Considering giving up council house and renting privately- am i mad?

MrsE_2

WantToBeSE wrote: »

mrcow- i COULD afford it, only just, but i could. It would mean that i would have to keep to a very tight budget, but i feel that is a sacrifice i would happily make.

Why don't you buy, if you can afford private rent you can prob afford a mortgage, they do schemes for FTB.

Dontknowanymore

I would't say you are mad, it is going to be a possibility for us in the future, I have a 2 bed HA flat, 2 boys, my OH has a daughter who stays overnight and there are already issues with OH's ex and the sleeping arrangements so this place is not big enough.
Mutal exchanges to 'upgrade' are so rare so thats not much of an option either.
Plus when we have our own children together there will be no room at all.
So our only option would be to privatte rent, and my god it's expensive round here, but the HA are also putting new let rents right up, it's around £200pw for a 3 bed HA house these days.

dizziblonde

Not all private landlords are bad - but some are. A bad landlord can make your life very arkward - even when everything in the house is working - you still live on tenterhooks for the next thing going wrong and battle to get it fixed... that stress wears you down over the years.

jellyhead

Dontknowanymore wrote: »

but the HA are also putting new let rents right up, it's around £200pw for a 3 bed HA house these days.

:eek: I think it's only around £100 here for a 3-bed HA house! You can rent privately here for £150 a week if you're not fussy!

BeenieCat

My 3 bed HA house is £98pw, my sister's council 3 bed is about £75 which includes water. A similar private let would be around £130pw.
That's in the north east though.

Dontknowanymore

jellyhead wrote: »

:eek: I think it's only around £100 here for a 3-bed HA house! You can rent privately here for £150 a week if you're not fussy!

I know, madnes.
The empty flat in my blok, same as mine was advertised at £146pw mine is £103. Some new rent rule.
We live in Surrey so its quite expensiveto rent.

daska

There are pros and cons to both social and private. Personally, despite being in what is arguably a lovely flat with a great LL I still check the availability on the housing list every week largely because of the lack of security. Having had to move 3 times in 18 months due to the whims of various LL makes me jittery.

FatVonD

OP, Have you considered buying your council house under the right to buy scheme then selling it and buying elsewhere? (Not that I agree with council houses being sold off but it appears it's happening again...)

pukkamum

OP get onto your local council, you can make an anonymous complaint and if they are found to be dealing drugs or displaying anti-social behaviour they can and will be quickly evicted.
Our local council are very quick to deal with these kind of complaints and they will also send letters to other people on the street asking if they have any problems with them, if you have chances are others have too.
Do not give up your council house without a really big fight, unless you can afford to buy, and even if you do you could end up with even worse neighbours and have no way of getting them evicted.

Think very very carefully, do not make any decisions in the heat of the moment.

Dontknowanymore

One of the neighbours in our block were made to move due to being a nightmare, takes time but keep on at the HA/council.