To take council house and move back home?

[isitnormaltobethistired]

Currently renting a lovely new build house, it's perfect my sons school is behind us lots of greenery and just a nice place to live. However our rent and council tax and bills are very high.

We've been bidding forever in our old hometown we eventually rented somewhere as we couldn't wait. However I carried on bidding just see if we would get anything. Now we've been offered a property.

Council house is back in our old town, not the best place to live but the area they have offered us is the nicer part of the town its a new build property.My brother is on drugs and I hate bumping into him over there. It's a depressing place to live and I swore i would never go back. But the thought of cheap bills and we could do it up ourselves and buy it eventually is tempting.

Curious to see what other people would do in our situation.

DS is 4 and he said he doesn't mind leaving his friends and going back as he will live near his grandma so the kids aren't a concern.

I was in homeless accommodation for 18 months and thats with the maximum points due to my disability.

Does the HA know you've moved? It sounds like you registered in one address and then moved house? If so it could reset your application and the offer be removed.

However if you think it's an awful place to live and you don't want to live there could you move there, plough as much money as possible into savings and then rent somewhere nicer a bit further out? I wouldn't move back permanently to somewhere you'll resent living and working bat you think will impact negatively on you as a family

I think you should stay where you are; you’re settled, you prefer it and you would be happier.

Money isn’t everything and if you hate the area it’s just not worth it, you’ll just be miserable.

I would take the council house and if you don’t settle try and get a swap?

Don't settle, keep looking. You'll find a place that fits you better in a better location and you won't regret waiting.

@emilyfrost

I think you should stay where you are; you’re settled, you prefer it and you would be happier.

Money isn’t everything and if you hate the area it’s just not worth it, you’ll just be miserable.

You can't really settle in a private let because the tenancy is insecure.

Double check you are still eligible, if you have moved out of the area and are in decent accommodation (no matter how much the rent) I doubt they would offer you a house unless they placed you out of area

You are obviously managing where you are now and enjoying the area. Leave the council house for someone who does not perhaps have the means to rent in the private sector.

Is it a long term tenancy? Short term tenancies aren’t uncommon at the moment.

You can't really settle in a private let because the tenancy is insecure.

rawalpindithelabrador I meant settled as in they like the area, schools etc. We rented for years in several different places and never had an issue; we were never asked to leave before we wanted to.

While that’s always a possibility, it’s not common enough to warrant moving to a council house in a shit area with bad family nearby.

You can't really settle in a private let because the tenancy is insecure. Whilst nothing is guaranteed many people do. We've been out landlord since 2012, had three kids here, snet eldest to school here. We're good tenants, he's financially secure enough to keep the property going. It isn't all 6 month contracts and sad kids with nowhere to bother decorating

It would be hard to settle in your council house knowing that you can have a notice served on you at any time for fraud. I cant believe how many people are encouraging that and urging the OP to check out her right to buy status. Its wrong
The OP is now adequately housed and probably not entitled to this offer.

Well that really depends on where you live @sluj,when I applied for social housing we were adequately housed ,but we needed somewhere more stable due to having a severely disabled child ,we had no priority but we were still allowed to bid for houses ,and we were allocated one within less than a year ,this was six years ago it's all about availability .

I'd snap it up

My son got offered a brand new build council house
Down in London would be worth a. Million ..no sweat
4 large beds , huge lounge, massive kitchen, bathroom upstairs, massive shower and loo downstairs
Room for two cars on drive, open plan frontage
Big garden at back.
Solar panels on roof.
Dil hates it..always wants to move.
It’s not the best area in town but it’s a long, long way from being the worst
Their cul de sac is lovely actually.

I’d go for the ch

Oh yes and they are 5 minutes walk from a fab park too

Bad memories and the possibility of you and even more importantly your child bumping in to drug addicted Uncle. Honestly I wouldn’t move back.

@SleepingStandingUp

You can't really settle in a private let because the tenancy is insecure. Whilst nothing is guaranteed many people do. We've been out landlord since 2012, had three kids here, snet eldest to school here. We're good tenants, he's financially secure enough to keep the property going. It isn't all 6 month contracts and sad kids with nowhere to bother decorating

I’m a landlord and as long as the rent is paid on time and the property looked after I’ve no plans to sell They’ve been there 6 years...but I do agree renting in the private sector is very dicey.

If I wanted to joysticks and but a nice house in the country..then I’d have to sell.

I'd jump at the chance. I'd save the difference between rent to use as a deposit to buy. Think of it as a short term solution for a long term plan.

Well that really depends on where you live @sluj,when I applied for social housing we were adequately housed
In that case, the OP should come clean and tell the council. I'm willing to bet there are people who need the council house more than she does now. If not, perhaps she would be OK but not if she is now out of area and settled in a nice house.

Haven't read all the comments but we're not committing fraud everything was updated when I moved house our banding hasn't changed.

Think we will take the council house as it's much more affordable and will give us a better quality of life. We can always swap or move again if we're not happy.

My partner's daughter just got a council house, she was only bidding less than 6 months and she was adequately housed in a private rental, good job etc. This is in the South East. I was very surprised but just goes to show some areas obviously have more availability.

I say take the council house, I believe you can apply for a swap after 3 years anyway so you aren't stuck there forever.