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.

Alright for you who is in a home for life in social housing, most of us have an expensive mortgage or private rent for high prices. I myself was on the list for years saved and we bought a run down house only two bedrooms not big enough for two kids but it's home. So I'd thank yourself lucky

gamerwidow I know plenty of 'well off' people that stopped at 2 kids because they couldn't afford to have any more.
Living within your means is for most people.

In addition we would love more children but afford to have another or at the moment but a bigger house. You are overcrowded as you didn't use contraception and expect the council to house you

If you don't have room or can't afford a bigger house. You don't have kids. Why should the council be responsible for your life choices. You already get a long term secure tenancy and a vastly reduced rent.

Iv been trying to swap for over a year... I live in a new large 2 bed with garden on a really lovely road were if you want to buy the house prices start at 270K.... iv spend thousands on flooring, shutters, decorating and doing the gardens to a high standard !

Why do I want to swap to a shit hole in a crap part of town were the carpet has been down for 10 years and the walls have never seen a lick of paint? I DON'T but everyone keeps trying and gives me shit when I say no 😂😂😂

It is not the councils responsibility to house children YOU decided to have when knowing you’d be overcrowded.

Jesus Christ this thread is astonishing.

Please someone tell me where the op has said she is overcrowded because she doesn’t use contraception.

Most council housing is not subsidised by taxpayers (as an aside, social housing tenants are also taxpayers as many work and pay full rent) although tenants might receive public funds from other areas such as UC, Housing Benefit, etc (as another aside, the largest group benefiting from Housing Benefit? Private landlords, yet no one makes snide comments about them benefiting from the public purse). Rents received from council housing are reinvested back into the local area so council tenants are also subsidising taxpayers in many areas.

Basically it's a reciprocal system.

TheGrey1houndSpeaks The housing associations and councils should fund the incentives. It benefits them in the long term by allowing them to make better sue of their housing stock.

i.e. it is potentially far cheaper for a council to pay £2k as a one off incentive to downsize than to pay the HB on a privately rented property if someone is forced out of social housing because they can't find a suitable property.

My sister got a brand new 3 bed council house 20 years ago. Single mum, had the second with some random bloke she met at the pub regularly on a Sat night as she ‘fancied another baby’. Twenty years later she has a good job, married to someone with a good job. Both could easily get a mortgage/privately rent but no, it’s cheaper to stay in the council house plus she gets to keep it forever and will at some point in the future not have to pay anything again as she’ll be too old to work. All kinds of wrong. Of course she needed it with two small wains but her sense of entitlement is shocking), not to mention the brand new kitchen/bathroom she got last year.
Bitter? Me? too feckin right.

Can you give me an example of why someone would be “forced out of” their social housing property, gamerwidow?

@Dowser I don't think they do.

My MIL and her partner are in social housing, he's got a very good job. She received a big inheritance. They thought about buying a house however they decided not too. She said they knew they would be looked after and that the council would have to fix things. She didn't want to buy a house for example and then have to get a new boiler if needed.

Social housing is a very good thing however it is abused a lot which makes it a lot harder for genuine cases.

I don't really know much about house swapping however by the way you describe your place OP and the what you think of it, I can understand why people wouldn't swap.

TheGrey1houndSpeaks Have you read the thread?

There are lots of people telling the poster that if they want a bigger house they should move to private rented accommodation. If the OP does this they have been forced by their circumstances to leave their social housing.

HTH.

MrsBadcrumble123
If you’re overcrowded it’s because you chose to have children whilst not being able to afford to privately rent or buy a larger house! Why should taxpayers fund this?? I have only got two children because we couldn’t afford to move to a bigger house, get a bigger car and all those other things that come with responsibility for funding your chosen lifestyle within the limits of what you can afford!!

Makes sense. I just wonder when, if ever, today's generation will take responsibility for themselves and not blame their situation on others, in this case the council. I also agree that council housing should be available to help people who are in need at a particular time, not for life.

My council DO offer incentives to people who downsize. £300 per room, my ex was offered £1000 for a room but for many that isnt enough to downsize. My council also pay all removal cost and give the person band A priority. Doesnt make much difference though as like I said most people dont actually want to downsize.

£2k, to swap from a nice house in a good area to some dump flat in a ghetto? That's never going to work, gamer.

£2k, to swap from a nice house in a good area to some dump flat in a ghetto? That's never going to work, gamer

Well of course not but it might make someone in a 3 bed swap to a nice 1 bed in the same area.

I have read the thread, gamer. It doesn’t explain why people who either own or privately rent are expected to take personal responsibility and those who’ve been given social housing are absolved of this?
Having more children than you can accommodate does not equal being “forced out” of your home.

£300 per room, my ex was offered £1000 for a room but for many that isnt enough to downsize. My council also pay all removal cost and give the person band A priority.

£300 won't even put decent flooring down, and usually the floors are a state and need to be leveled, then have subflooring in and then the carpet or laminate. That's easily £500+ in a room depending on its size. And again, who wants a flat with no lift or in a tower when they've got used to driving up to their own door?

Look, not many are going to want to go to a flat from a house, sadly. I've lived in some lovely flats and even owned a couple but unless they're on the ground floor with main door, they suck compared to a house.

You're not being forced out, if you choose to have more kids than you can accommodate that is your own choice. You are responsible for those kids no one else.

TheGrey1houndSpeaks is English not your first language or is comprehension just something you struggle with in general?

Forced out could mean physically evicted from somewhere or it could mean that a set of circumstances make your staying untenable.

The OP's current circumstances make it very hard for her to remain where she is hence if she leaves she will have been forced out of social housing into the private sector due to her circumstances.

If you can't understand that I'm afraid I can't help you.

Look, not many are going to want to go to a flat from a house, sadly
I agree I said as much in my first post.

£300 won't even put decent flooring down, and usually the floors are a state and need to be leveled, then have subflooring in and then the carpet or laminate. That's easily £500+ in a room depending on its size. And again, who wants a flat with no lift or in a tower when they've got used to driving up to their own door?

I agree. I wouldnt swap a house to a flat in a million years no matter what I was offered. Ive done my time in flats I would never go back to living in one again. Just pointing out that some councils do offer incentives but for many people its not going to make a difference.