Legality of leasing properties on an unfinished development.

[cynopterus]

Hi all,

 

Wasn't sure exactly where to post this but hoping someone may be able to shed some light on this issue. 

 

I just typed a lengthy post about this but it seemed too convoluted as a first post so I have reduced it to this .... Is it legal to lease social housing to a tenant if the actual property is finished but the areas directly surrounding it are not and still a literal building site?

 

This is the situation I find myself in after over a year.

 

Would be interested to know the legal aspect of this if anyone knows?

 

Thx in advance

[Bazooka Boo]

Hi.

 

Who is the HA?

 

IMHO and experience, building sites up and down the country have occupied premises whilst further building work is going ahead yes.

 

The home you occupy has to meet all of the relevant criteria to be habitable, but it is very common for building work to continue on another part of the estate.

 

What's the issue?

Noise?

Dirt?

Access to your property?

[cynopterus]

Hey thanks for the reply,

 

Yes noise and dirt/dust, no green space as promised (this area out the front is a dumping ground for building supplies), constant lorries/diggers/vans passing and turning outside - both front and back, builders' dogs roaming around - the reversing beepers drive me nuts! 

 

It is a rural location and I moved here from a private rental (that I could have stayed in) with an elderly cat (22!). The reason I moved was to get away from a stressful and noisy environment (I used to live above a pub - ironic considering it's been closed due to the lockdowns) and to give the cat a happy retirement in his senior years in the countryside - the HA knew this. As it is, the cat is nigh on a prisoner in the flat now as he cannot/doesn't want to go out during the day for the aforementioned reasons and that alone makes me feel terrible knowing that I brought him to this.

 

The property I live in is a block of four flats and it is obvious that they rushed to get them ready for rental as they knew the lockdown was coming. For example the grout was still wet in the bathroom and the downstairs flats were supposed to have a small garden which suddenly turned into a stone covered 'yard'. 

 

All of the building 'efforts' over the past 14 months have been focused on the large, private houses at the bottom end of the development and the area directly around me has actually become worse in that time with nothing done. I was led to believe that the area directly around me would be completed by Christmas 2020 and the whole development by late 2021.

 

I did raise a formal complaint and the HA visited and simply said that they 'were sorry if I misunderstood or if there was some confusion'. I feel that they were not forthcoming about the reality when I signed the lease and in fact were only interested and focused on getting bodies in paying rent prior to the lockdown - the fact is that if they had been more honest about what was going to, or not going to happen, they would have found it harder to lease them at that time.

 

I would have thought that the directly surrounding areas of a property can and will likely have an impact on a persons wellbeing and quality of life, which kind of defeats the point of offering someone social housing?

 

Sorry if I ranted a bit but hopefully this explains my thinking as to why I asked in the first place!

 

Cheers