Looking for and checking out flats (Americans read: apartments) in Hastings has been an eye opener. What appears to be customary here in the UK would surely be highly illegal in the US.
For example, this morning we viewed one flat (probably of four) carved out of a three-story plus basement terrace (Americans read: row) house. The good news is that it was recently renovated (really to posh a word to describe it). Everything was unfinished. And when I say “everything” I mean EVERYTHING. There were holes in the walls in the corridor leading up to the top floor flat. In the flat, electric light switches and electrical outlets hung off the wall by the electrical wires in them. The kitchen was unfinished as was the bathroom and a ridiculously grand and inappropriate fireplace in the living room come kitchen.
We then viewed another flat. This time it was in a basement in a central location to the town centre and sea front. The decor that any future tenant inherited was completed either by a frustrated artist or a prostitute with artistic tendencies. It was difficult to tell which. In the ceiling that was the area where the bed went hung exotic fabric and faerie lights. Everything in the bathroom was black. A large piece of tree was nailed into the wall and the ceiling as you entered the living come kitchen from the corridor. And so on.
Needless to say, they were both rejected. As have been other flats.
We’ve seen flats that were advertised with new carpets where clearly the British Army in dirty boots had walked all over them. We’ve seen flats where so-called double bedrooms are so narrow that you could stand in the middle and outstretch your arms and touch the walls. We’ve seen flats (and houses) where the landlord has done nothing (and I mean nothing) to them after the previous tenants had left.
We’ve seen flats that bear no relation to the photographs used on estate agents’ Web sites to advertise them. We’ve seen flats where there were holes in the walls, damp on the walls and filth in the kitchens and bathrooms.
And the estate agents have the audacity to say, “No pets!” These flats are owned and occupied by humans whose standards of hygiene and cleanliness beggar the imagination. The estate agents really should say, “No humans!”
Further, the ads frequently say “Regrettably No DSS.” This is, bluntly, economic prejudice against those who are unemployed and receiving benefits. So, those who are struggling the most have the hardest job of finding somewhere to live. Plus those who earn the most basic of salaries have to put up with expensive, dirty and dangerous rental properties. You would think in Britain this would be illegal. You would think that there were laws requiring rental properties to meet certain basic standards before they were placed onto the market? But no. Shame on Britain.
Why “Regrettably” anyway? It’s not as if they really care.
