Upgrading to a bigger council house

poppysarah

outofmoney wrote: »

My gripe is that she was only 4 years old when we put our names down on the housing list...and she will most likely get a place first!

Your problem is presumably the council sees you as adequately housed.

A lot of people swear by making a nuisance of themselves with the housing dept until they get rehoused.
Some ring shelter to make sure they are advised of their rights.

All of these people will be housed before someone who sits quietly on the rehousing list.

gingergee

As of november i was upgraded to "bid" on 4 bedroom properties on our local social housing bidding webby. My kids are 12 (f), 9 (f), 7 (m) and 2 (f). I was sooooo lucky to get my 3 bed HA in its own grounds, on exmoor, with deer in the garden etc. Will i bid on any???? NOPEY!!! cos im happy here and count my blessings that im lucky enough to get a HA house, anyway with that kind of income, surely they can buy a home? I know i would if i could!! Good luck to them anyhoo xxx

paddygirl

People may be entitled to a 3 bed or 4 bed-whether they get it is another matter! If the properties arent there no one can work a miracle and magic one up. We have some families with 7 children lacking 2 or more bedrooms and they wont ever be moved as there is no social housing big enough (5 bed or 5 bed parlour type house).

Its time we did toughen up with these sorts of people. The Localism Bill will help,but there will always be those who will slip throught the net..some even with the assistance of charities such as Shelter supporting them to get into social housing.:xmassign:

tommygirl3

As the OP, I agree with the majority of comments. Unfortunately comments like 'tell them they're being greedy and they earn enough to not depend on council housing' have been tried and greeted with rebuff & witholding access to their children.

To summarise from the helpful comments so far:
- Even though they committed housing fraud in their original application 7 yrs ago, they cannot be moved as they have not broken terms of their current secure tenancy agreement.
- Based on comments here, if they have another son they might be able to argue sexual overcrowding (daughter is 7, sons are 2 & 1)?
- They are confident in getting a bigger council house. I'd suspect are fabricating in their new application. What can be done about this to stop them from committing fraud again? If they do get another house, it might encourage them to have even more children.

I don't want to make this family member homeless, but I'm so annoyed that the rest of us have to struggle whilst they boast about their new car and cheap housing.

casperlarue

tommygirl3 wrote: »

As the OP, I agree with the majority of comments. Unfortunately comments like 'tell them they're being greedy and they earn enough to not depend on council housing' have been tried and greeted with rebuff & witholding access to their children. Nice relatives you have!

To summarise from the helpful comments so far:
- Even though they committed housing fraud in their original application 7 yrs ago, they cannot be moved as they have not broken terms of their current secure tenancy agreement.
- Based on comments here, if they have another son they might be able to argue sexual overcrowding (daughter is 7, sons are 2 & 1)? Looking at the childrens ages, with another baby on the way, it would seem they are intentionally breeding to get up the housing ladder.
- They are confident in getting a bigger council house. I'd suspect are fabricating in their new application. What can be done about this to stop them from committing fraud again? If they do get another house, it might encourage them to have even more children. Tell the council?

I don't want to make this family member homeless, but they could afford to pay for their own home given the income stated but I'm so annoyed that the rest of us have to struggle whilst they boast about their new car and cheap housing.

It would seem that your relatives are intent on getting their bigger house at the taxpayers expense by whatever means, including lying and producing lots of kids. Eaither grass them up or let them get on with it.

Yorkie1

casperlarue wrote: »

It would seem that your relatives are intent on getting their bigger house at the taxpayers expense by whatever means, including lying and producing lots of kids. Either grass them up or let them get on with it.

I tend to agree. If you feel strongly enough about this, make an appointment with the housing department. They will not be able to discuss details of the current tenancy, nor of any future tenancy, but they may be able to put details on file so that any future application is scrutinised more carefully.

WhiteHorse

I know of a family in a large 3 bed council semi. The tenancy is in the name of the elderly mother. The two adult sons live there full time. Both work and earn plenty. So much so in fact that they collect imported American pickups. They have even have a horse stabled elsewhere and a new horsebox parked in the back garden.

Yet this family is so 'deprived' and 'poor' that they need social housing?

BitterAndTwisted

With any luck, when their elderly mother eventually dies, they won't inherit the tenancy and will have to make their own arrangements. A hard rain's a gonna fall.

outofmoney

lighting_up_the_chalice wrote: »

You have Choice Based Lettings in your area.... perhaps she isn't as fussy as you are.

That's a bit of a rude comment! When did I say I was fussy? We bid for every 4 bed property that comes up in our area, but there is only 2 or 3 a year at most.

She will get one since there are many more one bed places available as people move on from them. Most of the 4 beds round here have either been bought or have one or two people living in them. They have lived there for years and brought their families up but now refuse to move and allow another family to benefit as they did. Or they are lived in by people like my niece who got themselves pregnant, got themselves a one bed place, had another kid, and another and eventually moved their way up to a 4 bed.

poppysarah wrote: »

Your problem is presumably the council sees you as adequately housed.

A lot of people swear by making a nuisance of themselves with the housing dept until they get rehoused.
Some ring shelter to make sure they are advised of their rights.

All of these people will be housed before someone who sits quietly on the rehousing list.

They don't see us as adequately housed. We are in the top 20 on the list. However as I said above with a shortage of housing they can only offer us a property when they have one.

I don't expect the council to house us. But maybe the way 'priority' is sorted needs changing.

With OH and myself being carers we are not entitled to a mortgage. We receive HB so many LL don't want to know us. This narrows our chances of finding a home right down.

But someone who is working, will be accepted by most LLs, plus it is possible they can also get a mortgage. Regardless of this though, they may be placed above us on the list.

outofmoney

WhiteHorse wrote: »

I know of a family in a large 3 bed council semi. The tenancy is in the name of the elderly mother. The two adult sons live there full time. Both work and earn plenty. So much so in fact that they collect imported American pickups. They have even have a horse stabled elsewhere and a new horsebox parked in the back garden.

Yet this family is so 'deprived' and 'poor' that they need social housing?

Anyone can apply for a council property. Even a millionaire could.

My guess is she got it when they were younger and has held on to it. She clearly has forgotten how grateful she was to be given a home to bring up her children in.