Applying for a council house

Mildreds_Earrings

Social housing is for those in NEED. In the housing associations and local authorities that I worked/work for, we assess on housing need, financial stability and circumstances. When we find out that the applicant has an asset, then we don't offer them the property because they don't have a housing Need.   They have a property that they can live in.  Whether or not they choose to is up to them.  Social housing is for those with fewer choices. 

We have experienced applicants who think they can simply move into social housing and then rent out their property! 😳

As others have suggested, either ask your 'lovely little family' to vacate and move back into your property or rent a property from a private landlord. 

caprikid1

"Can I apply for a council house if I have a house"  fixed that for you.

theartfullodger

Joanieclarkie said:

Thank you everyone. I’ve just returned to the UK and there is a lovely little family in my house which they look after it really well. It would be really hard for them to find something and I don’t know how long I’m staying here. 

So you almost certainly 100% won;t qualify.

As you've no idea how long you are staying, just rent somewhere else.

Hadn't realised you were a non-resident (as not in UK) landlord: Did you have the paperwork from HMRC permitting tenant to pay 100% of rent to you, please?

David2710

Joanieclarkie said:

Can I apply for a council house if I have a mortgage

Yes you can apply but your application might not be worth the paper it's written on.  Where I live, genuinely affordable social housing is allocated on a points based system through Home Choice Lettings. And even those who do qualify could find themselves stuck in temporary housing (B&B's, hostel, mobile homes etc.) for decades. Applicants already housed in private rented accommodation or own their own home have little or no hope. The reason so many private tenants wait to be forcibly evicted by a private LL is because that's the only route into temporary accommodation as recommended by the council.

Those at the very top of the waiting list are typically single mothers/fathers with young children or asylum seekers/refugees with leave to remain. That's how the points system works and to put it mildly is not fair at all because even single homeless people with local connections are not considered in priority need. All as a result of successive government prioritising home ownership over genuinely affordable social housing to rent.

It's a total disgrace but neither Labour or the Tories have any plans to fix the problem. To fair to Jeremy Corbyn he did promise to build a million new genuinely affordable homes over a fixed term parliament but the only problem with that was the net migration figures over the same period was 1.5 million. The numbers simply didn't stack up.  In other words it was a stunt.        

HappyJem

My wife and I had sell our house because we only had an interest only mortgage. We gave the money back to the bank that we owed and about £90,000 left over not enough to buy but able to rent. However we are both disabled which is a problem; baths , door width etc. There is nothing in the rental market to accommodate. We now live in a garage a bit draughty I admit but at least it's dry. But check withe council first !

MaryNB

HappyJem said:

My wife and I had sell our house because we only had an interest only mortgage. We gave the money back to the bank that we owed and about £90,000 left over not enough to buy but able to rent. However we are both disabled which is a problem; baths , door width etc. There is nothing in the rental market to accommodate. We now live in a garage a bit draughty I admit but at least it's dry. But check withe council first !

This is an old thread. OP only responded once and hasn't been online since April.