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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

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

264 replies

FeckingFrustrated · 11/12/2013 22:02

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 Shock. 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 Angry

OP posts:
merryxmasyafilthyanimal · 12/12/2013 15:30

But it IS usual. A three bed of any kind is a very far fetched dream for a lot of people. Not saying it SHOULD be, but it is , sadly.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime · 12/12/2013 15:31

they are beyond the reach of what many people can afford for buy/rent privately.

ActionA · 12/12/2013 15:33

Come on, usual. You don't think there's a LITTLE bit of entitlement going on with this OP, whatever your views in general on SH/CH tenant bashing? Somebody who thinks they were "shafted" by their evil landlord just because he didn't let her live in his house for ever and ever?

usualsuspect · 12/12/2013 15:36

As if you lot would want to live on a council estate.

Lj8893 · 12/12/2013 15:37

The OP wishes for a 3 or 4 bed home. She can't afford to do this privately and therefore desires to rent this at a much more affordable rate through the council.

Therefore.....it is her dream home.

Balistapus · 12/12/2013 15:38

Usual, I DO live on a council estate! A 3 bed council property IS a dream to me. We're not council tenants and are struggling to pay the bills for a 2 bed ex LA flat. Take your blinkers off!

merryxmasyafilthyanimal · 12/12/2013 15:38

Well I wouldn't be eligible and I there is no way in hell I can afford an ex council house of any description.

Lj8893 · 12/12/2013 15:38

And I do live on a council estate!! My 2 bed house is my dream home, as I said previously I would never have been able to afford something like this privately!

usualsuspect · 12/12/2013 15:38

OP can rant all she likes,living in SH doesn't mean you have to like everything about how the system works.You don't have to be eternally grateful.

You still have a voice.

ActionA · 12/12/2013 15:38

Usual, I do live on a council estate. Why would you assume I didn't?

ActionA · 12/12/2013 15:39

And nobody is saying the OP shouldn't have a voice. But the voice she's shouting in sounds like the voice of an arse, with misdirected anger issues.

BoffinMum · 12/12/2013 15:40

I am thinking a visit to the GP and some fresh paperwork about stress and anxiety might move things on?

usualsuspect · 12/12/2013 15:42

When did people become so bitter about SH?

Because a few years ago you were pityed for living in SH.

Now people post like they are the holy grail.

ActionA · 12/12/2013 15:45

I really think you need to stop making assumptions. I'm not bitter about SH, I think there should be lots, lots more of it. I also think there are problems with the whole system. But these problems come from government. Council workers don't need somebody f*ing and blinding about what wankers they are when they are usually trying to do their best in a broken system. Landlords aren't evil, or guilty of "shafting" somebody because they don't let them live in their house for ever. The OP comes across as a prick, and that's what people are responding to.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime · 12/12/2013 15:46

Now people post like they are the holy grail. when house prices rose.

LadyBeagleEyes · 12/12/2013 15:46

I live in an HA property, and I'm grateful for it.
I do think that since the housing crash there are an awful lot of people who've found themselves in a situation where they are faced with renting privately and unable to buy and don't have the security they would have had 20 years ago.
And suddenly there's many people who are actively jealous of people in council houses, who wouldn't have dreamed of living in one before.
Suddenly it's us that are the lucky ones who never had a hope in hell of buying.
How attitudes change.

Lj8893 · 12/12/2013 15:47

Nobody has said the OP shouldn't be ranting or shouldn't have a voice but there is no need for her to be so rude and entitled about it! That's never going to help.

She has been given some good advice on here, ie exchange, shared ownership etc yet seems to have ignored it all.

usualsuspect · 12/12/2013 15:49

Exactly LBE.

It's not SH tenants fault that house prices rose,it's not SH tenants fault that private rents are so high and frankly the whole private rental market is shit.

But you know,gotta have someone to blame.

custardo · 12/12/2013 15:53

simple supply and demand innit usual,

Tory wankers sold the social housing so now they are as rare as rocking horse shit

now what happens in REAL terms is that big developers bid to build on a site for profit with some "affordable" homes thrown in, but THEN they say that they aren't making enough profit and renegotiate the contract - actually building fewer "affordable" rent homes than was anticipated instead building more for profit housing

so then the govt bang on about delivering more homes - what they do in REAL TERMS is lessen the development loand that were given to social housing providers

it doesn't add up

and the social housing providers - to get any form of money from the HCA need to dance to their tune - only they are a bunch of incompetent wankbadgers and you might as well hold a finger in the air as to whether you will get some money because how and who gets it is not entirely clear.

then there is this help to buy - absolute cracking pile of shite which is going to cause a rise in house prices - a nice little bubble which will come to fruition.....ummmm.....oh around about the next election ....funny that - and this helps the boom and bust cycle that FUCKS US ALL...how? well it doesnt

the moral of the story is - the fucking government should not use political agenda and ideology to win elections and screw over the poor again and again and again.

ActionA · 12/12/2013 15:53

You just carry on talking at what you think has been said then, dear.

bigkidsdidit · 12/12/2013 15:54

I'm in Edinburgh - here it is absolutely normal to bring children up in flats. We're swapping a house for a flat (renting to buying) right now, actually. I didn't realise living in a flat was such deprivation Hmm

Oswin · 12/12/2013 15:54

Op rant all you like. It's so hard dealing with people lying when your reliant on them for help with housing. Sometimes it's like trying to talk to a bloody brick wall. I know and have met some really great people who work in our local housing. But I've also come across a few who think there god.

ActionA · 12/12/2013 15:55

Re. Usual's comments...

expatinscotland · 12/12/2013 15:55

Rant away! It won't change a damn thing for her, though. She wants a house with a garden and 3+ bedrooms. The council doesn't have it to offer. So find a workaround.

Yes, we live in an HA flat. With kids, one who is SN. boohoo. The choices are swap, rent privately or find a way to leave the area.

Can't get blood out of a stone.

The DH works FT. This is good when you are looking to privately rent.

Or try other HAs.