Housing Benefit

debt_doctor

Excellent post lil-me

DD

weymuffred

Zara33 wrote: »

I would assume that as you already had a house then your needs were met, so the next family who met the criteria got the next available house.

By staying in b&b or a caravan i would guess your chances might be higher with the council rather than renting privately.

Thats not the point. We were extremely lucky to get this house and only took it on the say so that we would get the next 4 bed house. We did them a favour and they shafted us royally where the sun dont shine.
Going in a b&b/caravan might help us, but it would be hell living in either of them and would do my condition no good at all. Plus the cost of storing our furniture etc, plus we would have to pay for the b&b/caravan.

dmg24

weymuffred wrote: »

Thats not the point. We were extremely lucky to get this house and only took it on the say so that we would get the next 4 bed house. We did them a favour and they shafted us royally where the sun dont shine.
Going in a b&b/caravan might help us, but it would be hell living in either of them and would do my condition no good at all. Plus the cost of storing our furniture etc, plus we would have to pay for the b&b/caravan.

No, it is the point. The next person on the waiting list could have been homeless at the time, you were not. Therefore they should take priority.

Gillianh2

I think you could manage fine in a 3 bed house. In the 69's70's yeah I am that old we were a family of 6 living in a 3bed house comfortably 3 girls in one room 1 boy in his own room parents in other. Now as you can imagine 3 girls sharing gave off some fireworks but none of us are scarred for life!:j

So TBH I think a 3 bed is what the council would consider suitable for your needs as the eldest children are almost 18 surely a family requiring a 4 bd house with younger children would take priorty as they are going to need the 4 bedrooms for much longer!
Just my thoughts

Anthillmob

you can claim HB (form of) for BB and caravans.

PasturesNew

Here is the official figures/room sizes for deciding on overcrowdedness.

http://www.berwick-upon-tweed.gov.uk/housingandproperty/overcrowding.htm

Which seems to never put more than 2 in a room, which surprises me a lot as 3-4 in a large room is how a lot of adults are even living.

I remember when I was 19, most teens renting privately were sharing bedrooms with friends. I used to go stay with a friend some weekends and I'd sleep in her 3/4 sized bed in the same room as her friend that she shared the flat with.

Times seem to have changed, people's expectations are more.

Anthillmob

There should be sufficient rooms in each individual letting so that no male and female aged 12, or over, should have to sleep in the same room, unless they are living together as ‘husband and wife’

tell that to my local council. a woman i know from toddlers group has a 2 bed council property of which her 16 yo daughter has to share still with her brother.

Anthillmob

PasturesNew wrote: »

Here is the official figures/room sizes for deciding on overcrowdedness.

http://www.berwick-upon-tweed.gov.uk/housingandproperty/overcrowding.htm

Which seems to never put more than 2 in a room, which surprises me a lot as 3-4 in a large room is how a lot of adults are even living.

I remember when I was 19, most teens renting privately were sharing bedrooms with friends. I used to go stay with a friend some weekends and I'd sleep in her 3/4 sized bed in the same room as her friend that she shared the flat with.

Times seem to have changed, people's expectations are more.

thats what the rent officer goes with when deciding if the rent on a private property is fair.

local authorities dont care how many they can cram into a house/flat. see my prev post (sotrry cant be arsed to edit)

PasturesNew

I think overcrowding is just a marker.

If there are greater needs and no houses, it won't magic houses out of thin air.

It just probably means that when a property becomes available, those deemed overcrowded are moved before those not deemed overcrowded.

weymuffred

dmg24 wrote: »

No, it is the point. The next person on the waiting list could have been homeless at the time, you were not. Therefore they should take priority.

If we had not taken this house we would have been homeless, we didnt want to so begrudgingly we took it on the housing advisors word that the next 4 bed was ours

So it is the point, we were let down by the council.