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

[OMFFG]

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?

The thing is..whoever it was upthread who said that this flat had been turned down by everyone else, and thats why OP got it probably has a point.

You do have to picture what this place is actually like. I get the feeling that some on here have never actually been in the piss soaked stairwell of a grotty tower block.

I do wonder how many of you would be exactly jumping for joy at the thought of your dc's gambolling in said stairwell for the indefinite future..?

I still think she should take it, but I can see why she is narked.

You have a chance to save up a good few hundred a month towards a deposit for another house which you'll have in a few years. Alot of people dont get that chance.

And I say this from my own shithole in Scumshire-upon-Arseville, and I dont even have a fucking trampoline

Some flats and houses are in a terrible state , but people should be grateful for hovels according to some on here

We were on the housing lists for a while and I wouldn't have been very happy to have been given a flat. We wouldn't have lived in a flat with children ( we only had ne dd at the time), I would have been miserable without a garden etc etc...So we bought our shared ownership house.

My DB and Sil weren't happy with they house they were given so they rented one privately.

I do get where you are coming from OP, the flat does sound grim but your only options if you don't want it are to sweet talk the housing officer or get better housing under you own steam. A lot of people would be pleased as punch to be given the flat so it may be that the housing officer will offer it to the next person down? If you tell them to stick it up their arses you wont get anywhere with them.

I think the op should take it as well , I don't think she should be jumping for bloody joy though

and be grateful for the piss in the stairwells. Some people don't get any taxpayer funded piss...

I dunno Usual, if the alternative is living in a shoe box in't middle of road then Id be getting my tits out in celebration tbh

You have such a low opinion of council tenants that you assume there is piss in the stairwells? How, er, enlightened and liberal of you.

Opinionatedmum, if you read my post we are in a flat, I was and still am grateful as homelessness is worse. Oh and we cleaned it and the outside area ourselves rather than wait indefinately.

My friends get tax payer funded needles and condoms.

Always something to be thankful for eh!

But its the other side that are the DM readers right, the ones who are saying a council flat is ok for children?
Because I can't tell who is on what side now, could you maybe wear badges?

I do agree that the OP should accept this flat to enable her to save up a deposit for a house or exchange with someone else. There's nothing wrong with children of the same sex sharing a bedroom but they should have a lockable cupboard each. My parents had a 2 bedroomed council flat (years ago) so I shared with my sister. She spent most of her time 'borrowing' things from my drawers and wardrobe (clothes, makeup etc) without asking and I only found out by spotting things under her bed. Answer: to put chain and padlock on my wardrobe door handles. It worked.

Having said that though, I do feel a bit disgruntled about people from abroad who have something like 6+ children and don't like the 5 bedroomed house that's been offered to them because it's in the 'wrong area'.

No, my cousin lived in a tower block where the lifts and stairwells stank of piss. So not an assuption.

I have been lucky, I lived in one with nice clean neighbours.

One of my friends lives in a rough area full of junkies and has a mentally ill neighbour in the flat above who screams though her letter box. She has recently moved after years of trying to get out.

I am grateful I didn't get those flats. And would have been right royally fucked off if I did.

bloody hell , we have the immigrants coming over here taking all our houses rants now

I'm outta here

Oh, your cousin lived in a pissy one, and your friend had a mentally ill neighbour (how awful for her, they should lock them up somewhere maybe?) so OP's is bound to be the same.
Very...logical.

I have spent a lot of time in flats in bad Council housing and yes, sometimes always the stairwells stink of piss. Sorry, maybe it's one person doing the pissing but it's true. I used to visit one every week for years and it always stank of piss. However, I would have taken it if the alternative was either homelessness or unaffordable rent in a temporary Council accommodation. It is supposed to be a step up, not a permanent solution. In the area I was in Croydon my flat was small, with stairwells full of rubbish, neighbours screaming and domestic violence at 3am, keeping my family awake. That was the market housing there. I moved on when I could afford it.

OP, I know you are angry and the last couple of years have been horrible but this is a chance to save up, get a deposit and get on with things. Your kids are small so being in a less than great area is fine because at that age all they care about is Mum and Dad.

Please don't just see the negative posts because there are a lot of people on here with advice and understanding.

Just because the OP needs social housing, she should she have a fucking choice, a few refusals perhaps.

Just because she is in need she shouldnt have to live somewhere she doesn't want to.

Er Paranoid..I was going by OP's description of the block. The piss was poetic license, but it sounded pretty grim.
Why don't you actually read what people write instead of trying to score cheap points?

I dont really understand how op coukdn't afford her rent anyway as she would have got hb when dh lost job. Anyway, 2 options 1, take it and be bllody grateful 2, sort yourself out.

Slightly more constructive input that previous posts...'beggars' should certainly be choosers. In N.Ireland we have 3 'offers' and can turn down the first 2 but if we refuse the last offer, then we are removed from the housing list. Perhaps you could see if a similar system operates in your local area? Either that or can you take this flat and exchange at a later date? Again exchange schemes operate in NI.

Previous posters here have been a total pain in the @rse and should remember that anyone of us could end up homeless, and waiting on a council property - would you like your children to live on a second floor dangerous balcony? No not your precious children! Alright for somebody elses though innit?

Finally, when I was homeless I lived in a council flat with my son, second floor, no balcony. The only positive I can think of is that the square footage of the flat was great (not quite a 5 bedroom, detached with 2 receptions darhling as it was only on one floor) and so my toddler had loads of space to bomb about safely. Now that the council have moved me to a 2 bedroom house, it's actually MUCH smaller/tight for space.

Chin up though, things can only get better.

I take OP's drive by account with a pinch of salt, since she was disgusted and affronted at being offered a flat before bothering to look at it. But even so, my point stands.

No they shouldn't lock her up, they should treat her in the community. Not dump her in the community and leave her to rot and become noticable ill,trouble her neighbours and very likely be attacked and abused by people not as sympathetic as my mate.

Mental health 'care' 2012 for you.

wantstosleepnow but someone else needs the emergency accommodation that the op is in! She is now blocking others in need because she doesn't fancy the flat ( nobody does, hence minimal bids on it, but that's another story)