AIBU to call my local council housing department a bunch of fucking wankers - housing related!

[FeckingFrustrated]

Yes, I know they are just doing their jobs - tis the rules etc and I would never say it to their faces but wish I could I am so bloody angry and yes, this is a rant just to see if I am BU?

Council housed us in a 2nd floor flat far away from the area we lived in 2 years ago. Before that we were in temp accommodation for another 2 years due to being made homeless by private landlord wanting house back (nothing we did wrong). Private rent here (southeast) is between £1000-£1300 pcm for a 3 bed and most of the rentals that come up are ex-council houses that have been bought up. Council rent on a 3 bed is £450pcm . This is a 'new' town and the vast majority of housing is social just for a bit of background.

Due to me being made redundant just before the landlord shafted us, we went to the council for help (so 4 years ago now). Council housed us in a flat too small for us so we are overcrowded but said we had to take it and could then apply for a transfer. After we moved in they said we had to wait a year to apply for a transfer as they could not move us while we were on an introductory tenancy. So we wait out the year in a really hard living situation (4 DC, no outside space, complaints and swearing from neighbours about DC noise which is not excessive, nowhere outside to dry washing, 2 flights of steep concrete step to carry stuff up and down etc).

After the year, we apply to move and promptly told that we will have to wait between 3/4 years to for a transfer as we are 'adequately' housed, even though the council deliberately put us in an overcrowded situation!

Last month we were informed that because the council have changed it's allocation policy, we have been moved down a band and are not a 'priority' as we are only short of one bedroom and children in above ground flats are no longer an issue any more, so we will be waiting forever basically [anger]. I have a DS with SN who has been badly impacted by the lack of outside space and we cannot cope living like this any longer.

Our only option is to go back into private renting (and claiming housing benefit as it is too expensive) after wasting 4 years in an extremely stressful situation waiting for a suitable, affordable, secure home from the council, which the vast majority of people in this town have the luxury of. We have been holding on waiting and waiting for a house and have now been told that we are at the bottom of the queue again. I am so pissed off that I have wasted all these years for nothing and my DC have witnessed anti social behaviour and been cooped up like bloody chickens!

I have never so been depressed in my life as I have been for the last few years but we were holding out for a house we would not have to keep moving from, all for bloody nothing

But you won't get any sympathy on here.

Mention CH and the knives come out.

Any chance you can swap?

Also, no one can ever say how long you will have to wait - they are all the time waiting for keys to be handed in so can only work with what is habded back to them.

I really can't get my head around the fact that I am lucky to have a 'secure'roof. Since when was that something to feel lucky about in this country?

Now, unfortunately . We live in hard times financially, and people are struggling to pay for basics like rent and mortgage. Councils just don't have enough housing stock to go round. I live in private rented with my DS and as such, am at the mercy of my LL who could sell up, put the rent up to an unaffordable level, or give me notice at any time. I haven't got a cat in hell's chance of getting a council property, and can't afford to save for a deposit to buy a property and probably wouldn't be able to get a mortgage anyway.

I'm sorry to hear you've had some very difficult times but that's not really what your OP was about. It was about you feeling overcrowded in your flat, so that's what people responded to.

Are you on Homeswapper (or local exchange register, if one exists)? An exchange might be more feasible than waiting for a transfer? It would give another option at least.

A visit to your local MP to explain your experience might be worth a try... Letters from them always get a response ... but unfortunately the bottom line is landlords can't give what they haven't got.

I sympathise but what has your history got to do with anything, related to council housing? It doesn't make you or anybody else more deserving for a better property based on what you've been through.

It's crap but if it's making you as miserable as it clearly is then make some positive steps to change the situation. If private renting will give you more space and a garden then go for it and deal with any future problems, in the future.

No I don't get the history/background bit.... It's not a competition. Some families out there arrive with nothing and need housing. Depends what's available at the time

Those saying swap..... Think I remember op saying nobody wants to live in that area, might be akin to the chatsworth eatate

YANBU is scandalous the housing situation in the UK. Housing is a basic need, not a privilege. We need to build more decent houses. It's not the fault of the council, but of successive governments who have created the problem by not investing in house building even though there is a clear need. Hope things get better for you soon OP.

It is a shit situation, isn't it? When I was a child my cousins lived on a really nice little council estate in north London - three and four bed semis with good sized gardens and a big green "roundabout" in the middle (it was a cul de sac) where we all used to play out. You go up there now, and my uncle is living in his nice family house on his own, as are all of his neighbours. The average age of the residents in the street must be pushing 80 - surely they must be able to gently move these people on and let families move in? My uncle is always moaning about how he rattles around in his house, but shows no inclination to move!

Get a job

Agree with Dragon. Whilst your life story is all very tragic and I am sympathetic, it's not related to your current housing problem.

The fact is that there are not enough council houses to go around period. We can all argue why this problem exists and how it should be fixed and who should fix it but we are where we are.

I'm sure a lot of people with similar or more need than you would also like a 3 bed secure tenancy council house, paying a third of the market rate with a garden too. And that's where the real problem is. To prioritise you means deprioritising someone else. Someone else who also feels they desperately need a council house too.

You have a roof over your head that's paid for by the taxpayer. You can move into private rent again and claim housing benefit. So it's not like you have options. What you don't have is your ideal option.

I live in a new town in the south east and the vast majority is no longer social housing. Most were sold off with Thatchers right to buy scheme so i think you have a skewed view of the situation there. Yes you are living in amongst a mixture of council and private but it is more private now.

As for getting a council house, well you were bloody lucky to get one, new town or not. Here they are rare as hens teeth. I was homeless once and they wouldn't help me so we have to privately rent and pay those sort of amounts per month (and no housing benefit either).

It is really crap that the goalposts are constantly being changed.
Do make noise. Don't just sit back and be quiet. This is what they want. They could refer you to housing associations if they wanted. Do you know about mutual exchanges? If not, homeswapper is really good.
Get on to your mp. It is amazing what some of they can do. I say some, because others are really a waste of space.

Council houses are not paid for my the tax payer.

I think yanbu - if you'd never been in council housing why would you know about the year tennancy thing, the council should tell you everything, especially when it is the first time someone has been in the system. I think your frustration is the fact they haven't been honest with you and you have seen how your future will be, budgeting in your head and suddenly that has all changed. I know the people are "just doing their jobs" but some are jobsworths and a nightmare so it's okay to feel frustrated, annoyed and upset, you just want what's best for your family, but need some help right now.
Trying to swap with someone struggling to pay the under occupancy levy may be an avenue to try.
Take deep breaths and make a plan, it will help you to feel better. Write what's important - would you rather more bedrooms or outside space? You will probably need to compromise but hopefully not too much.
Wish you all the best - I think the people saying yabu have never been in this position. I find one conversation with the tax credit office has me feeling like you (similar kind of employees) and you are going through so much more! Things will get better but you will need to steer it I'm afraid.

By*

And what has getting a job got to do with this?

Ignore the idiots spouting 'you should be grateful for a cardboard box' bollocks.

Try your MP.

But op has a DH working full time. How is this family a priority for social housing?

Do you think only unemployed people live in social housing?

It's no different a situation than the many MNers in negative equity who are stuck in shoeboxes with 3/4 dc also.... Are they priority as well?

I think they would get a little more sympathy on here,don't you?

Some posters start frothing as soon as anyone mentions SH.

Nope usual not at all. But a lone parent fleeing dv/people coming into the country/homeless people..... They are the ones in the high bands who are in need, those are the ones to be turned down so op can get her house/garden

Oh come on, of course they bloody would.

Council house envy on here ain't pretty.

Not that any of you would want to live on a council estate.You just don't like to think a 'poor' person might have a secure house.

i dont get your problem? you needed housing, so they housed you. if you are able to privately rent now, then you should do.

how have you wasted your time? you was housed in your hour of need.