How many council/HA points did you have? (or got and still waiting!)

shelovestobuystuff

If I had wanted to take a property in my area which was in a difficult to rent area I could have had a place almost instantly.I wanted a house in a decent area which was not notorious for prostitution and drug dealers so I selected the one decent area I liked in my housing application.Thats why it took 9 years and why I was sooooo angry that they took me off the list because of such a stupid mistake at the final hurdle.Imagine sending a letter to my previous address.Idiots.

blue_monkey_2

We have been on the list for about 6 years now. We are sitting here waiting for a court date to be evicted from our long term let, my son has just been diagnosed with an ADHD/behaviour disorder condition and autism. Hubby does not earn enough money to pay the rents via private and as we have bad credit rating we cannot even get to view a place. I've just had to give up my home based business due to being evicted imminently so that is less money. I cannot work as my son will not stay with anyone else to the point of being aggressive (even towards DH and he will not settle for him if he wakes in the night either), he has already been assigned his own Teaching Assistant in the school nursery as he cannot be left with the other children and this is the school he will go to who will be aware of his difficulties. I have lived in this area most of my 36 years.

We currently have 103 points. 15 of these are medical points and I have been told this is a very good amount to get.

They house you if you have 120. The only way of reaching 120 points is to get put into a hostel or live in a caravan with no water or electric!

We have to call the homeless department when we have 28 days before the court evicts us, then they can help us and we will have to go into temporary accomodation if they cannot find anything for us (a hostel) but we have no choice if they do not have anything else.

They tell us they'll go onto Choice Based Letting soon but god knows when that will be - I don't know if it will be any use to us either.

The worst bit is not knowing where we will be in a few months time. The council have known this was coming since I told them in November but we even had to write and tell them they had not given us the correct number of points.

dobbie82

Thanks for all your replies guys, (and gals!) I guess i should stop complaining and count myself lucky then.


what is this bidding system then?

and no the council wont tell me where i am in the list, or how many points people had when they were housed :-(

dad-of-4

Back when i got my council house, i just walked into the local housing office told them i had seen a boarded up house and asked if i could have it, it was as simple as that, i did the same when i was single and had just gone in the local area office and asked for a flat,

there always is and always has been waiting lists, the bottom line is just hastle them constantly till they give you a house so they never need to pick up the phone and hear you ask again, my own experience and the experience of every council tenant i know bares out the truth in this, wether its getting the house, repairs done, complaints etc, he/she who shouts loudest gets sorted first.

phone them every day and go hastle them in the office whenever you pass.

blue_monkey_2

Hi dobbie, they only told me because of the homeless situation thing. Other than this I did not know. the bidding system, so I gather, is no matter how many points you have you can 'bid' on houses. You might be the only one who wants that place so you would get it, otherwise they will take the top 3 people with the highest points and take them to view, person with the most points gets first refusal, if they say no the 2nd person gets offered, if they accept then that is it. It seems fairer to me to be honest as everyone gets a chance then and the least popular places don't get offered to people who do not really want them but feel they have to take them.

This is how I am told it works but I could be wrong. Apparently every HA & Council should have this implimented by 2010.

dad-of-4

Diamond78 wrote: »

so most of us seem on the bidding system!!! I havent been told how they choose tenants. I mean once we have made a bid and the bid has ben accepted along with all the other hundreds of tenants how is the selection process done. Is it on who bids first?I dont have hardly no choice, some weeks there are no properties for non priority tenants, so im stuffed

the bidding system means nothing, they can give the house to whoever they want, i should be hearing about a house this week, we bid on it and were 50-60th place, phoned the council and they said there and then we could have it, they also said it would stay listed cos they didnt want the hastle of people kicking off on the phone if they removed it. remains to be seen if we will get it tho, as we were given a house once before, we were just waiting for the inspection/jobs to be done and then got a phone call saying we couldnt have it anymore, when the wife asked why she was told "were not obliged to give a reason".

Diamond78

my council doesnt have points, they have bands of A being for top priority, B priority, C les priority and me im non priority. Since being on the housing list only one property has come up and i made a bid, im sure 100s more ppl have to so how do they decide who gets the property.Thanks if anyone knows

LISA68_2

blue_monkey wrote: »

Hi dobbie, they only told me because of the homeless situation thing. Other than this I did not know. the bidding system, so I gather, is no matter how many points you have you can 'bid' on houses. You might be the only one who wants that place so you would get it, otherwise they will take the top 3 people with the highest points and take them to view, person with the most points gets first refusal, if they say no the 2nd person gets offered, if they accept then that is it. It seems fairer to me to be honest as everyone gets a chance then and the least popular places don't get offered to people who do not really want them but feel they have to take them.

This is how I am told it works but I could be wrong. Apparently every HA & Council should have this implimented by 2010.

Hi that is most definately right, I bid on a property several weeks ago only 10 people bid on this brand new building house assoc. place (unbelievable) it was because the rent was so high £380 a month as there was a £20 service charge a week but too me that is half my rent - I thought as that is the best chance I would ever get I kept ringing the allocations dept and it went lower and lower down the list of bidders they had 6 refusals on it and it went to the 7th person on the list who the council have just nominated for it, with my little 14 points I was probably the one at the bottom of the pile but they would not tell me this as they say the list changes every day.

They told me to bid on tower blocks as if your child is younger than 10 years and the floor is higher than the 3rd floor you gain extra points once in there

LISA68_2

dad-of-4 wrote: »

Back when i got my council house, i just walked into the local housing office told them i had seen a boarded up house and asked if i could have it, it was as simple as that, i did the same when i was single and had just gone in the local area office and asked for a flat,

there always is and always has been waiting lists, the bottom line is just hastle them constantly till they give you a house so they never need to pick up the phone and hear you ask again, my own experience and the experience of every council tenant i know bares out the truth in this, wether its getting the house, repairs done, complaints etc, he/she who shouts loudest gets sorted first.

phone them every day and go hastle them in the office whenever you pass.

I heard that as well about if you see a boarded up property you can ask to take it in that state.

Can I ask how long ago that was as funny enough there is a row of three old council houses not too far away from me that are boarded up they are right beside a brand new housing estate and look out of place

dobbie82

its like that for private rentals here in a way. you write off your applications stating why you would like to live there, then there is a shortlist if you are lucky, then an interview, then viewings, credit checks etc then the landlord decides who gets it. gone through that 5 times so far!

i can't even get a private rent. The place i have now is tiny but better than being homeless. I applied, got shortlisted then EA assistant realised she was in school with me and put in a good word for me, otherwise i'd still be living in families spare room's.