Gaining social housing when working.

Dunroamin

samwich1979 wrote: »

If you are willing to do that and can afford it then thats fine, but i can not and will not spend hundreds/thousands on something that i may not get to live in long enough for it to be worth it.

You were very lucky to have a private rental for 12 years and what you have done over that period is reasonable i guess but not when most tenancies are not very secure and you dont know when you will suddenly have to move on.

I just dont see why tenants should improve landlords properties for them and save THEM money while we lose it!

On this we totally agree.

PasturesNew

samwich1979 wrote: »

My point is that these people who have the cars and nice gardens etc must be getting good money from somewhere to have these things so how have they got social housing?

They could be aged 40-60 and went on the list 20-40 years ago and have been there 10-30 years.

shellsuit

samwich1979 wrote: »

If you are willing to do that and can afford it then thats fine, but i can not and will not spend hundreds/thousands on something that i may not get to live in long enough for it to be worth it.

You were very lucky to have a private rental for 12 years and what you have done over that period is reasonable i guess but not when most tenancies are not very secure and you dont know when you will suddenly have to move on.

I just dont see why tenants should improve landlords properties for them and save THEM money while we lose it!

I totally agree with you! I had it lucky with that rental. £405 down and I moved in.

When I looked to move from there to another private rental, it would have cost around £1800 just to move in with fees upfront and costs etc.

I didn't have any rules there. Maybe if I had, or I wasn't able to change anything, I wouldn't have stayed there as long as I did.

It was 1998 when I moved there and things have changed an awful lot so I do really feel for people whose only option is to rent privately, believe me.

samwich1979

Dunroamin wrote: »

If the kitchens in the properties you're viewing have fitted kitchens with integrated cookers, they're obviously not the total slums you're depicting.

Any landlord can put in a kitchen with an integrated cooker, it could be the most basic kitchen etc and not expensive, its whether the previous tenants have looked after it and if the landlord has made sure the kitchen is still in good condition later down the line.

Sixer

Dunroamin wrote: »

But that's completely different!

There are still furnished flat/houses available to let (often for people sharing) but the OP is talking about renting an unfurnished place and yet expecting it to have carpets, curtains and a cooker.

But what I'm saying is that UNFURNISHED private rental places just weren't available. Rare as hen's teeth. You either hung on for UNFURNISHED social housing or you went for FURNISHED private rental. This was all over central and west London, btw.

shellsuit

samwich, have you inquired yet about going on the housing waiting list?

samwich1979

shellsuit wrote: »

samwich, have you inquired yet about going on the housing waiting list?

Im on it as from Friday last week, have also put in bids for 3 properties and will do on a weekly basis.

Fingers crossed we get something soon.

shellsuit

samwich1979 wrote: »

Im on it as from Friday last week, have also put in bids for 3 properties and will do on a weekly basis.

Fingers crossed we get something soon.

Ahh that's good, and Yep, fingers crossed!

PippaGirl_2

samwich1979 wrote: »

Im on it as from Friday last week, have also put in bids for 3 properties and will do on a weekly basis.

Fingers crossed we get something soon.

Earlier I'd asked if you had asked the council about their interest free loans for rent and deposit in advance so that you could afford to move and you said that they would only give you the amount for a smaller house than you felt you needed. THis might be a problem when bidding for a house as they will only approve your bid if it is for the house size that they deem you need?

Dunroamin

Sixer wrote: »

But what I'm saying is that UNFURNISHED private rental places just weren't available. Rare as hen's teeth. You either hung on for UNFURNISHED social housing or you went for FURNISHED private rental. This was all over central and west London, btw.

You used to have less security in furnished rentals than you did in unfurnished so they were more common at one time. Also shared properties were obviously normally furnished or it would have been very complicated when households dissolved. This was the case nationwide, not just in London.

Since the changes in leases came in some time ago, single household properties are normally unfurnished as there is less hassle with breakages and deposits.