How can I get a bigger house off the council?

[Dreamzcancometrue]

Hi all,

In 2016 after a brief stint staying in a hostel I started to bid for a property and successfully got a studio flat. I moved into the flat in May 2017 as a single woman. It was fine then and lived there happily until March 2019 when I gave birth to my lovely daughter and there being not enough space in the bedroom area for a large cot, I have a dbl bed which takes up most of my bedroom space . The living room and bedroom area are seperated by a big wall there aren't any doors just two entry points on either side of the walls.. Its frustrating. So Im in need of a bigger property atleast 2 bed. I live in the Southwark borough of London and I know council flats are in high demand here then any other borough. Moving out the borough is not an option for me as I have mental health issues and family support is paramount for mine and my baby's wellbeing.

Sorry im so shit at writing these type of things. If you've managed to follow up until now, basically what I'm asking is due to my mental health issues and the fact that me and my daughter are in a property that no longer suits my situation. Would the council help us?

My support worker, perinatal consultant and health visitor and GP have been advised to write me a supporting letter to back up my council housing application but not sure what else I could do?

I really would like to be re-housed so my daughter can have her own room. I can't afford to privately rent and I'm not working atm it will take me a while to get back into work.

Any suggestions would be beneficial. Thanks for reading.

@anitagreen I am a senior commissioner for a local authority... you would be surprised what people come up with to get more money!

Going by the thread? You have a few details to go on...but you just jumped in and, adding in some spurious details about a 19 year old you k ow of, presumed the OP was in the same mould.

U put 2 and 2 together and arrived at some imaginary system milking waster, who are just having a dandy time.
You dont k ow the OP circumstance but you are insinuating she is trying to wrangle something she doesn't deserve.

Fedup you obviously don't have a clue about life on benefits and the barriers that prevent people getting into decent employment. I expect you are correct that people do play the system but you are talking absolutely tiny percentages. If these posts rile you so much I suggest you dig deeper into inequality.
I have a friend who has 4 children. She has always held well paid jobs. Her husband left her and she struggles on minimum income whilst studying but to apply for a job would leave her worse off than she currently is. Childcare is subsidised to a certain extent but times the shortfall by 4 and you are worse off. There are so many different variables that cause problems.

@lolaflores... Read my post again!!! I never spoke of the OP. You seem to have taken this very personally..look like I hit a nerve. Enjoy your life!

fedup I've just seen that you are a commissioner for a local authority? I'm surprised that you aren't more sympathetic. Do they actually offer you any education or is it all about the nasty claimants trying to get something for nothing?

@donajimena am sorry to hear about your friend .. like I said people who genuinely need help dont get it. Your friend situation brings a whole lot of other issues .. why is the father not helping, CMS etc but wont into this... the system has too many loopholes.

Perhaps I am irritated by your comments. I'm ot Shamed to admit that. I was dependant on the state for a while. I knew what people thought. The preconceptions they had but I had no choice. I was unable to make a difference to my life for sometime but I worked dambed hard. When I hear you glibly spout rubbish, so ill informed and prejudiced, I feel compelled to challenge it.
And bye by to u too.

@donajimena I get paid to do a job based in facts. Whether I feel sympathy or not doenst affect my final decision. But I can tell you, if we believed every sob story that we hear, then we the funding panel would be in deep shite!

@Fedupbyit should you be in that profession if your quite a cunt to people who need help then? And even if people did come up with some far fetched way how do they prove this with the testing people have to go through just to prove their disabled I highly doubt some one can outwit medical professionals and so on

@anitagreen instead of worrying if I should be in the profession or not.. go and work on your language a bit! I've been in this job for 22 years and I ain't going anywhere , in fact I run the dept, so I dont really need you to explain to me how it works

things have changed radically with Universal Credit - for the worst - as for some of these (random - rumoured) examples - you don't know if the young woman has maintenance from her partners (which I believe doesn't count) or is given money from her parents as a gift - or simply hasn't paid her rent or has loans - we really don't know what goes on in other peoples lives as outsiders so we should be careful about judging -

I suggest people AS the OP before getting into a bun fight as it’s people like her, who give other genuine benefit claimants a bad name. The welfare system is supposed to be a safety net & not a bloody way of life.

Before anyone has a go at me, yes I know it’s bad etiquette to mention a posters previous threads / comments but I really don’t give a shit in this instance. I’m 33 & still haven’t had children because I’m working my arse off to make sure I can afford them first so people like the OP piss me off royally, especially as she plans more children!

Co-sleeping? I’ve co-slept with all of my DC from birth, it works pretty well.

Failing that, a single bed for you and cot bed for your DD or a sofa bed in the living room area.

Good for you.

Kids going hungry while parents are puffing on cigarettes and drinking cans of beers! Big TV, XBox and what not. Noone has to go hungry in this country..some people just dont want to help themselves

Ha bloody ha! I was out of work recently, after years of reasonably well paid employment. As I had been brought up to stand on my own feet I had a mortgaged house of my own, so there would be NO help at all with paying anything towards the interest on the mortgage (note interest, I wouldn't want help with capital repayments of course) for at least 30 weeks; if I'd lived in rented, I could have claimed rent from day 1. Also note that the mortgage interest on my house would be approximately half the rental for a studio flat in my area.

I was unable to work for health reasons, so I received the princely sum of around £73 per week for everything - lighting, heating, insurance, council tax (yes that's reduced, but you still have to pay some), food, transport, phone, internet. And of course the mortgage interest, which on it's own accounted for the total sum of the benefits. I had savings, which I eked out so I didn't go hungry but without that safety net I would have. I was at the stage of considering having to sell my house, which of course would mean I would have no help at all from benefits because I could live off the capital for a few years before that ran out leaving me with nothing.

Yes I have a large TV - which I bought quite a few years ago. I have an elderly semi-decent smart phone (bottom of the range Samsung, no iPhone here) and a computer that was top of the range 6 years ago. I don't smoke any more, and I don't drink. I don't go out to the cinema, I don't have holidays. I eat cheaply. But I couldn't survive on the benefits available to me, so I'm not sure how anyone could smoke, drink heavily & buy new electrical goods on benefits unless they were working undeclared cash in hand which is an ENTIRELY different matter.

Kids going hungry while parents are puffing on cigarettes and drinking cans of beers! Big TV, XBox and what not. Noone has to go hungry in this country..some people just dont want to help themselves

You forgot to include the free goat

Wow, didn't know my thread would attract so much controversy but oh well. This is not the life that I chose. I would love to be able to work and pay my own rent for a bigger property but things which i shall not mention happened to me which led me into the situation I am in today. I am not entitled as one pp assumed.

Thanks to the people who have given constructive feedback. I will try my hardest to get back on the housing register with the support of my care team. I dont mind waiting a few years.. Things might change by then.

@tinkety be careful..you cannot say things like that here... the 'know it alls' with their vile language will come out in masse and attack!

Oh look fedupbyit you are so crass and tasteless. You really are.
To treat someone elses life like as a platform for your unkind views and then get the total arse because people disagree with you.
We can and should disagree with extremist views because they dont stand up to examination.
Those of us who can choose where and how we live are for ate and we ought to give those less well off a chance to live with dignity and some comfort.
That's all anyone is asking for.
But if you begrudge that to others, fine, just dont gloat about how your work ethic et has given you a wonderfully secure life. Well done. However, it isn't the same for everyone.
Is that so hard for you to understand?

You didn't know a thread titled how can I get the council to give a bigger house would cause controversy????

Are you new to Mumsnet?

@lolaflores you keep writing paragraphs after paragraphs, judging me, attacking me for having an opinion based on facts.. but what you dont understand is the simple point that I was making : there are many people who cheat the system/ milk the system to get the most that they can whilst there are genuine needy people who cant get it as they do not know how to work the system! Now you can call me all the names that you like, this doesn't change the fact that I am right! My life or how secure I am has nothing to do with it. When you need help, you have to compromise on things, you cannot demand, (I want a bigger house, I want to live in x area, I dont want to.move etc etc etc)

Simply put. You are not right to bring that set of views to this thread. It isn't helpful, it doesn't answer the OPS question. It is slinging shit where it isn't needed. So you have aired your views on a thread started by someone who isless privileged position than you talking about those who milk the system.
Tasteless.
Crass.
Cruel when u really dont need to be.
But u go ahead and feel righteous.

@lolaflores looks like you've run out of adjectives. I find it entertaining when people need to be rude as they cant put their point across in a civilised manner!

I’d get on the list but be prepared for a long wait in the meantime try and get a sofa bed for you to sleep on then you’ll have space for a cot.