Offered council property in terrible area

She can't? Otherwise she wouldn't be getting a flat?

Take it and see how it goes. If it doesn’t work you could move back to Mams. If you don’t try you may always wonder what if….?

Yeah that's kind of what I was saying glad you agree. No ones going to be like yes I'll swap my gorgeous little cottage flat with a garden for this top floor flat on an "undesirable" Estate.

I'd snap their hands off tbh, how can you be considering to continue remaining in your mums living room?!

Yeah I know that!!! but like who is going to want it.

Definitely the only swap she will get is with someone in an equally shit area on the top floor. So swapping one bad area for another.

My last house was on a road with a lot of private rentals. We had drug dealing, loud parties, vandalism, burglaries, even a kidnapping.

Now I’m in an ex council house and my neighbours each side and opposite are council. Some of the houses are a bit of a mess, but, touch wood, we’ve not had any problems in the last 10 years.

Presumably she can't move back in with her mum or she wouldn't be on the council list.

Because you can swap after a years tenancy. Lots of people do it for many reasons. There's Facebook pages for it.

Of course take it, stop being a bloody snob.

If you were properly homeless like I was with 2 kids, you'd cry with gratitude to have something you could call your own.

Should have taken the first one.

I didn't get a choice. Changed areas, schools, lost my neighbours and friends of 10 years, my support network.

Best thing that ever happened to us.

Yeah unless you're ground or 1st floor no chance

Yeah but if OP wants out coz it's shit and full of crime the only people who'll want to swap will be crims and then she'll be stuck in an ex drug dealers house or something

It’s on every MN council thread “just do a swap” I don’t think people on MN realise how hard it is to get a swap I know someone whose been trying for 5 years and she is in a house. I’m on loads of swapping pages and it’s true no one wants a top floor council flat.

All of the council flats here are in really rough areas. If it's your last chance, then I'd take it. If it doesn't work out, you can always move back home.

That ws replying to the grain!!!

Council accommodation swapping is very common and there are even facebook pages to help people do precisely that. Someone may want to move to a particular area and may be happy to swap with someone who is already there.

You can't stay in your mum's living room forever!

Of course you need to take it.

I don't know why people are saying OP can swap. Swap with who? Top floor flat? No one wants that.

Well yeah, it's a council house. They aren't designed to be des res's - they're for people who can't or won't pay for anything nicer.

I think you should take it. There are a lot of nice people living in the very worst of areas. Some troublemakers too of course.

Take the flat OP! I private rent a very shabby flat in a deprived area (lots of drug dealing, even in broad daylight) and I haven't had much trouble in the 11 years I have lived here. My road is a mix of private and council housing, and so wish I could have the chance to have one of the council flats (cheaper, well maintained).

You can always swap later if you don't find it suitable.

It's hard to tell if you are being polite and this place is an utter shithole crawling with druggies or if you're being far too fussy.

I got a council house last year in a nice area. Small row of houses. Only mine and next door are still council and I had lived with my parents in a council estate all my life. Never had any problems with my parents neighbours. I moved to the new place and 3 days in , the woman next door came in ranting and raving about the guys fitting the floors . She's been an absolute nightmare since , so much so that I've had to install a camera because she's threatened to knock down our garden wall and rip up all my plants. I'd much rather live in a big estate like my parents do then here next to this nutter but I'm stuck for now. In our area you can't swap or transfer for 2 years.

I live in a 'rough' estate. The majority of my neighbours are single mums, older people, or refugees. They're lovely. There's sometimes bits of trouble but it's targeted rather than random crimes e.g. one flat often has broken windows and when I asked a neighbour they said that resident has an ongoing fued with someone who keeps breaking their windows. One of my neighbours is clearly a drug dealer (people in and out his flat day and night for 5 mins at a time) but he doesn't cause trouble for the neighbours - he also puts my bins out for me! Occasionally there are domestics in the street but i find the police get here very quickly. I'm hoping to move somewhere quieter before my children are teenagers but for now I'm happy. If you don't have a choice (and it sounds like you don't) then it's worth taking the flat. You might be pleasantly surprised.

I'd probably take it op and swap later if you hate it.