internal concrete floors/lower exterior dpc

i have bought ex council ground floor flat in a converted house and the council must have concreted the ground floor throughout and my problem started with damp and white powder at about 8 inches above ground level also the plaster beading is showing rust marks coming through the walls, around both chimney breasts in lounge and bedroom so i tried to rectify by bitting external airbricks in to chimney breasts and then i was going to renew damp and new course of bricks along the entry of the terraced house as this is where the damp seems to be coming in or up and then i noticed that the damp course at the front end of the house could be as much as 18 inches below the internal concrete floors so was wondering what i could do about this, the house has steps at the front making the bay window concrete floor about 3ft above ground level and the back end seems ok with dpc 2 course from ground level, hope you can understand what i mean, thanks for your help, very basic diy er,

That's the longest sentence in the world. Paragraphs and punctuation would be good.

Anyway, is any part of the property still owned by the council. Are you paying a service charge for the structure?

If so get them to deal with it

Otherwise, internal and external pictures would be better

the council are responsible for the structure then i have to pay half of the costs for repairs to them, but as you know council workers are not very skilled so they would get sub contractors in and give me a hefty bill, so i choose to get the work done myself, ie for the council to change the lightbulb in my communial hallway costs £113.00 which i have to pay half, i would rather pay builders directly myself.

You can't actually touch the structure, especially for damp treatment work like this may be, without the councils express permission

And you will be acting contrary to your lease, and may well have to pay costs for the council to check any work you do, and costs for remedial work if the work is not up to acceptable standards. So it could cost you more if you attempt this work yourself.

You can query any bill for service charges and various landlord and leaseholder legislation requires that you be notified of charges and can get involved in the management/appointment of contractors for high value works.

But more importantly, the council must ensure that the flat is dry from structural dampness - and for this you may not automatically be required to pay for any such remedial work.

Your example costs for replacing a lightbulb, may not be that unreasonable when circumstances are taken into account.

the first one is a pic of what happens on the interior of the chimney breasts but it gets much worse after a while

and in these pics it shows how the front of the concrete floor is about level with the black paint and down the entry dead top centre of pic you can see an air brick and then further up the entry but 10 course lower is another air brick, this is the difference in levels from front to back of the flat so i was going to try and fit a new damp course somehow, thanks

the further away air brick is about 4-5 course lower not ten course, sorry