problem with council house renting

smifco

all points both good and bad taken on board so many thanks to those who sympathise it does help to know we are not alone

[Deleted User]

I completely understand why you feel you are being messed around. The problem is as you suspect, with housing departments, they aren't run by business people, they are run by housing department people. Some of who can be good, some inept (all over heavily overworked). You are also dealing with the end result of their management policies, and any maintenance and repair people involved in getting your bungalow habitable (and this department can have its own set of policies). Often this makes for chaos.

One way to get this chaos sorted is to contact your councillor. If you can't get to them, ask them to come to you. They can be very good in getting things going. Look on your local authority's website.., it should list your local councilllor. You should be able to email or phone them.

However try and summarise what you've said above.., something like below:-

1) Presently living in private rented accommodation with a required notice period, benefit dependant so need to be able to give notice properly and because of your wife's state of health, make a planned move.
2) Been offered a bungalow (address) on the basis of your wife's disabilities.
3) Don't have a certain move in date, complicated by conflicting stories as to what maintenance/repair problem is causing the delay and the absence of (name of person you are supposed to be able to contact who is on leave).
4) Please could xxx councillor clarify if the property needs to be decorated, or if some other repair/maintenance need is causing the delay.
5) Could he find out who is supposed to be dealing with this while (name) is absent so you know who to contact (good idea to make sure someone takes responsibility for the situation).
5) Please could xxx councillor work with xxx housing department and repair services so you can be given an approximate date of completion. Given your wife's state of health, it would be far less disruptive than you have found it so far if you had this.

pmlindyloo

harrys_dad wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your troubles. What you need to understand however is that it is never worth responding in anger to horrible anti social housing trolls like AngelicDevil. Some people regrettably, led by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his press cheerleaders, have the opinion that anyone with problems, or needed housing support of any sort, are responsible for their own predicament and scroungers. Your initial response was much better phrased. Good luck, and I hope the new house is ready for you soon.

You can respond anyway you like AngelicDevil and I will not reply, so save your breath.

I am not going to bother to read any of AngelicDevils past posts to see if she/he really is as you describe but before this thread deteriorates into a tit for tat session let's offer some useful advice for the OP if we can.

So now knowing your circumstances.

Is there some particular reason that makes your present accommodation unsuitable and the council property more suitable? - am trying to gather 'evidence' (as it were) to try and get things done in a speedier fashion.

If there is - unsuitable for disability etc etc then you could:

Telephone/write to a more senior person at the council raising your concerns

Enlist the support of your local councillor/MP

Inform the local newspaper/radio station

You need to centre on the seeming lack of urgency and miscommunication of the council and how this is affecting your life.

You have obviously had a really rough time and must be totally fed up with the incompetency of all and sundry.

Whoops - crossed posts!

moremore

Totally agree with the above, some councils are just dreadful they do not care about their residents and actually let them live in dangerous accommodation, no fire check done on blocks of flats and I am aware of flats that have water coming through a light fitting the common areas. Would you beleive it they got the fitting renew and the contractors fix the light fitting on the leak without fix it and now the water is still coming through the new light fitting that's how stupid they are. It is not like that it has not been brought their attention but they chose to ignore it.

The council leader is crowing saying how good the council is to their staff and how well paid they are with secure employment and pension also, but we all know that however it does not make them deliver a better service to their residents regardless of their well paid jobs.

I am dealing with them regarding the adaptation to bathroom that started over 9 month ago they actually left the bathroom in a more dangerous place for the residents.

The staff are certailly not people friendly and they think that resdient are supposed to be subservant to them. They are paid by the tax payer and they are the public servants not the other way around.

Errata

I am having to bite my lip as we haven't got the keys yet,

Have you signed a tenancy contract? If you haven't, as far as the council is concerned it's a void and repairs/maintenance section will prioritise what work needs doing according to urgency measured against all the other work it has to do.

smifco

ok getting a lot of sound common sense advice but sadly I have already done most of the things suggested. In a nutshell as deannatrois says we are victims of the system and I am fully aware of this but am trying to beat said system in a quiet and dignified way as I definitely don't want to get anyones back up and be told we cant have the place. As for signing a tenancy contract Im not sure to be honest we have signed a tenants charter that says we will be good tenants and have been vetted and passed and have bid for the property on the councils site and won the bid and were told that we would be shown round the property the week after and then we would sign something and be given the keys then. Of course that was seven weeks ago. As for our present rented apartment the fact is its got too expensive for us and we can no longer afford the rent which is now nearly £175.00 per week it was originally £125.00 but goes up every year and its all electric so the energy costs are phenomenal too. This doesn't qualify us for council accommodation as we are "adequately housed" but my wifes disability does, however having given notice to our current landlord and extending it for another month we are now in the position of having nowhere to live as of the 15th November and the councils advice is don't leave as if we do we are classed as making ourselves homeless and don't qualify for council housing, and yet it is the council who will have made us wait 10 weeks by then. I wouldn't have given my first months notice if the council hadn't told us that the place would be ready in a week in the first place.
Anyway I think I will try my local councillor as its getting serious now so this forum has helped so many thanks to all those who have given us advice on this and I will update when we have some news
thanks
smifco

witchy1066

does your council have an arbitration service ? if not then they should, if so get in touch with them ,
I work part time for ours and this is the sort of thing we deal with everyday, most cases get sorted in a matter of hours,

other than that , if your wife has a care worker ask her to speak to the council on your behalf

don't blame the staff at the council , its all the stupid red tape

Errata

As for signing a tenancy contract Im not sure to be honest we have signed a tenants charter that says we will be good tenants and have been vetted and passed and have bid for the property on the councils site and won the bid and were told that we would be shown round the property the week after and then we would sign something and be given the keys then.

OK - that sounds like you haven't been offered, and signed, a Tenancy Agreement. If you had you would have been given a copy which you should have kept.
I can only suggest you contact your local councillor and ask if they can hurry things up for you.