To ask if your income affects getting a council house?

[sarahfairy]

Do the council look at income at all?

My friends are in a crappy situation, been evicted from their rented home with 2 months notice.

They are going down the council route to find a new home.

The husband is self employed and does well. They do have a disabled child which I know they get benefits for - the disabled child is how I know the family. They also have 2 other children. One is a baby.

They are convinced they will be given a council house and considered priority as they have an eviction notice and a disabled child.

I'm just curious to know wether the council take income into consideration as they could easily afford to carry on privately renting?

There's banding, income affects your banking. They at best will be offered emergency accommodation, the chance of an actual council owned property even if not working and three disabled kids is close to zero in most areas of the country - there's over 100 people waiting in the highest band here!

They need to get advice on what's best to do. I imagine leaving it until the last minute isn't a good idea because there's a higher chance of getting shunted into temporary accommodation or into another private let once they're actually homeless, whereas if they're just threatened homeless (this is how they'd be categorised right now) they'd have high priority and could possibly get something permanent straight from eviction, as they'll have been on the list a couple of months. £38k is around take-home for two people on minimum wage so I shouldn't think that would go against them. As a pp said, being in employment and having a child with additional needs would bump them up a bit higher in most places, and some HAs require tenants to be in employment anyway.

So in short they're eminently eligible but it might take a while so best get cracking.

It was in the news a couple of years ago
One southern county had 27,000 local people on its council waiting list
I expect that this number has increased by now
Plus some people, already in temporary accommodation

It depends where you live & what priority they appoint each family

The aspect they're most likely to struggle with is the cost of waiting. If they get accepted as priority (which they may well do as homeless with dependents) they would be offered temporary accommodation. However, temporary accommodation - despite often being really poor quality - is actually really expensive, mainly because it's a system set up with the expectation that it's paid for by housing benefit. It was never set up with the expectation that people could be working and homeless. So if you're working, the council will assess the parents contribution to the rent and it's likely to be vastly more than the cost of renting privately. The allowances (the amount the govt says you need to live off, that you get to keep before giving any 'surplus' towards the rent) are tiny and are not based on any real cost of living.
Given that it's not unusual to be in temporary accommodation for min 6 months and area dependent a year is common, 2 years not unusual, and in London 10years happens, its very unlikely that they could afford that.
Also while they may be under the upper limit, there is a responsibility on priority homeless candidates to take 'reasonable steps' to acquire housing and if they fail to do so the council can discharge their duty. So if they sit on their hands for a few months hoping to get accommodation while having enough income that they could reasonably afford to rent privately the housing officer could review the priority decision. I think in some areas now the council's are actually offering private rented properties to tenants as their permanent offer of housing, as the law changed in 2010 to allow them to do so. Not all do, but certainly in some areas of London where they just don't have available council properties the councils are doing this.

Having a child with a disability only increases the priority if the disability means a specific housing need, eg if the child needs level access, or a room of their own not to share with a sibling due to having additional equipment (eg oxygen which requires storage and monitoring). That usually ends up in a paradoxical situation with no net benefit - to have a type of disability that gives extra points usually means only a small number of property types would be deemed suitable and legally the council can't permanently rehouse people into an unsuitable property type, so those families end up waiting longer.

Lastly, I don't think anyone who hasn't either worked in the system or been through it realises just how little choice or consideration is given to homeless tenants for rehousing. For example, suitable property only covers number of rooms and disability adaptations. Priority homeless people will get chance to bid for properties and one offer (whether through a successful bid or council making an offer). That's it. Now that might sound ok, but - nothing on the list you want to bid on? Tough, you have to. The main thing that gets people is the properties can be anywhere in the LA boundary. If you get offered something on an estate (most likely) on the opposite side of town, nowhere near work/family/friends/schools, that's 'suitable'. If you've always lived in a house and you get offered a high rise, that's 'suitable'. If you've lived in the same three square miles all your life, don't drive and get offered something twenty miles away in the same county, that's 'suitable'.

It's one thing getting assessed as priority. There's a long way between that and getting a home, and even longer between getting a home that you're happy to live in.

We are on a relatively good income for the area we live in but still needed to get a housing association house because there simply weren't any private lets around. Income was only a factor when it comes to ensuring we can make the rent.

They are silly to wait until last minute, if nothing is available that is suitable for their needs, they could end up in a B&B, a hostel. It’s not like like the council will say well we have a 2 bed so we will give you that until something bigger comes up. That’s not how it works. They will give them something suitable for their needs, and if their child is physically disabled, than that can be a very long wait- as in years. As there are not many properties that are adapted to meet the needs of a disabled individual. Often adaptions will happen once they are in a property. But it’s trying to get the property in the first place, if it doesn’t meet the needs to begin with (if that makes sense?).

Sorry I haven't explained well. The landlord is selling the house and he has given them written notice that he would like them to be out in 2 months - Im unsure of when he actually gave them the notice.

They are going to say to the council that they have been looking to privately rent in this time but have been unsuccessful and have had to go to the council

Oh yeah and they'd be crackers not to at least try, in their situation. With a notice to quit in their hand they should be second highest priority, which is actually the best place to be in a lot of ways as you still get an element of choice.

Agree with what you say bored40. But atm they're only threatened homeless, so there won't be a hostel etc just yet.

We got housed when we were threatened homeless. Admittedly it was very last minute - got offered a place literally the day after our notice ran out and the landlord had already applied to court.

But like I said it was a better position to be in than being homeless because we were still able to bid as normal but with high priority and could turn down two places. I know it's area dependent and also depends on how the list is panning out but it is possible get an offer of a secure permanent tenancy within the two months. Stressful! But possible.

Where I am it's an upper limit of £35k but they wouldn't include disability related benefits in that sum.

They should apply to get on to the waiting list of the council and every housing association in the area asap.
They will be awarded points based on their situation, so for example they'd get points for each child and extra points for each child with a disability.
If they are accepted, they will reach the top of the list and be offered a set number of homes as they become available (its often only 2 or 3 choices), if they turn them all down they go to the bottom of the list.

Personally I don't think they stand a chance. A few months ago I was in that situation - single mother, received a Section 21 from my LL, no income as my contract had just finished, 2 young DC, one with SEN. Couldn't find private rental as I wasn't employed (landlords WILL NOT let to people on HB).

Council moved me from a band E to a band C, refused to take my DDs SEN into account, told me to stay 'till the bailiffs showed up and they would put us in a B&B (all very stressful for DD who can't cope with change).

We were going to be homeless and the council basically said 'tough luck'.

They are likely to be put in emergency accommodation. My brother had similar. 4 kids 1 is disabled. And 1 was under 1 at the time. They got put in a B&B for 6m. Then a 2 bed flat since. Still waiting on a house 4 years later. It's a huge council but lack Of Properties. They're saving again towards a private rental but have the fear of the same happening.. The landlord sold the house with not. Much notice.

There is no point asking on here because no one knows how long the waiting lists are in your area of how they prioritise people ,they need to find that information out themselves .

@sarahfairy they need to apply now with their eviction notice and child's disability paperwork, it take weeks for your application to be put through then they will be put into a band and then they have to bid, even if they are top of the priority list you still HAVE to bid they don't just say "oh here you go, a house" especially with a disabled child, they won't give them something unsuitable.

There is limits on earnings but its more about savings, my local area its 30K

My brother & SIL were being evicted and needed 5 years worth of private landlord references! So I think they need to get the ball rolling if they really aren't looking at private rent.

I was privately renting. Landlord served notice, no fault of my own
I had to wait until the notice expired but I was offered and accepted a (lovely) council house in a nice area
Councils DO want tenants who work
You DON'T have to be on benefits or on a low income
Most councils have an upper limit of around £65,000 income, so most families would be eligible to apply
It's a myth that only non-working scroungers are offered 'free' council houses. Most tenants are working, some are earning good salaries, and they are paying into the system that benefits everyone.

I didn't have to go into temporary accommodation either. It is entirely dependent on the area.
I did have to accept the first house they offered me, and was lucky to have been offered such a nice one

My sister was in a homeless hostel with her two DC where you wait for a council place to be offered, can be there years, and very lucky to even be there. However they earnt enough (not as much as 38,000) to privately rent and the council would send them local places to apply for, they had to. The council would email the places saying my sis would be arranging a viewing. They were given some help towards the deposit and first months rent, some of this has to be paid back. Its because you give them your salaries and income and they work out from there if you can afford private. You'd have to have a very good reason to say no to houses. This happens to many and I know someone who said no there, had to move out and off the council list. Neither of my sisters DC are disabled though. But does show that income matters as they will get you to rent privately if you earn enough too. It does work differently in different areas though.

Availability depends entirely on area. Disabled DH and I were recently assessed as needing an extra bedroom due to his disability. (The council turned us down at first but we asked Shelter to fight our case and the council changed their decision quickly).

We are in a northern city and each week 30-40 council/ HA properties are available to view, in various areas of the city. We are near the top of the list so should have somewhere permanent soon.

When there are children and disability involved that extra security of tenancy is a godsend.

Wasnt even asked about income when we applied

I don’t think waiting to the last minute to apply will increase their priority banding. They would be expected to wait out the notice period. They should be engaging in the process as soon as possible so they can gather any medical information.

They need to check availability in their area as in London priority need could still spend a very long time in temporary accommodation and it Used to be that you had to take the first offer of accommodation under the homelessness provisions.

So in my experience, if the council try to fob them off in any way ask Shelter if they can help, they'll know exactly what rights your friends have. The woman who took on our case says they often turn down people for various things only to reverse the decision when an they get involved.

The council wouldn't help me when I was in a similar position because I worked. My income was just £16k which supported three of us. They didn't even go into figures, just said having a job meant no help. I will be very surprised if the council house your friend. With two months notice she isn't being evicted as such and has had chance to find another property, but chose not to.

Wow I had no idea people on 38k would be eligble for council housing. That would be most of our area (more than most nurses, teachers and other professionals!) And there's certainly not enough housing for all.

I genuinely thought only lower income families got access to the below market rent cpuncil housing (my mums one - all lovely but certainly not high earning in her block.)

Which council is it?