Accommodation in the news again

[Downsizer]

Seeing lots on the socials about the current state of accomm......

Lads that I work with have no heating at work and no heating in the block, amazing. As manning said to me last week..."people first..."

Anyone else struggling? Spill the beans...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1604856594931617792

^
Pure class from DIO

 

[Rugby-Jock-Lad]

YEP... CALLED OOT AGAIN.

Now remember Ladies and Gents. Be sure to go through your CoC who WILL ALWAYS be looking out for your best interests in cases like this!!!!!

YEAH.... RIGHT....

 

[Rugby-Jock-Lad]

Seeing lots on the socials about the current state of accomm......

Lads that I work with have no heating at work and no heating in the block, amazing. As manning said to me last week..."people first..."

Anyone else struggling? Spill the beans...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1604856594931617792

^
Pure class from DIO

You sure you don't want to stay in?? :-D

 

[fourteen2two]

Yet the unwanted visitors to our shores get put up in hotels
This country is rapidly going down the toilet.

 

[4everAD]

I for one can't wait for the next AFPRB report, we'll see just how independent they really are!

 

[busby1971]

The board are independent but the latitude of decision making is very controlled.

No need to wait for the next report to see that.

 

[bigjd]

The accommodation at Cosford isn't exactly great. In the block the plumbing is beyond useless, more than a couple of people using showers in the building results in no water pressure for anything else. Damp and mould is common, problems with electrics although that seems to have calmed down. When we moved in to this block we where told it was previously condemned! I could go on and but I think most of the blocks in Cosford suffer similar issues at the moment.

The camp itself is alright, still enjoying my course here and still glad I made the change to join. I do wish however the accommodation was better, just a half decent kitchen for cooking and plumbing that works would do me!

 

[muttywhitedog]

Whats the going rate these days for a room in the block or a 3 bed FQ?

How does it compare to the average UK rental of £1175 a month, or what Students pay for a room at Uni (around £150 a week)?

 

[busby1971]

You could try Googling it just like you did for average rents.

It doesn’t matter what the cost is, being provided decent accommodation, if that is what you are told you are getting, should be a given. If some choose a lower standard, and some will then that’s your choice, but it should still be a safe, sound and properly maintained home.

As most know , but some may chose to forget, access to cheap accommodation is taken into account in the x-factor, and without it pay would be higher, so those who provide for themselves are at a disadvantage.

This isn’t about making silly comparisons with irrelevant comparators, it’s about a a bad contract being delivered badly.

 

[mullah lite]

Whats the going rate these days for a room in the block or a 3 bed FQ?

How does it compare to the average UK rental of £1175 a month, or what Students pay for a room at Uni (around £150 a week)?

While I see your point, it's hardly valid. Service personnel are, broadly,  sent to their postings. They may well have no wish to be in a particular place.

Yes, the 'leave' option is always there, but a decent standard of accommodation, that SP know meets a reasonable level will go a long way in the maintenance of morale and retention. It's not reasonable to expect SP and more so their families to put up with housing that would be (has been?) deemed unfit for habitation.

No one's looking for the Hilton, but the current debacle has been creeping up for a long time. Once the estate was sold off its been in decline, with some sites better than others.

 

[Spearmint]

The accommodation at Cosford isn't exactly great. In the block the plumbing is beyond useless, more than a couple of people using showers in the building results in no water pressure for anything else. Damp and mould is common, problems with electrics although that seems to have calmed down. When we moved in to this block we where told it was previously condemned! I could go on and but I think most of the blocks in Cosford suffer similar issues at the moment.

The camp itself is alright, still enjoying my course here and still glad I made the change to join. I do wish however the accommodation was better, just a half decent kitchen for cooking and plumbing that works would do me!

Tossford Accomodation wasn't the best over 20yrs ago and I sincerely doubt much has been done to them since. I remember getting back there on my Fitters Course (the real one for your 4 Props, not that mickey mouse bullshit cats arseh*le badge) and the pipes of the 1st block we were allocated burst, trashing a lot of issued and personal kit. It wasn't even cold, was approx 1 week after 9/11 so just poorly maintained infrastructure again rather than being caught out by a cold snap.

 

[muttywhitedog]

I take it that even grade 1 FQ are nowh

You could try Googling it just like you did for average rents.

It doesn’t matter what the cost is, being provided decent accommodation, if that is what you are told you are getting, should be a given. If some choose a lower standard, and some will then that’s your choice, but it should still be a safe, sound and properly maintained home.

As most know , but some may chose to forget, access to cheap accommodation is taken into account in the x-factor, and without it pay would be higher, so those who provide for themselves are at a disadvantage.

This isn’t about making silly comparisons with irrelevant comparators, it’s about a a bad contract being delivered badly.

Good idea Busby - I did.

Grade A 3 bed house - Approx £320 a month for non-commissioned
Band I 3 bed house - Approx £60 a month

Grade 1 SLA - Approx £80 a month for JR
Grade 4 SLA - Approx £30 a month

I completely agree that nobody should live in sub-standard accommodation. However I also believe that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. I very much doubt that the problems above are from the top grade accommodation, and a move needs to be made to get every service person in top grade accommodation, even if it means the price of that grade rises by 50%, which will still make it way less than half what joe public are paying for (often) sub-standard rentals. My daughter rents a 2 bed place in Stoke for £600 a month. Its damp, hard to heat, has daily visits from slugs, woodlice, but she is afraid to complain for fear of being given notice, and there's very little rental even that area that she could get for less than £800 a month. And her NHS salary is £26K a year.

 

[busby1971]

Bit of oversharing there Mutty, but this isn’t about your daughter, it’s about a contractor not delivering the service they are being paid for and service people with no agency, not having the voice or power to have an impact so being ignored.

By the way if I were your daughter I’d probably look at a house share or similar, probably get a much nicer place for a bit less or the same money, but hey that’s the choice she”s able to make.

 

[muttywhitedog]

Bit of oversharing there Mutty, but this isn’t about your daughter, it’s about a contractor not delivering the service they are being paid for and service people with no agency, not having the voice or power to have an impact so being ignored.

By the way if I were your daughter I’d probably look at a house share or similar, probably get a much nicer place for a bit less or the same money, but hey that’s the choice she”s able to make.

No its not, but it adds a level of context as to what the current favourites of the nation have to put up with. HMF are way down the popularity pecking order - a decade without a good old fashioned war and three years of Covid has seen to that.

Is it a case of people expecting a palace whilst paying for a hovel? I dont think £500 a month for a good quality 3 bed FQ is particularly expensive. Do they still include Water rates, which these days would be worth another £60 a month based on a family of 4.

I reiterate that nobody should be forced to live in sub-standard housing.

 

[Deltaitem]

Once the estate was sold off its been in decline, with some sites better than others.

Yup, flogged off in '96 by the tories, bless 'em, but I bet John Q Squaddie still lined up and voted for them the following year. It does kind of put them on a level footing with their civilian counterparts, ie having to deal with the vagaries of a landlord's whim regarding sticking to the tenancy agreement and obeying the law etc.
I wouldn't expect the current government to give too much of a toss about passing any meaningful legislation to protect tenants' rights, given that a huge wodge of them are actually landlords themselves.

 

[fourteen2two]

We had a cold prewar type quarter at Cosford 81 to 82 while on an FT course. It was a very cold winter so we were paying a fortune on coal and storage heaters. A shock after a double glazed fully centrally heated flat at Laarbruch.
Our first quarter at Coltishall was pretty good and we were able to get one quite quickly. So good when we were newly married on an SAC wage, plus wife's nurse salary.
On posting from Cosford we decided to buy and never went back to MQs. In our second house now. Retired and have been mortgage free for years.
They do need to improve accommodation for serving personnel if they want to keep them.
As a singly I spent plenty of time in 14 or 4 man rooms but it was always warm and showers etc worked. Although blocks could be a bit scruffy.
No pay as you dine and always good food. Swinderby food was not so good!

 

[Captain Kirk]

Yup, flogged off in '96 by the tories, bless 'em, but I bet John Q Squaddie still lined up and voted for them the following year. It does kind of put them on a level footing with their civilian counterparts, ie having to deal with the vagaries of a landlord's whim regarding sticking to the tenancy agreement and obeying the law etc.
I wouldn't expect the current government to give too much of a toss about passing any meaningful legislation to protect tenants' rights, given that a huge wodge of them are actually landlords themselves.

And of course the other parties are going to fix them all up! Defence is an overhead, Tories don’t like overheads and Labour don’t do Defence very well… they tell lies to join wars.
It ‘s very easy to moan about how cheap they are, but then who would go to Brize if they were charged at local rates.
What is funny is the poacher turned gamekeeper attitude on here.
I’m just surprised that if you pay ‘rent’ for MQ then why can’t the occupants have legal rights like you would get like Mutti’s daughter.

 

[Tin basher]

Anyone else struggling? Spill the beans...

Stuck in a travel lodge due to water damage.

Afghanistan veteran faces Xmas in Travelodge after water tank explodes

Corporal Glen Price (right) and his wife Anna (left) were left heartbroken when they returned from their dream holiday to the Dominican Republic on Thursday to find their home in tatters.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[fourteen2two]

Hope they have contents insurance and get everything sorted quickly.

 

[Tin basher]

Big heads of sheds meeting about accomodation

"Ministers have demanded daily briefings from military housing bosses to turn around the ‘completely unacceptable’ service that contractors have provided to troops and their families."

Military housing bosses must turn around troops in rundown homes

The extraordinary intervention follows The Mail on Sunday's report that hundreds of personnel had been left without heating or hot water as they waited for repairs in rundown homes.

www.dailymail.co.uk

It will be interesting to see just how much of the talk becomes actual action.