Council house entitlement!!!

SingleSue

We did that too Frances, put our names down on the list when we moved out of our parents homes but were told that we had no chance, so we got our own private rented flat.

After a few years we decided to take the plunge and buy a house, easily affordable on our salaries (well mainly mine but I digress) and things went absolutely fine for a fair wee while until I unexpectedbly got pregnant (we had been told there was no chance whatsoever of hearing the patter of tiny feet - long story). Unfortunately this was in the days before more generous maternity leave and payments and due to a rather eeky delivery meant I was unable to go back to work and do the hours expected of my position, so it was a case of come back next week working full hours plus at least 2 hours unpaid overtime every night or don't come back at all .... at the time I was still in hospital!

Long story short, we tried everything to hold on to our house - I got partime work (early morning cleaning) just 6 weeks after my son was born and completely against medical advice and then 2 weeks later took on a second job (working evenings/nightshift), all which fitted in with my hubbies hours. We managed to keep it going for 6 months until it reached the point where my doctor was going mental at me and threatening to have me sectioned as a danger to myself (think it was an idle threat to scare me into action - it worked), my kidneys were going in failire, I had double pneumonia and recurrant ear infections plus severe post natal depression.

We no longer could pay the mortgage and we were repossessed and to this day I blame myself...if only I could have been stronger, or not believed the specialists with our chances of having children.

So not all housing association/council tenants have things fall into their laps and not have an inkling of what 'normal' folks have to go through to have their own homes. In fact the most upsetting thing at the time was a supposed friend gossiping to her friends in the supermarket, that we had done it on purpose to get a free house...ermmm our rent was not that much cheaper than our old mortgage payment but that little bit cheaper made all the difference, it meant we could eat!

On an affordability scale, our mortgage was easily done, my salary alone covered the payment 3 times over at least but it took that one change in our lives to completely change the course of our lives.

Spark

My father always said that renting is money poured down the drain, and that it's always better to buy a house which one day might be yours.
All the sacrifices that you have made and the hardship you have been through will bear fruits and eventually one day you will enjoy the fruits of your hard labour, and you will have your house the way you really want it.
Single people always got it harder when they applied for a council property, and now it's near impossible. We were lucky that we were a couple at the time and that they were allocating flats above the fifth floor to couples without children as no children are allowed to be placed higher than the fifth floor in my area.