Another London Flatshare Disaster

It's been sometime since the last time I wrote here about my housing situation in London.

So far, most flatshares and houseshares have been a shitshow, and that's due to a combination of house/flatmates behaviour and landpersons' exploitation of tenants.

You see, London is a very popular place.

There is an insane demand for accommodation, but not an enough supply. Hence why, landpersons can -and do- exploit (potential) tenants' desperation.

If you want to read my previous accommodation drama you can do it here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Now, let's talk about my current s(h)ituation.

In December, my partner and I moved into a flatshare. We had been told there will be seven of us in a five-bedroom flat. There were two bathrooms (a tiny one and a larger one), no living room and the kitchen was tiny, without any windows. The room had a bed, a small couch, a mini-fridge, two wardrobes, a tv (basic channels) and a chest of drawers. Size wise it'd be ok for one person, but not great for two. Of course, it was very expensive.

One of the fridges in the kitchen wasn't working when we moved in. Oh well, it's London. Quality of life here isn't that great. So we had to make do.

• The landpersons' first lie was that counting my partner and I, there would be seven of us in the house. We were eight.

• Then, we saw random people coming in and out of the house, and after some digging found out one of the rooms had been set up as an AirbnB. We had not been informed prior. After a few days, thankfully, someone moved in permanently.

• A few weeks ago we were told by the flatmates next door that they have a B'n'B contract, which isn't what we have. So not all tenants have the same type of contract. Hmmmm....

• A couple of weeks after the coronavirus lockdown happened in UK, one of our flatmates disappeared. We were told by the landlords that he left and his room was available, so if we had any friends to tell them they could move in. Amidst the coronavirus outbreak they wanted to bring new people to the flat. By the way the guy who left didn't tell any of us he was leaving. We didn't even hear him clear his kitchen cupboard. Three weeks later someone moved in his room, and we suspect his girlfriend moved in as well, but was hiding.

• Interestingly enough, we were told by the flatmates who have been in the flat the longest (eight months), that no one ever stays in the flat for over a year. I wonder why...

• We also recently found out -by accident- that the landpersons we've met are not the actual landpersons! They are managing the property. We have no clue who the owner is, and we don't even know if we are subletting from the 'managers,' because they're not clarifying the situation. 

• And to top it all off, after I did some digging, I discovered that even though this flat is classified as an HMO (house in multiple occupation) it has not been registered as such to the local council. Which of course is illegal as fuck. They probably don't even have a permit to have as many people in the house.

• Lastly, our flat is the only one in the estate that has had the kitchen converted to a bathroom and a single bedroom and then, had part of the living room turned into the kitchen and another part turned into a bedroom. Dodgy af?

Update 1 (March):

So much has happened! I confirmed our 'Managers' are breaching many laws (from health and safety to housing).
One of my flatmates has already reported them and I'm considering doing the same at some point.
Two more people moved in, as the couple downstairs moved out. They work as delivery drivers, they do not wash their hands when they return home, and they do not self isolate or wear masks when in the kitchen (our only communal area).
As I am immunocompromised, I am rather stressed by this turn of events!

I will keep on updating this list the more things come up. I truly hope nothing else comes up though. Having to deal with this during quarantine is not optimal. 

I'm not even mentioning the drama between housemates to be honest. I've seen it all before, so I can't be bothered.

My partner and I have already started looking for another place.

Wish us luck!

Update 2 (April): 

A flat in the building next to ours was on fire this morning (around 4am).

Thankfully, -from what I've gathered- no one was inside at the time, and the fire didn't spread. But the whole flat is destroyed. The most popular hypothesis is that it was due to the old electrics of the building. We live in a Council Estate, and I'm sure you know how terribly built they are. Cheap materials, really old cables and no health and safety in place. It is very scary to think this could happen to anyone any time, and all of your belongings, or even worse your life, could be lost within seconds. And our flat specifically has so many health and safety violations, it worries me a lot. There is a boiler between the dryer and the oven, and there's also a washing machine and a dishwasher in that same tiny kitchen.

Update 3 (May): 

Another person moved into the room next door. Fourth person to move in during the pandemic.

Update 4 (June): 

We got an eviction notice via text today. In 2 weeks we have to be out, amidst a pandemic (which is illegal of course). 

They claimed they have to hand the property back to the Agency. We still don't know if we were subletting from them.

When I requested everything in email the 'Managers' became aggressive via text and deny us information we are legally entitled to. At least we found out the name of the agency and I have contacted them about all the illegal stuff going on.

They just emailed me they have a proposal they want to discuss in person tomorrow. Let's see.

Update 5 (June):

To sum up, we spoke with the agency, a lot of shady things are going on... They gave us two options, either take over the contract, or accept to sublet from a new person.
Finally we got that on email, as they were not communicating with us via email before.

The tenants have united against them, and we will fight for our rights. 
Still not providing us with the landlord's info and other info we are entitled to, by law.

Update 6 (June):

We have spoken to a lawyer, who confirmed we are right and the 'Managers' eviction text is void, and the way they are handling the situation illegal. 
The 'Managers' are trying to avoid responding to our questions via email (even though they admitted they have not protected our Deposit via the Deposit Scheme) and want to meet in person. We informed them we are receiving legal advice and we will only meet them in person if we are allowed to record them. Let's see...

Update 7 (August):

I moved out on the 20th of July. It was an utter and complete mess! The 'Managers' realised they had fucked up, they showed up to our flat without notice, the agency got involved... In the end, we did report them to the local council, including proof etc., but we don't know what happened in the end. In the last few weeks only three to four people had remained in the flat, so it was peaceful and calm, and the 'Managers' did leave us alone once they had a final moved out day. 

Hopefully, this is the last Housing Horror Story I have to share.

Thank you for following my journey!

New house, new weirdness

Did you miss my housemate rants?

Well, now you're gonna get handyman rants (aka guy who is trusted by the landlord with all house related things and lives upstairs, who also has keys to our flat and rooms without our permission, who wants to dictate how we recycle and makes us keep our rubbish in our garden, who also has left his scooter in our kitchen for a month etc) on top of those.

Update 1:
So, last night after Clinton and I fell asleep we heard someone knocking loudly on our window. Apparently the handyman locked himself out, and instead of calling or texting his housemates (one of which is actually his best mate), he deemed it appropriate to wake Clinton and I up.
Not only did he not apologise properly when I told him he woke us up, he was also laughing.
Then he proceeded to go upstairs to break into his room and was banging and slamming to get in.
Needless to say I got so pissed off and restless I couldn't sleep until almost 2am. And now I have to go to work feeling like a zombie.

Update 2:
The housemates.

Disrespectful, not washing our stuff after they use it (we made the mistake to allow them to use our kitchen utensils), not cleaning after themselves, the guy of the couple never cleaning at all, leaving a mess in the sink, on the hob, in the oven and in the bathroom, especially after taking a shower. They also keep fighting and the girl is crying, which is very uncomfortable and upsetting.

Update 3:
So, apart from having to deal with the landlord's handyman being the rubbish police (aka forcing us to keep our rubbish in our backyard and constantly complaining about the rubbish), he now became the internet police as well!
The prick changed the router and the settings so Internet is restricted! And he blocked us from having access to the settings!
I am so fucking pissed off!
I had to use all my Greek mobile data and got charged 2 euros as well.
We paid the asshole £8 per room for wifi, even though the landlord has said it would be £2-3 per month, and we can't even use the Internet!

Update 4:
So, it's 12.30am, I need to wake up in 7 hours, but one of our housemates just came back from work and she's in the kitchen (our kitchen doesn't have a door) speaking loudly on the phone.
Sometimes I wonder, are people fucking inconsiderate or plain stupid?

Update 5:
The handyman knocked on the door the other day, and invited himself in basically. When I asked him if he gave any of the housemates 24-hour notice before he came over he said "Why should I?" I responded that our contract mentions that if he wants to visit he has to give 24-hour notice, as the contract states. He was adamant that that does not apply to him. He said he would have to give us 24-hour notice to come inside our rooms (!) not the house.
I am infuriated he is so entitled and constantly disrespects us.

Update 6:
When your housemates think you're stupid, but they're even more stupid than how stupid they think you are:
Yesterday, Clinton was in our room when he heard a smashing noise (similar to a plate falling on the floor) and our housemates talking.
He goes to the kitchen after a while and they're brooming. The girl looks at him with guilt written all over her face.
They say nothing.
Then, Clinton notices that they've actually thrown the bowl they dropped on the floor in the rubbish bin.
So, you think we are stupid and we won't notice you broke our bowl, even though you got caught semi-red handed, and then you proceed to throw it in the rubbish bin in the kitchen?
As if we won't see it?
And you don't even fucking apologise or replace the bowl?
Seriously man, what the fuck. We've been so nice to them, let them use all of our cutlery and they destroyed more than a few of our things, without ever acknowledging or apologising for it.

Update 7:
The couple brought the girl's child from Romania to the house. They said she was going to stay for a week. A week turned into 2-3 weeks, then a month. We asked them what is going on, why is the girl still in the house and they got very offended. They said it was none of our business and the girl was going to stay in the house until September (2+ months).
We later found out they were secretly applying for benefits and trying to get the girl to go to school in the area. So they didn't plan on sending her back in September. They were lying in our faces.
In the end, their attempts failed, they didn't get the benefits and the girl returned to her grandma in her home country. 

Update 8: 
Amidst all that, the landlord told us he was going to put the house on the market. A month or so passes and he gives us 1+ month notice. 
During that time agency people came into the house without notice or permission.
Then, the landlord tries to rip us off and not return our deposit, even though we could report him because he didn't do the Deposit Scheme.
We got our money after 2+ months, and after pestering him. 
He claimed he got an electricity bill of 4k, and tried to blame it on us. 

Update 9:
We are finally out of there.

London Housing Chronicles (Part 3)

Intro

For anyone who follows my blog this isn't gonna come to you as a surprise.
You already know I'm not the luckiest person when it comes to accommodation in UK.

So last time I mentioned my housing situation I had just moved out from that horrible house to my uni halls (the posh version, since I managed to get a cheaper deal).
Time there was heavenly and I was feeling so much better. All good things must come to an end though and so did my contract, forcing me to move out and in to my other uni halls. There my room was dope, the building was shit, the people were nice, the resident assistants were pricks and thankfully I only had to live there for a month and a half. After that I went back to Greece for sometime.

When I came back I rented a room in my other uni halls (different from the previous ones). I had been warned by a friend that I should better not live there, but the rent was considerably cheap, and the location was great.

And now let's get to the main dish...

Despite all the bad rumours of these halls (people stealing from each others' rooms, people stealing food, mice running around etc) due to my finances I had no other choice but to move in.
So my flat has the shittiest structure any flat has ever had.
The kitchens (2) are on the top floor, the way toilets and showers have been placed makes no sense, there are only 2 showers and 2 baths (which cannot really be used) for 20 people...

I hated this place from the second I entered the building. But things became worse when I was moving in and within the first 30 minutes of being there one of my neighbours started telling me about all the drama that was going on. Imagine moving to a place with 19 more people and immediately being aware that people don't get along with each other. I even had to participate on a housemate meeting on my first night there, because the flatmates decided there was too much drama which needed to be resolved -which didn't happen.

The drama & The housemates

I'm not going to go into detail out of respect for people's privacy.
The sure thing is that many people don't like each other. They have done nothing to try and live together in harmony and many gave no shits for causing great discomfort to their flatmates. In less than six months we had more than six people move out and that is no coincidence. Life in this flat is extremely stressful, people love talking behind each others' backs, many flatmates are extremely pretentious, they are extremely disrespectful to their flatmates and they generally don't realise that this isn't a hippy commune nor their own house, this is Uni Halls.

During my time in this flat I had (and still have) to put up with the following:

• People leaving their unwashed dishes in the sink (even when they're away travelling outside the country) causing mountains of unwashed dishes at times, which made it impossible to use the sink
• People leaving their unwashed dishes next to the sink, leaving no space for anyone to place any other items there
• People placing dirty dishes on the drying rack
• People placing the dishes in a way that is dangerous (I almost stabbed myself a couple of times and had pans placed on the shelves fall on me)
• People not washing communal stuff that they have used 
• People leaving the kitchen in a state
• People stealing my glasses
• People stealing my food from the fridge
• People stealing my food from my cupboard
• People using my stuff and food without my permission
• People using my cutlery (which is in a cupboard) without my permission and not washing it or putting it back to its place
• People from the other kitchen leaving their shit in the kitchen I use creating unnecessary discomfort
• People leaving their shit everywhere in the kitchen, creating a mess
• People not cleaning after partying
• People partying in the kitchen late at night when they know some rooms are underneath the kitchen and the noise is unbearable
• People being extremely rude when told off about their inappropriately loud partying on top of my room
• People drunk banging on my door at 4am causing me a great deal of anxiety
• People making noise in the middle of the night in the kitchen or slamming and banging things when they know people live underneath
• People not flashing the toilet
• People not cleaning their pubic hair off the toilet
• People leaving the baths in a disgusting state
• People playing extremely loud music or watching movies at 3am, causing my whole room to tremble and ofc causing me not to sleep
• People leaving their shit in communal spaces and never picking it up
• People from past years leaving their shit all over the kitchen forcing me to have to clean and organise three cupboards to be able to have some space
• People hoarding massively in the kitchen
• People not throwing away things that have expired and are in communal spaces
• People making no effort to keep the kitchen clean, that so many times me and a couple of other housemates had to clean loads of disgusting dishes

On top of that I had to tolerate a hateful cleaning staff who not only didn't clean properly, but was also extremely rude and many times didn't clean the showers or the bathtubs at all.

The building

As if all this wasn't enough, causing me an immense amount of stress I had to deal with the following as well:

• Cracks on the wall (that were painted over and not fixed)
• Continuous sink blockage for months (making the use of the sink impossible)
• Continuous boiler problems turning the kitchen -and my room that is underneath it- into a hotbox
• Power cuts and internet issues throughout the year
• Shower and bathtub problems (including blockage and a disgusting smell)
• Major pest issues (cockroaches, spiders, mice -and mice' dead bodies underneath the oven)
• Extremely sensitive heat detectors that go off even if you're blow drying your hair 
• Ventilator issues
• Problems with the lights

In addition to all these there was insufficient communication from the Accommodation office, many times ignoring the issues/our reports or alternatively aiming at temporary fixes.

The area

In case you didn't think all this is bad enough let me tell you a few things about the area:

• There are loud police and ambulance sirens every few minutes (which unfortunately I can hear in my room since it faces the main street)
• It's one of the most dangerous areas in London, having extremely high stabbing rates
• I get catcalled all the time, and many times catcallers become verbally violent
• The entrance of my Halls is on the dodgiest dark alley 
• Many times people pee outside or next to my Halls or in general on the streets
• There are fights around the area almost every night and especially during Thursdays and the weekends it's almost impossible for me to sleep with my window open (due to the screams, bottle smashing, fights, sirens etc)

There are a few good things about the area: many shops, pubs, takeaways, restaurants, clubs, parks etc. And I'm sure I would have been able to focus on those if I didn't live on this building.

To sum up...

Nevertheless, it's always hard to focus on the positive when the negative is so overwhelming.

Worst part of all?

I got to tolerate this shit for one more year. Yes, my financial situation doesn't allow me to live somewhere else for the time being, so I had to renew my contract...

Wish me luck.

Sincerely,

Lara