs to make a vast improvement. I'd be quite interested to see you fit a kitchen with nothing but your fingernails - and no prior experience. In any case, I think it is yourself who is being completely unrealistic in your scenarios, because I have visited many homes of people who have no money and are surviving completely on state benefits, and have not seen any homes in anything close to such a state of disrepair. *I concede that they no doubt exist, but put it to you that they are very much the exception (except in places where the people deliberately damage their own homes - to which I say nobody has any duty whatsoever to make it better). All I can say is, for people who have survived on basic income support (i.e. not disability benefits or any of the other considerably higher benefits) for a significant period of time (possibly all their lives, possibly generations), and without working on the side or receiving other consistent subsidy from wealthier friends or relatives, I do not observe their homes to be of any reasonable standard. As I've said, some of the worst cases I'm describing are not even friends or relatives of mine, and they are actually families of ill repute in the local community - in some cases, I've seen the inside of their homes only because I've entered the property with the landlord, not because I have any personal relationship with them whatsoever. |
#2
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Metal theft. The biters bit
In message
, at 14:20:02 on Mon, 20 Feb 2012, Ste remarked: Are you really as comfortable in a house with no doors on the kitchen cabinets and tiles falling off the wall, as one with a sound kitchen? Or is it just double standards? I have two hands and a brain, and would most certainly be able to effect sufficient repairs to make a vast improvement. I'd be quite interested to see you fit a kitchen with nothing but your fingernails - and no prior experience. I was the one with the dodgy kitchen cabinets, and I have tools and experience. Indeed I have repaired several of them (the most easily fixed problem being one of the two hinges having had its screws pull out of the chipboard). -- Roland Perry |
#3
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Metal theft. The biters bit
On Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:20:02 -0800 (PST), Ste
wrote: Perhaps you should be taking issue with the behaviour of the tenants in that case instead of moaning about the landlord? I don't recall "moaning about the landlord". As for the behaviour of the tenants, again to take pride in your surroundings, you have to have some degree of security, some degree of personalisation, and some sense that it's of a commensurate social standard. So too, whereas middle class partners might replace any crockery and fittings damaged in a plate-throwing argument, the poor cannot generally afford to do so (their income was not sufficient to have afforded those fittings even in the first place). Perhaps people who cannot afford replacement plates should not be throwing them at each other in the first place? Or do you believe that it is an unreasonable thing to ask people not to do? I think I have thrown one plate in anger in my entire life (and that was at an inanimate object), so I know full well that it doesn't take a huge amount of self-control. Are you really as comfortable in a house with no doors on the kitchen cabinets and tiles falling off the wall, as one with a sound kitchen? Or is it just double standards? I have two hands and a brain, and would most certainly be able to effect sufficient repairs to make a vast improvement. I'd be quite interested to see you fit a kitchen with nothing but your fingernails - and no prior experience. Anyone of adult years has no excuse for not having such basic skills if they are living in a situation where such skills are very desirable. I would be able to acquire a bit more than my fingernails in the UK, no matter how poor I was. All I can say is, for people who have survived on basic income support (i.e. not disability benefits or any of the other considerably higher benefits) for a significant period of time (possibly all their lives, possibly generations), and without working on the side or receiving other consistent subsidy from wealthier friends or relatives, I do not observe their homes to be of any reasonable standard. Every able-bodied adult of at least minimal intelligence is able to find a way to achieve more than basic income support in the UK, so there is no excuse for anyone to live that way for any length of time except by choice. As I've said, some of the worst cases I'm describing are not even friends or relatives of mine, and they are actually families of ill repute in the local community - in some cases, I've seen the inside of their homes only because I've entered the property with the landlord, not because I have any personal relationship with them whatsoever. And yet you think the blame lies elsewhere? Incredible! -- Cynic |
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