DIY lessons to be learnt

A homeowner in Staffordshire who has made his home a DIY disaster zone has been banned from living in it. The semi-detached house in Hulton has been so badly altered that a Housing Act court order was given to the owner to prevent anybody from living in it.

The list of disasters in the house reported in the local paper included:

• a bedroom in the loft which was only 3ft high (and accessed by stairs made from pallets)
• all the walls had been taken back to bare brick
• no hot water in bathroom or kitchen
• no work surfaces or cupboards in kitchen
• no heating in the house, with no wall insulation
• only one room had electrical sockets
• the chimney breast had been removed leaving the chimney structurally unsafe
• an open drain inside the house
• no lighting in the house
• no handrail on the ground floor staircase
• leaking water due to ground floor alterations (and as the property is semi-detached, this damaged next door property too)

On top of that, the owner had actually rented the house out to a lady after he had received the court order! Unbelievable but true!!