Should we bother putting our names on the council list?

Noozan

When I was single and living with my parents, I put my name on the council waiting list. I was offered a brand new 2 bed housing association house after 20 months, so it does happen!

This was in south west Cornwall and of the 40 flats and houses that were built, over a dozen remained empty for months on end. :huh: It was virtually in the centre of town though and there were no gardens, just communal parking so they didn't put any families with children in them.

blue_monkey_2

Hiya,

You can put your names on the list but, to be honest, it won't make a lot of difference. I am married and lived in my mothers house for 10 years now, we rent the place from her and she lives elsewhere, for 8 of those years we have been on the council list and we have 2 children a boy who is almost 4 and a girl of 5. It now seems my son has (possibly, we ware waiting for diagnosis) Aspergers but he has been given his own Teaching Assistant at the local school. We have the following points: Local connections - 50, kids - 5, security of tenature - 25 (this recently went up for reason explained in a minute), years on list - 8 (the only pay a maximum of 10 points for being on the list).

About 4 weeks back mum told us she wanted us out as she was selling the house so I went to the council. They told me to look for somewhere private to rent - they did not expect me to stay in this area, I had to look miles around (However, my son having a TA changes this as we need to stay near the school) and they were housing people who had 120 points or more. Housing Associations generally have closed lists now and they allocate between 75 and 100% of housing stock to councils who dish out the houses. It is worth a try but I could not find a single housing assossication to get on the list for out of 5 in this area!

They have told me to keep on looking for somewhere private, we have had to give them all our details, wage slips, bank details and bank statements and if they deem us as being low income (ie. you might be low income but if you squander money on eating out and days out they will see that you are not using your money wisely) we do and for that we get an extra 10 points for being low inncome. We can't afford to rent in the private sector - they tell us we only need a 2 bedroom place (not sure if this changes once my son has his diagnosis because my son is violent to his sister and will attack her while she is sleeping so he has his own room here - it is easier!!). We can get housing benefit to pay for this but they will assess the house you have chosen and if it is too big or costly they will not pay for all of it and you will have to find the shortfall. As a couple they will say you only need a 1 bedroom house/flat so if your wage covers this you can go on the list but the chances of you getting somewhere are remote to be honest. From the forms I have read they will give the priority to people who have been in prison, drug takers, alcoholics, etc... as they are more 'vunerable' and unlikely to get a place rented. Yes, this made me cross as well!!

For us, my mother has to evict us - that means she has to take us to court to get us out of the house - only then will we be deemed as homeless and then they will consider us for emergency housing. That is the 4 of us in one room in a shared house - the rent for this is £180 a week!!

So, now we are waiting, we have given our paperwork, we need to see if they consider us low wage (I don't think my husband ears a low wage but he does not earn enough for us to be consider for renting by a letting agent). We may get medical points for my son - again we are not sure as we are waiting for our letter. if we have more than 120 we might get offered somewhere before our section 21 noticve ens, if we don't then we have to stay put, mum takes us to court and then a few days before the bailiffs are due in to evict us we'll get a hostel place. That is how it works I am afraid.

As a couple they will give you around (I beleive) £120 a week to live on - anything over that goes towards rent. So, if you earn £1000 a month between you you will be allowed to keep £480 of this, for every £100 over this you are allowed to keep £35 - so if earning £1000 then you would be allowed to keep £685 and the rest will go towards your rent and council tax. This will mean that £315 will go towards your rent and CT and then everything else will be paid for by HB.

As you are going to only need a small place I would suggest you look in the private sector as you can afford to be choosy then - some places have shared houses and you can rent a room that might include bills. We don;t know where you live to be able to give you any further advice, in this area (East herts) It costs around £400 for a 1 bedroom flat or house depensing on where you live. Unfortunately when you don't have the money to buy for yourself you can't afford to be picky. For us we will have to take the only place they offer us, this could be on some manky old estate with dire neighbours - but if we refuse we would have made ourselves homeless!!

Just to add on from this, my sister and her boyfriend are on the list and have been for a while too, they live apart and they earn enough money to get somewhere private - they just can't be bothered as his family have told him to get off to the council and they will house them. The days are long gone for this happening I am afraid and if you don't have the money to buy then private rent is the only way to go. You would be very, very lucky if you was offered somewhere and even if homeless you have to prove that you have not made yourself intentionally homeless otherwise they won't entertain you.

Sorry to sound grim about it all but we are going through at the moment so just sharing my experience with you.

blue_monkey_2

Here is the link from a very, very long thread running on another board:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=553259&page=101

This lady has depression and problems paying her bills (medical records to proce this) and her LL wanted to sell so he evicted her and gave the reason that she had not paid her rent (which she hadn't) and she has 2 twins, a girl and boy of 11. 2 days before the bailiffs were due they put her in temporary accomodation for 28 days but they say they cannot stay there. They wanted to evict them on 19th December and she has got the TV, Radio and local MP's involved - the council are still saying she has to go. it;s a very long thread but it goes to show how everything is right now with housing.

It does depend on where you live and who runs your local council. A guy my husband works with had the same thing and told him they had a place for him yet the day before he was due to move into this house they called him and said 'sorry, someone of greater need has come up' and they put him and his family in a hostel. It turned out to be immigrants. He lives in an area with a Labour run council - we live in an area with a tory run council so this does not happen here (sorry but it's true) and people can only qualify to be housed if they have been here for 12 months or more. The same in the next town as a friends sister had lived here for 20 years and then moved away, she said she wanted to come back and went to the council and they said no because she had been gone for a few years and would have to be back in the area for 12 months to qualify for applying for the housing register.

Have a look on the housing section of the website for your local council and it will give you more of an idea.

blue_monkey_2

mariagti wrote: »

Yeah of course, but rent isnt any cheaper than a monthly mortage payment.And i would much rather being paying for a house that i would own at the end than paying someone esle and not having nothing to show for the money.

I am a bit confused by this as you'll never own a council house either and the rents are higher than you think TBH. For a one bedroom place there won't be much difference in rents - maybe £150 a month more to rent private. As I said before, at least in the private sector you can afford to be picky and choose where you want to live!!

misscomickat

I do think council rent is a LOT lower than private tbh.

I think around here, a council house (3 bedroom) is around £65 a week. I pay £85 for a one-bed flat privately.

blue_monkey_2

Hi again, I just saw you are in Chelmsford but gather you have looked on the council website as you have the forms to print off. Have you looked on Rightmove for property to let? Also check out the websites of local Estate Agents. RM have apartments on there for £395. If you can't afford the deposit ask the council again - they will loan you the deposit if you are low earners so that is also worth a try as well.

blue_monkey_2

misscomickat wrote: »

I do think council rent is a LOT lower than private tbh.

I think around here, a council house (3 bedroom) is around £65 a week. I pay £85 for a one-bed flat privately.

Oh right, my mum lives in a 2 bed council flat (it's her boyfriends) and he pays around £60 a week - it's HA but the list is held by the council. Maybe that depends on the HA again. I know a friend, years ago, used to pay £85 a week for 2 bed HA house. I am not sure on the rents to be honest but the council won't let us have HB for the 4 bed house in the village that is currently available!! I don't know why that is !! The £1200 a month rent is almost all of hubbys wages!! :eek:

ruggedtoast

Definitely put your name down - you never know if youll get lucky with a nice house and if not you havent lost anything.

Council housing is difficult for councils as the government has been doing its best to run it down to pump up the HPI market. Every pound that some potential overstretched First Time Buyer is giving to the council in fair rent is a pound theyre not giving to Northern Rock for a huge mortgage on a wobbly miniscule new build. And in New Gordons New Labour New Britain that just isnt cricket.

cheltenhamgirl

Apart from Lavendyr am I the only person who sees anything worng with this! Why should I have to pay taxes so that the OP can live in a council house because she doesn't feel like paying rent? I

am all for council housing, for people who NEED it, not just people who don't fancy paying rent. I don't fancy it much either, but until I save up the money for a good deposit on a house of my own, that's the only answer. I wouldn't dream of asking the council to provide me with a house - I scrimp and save so that I can rent and save for my deposit.

Council houses are being taken up by people like the OP when 'Mumoftwins' over on debt free wannabe board can't get anywhere to bring up her kids and looks like she might be about to be made homeless. Am I the only person who sees this as wrong?

Turnbull2000

cheltenhamgirl wrote: »

Am I the only person who sees this as wrong?

No.

They can clearly afford to rent privately and should be shot down.