The council's 'conditions to renting'...has anyone noticed...

mamamia30

Hello all, im in the process of trying to get noticed by the council, so that i can hopefully be given a council house but after being on the list for nearly 6 years im losing hope! lol.
I have just noticed something though. A stupid condition the council has for deciding who is in need of housing, and what situation you are in to recieve a house.
At one point my partner, baby and i were sharing a tiny bedroom at my mothers house and i was desperate to get out due to the over crowding. The council left us like that, and didnt even offer to come out and asses the situation, ie: measure up etc. I told them i was so desperate i didnt mind taking a one bedroom flat as i'd have the rest of the flat to use as space instead of all 3 of us being cooped up in one room but they told me they would never give me a one bedroom place, i'd need a 2 bedroom place, due to the fact there were 3 of us.
Im now in a private rented flat, which is costing me £600 per month and we are in alot of debt and have had the council round to asses my flat as i have 2 bedrooms but can only use 1 due to the state of the 2nd room. They returned their verdict which stated 4.5 'units' were allowed to live in my flat. A child under 10 years of age being the value of 0.5 unit and an adult 1 unit. I worked this out that if i was single and had 7 children under the age of ten i would be ok to live in a 2 bedroom flat!! What i dont understand is, when i asked if my partner, child and i could live in a 1 bedroom house they refused, yet they would let 1 adult and 7 children live in a 2 bedroom flat!!?

Does any one see my point here!? I really cannot understand the way they work. I have practically given up on the council, it seems if you and your partner work, therefore able to pay your own rent, never been in trouble with the police, never had issues with alchol or drugs etc you automatically go to the bottom of the list and therefore require little help!

supersavershal

Im not really sure if this is the case, my brother who works ( on a very low wage) has today signed a tenancy agreement for a housing association flat.
They rang him about the flat last week, they had to do lots of checks including a credit check and contact his previous landlords.He had been on the list about 2 years.When he signed the tenancy he was warned the girl next door had just had a baby so he had to be quiet and well behaved, I think if he had been an alcoholic, or drug addict as you say or a trouble maker he would never had been given the flat.
It might be the fact that you have a roof over your head and are not homeless that means at present you are not a high priority.there is probably people in hostels who will be housed first.could you not move to another private landlord with a better flat/house rather than rely on council housing.
Why are you desperate to have a council house? and Im not asking that nastily I really am curious when you are privatly renting why you want to go into social housing which may be in a poor area with social problems.
I dont know which area you live in but £600 a month is a lot of money for a 2 bed flat.You could have a 3 bed house in a nice area where I live for that.

barnaby-bear

mamamia30 wrote: »

Hello all, im in the process of trying to get noticed by the council, so that i can hopefully be given a council house but after being on the list for nearly 6 years im losing hope! lol.
I have just noticed something though. A stupid condition the council has for deciding who is in need of housing, and what situation you are in to recieve a house.
At one point my partner, baby and i were sharing a tiny bedroom at my mothers house and i was desperate to get out due to the over crowding. The council left us like that, and didnt even offer to come out and asses the situation, ie: measure up etc. I told them i was so desperate i didnt mind taking a one bedroom flat as i'd have the rest of the flat to use as space instead of all 3 of us being cooped up in one room but they told me they would never give me a one bedroom place, i'd need a 2 bedroom place, due to the fact there were 3 of us.
Im now in a private rented flat, which is costing me £600 per month and we are in alot of debt and have had the council round to asses my flat as i have 2 bedrooms but can only use 1 due to the state of the 2nd room. They returned their verdict which stated 4.5 'units' were allowed to live in my flat. A child under 10 years of age being the value of 0.5 unit and an adult 1 unit. I worked this out that if i was single and had 7 children under the age of ten i would be ok to live in a 2 bedroom flat!! What i dont understand is, when i asked if my partner, child and i could live in a 1 bedroom house they refused, yet they would let 1 adult and 7 children live in a 2 bedroom flat!!?

Does any one see my point here!? I really cannot understand the way they work. I have practically given up on the council, it seems if you and your partner work, therefore able to pay your own rent, never been in trouble with the police, never had issues with alchol or drugs etc you automatically go to the bottom of the list and therefore require little help!

If you were single and had 7 kids under 10 in a flat maybe this policy is designed to deter popping them out after the 3rd or 4th.... Or maybe the presence of 3 or 4 children would get in the way of making more/deter any right minded bloke thus the problem would never arise....

I kind of think we shouldn't have small kids homeless but I also think it's unfair on the young couples waiting until adequately housed before having a family to miss out because they are being sensible....

mamamia30

supersavershal wrote: »

Im not really sure if this is the case, my brother who works ( on a very low wage) has today signed a tenancy agreement for a housing association flat.
They rang him about the flat last week, they had to do lots of checks including a credit check and contact his previous landlords.He had been on the list about 2 years.When he signed the tenancy he was warned the girl next door had just had a baby so he had to be quiet and well behaved, I think if he had been an alcoholic, or drug addict as you say or a trouble maker he would never had been given the flat.
It might be the fact that you have a roof over your head and are not homeless that means at present you are not a high priority.there is probably people in hostels who will be housed first.could you not move to another private landlord with a better flat/house rather than rely on council housing.
Why are you desperate to have a council house? and Im not asking that nastily I really am curious when you are privatly renting why you want to go into social housing which may be in a poor area with social problems.
I dont know which area you live in but £600 a month is a lot of money for a 2 bed flat.You could have a 3 bed house in a nice area where I live for that.

It seems to be the case in my area. I had to fill in 'Special requirement' forms asking the usual...if i suffered from voilence or abuse, or if i had a dissability, but also if i had drug/alcohol abuse problems, if i was an offender, if i had an ASBO, etc and those that tick yes to any of these usually end up further up on the list of priorities (as i have been told by several people working for the council)

And im 'desperate' as you put it for a council place, as im struggling alot financially, have many debts and cannot really afford the £600 rent i have to pay privately, but that is the usual price for a place in my area, and i cannot move to 'a nice area where you live' as my partner and i both work locally and the little family i have live in the same village, and without driving, moving away would be hard for me to see them.

And before i get judged any further, i had to move out of my mothers house due to personal reasons, and without any help from the council, my options were 1) move into a private let flat or 2) be homeless with a baby. I think my choice was an obvious one.

carolt

Truly shocking. Can't believe you would get moved UP the council waiting list for having an ASBO! Or a criminal record or drink/drugs problem!

I suggest you lie about the drink/drugs problem (how can they check), indulge in some serious anti-social behaviour soon and try to get arrested. Maybe try beating up whoever came up with such a ridiculous policy, on behalf of all normal, decent, hardworking people?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY!!!!!

SquatNow

carolt wrote: »

Truly shocking. Can't believe you would get moved UP the council waiting list for having an ASBO! Or a criminal record or drink/drugs problem!

It's because peoplewith a criminal record etc will have problems getting someone to rent to them privately, and people with drink/drugs problems are deemed to be victims who the council have a duty of care over.

The simple fact is since the tories and then labour sold off all the council houses, there are no-where near enough to around.

Young people need to thank their parents for that.

mamamia30

carolt wrote: »

Truly shocking. Can't believe you would get moved UP the council waiting list for having an ASBO! Or a criminal record or drink/drugs problem!

I suggest you lie about the drink/drugs problem (how can they check), indulge in some serious anti-social behaviour soon and try to get arrested. Maybe try beating up whoever came up with such a ridiculous policy, on behalf of all normal, decent, hardworking people?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY!!!!!

Well thank god someone actually believes/agree's with me! lol thought it was just me who thought this way!

SquatNow

Please for the love of god will posters please learn to break up their posts into multiple paragraphs....

countrymusicfan

My I suggest looking at any housing associations in the area? I was in a council flat with an asthmatic son and we couldn't get a house. We had letter after letter from doctors and everyone else we could find. We applied to a housing association and got a house.

squinty

I think you are looking at two different things here.

Firstly, you are looking at overcrowding. This is not just the councils decision, but is set out in legislation (Part X of the 1985 Housing Act) - from the circumstances you describe you are not overcrowded by using that definition -
see

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1985/cukpga_19850068_en_26

Secondly, you are looking at the councils allocations scheme. (they should give you a copy if you ask, or have a copy on the website). This probably has rules on who can be allocated a property - it will have rules such as a couple can share a bedroom - a child over the age of X should have their own bedroom - no more than 2 children should sahre a room etc. This can only ever apply at the point where a property is allocated as household sizes do change.

As SquatNow has pointed out, the real problem is that council housing is in short supply and high demand. There is a real need to build more good quality council housing.