Home swapping is ridiculous

[Aaliyah1990]

I’m more than frustrated with the fact that you could bid for years and not get anywhere. Then you think to yourself oh maybe house swap might help? Nope not at all!!! the housing system is a big joke if you ain’t got a garden you can forget it,the demands people are asking for just makes you feel worse and all your hopes are thrown out the window. It’s almost like doing the lottery and hoping you get lucky. I don’t know if somehow these so called serious swappers are getting a power buzz out of it cause that’s what it’s seem to me. In all reality we should all stop compiling to these ridiculous set ups, you waste so many of years being unhappy then you feel as you have to beg in a way to get a property you want. I think it’s all wrong and the council should be responsible if your over crowded etc and the bidding set up is more of a joke you’ll be on there for centuries 🙄. Until the day everyone stops compiling then that’s the day you’ll be able to get what you want but everyone seems to conform to things that are unrealistic,draining and upsetting. From today I’m not doing any of the guideline rules forget it!!! It doesn’t work out and it just makes their jobs easier while we suffer nope not anymore. So on that note I’ll get back to you guys. I’ll update to see that my situation will have improved. And I’ll let you what I did to get out of the flat/cage I’m in.

I agree with you it’s actually really rude the way people are saying that people shouldn’t have more children what a nasty way to look at the situation.

I feel fortunate not to have had to get into the social housing situation, but I really sympathise with people who don't have the accommodation they need. Margaret Thatcher and her bloody crazy idea of letting people buy their council houses did no favours for this country at all.

Not saying this is OPs situation at all, but I suspect that a lot of people are milking the system.

I remember quite a few years ago we were sitting in a café and there was a woman and her daughter, daughter in school uniform, looked around 14, could have been 16. I assume that the woman was her mother. Conversation was basically why aren't you pregnant yet, you know you have to earn your points to get a house, I want to move my boyfriend in but can't just chuck you out. Have to admit I was disgusted with that woman, she was obviously willing to sacrifice the girl's future just to get what she wanted.

If people have kids and then find themselves in serious need then fair enough, but the people that made headlines not long ago demanding a bigger house because they have so many kids, and the fact that they had always lived in social housing and just kept having kids, well, they should be forced to live in the smallest place possible, if they insist on having so many kids then a couple of sets of bunk beds in a bedroom is not unreasonable. Yes, crowded, and yes, their fault.

I’m sorry to hear about your struggles and your lost. I don’t think it fair that the council almost blackmail people into moving into a home, if it’s not suitable then you should be intitied to have a choice you’ll be one that Has to live there.That’s just not exceptable to me at all it’s not right.

I moved yesterday by way of mutual exchange. Its taken a year of searching as I needed a specific area. But those in that area were very picky. I had a 3 bed semi with a garage. But due to declining health, kids grown up I needed to downsize. My patience finally paid off. I found my match using marketplace on Facebook.

I found that those using homeswapper were pretty much playing the game, they even now have categories for just looking/serious swappers etc. Its time consuming for those just looking as I often felt they just wanted to be nosy.

But hang on in there, the right swap will come at the right time. I went from 3 bed house to 2 bed flat, so it does happen.

she had 2 more kids after moving into her 3 bed, why should that be the councils responsibility?

Why is it any of your business? If you're so concerned about what your neighbour is up to then start a thread about her but this one is about the OP's situation which has absolutely no relation to whatever your neighbour is or isn't doing.

"Don't have kids if you can't afford them" is a disgusting thing to say. People's circumstances can change in a drop of a hat and are not always the person's fault! For example: woman fleeing DV with 5 kids, no money, savings, family support the put into a BnB, temp. accomadation, women's refuge then told if they do not accept a property they will lose their priority so end up in a 2 bed but told they can join homeswapper after their probationary tenancy, then stuck for God knows how long. Hardly fair is it? Private renting is not secure, from experience you can pay £1600 upwards just to move into a bastard property to then be served notice within a year! People do milk the system and should be penalised for doing so but it's always the genuine ones who face the fall out.

I still agree with not having the kids you can’t afford. 5 kids it will be too many if you can’t afford it. Who has 5 kids these days?

I think it's wrong to focus on the people playing the system ,both as a moral example or denying they exist. Of course they exists, in every walk of life, every social strata, every industry etc. They are a minority though. The majority of people struggle to get by, are frustrated,angry,worried,beaten down and trying to navigate the system enough to survive,not live ,survive.

@Bunnyme a coworker of mine has 6!! I'm amazed and impressed because I can barely manage one.

Maybe try home buying if the home you have been given at a greatly reduced rate doesn’t suit.

I have a four bedroom, three story, two and half bath town house with garden, garage and driveway. It costs me a £1k a month. But I’ve been here almost a decade, so you’d be looking at twice that. Oh, still not good enough? Meh

The thing is for every 1000 genuine people you’ll get one or two that are abusing the system but of course people posting on these threads always know of the one bad apple and they judge everyone based on that.

Most of us are just trying to get on quietly with our lives doing the best we can. People who own their own houses are the ones who should be grateful, for being lucky enough to be in a position to do so. For having that equity to either see them through old age, and/or hopefully be able to leave something to their DC. Don’t you think we all wished we owned our own homes? Do you think we sit in our “free” homes mocking home owners? Of course not. And it isn’t just about “working hard” there are so many people in this country who work extremely hard and will never be able to afford to buy a home.

ODFOD @NannyRed . You might have a better house, but you're not better than anyone else just because of where you live.

I cant summon any sympathy. OP you sound like you have a victim complex.

Why don't you get a job and save a deposit and private rent?

Council housing used to be a reward for working class people who worked hard. Now it's based on 'need' and there's an expectation that your situation is the fault of everyone else. You have a roof over your head, that's more than a lot can say. Stop the whining.

You sound really entitled. Some people would love a flat to live in.

Why don't you get a job and save a deposit and private rent?

😂😂😂

For the umpteenth time in many areas social housing is comparative to private rents

*Maybe try home buying if the home you have been given at a greatly reduced rate doesn’t suit.

Another one waving their ignorance around like a flag. Social housing isn’t greatly reduced. It isn’t reduced at all.

Comparable*

Nearby there's a shitload of affordable flats popping up. 2 beds go for 350k . Small,no gardens or any green areas, all on top of each other, and open plan living kitchen (with the kitchen the size of a bathroom really) . 350 fucking thousands!! And that's apparently affordable.🙄

I totally sympathise. I was in a two bed council flat with no garden. It was horrendous inside. No one would have ever swapped with me. Luckily my situation changed and I bought a house. So I do understand.
The housing situation is awful in this country.
Also to those saying don't have kids, relationships break down all the time. If I split up with my partner I wouldn't be able to afford my house now and would be reliant on council housing.

Right, apologies for stating the following if it's already been said and I missed it.
In the past, as is the preference in many other countries, renting as opposed to home ownership was a genuine choice and not considered some kind of privilege. Like my parents, people worked hard and paid their rent. Some people are just not cut out for the responsibility or unpredictability of home ownership, let alone the uncertainty.
In the 80s when home ownership was made into something everyone should aspire too by the government of the time, vast amounts of public housing began to be sold off to council tenants at discounted rates in recognition of their years of paying rent. Unfortunately, the proceeds of these sales was not reinvested into building more housing stock, so there was less and less available and people were effectively forced into the property ladder, only to have inflation rates soar a little further along the line. Many could not afford to pay their mortgages as a result.
Fast forward to the present day, and those who do not want to be home owners but who do want security of tenure are subjected to a lottery-esque system in a frequently futile attempt to get suitable housing.
The alternative is, as stated about, private rental. Here, you can go for pot luck that you will get a decent landlord, not one who gives you the hope of long term security only to decide to sell from under you after the first 6 months. I know someone who had the upheaval of moving their family three times in two years because of this. And you have the added pleasure of dealing with smug, patronising and wholly unsympathetic letting agents who sting you for every penny they can get.
This is the face of modern Britain folks, and don't even get me started on the lack of wage progression and difficulties in getting a mortgage that could even buy you a shed in many parts of the UK as a consequence. Oh, and struggling to save a deposit for a house because there are tighter criteria for getting a mortgage nowadays due to the banking crash which left the government inputting billions to prop up the ailing banking system and the years of austerity that ordinary people have suffered since, all because the government are now having to find ways of recouping those billions of taxpayers money they injected into the banks by, you guessed it, squeezing the taxpayer.
But of course, I'm sure comments made are valid and it's actually all the fault of workshy benefit cheats with more children than Old Mother Hubbard wanting a system that's fair for them too.

Mammay and Alrightdoll - I think your comments are really out of order. 'If you can't afford to have children .. don't have them'. This implies you think that only people who are wealthy are deserving of having a family - It is actually a human right to have a family. Majorly concerned with attitudes like this.

And totally agree Devora13 such a sad sorry state of affairs in this country - no one seems to really grasp what you describe when making comments about affordability.

I hope something comes up for you soon. I really feel for you. This is for you 🌷🌷