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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be pissed off with being offered a council FLAT instead of a HOUSE?

999 replies

OMFFG · 16/02/2012 10:46

We have 4 DCs, youngest 16 months and they think this is suitable!! The flat is 3 bedrooms and on the 2nd floor of a small tower block and has balconies which I would be pretty worried one of the DCs may fall out of.

This is my worst frigging nightmare. We have been 'homeless' for almost 2 years and the council have housed us in temporary accommodation (private rented) which we have to pay market value for (£875 per month) even though we did not choose it and it's a complete shit hole. We could not leave as we would lose our priority on the council bidding list. We lost our house when DH was made redundant and could not afford to pay £1200+ to privately rent.

Now after all this they have offered us a fucking flat. I am furious because every week until last week, there were only offering 3 bed houses but we would always be 3/4 on the list. Now that a flat was offered, less people have bid on it so we got to the top of the list. I did not even bid on it, the council did. Apparently they can bid on 'our behalf' as we are homeless and if we refuse this flat, we will be taken off the housing list. How the hell will we cope in a flat???

The rent is 'only' £380 a month but a house would only be £20 a month more.

AIBU to tell them to stuff it up their arses?

OP posts:
EauDeLaPoisson · 16/02/2012 12:21

But its nothing to do with council tennants as I have said constantly I said excatly the same to someone who was buying a house and NEEDED a 4 bedroom they could not afford- but how many times do you want to ignore that as it doesnt support your agenda?

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 16/02/2012 12:21

Eurgh... I hate that 'right wing' nonsense. Where does consideration for anybody but oneself come in? Does it EVER kick in with some people? We are so lucky in this country to have a back-stop. Hmm

Kayano · 16/02/2012 12:22

I live in an ex council house

It's all I could afford and I'm grateful to have it. It's the attitude of the op that riles not the fact we are all jealous!

I still don't quite
Get how they can afford that much rent but can't sort their own housing out and STILL piss and moan about being offered a 3 bedroom home.

BupcakesandCunting · 16/02/2012 12:23

Poisson, what you just said might stand up if you hadn't said the horrible thing you did about contraception. Poor people shouldn't breed is what you're effectively saying, nevermind that OP probably was in a different situation when she actually conceived...

LilacWaltz · 16/02/2012 12:23

Op.... You need to move quick or you wil lose it, and your homeless status with it!

EauDeLaPoisson · 16/02/2012 12:23

Its nothing to do with right wing views and everything to do with not being able to have what you WANT in life all the time, whether you are an owner, private tennant or council tennant.

Evilclown · 16/02/2012 12:23

I can't say whether it is suitable as I haven't seen it but I know that in the town where my family live the council have a policy of only housing families in ground or first floor flats as they consider anything higher to be unsuitable for families. So you could argue that the suitability of the flat is a matter of opinion.

Who would the council consider suitable to house in a tree bed flat though, given that there are only certain groups of people that they have a statutory duty to rehouse? If they have flats in their stock that have 2+ bedrooms they are going to rehouse families in them. The policy here is flats are suitable for families and the op's council obviously agree otherwise they would not have allocated it. Other councils have different policies, but that is irrelevant as this particular council have decided flats are suitable, so the op arguing that it is not suitable is not going to work.

Kayano · 16/02/2012 12:23

That thread annoyed me so much when they wanted
The 5k off father in law Hmm

They were told to be grateful for what they could get/ afford and it had fuck all to do with council tenants.

Again it was all about entitled attitudes
Confused

NorthernWreck · 16/02/2012 12:24

FWIW there are some estates that I would rather be homeless than live on. I totally get not wanting to live in a tower block too.

My gp's lived on the top floor of a Tower block for years, and it was great-lovely neighbours, nice area, but some of them are heinous.

I think the problem here is partly the tone of the OP.
If she had come on and said-shit, it's really good that we have been offered something, but this estate is really awful, and I am not sure what to do, the response may have been different.

gettingeasier · 16/02/2012 12:24

Great post Evilclown

OP its understandable to feel luck went against you but maybe just think it rather than write about it on this forum in such hard done by terms

melika · 16/02/2012 12:25

Another case of 'breed first, think about the practicalities later'.

YABVU be grateful you got offered it at all at a very reasonable price.

Can you think of any ideas to get a better offer, oh yes, have another child?

ChickensHaveNoLips · 16/02/2012 12:25

It would have been different, Northern, Undoubtedly.

EauDeLaPoisson · 16/02/2012 12:25

Its up to you Bupcakes if you think having children you can't afford to support is just down to luck. Its naive to say the least. I feel differently, its far from disgusting.

EauDeLaPoisson · 16/02/2012 12:26

Exactly Kayano- but that would make this thread far less exciting wouldn't it.

BupcakesandCunting · 16/02/2012 12:27

Oh look, Poisson! Here's another one from the DM comments section that you can buddy up with! ^Melika.

Kayano · 16/02/2012 12:27

And maybe refrained from moaning about a trampoline might have helped the op Hmm

Those trampolines are awful anyway. Two in back gardens round here and 2 in front gardens. I hate looking out of windows, they are offensive to my eyes lol

disclaimer I'm serious

noddyholder · 16/02/2012 12:27

Look at the bigger picture and be grateful. It may not be your dream home but it is half what you are paying now so you can afford to make it lovely and be a bit better off financially plus more space for your children. get some stair gates for the summer and fill teh balconies with pots of flowers and be thankful.Get over yourself or shell out for better

ChickensHaveNoLips · 16/02/2012 12:27

The OP was already pregnant with DC4 when her DH lost his job and they became homeless. Unless you have a crystal ball, or expected the OP to have one, I don't know what you expect her to do about the children she already has. It's not like she can put them back.

CardyMow · 16/02/2012 12:27

Bup, Usual - I know what you are saying, but IMO, as someone IN a similar situation - I would be bloody grateful for a flat that was big enough for my family. If it only suitable for a few years until her dc hit the ages where they cannot share (which depends on the age gaps and genders of her dc, may NEVER be a problem is she has all girls or all boys, and they are all quite close together), then the Council will put her on the waiting list agin in the future. Shit happens.

Surely you can both take on board the opinion of someone IN a very similar position to the OP who is saying that her sense of entitlement is STAGGERING. It is just NOT normal for people on the Council Housing list to turn down a flat KNOWING that it will leave them homeless when they are in temporary accommodation.

I'm quite sure my friend in Temp accommodation would ALSO jump at the chance for this flat - she has fled an abusive marriage with her 4 dc. Boy - 14yo. Boy - 8yo. Girl - 3yo. Boy - 2yo. She would put herself in the smallest room, her two oldest dc in the biggest room, and her two littlies in the middle-sized room. And she would be over the bleeding MOON,as she has been in a 2-bed flat 15 miles away from her dc's school, with her eldest in the middle of Y10 doing his GCSE's - which has meant that he is having to live with her parents during the week so as not to mess up his GCSE's.

There are SO many people needing Social Housing right now that you just HAVE to take what you are offered if you are in temporary accommodation. Why does any one person on the Housing list DESERVE a house rather than a flat? Hence the points system being based on NEED.

usualsuspect · 16/02/2012 12:27

You get a swimming pool if you have 6 children

mrsjay · 16/02/2012 12:28

oh dear a breeding comments as if they are stock Shock

BehindLockNumberNine · 16/02/2012 12:28

Luiey - OP can put the 3 same-sex siblings in the biggest bedroom, the one remaining child in the box room and OP and DH share the middle -sized bedroom.

That is what my lovely neighbours did when they had a fourth child and no financial means to upsize away from their small-but-3-bed Victorian cottage.
There are solutions to every problem, one just has to be prepared to look!!

ChickensHaveNoLips · 16/02/2012 12:28

I hate our trampoline. It's annoying, takes up loads of room and has ruined the grass. It might have an accident involving the hedge trimmer.

EauDeLaPoisson · 16/02/2012 12:28

How childish you really are looking Bupcakes. Just start acting like a two year old the minute anyone says something that you dont 100% agree with.

Lueji · 16/02/2012 12:29

Left-winger raising hand too.
I do think it's a good thing that taxpayers help people who need it survive and even help them get a better life.

I don't like people who abuse the system, though, and I know some who do.

I had arguments with someone who would tell me that with their benefits alone they would only have enough money to pay bills and food. No kidding.
This person was working and not paying taxes. Has built a home in their home country and has a lot more in savings than I do.