Moving council houses

pinkshoes

13'x14' is a perfectly reasonable sized lounge!!

a collegue, his partner and their 3 children live in a 2 bed council FLAT, and will not get a 3rd bedroom until the girl is too old to share with the 2 boys (i.e. when she's 11!).

Please don't be greedy, as council houses should only be for the very needy, there's a LONG waiting list, and you should be grateful you have one at all!

pollyanna24

That's the problem. People seem to think they should get stuff for nothing. When I was younger, I had to share a room till I was 13 until we got moved and that was with my brother which apparently is too old for a boy and a girl to be sharing.

The whole point of having to live in a council house is because you can't afford to do it by youselves, so why should you expect to get all the space you need just like that?!

My parents just put up with it, wrote a few letters, but didn't expect to get a bigger house just like. Our flat was tiny, but cosy and we were quite happy. In fact, I didn't want to move!

bcljnk

I'm afraid what the council is telling you is true, you have a home, and would have to go back to the bottom of the list.
We have 6 kids between us, 5 living with us, we are both in second marriages, when i split with my ex i went into private rented accomodation with 3 kids, couldnt put my name down for a council house till my name was off the mortgage, for certain reasons it was easier for me to move and let ex manage have the house, a mistake i now realise but i didnt know i could get help with the mortgage at the time, anyway i have been on the housing list 7 years now, we rent a private 3 bed house with 5 kids, and an extra kid in the school holidays, my stepson 14 has aspergers and cannot get along with the 5 year old, (by get along i mean he can hurt him without realising ect) so sharing a room with him is impossible, so thankfully our landlord let us build a false wall along the large bathroom we had to build a very small room which fits a cotbed sized bed and wardrobe in for the 5 year old, and we still cant get a house, when we do it will be a 3 bedroom council house, which we hope will have a living room and dining room, our plan then is to use the living room as a fourth bedroom, and see if we are allowed a conseravory to use as a dining room,(paid for by us) but thats only if we ever get a house, until then we rent privatly, please be happy you have a secure home, and not one were you have to renew contracts every 6 months, we cannot even get a 4 bed private house, which we would if we could, as my husband works partime due to his sons aspergers we are classed as benefit because he works partime, and would need a guarentore, ridiculous, as we are willing to pay private albeit topped up with housing benefit and keep council houses free for others.

PS we have approx 3, 4 bed council houses in our town, so will never get one, i havnt a clue what we will do when the little one grows out of his small bed.

mummymania

look at https://www.council-exchange.co.uk

bcljnk

I forgot to mention that, if you check the housing exchange list there may be someone wanting a smaller house that will swap with you.

Triker

What about boarding out the loft and putting in a fixed staircase, you may even be able to get 2 extra rooms in a loft.