Things you want to share with P&B

[Honest_Man#1]

49 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

Had one recently where a report was sent in that the basin in the bathroom was to be replaced as it was cracked. We turned up with the new one and found the basin had a hair in it. That's it. Some clever clogs saw it, called it a crack and the basin (which was itself relatively new) was replaced. We then had a basin to fit on another job as well...

 

44 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

Had a landlord tell us that they weren't going to replace the boiler we had condemned. Not that they weren't going to use us to replace it, which would have been fair enough, but that they weren't going to. Had an agency ask us to do a gas safety certificate on a boiler which, upon arrival, was not connected up. The tenants were living without a boiler as the one in the house wasn't plumbed in. A frequent one we get is "you need to come quick, it's a leak, emergency!" and then you get there and it's either a) condensation, b) silicone seal needed to bath or shower tray or c) water ingress from around a window frame, none of which are leaks, nor emergencies. Had one not long ago reported as a faulty boiler which turned out to be a hot water cylinder (people mixing the 2 up is a pet peeve) which the occupant simply hadn't turned on at the wall switch.

 

43 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

Mix ups due to languages often result in amusing ones. I went to one near Parkhead a couple of years ago that said on the job line the dishwasher was leaking. Got there and there was no dishwasher, but there was a crack in the kitchen sink. The lady had called it a dishwasher as it's where she washes the... well you see the point.

You are speaking my language here fella. I am in a similar line of work, and some of the lies told to make someone go out as an emergency are infuriating.

The language one is especially frequent for me. Had a recent one where someone reported a leaking “face basin” and assumed a cracked/leaking sink. Someone showed up and it was the syphon on the toilet flush causing water to trickle into the toilet. Didn’t question her on if she does in fact wash her face in the bog.

[Sweet Pete]

1 minute ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

 

 

You are speaking my language here fella. I am in a similar line of work, and some of the lies told to make someone go out as an emergency are infuriating.

The language one is especially frequent for me. Had a recent one where someone reported a leaking “face basin” and assumed a cracked/leaking sink. Someone showed up and it was the syphon on the toilet flush causing water to trickle into the toilet. Didn’t question her on if she does in fact wash her face in the bog.

Yeah sometimes I think it's because the tenant or the agent aren't well versed in construction matters so panic and over report and then we rush out to something completely irrelevant, and other times I think the clients manipulate the wording intentionally to ensure we drop everything and attend a job to get a troublesome job out of their hair, no matter how non-urgent it may be. We do private client work and development work as well, and stupid questions come with the territory in all of them it seems.

I've noticed there's a weird trend among people that they're very afraid of boilers. I frequently come across people who are convinced that the boiler is some deadly thing sitting in the corner just waiting to kill them one day.

I've also found, almost without exception, that young adults (especially university students) in Glasgow are utterly, utterly clueless about even the most run of the mill DIY, things which are really their responsibility and shouldn't involve calling out a tradesman. They also overlap on a Venn diagram with clatbags who do not clean their homes. There's a huge amount of the student ones we go to that would need far less maintenance if the lazy, smelly b*****ds just took a cloth and some bleach to their kitchen or bathroom once in a while.

[Aufc]

If we're talking private lets, then yeah, to an extent. 
Housing Benefit is almost non-existent these days and is only paid for Supported Accommodation. For almost all other tenancies it's going to be under Universal Credit for folk unemployed, disabled or low incomes. It's worked out using that area's Local housing Allowance and based on the number of bedrooms a tenant needs (not how many are in the property).
For example in Angus the current LHA rate for a 1 bed flat is £84 p/week (£364 per month) so the max UC will pay for a single person aged over 35 in a private let is going to be £364 per month. If they're under 35 it's the "shared room rate" of £69.04 p/week (£299 per month) - so basically any monthly rental above and beyond that is paid by the tenant, not UC.
There are situations where a Discretionary Housing Payment can top up the shortfall.  Eg previously working, rent was affordable and lost job etc. 
If anyone here's needs info on LHA the rates are here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-housing-allowance-rates-2020-2021/

So to me surely renting a house to someone on DSS (or whatever it falls under) for the £364 is a no brainer as its steady income? A mortgage for a one bedroom home for someone with extra cash probably wouldnt be as much as that so its surely a decent investment? Obvs caveat that with ensuring proper insurance to cover any issues and meeting tenant to ensure not a complete walloper. Plus you are not being seen to be an “arsehole” landlord looking to take advantage and make ridiculous sums.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

1 minute ago, Aufc said:

So to me surely renting a house to someone on DSS (or whatever it falls under) for the £364 is a no brainer as its steady income? A mortgage for a one bedroom home for someone with extra cash probably wouldnt be as much as that so its surely a decent investment? Obvs caveat that with ensuring proper insurance to cover any issues and meeting tenant to ensure not a complete walloper. Plus you are not being seen to be an “arsehole” landlord looking to take advantage and make ridiculous sums.

 

Housing costs aren't paid automatically to Landlord unless the UC claimant enables that option in their online account btw. 

[Honest_Man#1]

15 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

Yeah sometimes I think it's because the tenant or the agent aren't well versed in construction matters so panic and over report and then we rush out to something completely irrelevant, and other times I think the clients manipulate the wording intentionally to ensure we drop everything and attend a job to get a troublesome job out of their hair, no matter how non-urgent it may be. We do private client work and development work as well, and stupid questions come with the territory in all of them it seems.

I've noticed there's a weird trend among people that they're very afraid of boilers. I frequently come across people who are convinced that the boiler is some deadly thing sitting in the corner just waiting to kill them one day.

I've also found, almost without exception, that young adults (especially university students) in Glasgow are utterly, utterly clueless about even the most run of the mill DIY, things which are really their responsibility and shouldn't involve calling out a tradesman. They also overlap on a Venn diagram with clatbags who do not clean their homes. There's a huge amount of the student ones we go to that would need far less maintenance if the lazy, smelly b*****ds just took a cloth and some bleach to their kitchen or bathroom once in a while.

Yeah this is the area I deal with. Vast majority of work is caused by lack of hygiene/misuse and a refusal to do anything themselves. Prime example is pest control. Get numerous reports of mice. Every single time, there is rotting food strewn across the floor, bins overflowing etc. No matter how many times you attempt to explain that unless they keep it clean they will attract pests, they still just respond with “can you stop it?”.

Keeps people in a job I suppose

[Melanius Mullarkey]

I mind back in the glory days having a 6 month sabbatical on the broo.  Had to go and pick up the old housing benefit to pass on to the landlord who happened to be the sister of the bird who I was living with at the time.  The only landlords that saw a penny of that were the ones looking after the alehouses of Dundee.

Channel 5 would have lapped that shit up.

(also bought a Sega Megadrive)

[Sweet Pete]

9 minutes ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

Yeah this is the area I deal with. Vast majority of work is caused by lack of hygiene/misuse and a refusal to do anything themselves. Prime example is pest control. Get numerous reports of mice. Every single time, there is rotting food strewn across the floor, bins overflowing etc. No matter how many times you attempt to explain that unless they keep it clean they will attract pests, they still just respond with “can you stop it?”.

Keeps people in a job I suppose

Sounds very similar, pal. We've had 3 "mice holes need filled" jobs this week. I always tell them prevention is better than cure, but they keep sending us anyway. Money for old rope sometimes.

[Shandon Par]

Where there’s muck there’s brass...

 

[Sweet Pete]

5 minutes ago, Rasputin said:

Where there’s muck there’s brass...

 

I've taken to using masonry paint on those type of jobs. Reduces time spent stain blocking, the latex additive covers a world of sins and the anti fungal additive reduces re-growth.

[Aufc]

Housing costs aren't paid automatically to Landlord unless the UC claimant enables that option in their online account btw. 

Surely landlord can specify this is a requirement before renting said house?

[Sweet Pete]

12 minutes ago, Rasputin said:

Where there’s muck there’s brass...

 

These are all the one gaff;

Before:

 

After:

[Sweet Pete]

6 minutes ago, Aufc said:

 

Surely landlord can specify this is a requirement before renting said house?

No, there's a Human Rights issue. You need to allow the tenant the responsibility to pay their own rent. Only if they agree to send it direct from UC to landlord to save hassle or to remove the possibility of spending it elsewhere can it go direct to the owner.

edit: that's why there's loads of signs plastered across Glasgow Housing Association works vans saying "put rent first". Not that I necessarily agree with the style of the message.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Sweet Pete

[Shandon Par]

22 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

These are all the one gaff;

Before:

 

After:

This one took a wee bit of clearing up.

 

[ICTChris]

I was on a Wikipedia click fest and found the follow bizarre snippet.  Without looking it up, can you guess which song this refers to?

[Sweet Pete]

7 minutes ago, Rasputin said:

This one took a wee bit of clearing up.

 

I'll bet.

We went to one recently that had been nailed shut from outside and the front door plastered with loads of hand scrawled notes rambling about religious stuff and anti christs. Inside was like that one. It's very sad as well as disgusting.

My colleague who worked at a council maintenance department before working with us has some truly eye popping, mind boggling, horrifying stories about the states some people live in. Think broken toilets unreported for years and massive mental health issues.

[Aufc]

No, there's a Human Rights issue. You need to allow the tenant the responsibility to pay their own rent. Only if they agree to send it direct from UC to landlord to save hassle or to remove the possibility of spending it elsewhere can it go direct to the owner.
edit: that's why there's loads of signs plastered across Glasgow Housing Association works vans saying "put rent first". Not that I necessarily agree with the style of the message.

Then it is fairly understandable why there is a hesitation for landlords to rent to UC receivers. I realise that not everyone will be the same but seems daft to have that as a human rights issue. It is a human right to have a roof over your head but hard to find sympathy if someone is getting their rent paid for but is choosing to spend said amount on something other than paying their rent.

[Sweet Pete]

7 minutes ago, Aufc said:

 

Then it is fairly understandable why there is a hesitation for landlords to rent to UC receivers. I realise that not everyone will be the same but seems daft to have that as a human rights issue. It is a human right to have a roof over your head but hard to find sympathy if someone is getting their rent paid for but is choosing to spend said amount on something other than paying their rent.

Well, like everything in life there are nuances. It could be that they're very hard up financially and needed to use that money to buy food or keep the lights on. It's not always as simple as they were just tempted to spend it elsewhere.

[Aufc]

Well, like everything in life there are nuances. It could be that they're very hard up financially and needed to use that money to buy food or keep the lights on. It's not always as simple as they were just tempted to spend it elsewhere.

I genuinely dont know how that works tbh i.e. is the housing benefit the only support they get? It would seem bizarre that someone in that position would get support to pay for their rent but get nothing else. As you highlight, if that is the case then it would be no surprise that they would choose to spend the money on food etc.

[Sweet Pete]

11 minutes ago, Aufc said:

 

I genuinely dont know how that works tbh i.e. is the housing benefit the only support they get? It would seem bizarre that someone in that position would get support to pay for their rent but get nothing else. As you highlight, if that is the case then it would be no surprise that they would choose to spend the money on food etc.

If you qualify for housing benefit, you're getting other benefits also.

[Aufc]

If you qualify for housing benefit, you're getting other benefits also.

So you would hope that the other benefits cover the cost of living. I really dont know. It is a shite way to live though and, sadly, the way of life for a lot of people.