help needed to get moved (council)

mrs_motivated

barnaby-bear wrote: »

I think you should check though if they would expect you to cover the difference between a 3-bed and 2-bed yourself as this could make things difficult with a redundancy. If you are deemed to need a 2-bed they might not allow a swap that would make you under-occupied. I think you need professional housing advice - perhaps the citizen's advice (CAB)??.

You are quite right in April the op would have to pay the difference (14 per cent of rent). If he is in receipt of full housing benefit. However a mutual exchange between secure council tenants is a legal right and can only be stopped in certain circumstances ie arrears, outstanding re chargeable repairs, ASB but NOT for under occupancy.

When the effects of under occupancy kick in after April, there will be many more people having to swop or risk eviction. So hang tight to your secure tenancy.

ASB takes ages to tackle even if (which is rare) the council is on the ball. (often around 18 months to 2 years to secure eviction). Although new powers to deal with ASB should make this quicker. But find out your local authorities ASB policy and make sure you hold them to it.

Good luck with getting a move

barnaby-bear

mrs_motivated wrote: »

You are quite right in April the op would have to pay the difference (14 per cent of rent). If he is in receipt of full housing benefit. However a mutual exchange between secure council tenants is a legal right and can only be stopped in certain circumstances ie arrears, outstanding re chargeable repairs, ASB but NOT for under occupancy.

There was a thread a few days ago - of a couple+child who couldn't exchange because it would be under occupancy... Dundee's own site say exchanges have to be approved for this too... http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/housing/exchange/ "that the houses are suitable for the needs of you and your family and will not cause overcrowding or under occupancy" - it would seem odd that they want to prevent under occupancy and not have rules on this - whether the rules apply to the OP I've no idea.... but worth them finding out.

mrs_motivated

barnaby-bear wrote: »

There was a thread a few days ago - of a couple+child who couldn't exchange because it would be under occupancy... Dundee's own site say exchanges have to be approved for this too... http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/housing/exchange/ "that the houses are suitable for the needs of you and your family and will not cause overcrowding or under occupancy" - it would seem odd that they want to prevent under occupancy and not have rules on this - whether the rules apply to the OP I've no idea.... but worth them finding out.

I stand corrected, regarding mutuals and under occupancy. The majority of authorities interpret the regs around this which state excessively under occupying will be refused as meaning more than one extra bedroom. For example if a couple with two daughters aged 8 and 9 (who are only entitled to two beds) would be allowed to exchange into a 3 bed. I did check out Dundees allocations policy which is stricter than most.

barnaby-bear

mrs_motivated wrote: »

I stand corrected, regarding mutuals and under occupancy. The majority of authorities interpret the regs around this which state excessively under occupying will be refused as meaning more than one extra bedroom. For example if a couple with two daughters aged 8 and 9 (who are only entitled to two beds) would be allowed to exchange into a 3 bed. I did check out Dundees allocations policy which is stricter than most.

I wondered with the changes to rents if this might change the stance on this - it seems a bit odd to use a stick to try and free up underoccupied accommodation on the basis of demand so exceeding supply but then not insisting downsizers swap with the *technically* overcrowded.... lots of hard decisions....

theartfullodger

rosscog85 wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice. The council have us on the waiting list for a 3 bedrooms so we know that it wouldn't be a problem to swap for a 3 bed.
Another reason we aren't wanting to go private is because it is not a secure tenure as mentioned.
Feel more confident of getting more points after some of the info on the posts, fingers crossed.

Delighted to read your good news... Blimey!! The system works for once!!

sedment

Having been in your situation op, i totally sympathise with you and know how hard it is, and how useless the local councils generally are.
Another option that you could maybe look into is speaking to the council about getting put on their discretionary list. Its there for people that suffer from domestic abuse, drug addict neighbours, generally anyone/families who are having a hard time and the asbo team are involved. And being a pest and phoning on a daily basis. Get your health visitor to write a letter saying its affecting mum and family. Or another suggestion is facebook!!! I have seen some groups on facebook that have local homeswap sites that you can ask to join and post where you are and where you want to go. Worth a try, good luck to you, hopefully it gets sorted out shortly

Mollie90132

The advice below posted by Shelter:

........your neighbours may not realise that they are disturbing you and it might be worth approaching them to explain how their behaviour is affecting you and ask them to stop doing it........

I find Shelter's website very one sided, and the above advice should be taken with caution.

In my view antisocial behaviour is responsible for many empty homes.

Please do make your MSP aware of your problems. The Scottish Government run consultations impacting on antisocial problems. One of the questions in a recent consultation was:

Proposal6: Create the flexibility for social landlords to consider previous antisocialbehaviour when deciding an applicant’s priority for housing

Problems is that you, me and most other people do not have time to digest, interpret and respond to these consultations. Organisations such as Shelter will.

We can only hope that our MSPs remember the vast numbers of ordinary tenants and owners who attend their surgeries with problems of antisocial neighbours. I can't remember the MSP, in a debate for a previous housing bill, said along the lines of:

.......we in this chamber would not put up with the behaviour in our neighbourhood...


At the time I thought good for you. But I fear that ordinary people get drowned out by organisations that lobby the government for their own policies.

So please let your MSP know. It won't help in the short term but hopefully in the long term.

regards