AIBU to feel miserable that I don't qualify for social housing

[Nearlyhomeless]

I live in central London (North Kensington). I have been renting privately for many years but the landlord now has to sell the property. The rent is cheap for the area (600pcm) as the flat has no central heating etc and the landlord was friends with my parents. I live with DH and two teenagers who are at school nearby. We cannot afford to rent locally and even if we move to outer London we are looking at rents of around £1300 a month for a horrible property far away from transport (a whole wage). We both work but in the public sector. A mortgage is not an option as we have never been able to save for one and have poor credit rating due to debts we are still paying off - not extravagent we have never had a holiday since we were married - just living costs when we were lower paid than now.
I know there are a lot of people worse off and they have a greater need for social housing. I do however know quite a few people who have pretended to be single parents for example and get social housing even though they are better off than me financially or have moved into the areas from abroad.

I just wish there was some option for people like me who have a connection with an area to stay here and pay a reasonable rent.

Reasonable rents are needed all around the country especially in the South East. I live in a town that 30 mins away from London by train. I cannot afford to live here anymore and am going to move further North or West. It really pisses me off that I have to leave the town where I grew up that I have my friends and family in. But at the moment thems the breaks.

On another note I thought everyone was entitled to social housing?

Cab you get housing benefit?

Can*

I also thought everyone was entitled to apply for social housing

www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Councilandhousingassociationhomes/Councilhousing/DG_188701

I believe that you do qualify.

If you work in the public sector would you not be eligible for Housing Association housing or part-ownership?

thought you had to be earning £60,000 before you were deemed ineligible for social housing.....

Thanks for your comments. I can join the list but my borough has only 450 properties a year and they go to people in really desperate need.

I am eligible for shared ownership but the banks will not grant a mortgage without a deposit and we also have a poor credit rating.

Yanbu. Housing should be available to all. Housing policy in this country is shit.

Ok you may have to wait a while and take what ever is offered regarding social housing but why do you think you dont qualify?

Know how you feel we had to move away from London even though I grew up there and most of my family are there. We now live in the NW but it really wasn't so bad moving away.

Its all Maggie Thatchers fault for selling off as much social housing as possible and not replacing it. Doesnt help you OP sadly though, what do you think you are going to do?

OK, so honest response is why should the taxpayer have to subsidise you? I dont meant this nastily, but in the middle of a recession I cannot see one compelling reason for this

secondly I dont buy your rent feedback. In somewhere like Willsden/Cricklewood (ie a tad further out) you could rent an OK 2 bedder for £1100 pcm, or less

there are ways and solutons, and not every area further out is a shithole!

can see rent abuse galling however

£600? Good lord, that is cheap. However I think you could probably get something for around the £1000 mark, and many people have to commute in to central London, including higher earners than you.

As others have said, you do qualify. How long you would need to wait to be housed is another matter.

I also second the suggestion to look at shared ownership. You should be able to find 2/3 beds with costs under 1000 per month and it is probably your only way of staying in London without being forced to live in temporary accommodation till the council houses you.

Why don't you put your name on HA lists as well as the Council ones.... there's a whole swathe of very young mothers around these parts, who managed to get brand new, state of the art flats when a new development was being built....

Have a look around your area and see if there are any biggish mixed developments (private and social housing combined) being built and hot foot it to relevant HA.....

Nothing ventured, nothing gained....

Feel for you, but I'm thinking that your generous landlord probably wasn't doing you such a big favour in the long run. You have presumably become accustomed to living in a nice area for a reasonable (but not realistic for London these days) rent.

Sadly, you probably should have put your names down on a social housing waiting list years ago..... you might have been somewhere near the top of it by now....

Of course, if you become homeless, presumably your Council would have some duty of care to house you - but you might end up in temporary accommodation and then be allocated social housing in an area/on an estate that is less than acceptable....

HMMMM... or what about these companies that need people to building sit for them? It seems that you can get to stay in very desirable areas/houses/buildings for virtually a peppercorn rent. If you work in the Public Sector then presumably you would get good references to do so and would be regarded as desirable building sitters? The problem, I guess, is that with teens, you are wanting to stay in the same area for their schooling?

Good luck.

Thank you again for all your helpful suggestions.
Firstly, I have lived in the area all my life from when it was literally a slum with leaking roof etc; the fact that it is posh now is not my fault! I have no other family and friends are literally all I have. I contribute to the local community by voluntary work etc and don't see why I cannot live here in my home area because rich people have decided it is fashionable. About a quarter of the homes in the borough are social housing but there is little turnover. TBH quite a few homes are passed down through families, or grown up kids seem to be rehoused. My family always rented privately and I landed this place about 25 years ago - more or less as a favour - but it is in such a state that it is unlikely to be rented on the open market.
I have been to the citizens advice but the current landlord who is very elderly is reluctant to make me "homeless" as I suspect they have not declared the rental income to the Revenue. If I stay in the flat once it is sold I will likely have to pay market rent and if I can't afford it and be evicted, I will be in the council's eyes "intentionally homeless". The CAB advise that the council will not rehouse me and neither will any of the local housing associations (they all co-ordinate) - because there are a lot of people worse off than me. I have also called Shelter whose advice was similar.
I can put myself on the list for social housing, but I will never be offered anything because there are sick people, abused people etc ahead of me and there are less than 200 2 beds that come up every year in this area.
There are no shared ownerships in the local area - nearest are Wandsworth or Islington etc where the mortage for a share would be way over our limit. I will look farther out and see if DH can borrow some money for a mortgage deposit from his family and we can somehow get a mortgage.
We haven't told the kids yet, I feel devastated because they will have to leave their school, friends, activities etc and I have basically let them down by not being wealthy enough.

Would you not be classed as a sitting tenant??? And if rent goes up would you not get housing benefit??

Poor you. DH and I just left London for Scotland and the difference cheap housing makes to life is astonishing. Just, for example, living in a nice area with three and four bed houses , but all of those having children not only retired people in, because families haven't been forced out.

We didn't grow up in London though and I really feel for anyone whose area has been gentrified under them.

As your DC are teenagers they could get the train to school from further out surely? I got a 45 min train each way to senior school - gave me time to do my homework!

Good luck.

Op I live near you and what you said about shared ownership isn't true.. where did you get that information from. They regularly come up in Hammersmith and fulham, occasionally in k + c and there are loads in lb of ealing - which is dead cheap and not too far from you. I saw a beautiful new build 3 bed, 2 bath in Acton for 700 per month! There are lots available, get yourself on the first steps website!

yanbu, if you are on anytype of low income you are basically fucked when it comes to housing, particulary in london.

TBH one day very soon all the poor and low income people will be pushed out of the nice areas, with the good schools and nice environments and our children will end up in a cycle of poverty.

Aren't there special deals with social housing for people working in the public sector??? You need to investigate through your workplace?

Sorry, probably meant shared ownership but worth investigating anyway....

You do qualify for social housing but whether you will be offered a home in the area you live is another matter. I would put your name on the housing list straight away, regardless of what anyone says. You can't know unless you try. What about the various associations like Guinness Trust, Peabody, Samuel Lewis etc, are these all co-ordinated by the council now? Other flats are available this way in Hammersmith and Fulham and other parts of central London, but if they are also co-ordinated by councils, I suppose you have no chance there either.

Living where you do and paying well below market rent has given you a false sense of security - as you could have been on the list for social housing for all these years. But I would also try to find out more about the legal situation regarding staying where you are. What actually happens when the property is sold. Can a new landlord raise the rent straight away? Would you not qualify for housing benefit if he does so?

I would advise to get your name on the housing list today. Investigate opportunities in neighbouring boroughs. Bide your time in your existing home whilst looking for other options.

my advice would be try and calm down

you could maybe look for housing thats on the direct line out, ie

Willesden/Kilburn/Cricklewood/Neasden/Kingsbury/Harlesdon

this is commutable to London, and to N Kensington

you have not let them down, and many many kids in London commute to school, and get the tube to see their mates

I would focus on trying to find a decent rentable thats in a more suburban area but is also not too far from work/schools

I know you are upset, but I genuinely think this is your most viable and realistic solution right now

from a quick glance I can see rents for 2 beds in Harleson for a hell of alot alot less that £1300

Be strong! dont think "horrible areas" as lets face it alot of decent families like you will live there too

if you get SH, well great. But have a plan B and do try and rehtink attitude as if you thing (failed, horrible area) wont get you anyhwere

being blunt, but hope this helps!

here is an example
www.findaproperty.com/to-rent/property-11233106