Council House and Working

ryan2032

Hi all,

I was hoping someone would be able to give me more information on getting a Council Place. Me and my partner moved back to where i live and moved in with my mum to let us earn some extra cash before we rented our own place. My mum suggested seeing if we can get a Council Place. We have been put on the list and have been waiting month's but no luck.
My question is are the place's they offer really as cheap as they say? There £350 a month plus service charges when i see the same flats for £750 privately in the same area. Are they only £350 if the people moving in are not working? As i am working would i have to pay more?

ILW

They are very cheap, trouble is that if you are working it puts you way down the list. Get yourself a drink or drug habit and get your partner up the duff and you will have a much better chance. It's bloody mad.

Wee_Willy_Harris

The desparity between social housing and private rental that you mention is, to say the least, very rare indeed. Most social housing is also now allocated via a system of Choice Based Letting (CBL) rather than the old waiting list/points so you neeed to be more pro-active. It would help to know who the local authority is.

Jowo_2

The rent is fixed and on a per property basis - the level of income of the tenant is irrelevant. Some countries have social housing systems which will charge rent according to income or on a temporary basis, but not the UK (though there are plans to allow social housing landlords in the future to issue non-secure tenancies and rents closer to market rates).

Many people spend years waiting before they get allocated social housing and many applicants have no realistic chance of ever securing it.

diable

You will be very lucky to be offered anything at all.

Radsteral

me and my friend both got young families and few years ago decided to try to get out of the rent-a-house thingy.
I went full throtle saving and working and him got on the queue for council house with the big plan of getting one..buy it cheap and sell it for proffit.

i got my dream house last february... and him still in the queue..

lolly_896

We've been on the list for 5 yrs, with 2 little ones living in a 3 bedroom house with mum dad and brother. so 5 adults 2 kids, 1 with severe difficulties (missing part of brain) The rent is cheap but nigh on impossible to get housed in Cardiff! Were saving for a deposit but its unlikely we'll get a mortgage at the moment!

JonathanJ

I’m not sure what area you live in as the waiting list varies depending on what authority you come under and the demand in that area is.
I am on the Crawley council waiting list in West Sussex, we are on band A which is the highest priority as there is me, my wife and our two kids (ages one and three) sharing a one bed house.
Have been on the list for nearly two years now waiting for a three bed house, my wife went into the council offices just last week to ask how long we are likely to be waiting, were told best case scenario would be another two years, but could be as much as another four. Hence decided to bite the bullet and move to a larger privately rented house.

It’s nothing but a joke!

My personal opinion is don’t even bother getting on the list, they expect a HUGE amount of paperwork, and I mean a HUGE amount. Which you have to take time off work to give them as are only open on week days and have to sit in there for two hours waiting to see someone, then another hour while they photocopy my life’s entire financial history. I actually expected them to ask me for a urine sample.

ILW

JonathanJ wrote: »

I’m not sure what area you live in as the waiting list varies depending on what authority you come under and the demand in that area is.
I am on the Crawley council waiting list in West Sussex, we are on band A which is the highest priority as there is me, my wife and our two kids (ages one and three) sharing a one bed house.
Have been on the list for nearly two years now waiting for a three bed house, my wife went into the council offices just last week to ask how long we are likely to be waiting, were told best case scenario would be another two years, but could be as much as another four. Hence decided to bite the bullet and move to a larger privately rented house.

It’s nothing but a joke!

My personal opinion is don’t even bother getting on the list, they expect a HUGE amount of paperwork, and I mean a HUGE amount. Which you have to take time off work to give them as are only open on week days and have to sit in there for two hours waiting to see someone, then another hour while they photocopy my life’s entire financial history. I actually expected them to ask me for a urine sample.

That really is taking the p!ss.

ryan2032

Thanks for all the replies. Very helpful. About a month and a half ago i went to the council to say me, my partner and our 5 month old baby was being made homeless. The person in the council said i could put you in a flat but your working lol. The best they can do is put me in a B&B at a reduce price which i pay due to working. They also said if my mum would let us stay for longer they would give me the maximum points which is 100. Since then it hasn't changed my position and i am in the top 11-20. They said i have the maximum points, at the top of list and should be a matter of weeks.

The next thing for me to do would be to move out and into a B&B but i dont think it would make much difference and it would be a week's wages to pay for it.

The problem is you are better off being unemployed than being on minimum wage or near that.

Think i will give up on the idea, look at our finances and think of private renting.

Anyone heard of the company Fasttrak?

Wee_Willy_Harris

Why would you want to move into a B+B?