Fighting the cold – bedsits in Boscombe

When the temperature reaches low we have seen this weekend  we are encouraged to check on our neighbours to make sure they are doing ok. Yesterday morning the temperature was -10, and my heating was working hard to keep our house warm, but what about my neighbours? A lot of bedsits in our road, and adjoining ones don’t have central heating, the residents relying on small electric haters to warm their rooms.

I thought I would check on a few neighbours on the way to the shops and see how they are managing to keep warm. The first issue I have is that none of the bedsit houses have working doorbells or intercoms. Some just don’t work and some have just been removed completely. This causes knock on effects most commonly people leave the door open for their friends to be able to get in, making the building colder and less secure for everybody.

The first person I saw was out in the park. I asked how he was getting on with the cold weather. He told me that his thermostat read nine degrees. He had put £13 in the meter in the last week, but still couldn’t afford to put the heater on much, but in any case the heater did not heat the room as it is small and does not give out enough heat. The wall mounted heaters in a lot of these rooms are inadequate, and the matter is not helped by the fact that there is no heating at all in the shared hallways. In this house basic measures like stopping the draft through the letterbox have even been overlooked.

The windows were completely frosted on the inside, partly because these bedsits have a lot of condensation. The reason for condensation is the lack of heat and ventilation.

Next I went to see another friend over the road. Again no working doorbell so I knocked o the window. He was surprisingly chirpy, he didn’t feel too cold  as he had heated his room using his grill.

Next I went to see a family I know. They have no doorbell either but I managed to catch them as they were just coming home  with their young daughter. It was opportune as they were able to show me something that happens all the time. Whilst they were out, their electric money had run out, switching off not only the heater making it very cold, but also the fridge freezer. They told me that a pound lasts about two or three hours. Unlike other tenants this family cannot put up with the cold as they have a child to think of so they are constantly feeding the meter. Since I last saw this family, a local charity had brought round two large electric heaters which at least have the capacity to heat the space, they much bigger than the tiny wall mounted one which  has little effect. Condensation is a problem here too, with water streaming down the windows and towels on all the sills to soak it up, the air is very humid and I find it uncomfortable after just a few minutes.

I chat to some of the other residents with bedsits in the same house. One shows me his heater saying that it is totally useless, he has lived there a long time and is used to it. I can see his breath in the air as he talks. Again this house has no heating in the hall and has a separate meter to use the shower

I looked up the rules to see what action can be taken. According to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System

This means that the risk to health of the residents means that the local authority has a duty to take action when there is a health risk like this. I believe this is a situation where emergency action is required as the hazard is high, we have poor health in this part of Boscombe with people dying 10 years younger than other parts of Bournemouth, the Housing in this area is currently being inspected, though two of the properties I have mentioned will not be covered by the inspections as they are not in the target area.

Short URL: http://the-mouth.co.uk/?p=384

Posted by lisanova on Feb 5 2012. Filed under Latest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry