to be gutted about losing out on this house? (council house swap related)

[MoomieAndFreddie]

am in a housing assoc house, and we want to move

theres nothing much wrong with our area but its quite inner city, and while i am happy to live here while dc are small (6 and 3) i don't think it will be good for them as they grow up. ideally i want to swap for a council house (as cheaper rent and chance to buy) and want a more rural location.

my area used to have an awful reputation, but in the last 10 - 15 years the city council have spent a lot on regeneration and its much better. but people still have this preconception that its awful because of its old reputation. but it really isn't. i am on homeswapper (mutual exchange website) and every bloody time i find a potential swap they either don't come or mess us about. and i am sick of it. i don't want to be stuck here forever.

anyway. the other day, to my AMAZEMENT, i had a message from someone who said she would be interested in swapping with me, and her house was so perfect for us, great location, council, and a decent size. and we arranged for her to come and see our house today. well i spent all day cleaning and tidying only to get a text 10 mins before she was due to get here with some lame excuse why she couldn't come and that she would call and reschedule :(

i just don't think i am going to hear from her again. as this has happened so many times. i just want to live somewhere i'm happy with, and before anyone suggests private renting or buying - NO to private renting as its a rip off and not secure enough, and we can't buy, thats not an option. bar a lottery win

not sure what i am hoping for posting this, just wanted to vent really :(

"YABU - I wish I could get any council house!"

It seems like that now, after all any house/flat is better than no house/flat.

But after living in an area that I LOATHE for 13 years, and having to stand by and watch as it affects my children and my mental health, I can see the other side of the coin.

Without the money to afford otherwise, you aren't free to make your own choices it's as simple as that.

I understand there are people in worse situations, but that doesn't make your reality any less real IYKWIM?

There are pros and cons to both then surely? Everyone has unfortunate situations happen sometimes and you have to balance your priorities. It seems from your posts you could private rent, you just choose not to. So that means you have to take the less flexible options wrt moving that come as the flipside to secure tenancy.

I'm sorry you hate where you live though, and I hope something comes up for you soon.

YANBU to be fed up with the let down it happens a lot on homeswapper but it does work, I've done it twice now (once a 4-way to be able to move across the country) but you have to be really proactive and search and search over again through the site's properties and often have to put up with various bits of nonsense from landlords and tenants in getting the swap through.

Tip to missus - 1. Get yourself on your council waiting list right now if you aren't already even though the Council will tell you there's no point, if you're local they can't stop you. 2. Your friend needs to formally evict you from her flat following the legal process (look it up to make sure) which involves firstly giving you written notice - which you immediately take to your local council (City/District/Boro' or Unitary not County). They will of course advise you that they can't house you, which they probably can't, and will go through all the 'options' in private rent including offering you a loan for a deposit, etc, etc. You go through the motions but most likely you won't be able to afford the rents (??) and phone in increasing panic until eviction day when you turn up with your bags and bump/baby and Declare yourself homeless. As you are pregnant or have a baby they have a duty to find accommodation as long as you have not intentionally made yourself homeless which of course you haven't. You must then be prepared to be placed in a hostel (euphemistically called temp accommodation) or in a usually very horrible B&B where no one is on holiday(!) for legally up to 2 years before you will be offered the worst places the Council have but by then you will think they're a palace. Best do it all when your child is so young so they won't know so much about the horribleness of it all. Believe it or not, you're in a good position living with a friend who can evict you for a reason unrelated to being a bad tenant!

Krasskim - I managed to get a secured bond from my council when I moved house (from private rent to private rent) as I couldn't afford the deposit. It took a lot of begging to be honest as I didn't fit into the criteria but the nice lady I saw at the council managed to make me fit within the guidelines with some clever questioning (that we were moving to be closer to schools that would benefit ds as we suspected he had dyslexia at the time we moved)

They paid the deposit (£600) but we still had to pay the first months rent (£600) and fees (credit checks etc £200) do the deposit scheme helped but there was still a huge chunk to pay myself.

Was time consuming and I had to provide lots of paper work, bank statements, references from current and past landlords, birth certificates for dc and I etc but worth it.

I just looked and mine says you have to be homeless or threatened with eviction to apply but I wasn't - I was on a low income/benefits though.

float

actually anybody homeless or threatend homeless can apply. a la's ability to house does not negate a right to apply. but if you are actually homesless they have a legal obligation to provide accom whilst they asses your application (they are no longer allowed to asses and decide in the initial appoint like they used to do)

if you are placed in standered homeless b&b they shouldnt leave you there for longer than 6 weeks- its the law.

you should then be offered actual temp housing (not hostel or b&b unless its funded as supported lodgings)

untill such time as more suitable temp accomadation becomes availible.

many years later as long as you have not ceased to be elligable for permant accom you will be housed.

dinosaurs thats for emergency homeless accomadation.

to those of you who get your knickers in a twist about people in la accom because they arent or are waiting, did you know that even 20+ years ago people often had to wait years and years but back then they didnt have the same rules as they do now you could be in a homeless shelter/homeless b&b for years as opposed to just 6 weeks they would as standered automaticly decline applications at point of presantation with almost no recourse, fleeing dv was often classed as making yourself intentionally homeless. homeless 16/17y olds were always turned away with no help apart from directions to ss who would in turn send you back to housing.

the entire point of the homeless application assesment was to find a reason to decline you.

the very people you get titty about because your suituation is oh so bad chances are are the very people who started off in a much much worse suituation and stuck it out to get the tenancy then when they got it had to spend a year living under really strict rules having to prove they were worthy of the tenancy with almost no legal protection at all before they got the coveted secure tenancy, oh do you think they just got it handed to them with no hoop jumping?

you sound very knowledgeable on all this socknicking

and yes when i first got offered HA housing i was in a very bad situation, one i wouldn't wish on anybody. but have turned my life around now and am doing quite well for myself. and much of this is because of having a safe, secure, affordable home.

i can understand people being envious of people in LA / HA homes, i just wish that everyone who needs one could have one too - its ridiculously un fair that so many 1000's of people struggle in sub standard private rented. and not many people earn enough to buy these days.