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.

Apply, Ella, you've nothing to lose by filling in the form and seeing what they say.

Ella in my area you're exactly the kind of tenants they want. Working, but on a low wage so can't afford to buy.

Ella in my area you're exactly the kind of tenants they want. Working, but on a low wage so can't afford to buy

Ditto my area. In fact in my town you have to be working to apply for some council and HA housing. As I said we have a unique situation where the number available properties to let outstrips the demand. A large number of buy to let LL from other parts of the country snapped up lovely cheap houses by the sea. When it came clear to them the demand wasn't what they hoped it would be they let them out to anyone and everyone, especially if they received HB. Some LL would only let to HB tenants. As a result we ended up with small pockets of the town flooded with people struggling with addiction and mental health issues. The council and HA tried to reset this by buying back large numbers of properties and only taking working tenants in those areas. I had to apply for a DBS before I could be considered for one house and had to be working to get the one I am in.

Wrt repairs some LA LL are worse than private LL but they can't give you a section 21 for complaining. Others are better. The one I am with are slow, oh so very slow at fixing anything but do get major repairs done eventually. I'm not sure about smaller repairs as if it's something cheap and quick to repair I tend to do it myself/hire a handyman as it's quicker and less stressful than waiting on the HA.

Widowed people in 3 beds must be moved to flats to make way for families. The council should pay all removal costs if necessary. Call me harsh if you will but my paternal grandma rattled around in a 3 bed council house for 30 plus years after her husband and 3 sons died/left home. That home could have gone to a family. That’s the sort of thing the council should be sorting out.

Hi Ella, I don't know if anyone has mentioned this but most SH properties come completely unfurnished. You will have no flooring or curtains or white goods like you would in private let's.

You may well spend years waiting for something to be offered to you, spend ages making it livable, only to have the worst neighbours in the world, think drug dealers, crack /smack heads and extreme racists and you won't get another move for years.

But you can decorate it to your choosing and make it your own.

Home buyers will hate me more than than they do already but I am getting a brand new kitchen fitted next week .

Before anyone starts, I never asked for a new kitchen, I have always worked hard and paid my own rent, lived years in private rented , I am child free by choice and I am very aware of how lucky I am - even though I am surrounded by rednecks .

HotChocolateLover most SH landlords did have incentive schemes to encourage downsizing (or rightsizing as Lord Best prefers) but with the advent of the bedroom tax SH landlords focus was on moving those hit by the under occupation charge to smaller properties (if these were available). As older occupiers were not affected by the bedroom tax the priority on downsizing moved away from them.

Should add that the bedroom tax had massive geographical variations so the description above is particularly relevant for those regions that had substantial hit.

My HA rent is 80% Market rate and I had to pass affordability checks. I earn £23k pa and I am a single parent. I passed eligibility easily because it is true those are the people they want

I had no carpets or white goods but I have central heating and a little garden. I have never been happier!

FYI my mother was given a moving incentive to downsize. They paid all her removal costs and gave her money for redecorating too

Home buyers will hate me more than than they do already but I am getting a brand new kitchen fitted next week

Before all the homeowners start jumping on you, I want to point out that we aren't talking luxury bespoke kitchens here! It is a basic pack and while you do get some say over work surfaces etc its from a small choice.

I supposedly had a new bathroom and I wish I hadn't bothered as my older one was nicer! They got rid of all my pop up plugs and replaced them with cheap plastic on a chain. They made a real hash of the toilet in that you couldn't leave the lid up. Fine for me but with a DS in the house it was annoying for him having to hold it in place when he needed the loo!

They did assess my kitchen for an upgrade but a previous tenant had a new kitchen put in herself in the 90s (so hardly new!) and they said "in all honesty what we would give you isn't as nice as this".

So while we do get this stuff from our rent (not free!!!) the choices are very limited and if you want something really nice you do need to pay for it yourself.

When I walked out on abusive ex because I couldn't take it any more I was literally made homeless so know how awful it feels 😢

But at such a time when I was so badly hurt emotionally I was helped by a local church (I didn't know any of them but they heard of my situation). They donated what they had to help me furnish this little place-chest of drawers, ironing board, cutlery, crockery, towels, bedding, tables, lawnmower, toys for the kids - the list goes on.

I will never forget their kindness and it's still all in use today. Although we don't have much I have since tried whenever I can to give to my local charities as it really was a lifeline. What meant the world is that people cared. They didn't know me and thy didn't know my children but yet they cared enough to help.

Hi OP

you could bid for years and not get anywhere

^ this. Last time I bidded I came in at no. 254 (I'm "Silver" by the way)! I could wait to eternity! Yet when you ring the Housing Bid System they say "keep trying", which is false hope.

the demands people are asking for just makes you feel worse and all your hopes are thrown out the window

^this. I go on homeswapper every now and then, but always feel v demoralised after. Just lots of people with nice places wanting even nicer ones!!! Often they're rude too. "No flats" they sometimes scream and then "No timewasters". Ugh.

swappers are getting a power buzz out of it

^Again, well said! Some of them get very snooty.

At the moment I'm trying to like my flat more and get adjusted to it. I think I could waste alot of energy trying to move when its a case of out of the frying pan into the fire.

I hope you do well OP, however it works out, moving or whatever. It does seem a bit of a lottery, I know. Some people seem to get nice houses with gardens, others 10th floor tower blocks.

I have lived in private and social housing.

p.s. I agree with all those who've mentioned those parasitic letting agents. The Conservatives promised to ban them from making extra tenancy charges in their manifesto about 4 years ago (if I remember rightly). Its illegal in Scotland. Of course they're still ripping private tenants off. Grrr... I think I'll have to leave it there.

I had a lovely phone call today with a woman interested in swapping with me. I hold no proper hope that it will happen, but I'm looking forward to her visit and she was really nice. If nothing else it'll be good to meet her because we seem to have lots in common!

NewToldDreams this is how it’s set up it’s mind blowing tbh. Yes you can be on the bidding system for eternity and this is why I argue that we’ve just been left in the mist. And it’s definitely like doing the lottery hopeful dreams.... It shattered’s your world and I don’t think some ppl will understand untill they go through it. There are always crack heads sleeping in our block all my neighbors are fed up and afraid as some of them have disabilities. Most ppl who want to swap don’t want flats end of story really esp nothing above 1st floor. Most ppl do want bigger spaces or don’t even wanna be in your area so it’s ridiculous and it’s more than frustrated you feel like a mouse in a cage running around for a piece of cheese that doesn’t exist.

My Uncle and his wife were given a HA house. I was thoroughly disgusted when she was moaning about not being able to decorate it because it was brand new.
Some people do abuse the system. I lived in SH for quite a number of years. Statistically, I should also be in SH but have managed to break the mould and own my home.

I really hate the "it's the council's job" attitude when it comes to certain issues. I fail to see why people can't take responsibility for their own lives.

I do believe that you should only children you can afford, this goes for everyone not just people in SH.

I'm am sorry that you're facing these issues, OP, but you have to decide what is your priority. If it is moving then you may have to move in to the private sector. This may be unlikely though as you do need to work in order to do this.

I get a bit stuck on the “only have children you can afford thing”. On the one hand yes it’s reckless when someone in a 2 bed flat has 4 or 5 kids. I don’t disagree with that as such. But, at the same time, I’m really uncomfortable with dictating how many children someone has. Realistically how many people have children just to get a bigger place and more benefits? A tiny minority, very tiny. I had kids young but I stuck at two. Not because of finances or housing but because I was satisfied with that and didn’t feel the need to have more. I also felt that my attention would be too divided with more than two. For some people their number might be one, for others three or four, but most of us have a point where we say this is enough. I’m not sure I like tying in something that has been a natural thing for thousands of years, with the financial position of modern society. I don’t think it should be dictated by that.

Nobody is interested in how many children other people have. They just think it’s a bit thick to have more than you can accommodate and decide that the remedy for this lies in someone else’s hands.
If someone is genuinely happy having six kids in a two bed flat, good luck to them.

I don't care how much someone desperately wants that 4th or 5th baby. It they can't afford a home with space for it then they shouldn't have it. If they can't afford to feed it and dress it and provide it with a lifestyle which isn't stuck in poverty then don't have it.

It was very different hundreds and thousands of years ago. No contraception. People reproduced. If shelter wasn't adequate, kids would die. If food was abundant, kids would die. If villages were attacked, kids would die. The percentage of children living to adulthood was much lower so they needed to have multiple children to ensure the survival of the species. That's no longer the way things are and we don't need to have several children each. We shouldn't have them if we can afford to house them, it's irresponsible and selfish and then you get threads like this were people main because the council won't hand them a huge home.

*wasn't abundant

I tend to agree with that. I have two children, my fiance doesn't have any. But we're in a privately rented two-bed so we simply can't afford to have a child together as our accomodation wouldn't be suitable.