AIBU to think it shouldn't be so expensive to move into a council house?!

[FreshStarts00]

NC.
So we've finally been allocated a house! Viewing is really soon. They want first 2 weeks rent 6 days after the viewing, then they say they can give us the keys 2 days after that.
Few hiccups:
We'd be paying rent on 2 houses. Need to give landlord 1 months notice from the day we pay rent, which is the 1st of the month. We barely have anything left over as it is after bills. Let alone magically coming up with another £250+.
They don't provide flooring.... AIBU to think this is a hazard with a 3 Y/O?? Splinters and nails and rough floorboards
No white goods whatsoever... So we'd be without an oven and a washing machine. Also microwave ect but that's not vital.
No bath- LO will just have to get over her hatred of showers, this one isn't really a major issue.

Anyone got any magical ideas?
Or been in a similar situation?
AIBU to think it shouldn't be so expensive to move into a council house?!

I’m struggling to understand this you haven’t saved for this tbh, as you knew you were on the list.

Flooring is the tenants responsibility, council houses are mostly in the thousands while private sectors not so much. Theres services that are desperately underfunded and public money should be spent on these issues, carpets aren’t a necessity nor are they essential.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/kensington-chelsea-and-fulham-tories-ask-residents-to-rate-grenfell-disaster-from-nought-to-ten_uk_5a0a07e2e4b0bc648a0d32fa?3fp

This year Housing benefit will cost approximately 25bn.
Much of it subsidising the mortgages of btl landlords. Are you ok with that subsidy?

How about employers who pay so little, wages have to be subsidised by tax credits. Are you ok with that subsidy?

Op if you're still here after the shit tonne of unnecessary unpleasantness:

Avoid BHF shops, total ripoff who I've seen sell cheap mfi type things for more than original price new.

See if there is an Emmaus near you, charity that homes formerly street homeless people and trains them to renovate and restore furniture / white goods which are sold to find the Emmaus community they live in, great bargains and will deliver too.

Sense charity shops and Sue Ryder also do decent second hand goods at good prices.

Local credit union is a great place to go ask about loans, even if on low income, got my fridge that way; helps build up savings even if only in pence at a time to cover future expenses.

Ask at local library for the books that list charities / grant bodies and what they cover, can get grants for all sorts of things for all sorts of niche groups, if one of your parents worked as a hat maker you could get a grant for stuff for example, worth a look.

Utility companies offer grants for various things depending on family circumstances, not always well advertised so worth looking around web / their websites to find out.

Local area Facebook pages - fab for finding free furniture / white goods, loads offered in our area and it's not that well off an area; and gumtree also a great source.

Check with the HA whether decorating vouchers are available, I'm with L&Q and they give vouchers for b&q, amount dependent on number of rooms.

Best of luck with it all, it all feels overwhelming when it's so sudden, but will work out well in the end when you've a safe secure home for your family

This thread just makes people sound so bitter and envious, and there's a sniff of a "rush to the bottom" too. If you've always been in private rented, then I'm not surprised it's a shock to be shown a flat with no flooring or white goods. Every private rented property I've lived in provided these, my last one even had a tumble dryer and a dishwasher, shock horror.
I moved into a council home when I was 17, OP, and it was in a state. My mum and I got a small grant for decorating from the council, and bought everything else from local paper selling sites. We bought carpet off-cuts and fitted them ourselves. Once we'd saved, we upgraded to nicer things.
And I also think the OP isn't being unreasonable about the crossover in rent. If someone is entitled to a council house, then they're probably not well off. Double rent is a lot of extra cash. It's not surprising, but is quite a shock and a tricky thing to manage in reality. My mum moved from a HA flat to another HA flat. Her rent was being paid by housing benefit, as she was living on ESA and DLA. She had a crossover period too, but luckily she had enough savings to cover, until she was paid back. What if she hadn't had, and had no family to support her? Would she have had to go into debt to move into a property suitable for her needs and freeing up a family house?

Family "property" (three beds) that should have said, before I get picked apart for inconsistency...

. placemarking this to read tomorrow.

God forbid you ever buy your own house OP!

I think that’s unlikely, @pennypickle, given this person qualified for a council house.

I think most would LOVE to own their own house but it’s out of the question for many of us.

When we bought our house it came with everything, all white goods and furniture, even the lawn mower and now I think about even the throws on the sofa. (The previous owner was moving countries and didn’t want to take anything.)
We could also choose our moving in date so we had minimum rent/mortgage cross over.

Not saying that’s the norm but it’s not rare to have carpet left from previous owner as it would cost more to take them up.

Also it’s totally different buying a house as the house is yours any improvements made benefit your investment.

And when you own your own house you get to choose what workmen come to your home. Tenants dont. They often end up with Bodget Scarper and Son and then are forced to have the same ones back again and again despite the cock ups because they are the ones contracted to the HA.

•pennypickle•’ I imagine if OP is going to struggle to put flooring down and get basic white goods for her social housing accommodation, she very unlikely to be buy a house. I would love to have somewhere
Of my own but that’s not even a distant dream, it just won’t ever happen. And to people saying OP
Should have saved for the things she now needs. Again saving is also a dream for many people, no matter how frugally they live.

I wonder how many of those telling tenants to save would be happy to pay more for services so that this can be achieved. e.g. paying more for Grannys nursing home fees so the care workers in the care homes can afford to buy instead of renting.

For all those repeatedlely banging on about rents being massively cheaper in council houses ,I live in a council house in the northwest my rent for a two bed is ,15 QUID A WEEK CHEAPER THEN PRIVATE RENT ,SO yes slightly cheaper but not massively so. for the umpteenth time not everywhere is LONDON, but its swings and roundabouts isnt it in private rented i got carpets and white goods but no security ,here i can stay as long as i want .oh and i have also had a mortgage circumstances change and tbh it wasent all that .

Ask council about a furniture pack to rent. Check out minimum rent period for this - might tie you over until you can save for your own stuff.

Won’t do carpets though

Haven't read the full thread. But my local council tell us we must removed all flooring ourselves and dispose of it, if we don't, they do it and charge us an extortionate fee for the pleasure. With carpets they say it could have a flea or bedbug infestation which wouldn't be fair on the new tenant. Not sure what the excuse is for lino and hardwood flooring. All white goods have the same policy, probably because as a PP stated that the electrics would all have to be safety checked by a professional annually that it would cost too much. But my area do still give out b&q decorating vouchers for everyone moving into a council property, but do also require 2 weeks rent upfront before you can get the keys.
My husband, myself and our 3 month old live in a bedsit, we're not entitled to move till 2019, I'm already saving for flooring, a new fridge, a van rental and a shed. It's a pain but if you know you want to move it's best to save because it does cost a lot.

I second another poster who said emmaus. And a different one who mentioned that HA rents are not really cheaper than private lets.

But what's your point? All that means is that you failed to save up or better yourselves.

No.

I have Cerebral Palsy and no private landlord would adapt their property to my needs.

So try again or did you mean to be so rude?

Also, if the fact that despite myself and my wife working full time since forever and we still can’t afford a deposit for a mortgage, then surely that indicates a problem somewhere?

I’ll give you a hint, the problem isn’t with us.

Wow...
Okay then. Firstly yes, I was naive in thinking it would at least come with flooring. The white goods i can obviously understand and the reasoning for ripping the flooring up makes sense.
Secondly I have been in private rent for nearly a decade, which may explain some naivety about council houses. We did not expect to move so soon.
Thirdly we live pay check to pay check as it is, and we have managed to save this past month thanks to being able to do 2 jobs- we're both employed full time and in receipt of no benefits bar child benefit. The saving was vital due to my DPs pay date dramatically changing. So we needed to save to get by these next few weeks as it is. Then came the call about the housing.
I'd also like to say we are absolutely THRILLED at finally getting a house and a bedroom, we work hard but with childcare costs moving isn't affordable without this.
There are a lot of nasty people on here - remember the scene in Bambi where Thumper recalls what his mum tells him?

Thank you to the decent people for nice advice.. everyone else who's just come here to assume they know everything...you really do take the

People are aware that councils rip up perfectly good flooring all the time. I don't actually think its that unreasonable to expect them to provide some kind of safe floor covering.

Most people on benefits could never afford to carpet/lino a whole house.

And not everyone who lives in a council house is on benefits sofa don't make assumptions

We live in a HA house, dp works, I'm a carer. We had ds then dd and because of the age gap (8 yrs) we applied for a 3 bed instead of 2 and were lucky enough to move across the road in the same lovely street we had been for 10 years.

It was all very quick. We had decorated the other house lovely and carpets/flooring was under 3 years old and in vgc.

I have diagnosed OCD and kept the place very clean, I was really pleased that the young mum with a 9month old baby who had nothing would at least get off to a decent start.

No- our HA ripped up everything, including the lovely fire we left and the young mum had nothing down for around a year. She simply couldn't afford it.

This is the same HA who ripped out our lovely kitchen and bathroom with shower in the new house and replaced them when they didn't need it, also leaving us with no shower.

We were in a much better financial position than the girl who moved into our old house and were able to get "cheap" carpets which were better than nothing.

Ironically, where there was laminate flooring down in this house, it was all left for us and we were massively grateful and it did us around 2 years.

Most HA's are cutting down more and more, our fences blew down last year and the HA refused to repair or replace when previously they had done and said it was the tenants responsibility but they would not be allowed to take them if they moved

Enjoy your new home op

Councils are certainly CF when it comes to rent, pay us before you can move in, but we’ll have 4 weeks notice if you want to move out!!

When we last moved, we carpeted kids bedrooms, rugs in the lounge and we had carpet off cuts in our bedroom until we could afford to buy. It is crap but you maybe eligible for a decorating grant. We got £90!! Not even enough to do one whole room!

Hope it goes smoothly for you and once you are in you can relax a bit xx

In our area you have to meet an income requirement, which means if you are working/earning enough that the council deems you as earning too much then you aren't even eligible to go on the list.

No not everyone in a council house is on benefits. I'm not. But as a generalisation most people moving into a council house Will be at the lower end of the income spectrum.