AIBU to think that councils make it hard to apply for a council house on purpose?

[ProbablyCaroline]

At least where I'm from it seems that way! I understand that they need a lot of paperwork from us...identification, proofs of income, references and notice to quit...etc...but they seem to "lose" an awful lot of paperwork during the process!

Here you can only apply if there's a "risk of homelessness" and we are in that category.

I've had to re-send things four times so far...it's taken 3 weeks (more than) to get to the stage of application that I'm at...and I'm STILL not allowed to bid for any properties as I have not yet been "banded"...this is the way they decide how urgent your need is...A being pretty much on the street.

The lady who deals with our application only works part-time on Thursdays and Fridays and the rest of the office staff seem to think it perfectly reasonable that she is the only one dealing with our application....despite the fact that in her two days in work, she has too much to do..and hasn't yet managed to finish our application.

I emailed another lady in the office on Friday and asked her if she could possibly do our "banding" on Monday and she never replied....so tomorrow I'm going to have to call the office and ask ever so humbly if anyone can deal with it...there are two houses I could bid for which end on Thursday and I want to be "done" so I can try for them!

Granted there will be more houses next week (they change weekly) but that's not the point. We have to leave here soon...we have until the 1st April and not enough money for a deposit on a rental... we've been here in our current rental for 8 years and never had to pay a deposit but now they are selling.

I know that we should have saved...we both work but on low incomes and there just never seemed enough to save..I wish I'd known about the Credit Union a few years ago. AIBU to think that the council housing office makes it hard to apply in the hope that many applicants will just go away?

They don't have many properties in this area as so many were sold...

Scott2609....couldn't have explained it better myself! I'm thinking we work in similar industries!

well thank you for all the information....its very helpful.

Scott I hope you don't mind but I have Pmd you for some advice...same to you Love

Ooh I had a jokey namechange! Sorry about that! It's me ProbablyCaroline I'll change back in a bit.

The housing list were I live is 15 years so you have to be homeless at the point you apply black bags and all

Yes Tramp but here they got rid of the list entirely...no list at all now. Just people like me who have had notice and don't have anywhere else to go.

Yes, lovethebubbles. I'm sure you will have come across many 'a myth. I had one of my common 'but isn't it illegal for me to be street homeless?' comments again today!

Just in case anybody is interested, I was exceptionally surprised that this judicial review has failed. It will be appealed or a similar review will be launched, but it's certainly a disappointing decision with potentially far-reaching consequences.

www.theguardian.com/money/2014/feb/26/remove-homeless-single-mother-housing-list

I was actually speaking to an allocations worker at Hammersmith & Fulham about this at training a few months ago, and even they didn't think the authority's decision was lawful!

Happily, the legal team for the authority I work with primarily is far more cautious about these sorts of things... Pansies!

Under my council, you are not supposed to leave your property until a court order is made or a bailiff turns up to evict you or you could be classed as making yourself homeless.

The housing list were I live is 15 years so you have to be homeless at the point you apply black bags and all Do you know how you can find out how long the list is? I'll be applying to go on my local list in April, as I will have in the borough for five years then, and would like to know if I have any chance at all of getting a place.

Kelly I don't think it's anything to do with how long the list is...it's more like how much need you have. Some councils have scrapped lists...they won't add you until you get notice on your current property..ie a Section 21 notice to leave by a certain date.

I don't think you should wait till April but call now and enquire what the rules are....they vary so much.

My friend is in Band 1 and has gone 6 weeks past her eviction date now and has a 2 year old. The house is in a very bad state and she got environmental health involved who sent landlord a long list of repairs and he then decided to evict her. She doesn't have anywhere to live yet when my landlord evicted me so they could sell the property when I had a 2 year old and a 4 month old and my ex had left a few weeks before I had a house within a week.

The only conclusion I can come to is that a lot of people are experiencing this and that is why it its taking so long :(

It depends notthegirl...in London the state of things is very bad. It's all down to how many houses are on offer and since so many were sold in the 80s and 90's it depleted the stock hugely.

Here, it's not so bad...

Some London boroughs have quite a high proportion of council stock, but of course a high waiting list to go with it. Have a friend who was really messed about by her council, was pg and thrown out of her parents and when she applied they kept losing paperwork, refusing to allocate points correctly, not keeping her informed... she did eventually get a flat but it was through getting an advice worker to make sure her points were correct, spotting some anomaly with the bidding and being very sharp on the bidding process. At one stage she was getting despondent and thinking about moving into private rented, but I encouraged her to hold out as the security of a council tenancy was worth waiting for. But I'm sure all the bad admin is a sneaky way of making it hard to get on/stay on the housing list.

When I got my council flat I was quite lucky as I had a sw to help deal with the process and push my application through. But I was in a very desperate situation, which ironically worked more in my favour.

I'm up in the midlands. Houses aren't staying boatded up for more than a week or two any more yet last year itd be months.

Bump I did and they said I couldn't even apply until I have lived in Greenwich for 5 years. At the moment I'm receiving housing benefit as a lone parent in private accommodation. I've got one DD (4). I imagine I'll be a pretty low priority on the list when I finally get on it.

I also work so not sure if that will go against me too??

Kelly unless you have medical reasons then probably or if you get notice to quit. Working should not go against you ...in fact one Mumsnetter said that in their area, priority goes to the low waged working...