AIBU to leave council flat for private renting? 5 in a 1 bed flat.

[Hereforhelp]

Hi. So I was housed a 1 bedroom flat with council when I was 7 months pregnant with my first child. Now theres 5 of us in the same flat me, dh, dd 5 yrs, DS1 3 yrs and DS2 4 months old.

Dh and I are both employed, him full time me part time (currently on maternity leave) & don’t receive any sort of benefit.

The plan for our family increase was to return flat and private rent somewhere bigger but now private rent have massively increased £300 more than it was 2 years ago 😅 so that plan failed, leaving us cramped, in a 1 bed 🙃

We’ve tried to talk to council but according to law we’re not overcrowded as living room could be used as bedroom too and according to my room measurements each room can fit up to 2 adults (that’ll be 4 kids in each bedroom as they count a kid as half an adult).

Shall I hang in here and hopefully be rehoused after couple of years or stretch our finances and rent privately? People are calling me mad to be thinking of giving up a council home & I’d hate to give up the security of our home tbh but we are so desperate!!

Has anyone here left a council home for private renting? Or has anyone got a success story of getting rehoused due to overcrowding?

Thanks God much nicer, more compassionate, and more caring and understanding people are on here this morning.

There were some truly ugly, vile posts on here late last night, from some awful people.

Hope you're OK this morning @Hereforhelp There has been some good advice from some much better posters this morning.

Probably best to post in the morning. You get the more judgemental, vitriolic, spiteful, people (who like to stick the boot in,) crawling out from under rocks after dark.

Hope you get housed in a bigger place soon. As a few people said, try direct exchange.

And do NOT give up your wonderful social housing status. Getting a social housing home is not easy.

@goodwinter

It's exactly what's she's done, before then calling the council to ask for A bigger home. Then she's shocked to be told she needs to use the living room as a bedroom. We all know there simply aren't enough social houses. They just aren't there. The ones that are there should be used for people who desperately need them, like being made redundant or one of the parent a dieing, or something else happening. They should be a safety net. They should not have used by people who just keep on having kids and then expect a bigger house. They earns good wage. Enough to save for a mortgage or private rent. But instead of doing that, they've had multiple children they can't house.

That's their choice of course; have a pile of kids instead if financial security. If that's what they want then fine, but they need to live with the consequences. Which is that they live on top of each other in a one bedroom or they stretch their budget and private rent. They chose to have the kids before saving up for them. It's not up to the council to fix their mistake for them and to be them a new house.

Intheheatoflisbon - I'm not saying that people in a better financial position are better parents. Of course this isn't true. The most important thing kids need is love but they also need adequate living space.

Nobody in their right mind would think that housing 3 children in a 1 bedroom flat is a responsible thing to do. I assume this is why the OP wants a bigger home because her current situation is not sustainable. Kids grow up quickly and they need their own space.

And do NOT give up your wonderful social housing status. Getting a social housing home is not easy.

This. Contrary to belief from those who get their information from the media social housing is NOT easy to access and does offer far, far more security than private let.

It's like gold dust.

@PencilsInSpace
*
I hope nobody giving the OP a hard time has had more children than they can afford to send to private school.

Council housing is not subsidised. Schools are, 100%.*

Absolutely.

@supercee
no, just pay for bigger accommodation from her own purse that she can afford so that her kids can be housed properly.

And the rent and council tax to where I’m living now is not coming from my own purse? Where is it coming from? Your taxes? Or is it coz I’m in social housing that you assume my housing needs aren’t coming from my “own purse”? How ignorant. Come down your high horse and breathe in the real world lovey, as everything in my life comes from my “own purse” smh.

I'm not saying that people in a better financial position are better parents

Then why post yours as an example of doing it the "right" way? Because you said, directly, that you'd done it differently and more than implied you were somehow better than OP for that.

It's not sustainable, hence why OP is asking for advice!

Instead she's been told she's a shit mother, that her kids shouldn't exist, and that she's an entitled drain on society.

None of which is true.

@goodwinter
Oh, and I campaigned for allowing skilled mirgation and for housing refugees. I also donated a lot of money to refugee causes and worked with them when I worked in mental health.

Accepting skilled migrants is something the country needs. Housing refugees is something every country should do. Rewarding people for having multiple children they can't house by handing them a bigger home is not something we should be doing. People need to take responsibility for themselves. Having children is completely within our own control; you don't have them by accident and if you plan to have them in a 1 bed house then you live with the consequences without complaint. If you stop handing out bigger houses and extra benefits for every child, then eventually people will only have the children they can afford. It will take a generation or 2 because of this benefit mindset so many people are stuck in, but it will happen.

I think eventually, as the housing problem gets to the point where there is literally nothing left for people in need, the government will have a radical change to the current rules that allow this to happen.

I for one would love to see a huge increase in council housing with a corresponding drop in for-profit BTLs.

And the rent and council tax to where I’m living now is not coming from my own purse? Where is it coming from? Your taxes? Or is it coz I’m in social housing that you assume my housing needs aren’t coming from my “own purse”? How ignorant.

Am I missing something? Isn't social housing rent lower than market rent. Is it not subsidised in some way?

Oh, and I campaigned for allowing skilled mirgation and for housing refugees. I also donated a lot of money to refugee causes and worked with them when I worked in mental health.

I'm not trying to say you don't care about migrants! I was trying to demonstrate how "popping out kids" is an awful, demeaning phrase, because it was used repeatedly in your post.

It's the kind of language that's used to demonise poor and vulnerable people all over the media. It's "benefits street" language and I don't believe it has a place in any rational discussion. It's shit-slinging.

OP you might of missed my post. You really should be able to register on local housing register for council and direct lets. It doesn't sound right at all. . Which council is it?

I for one would love to see a huge increase in council housing with a corresponding drop in for-profit BTLs.

Me too! In Scotland we've stopped right to buy and are building social housing. It's not perfect but it's getting there. I'll have to dig for the actual numbers but something like 250k new social housing properties in the last 10 years springs to mind.

Not perfect, but a start.

When we sold our old house, we took a hit financially, because the BTL landlord who offered over the asking price made my skin crawl, with his attitude towards tenants and money making. So we took the asking price from a young family who wanted to make it their home.

We'd lived in that house for many years and we didn't want to inflict a BTL landlord on neighbours who'd become good friends.

Profiteering from BTL landlords is shameful. Especially if they're not ensuring those properties are fit for human habitation!

Yeah, funny how all the nasties on here, (bashing the OP,) are suddenly claiming NOW, that they help the poor/refugees/migrants/starving little children.....

Yeah right!

@goodwinter

Again, it's exactly what she did. And then she ran to the council for a bigger home. If you want people to stop having an attitude of "they just have kids to get a bigger house" then people should actually stop having kids and then expecting a bigger house.

@user1266788

I'm not saying that people in a better financial position are better parents. Of course this isn't true

Oh but you’re absolutely saying it.

The most important thing kids need is love

Well there you have it.

@TheInvestigator
It's exactly what's she's done, before then calling the council to ask for A bigger home. Then she's shocked to be told she needs to use the living room as a bedroom.

So shocked 😱 OMG how did you know were you there?!

Before I had my 2nd I did my research on statuary overcrowding, so no, I wasn’t shocked when they confirmed my options for me when I spoke to them. Like I mentioned, I knew it was crazy to get a bigger council home they don’t come by, so I kept that in mind with any decisions I made for my family. But also, like others said here, different Local councils have different policies across uk, so I had to check with mine first before putting other plans in action, Just incase.

@Fairenuff

www.redpepper.org.uk/mythbuster-home-truths-about-housing/
www.citymetric.com/politics/ten-myths-about-council-housing-and-one-ask-3797

Myth: Public housing is subsidised

The vast majority of council homes were built decades ago, and the cost of building them has long since been recouped many times over by tenants paying rent to the council. There is no ‘subsidy’ – far from it, council housing is in fact a public asset that brings in more money for councils in rent than it costs in management and maintenance.

Is it not subsidised in some way?

It's easier for councils to keep rents lower as they are a massive landlord, and aren't doing it to cover mortgages or make a profit.

I'd dread to think what your opinion is of someone on benefits in a council house is! You know they're human too right?

Jesus wept this place is like a fucking cesspool at times.

Being a taxpayer (which OP is btw) doesn't make you better than someone else, having more money doesn't make you better than someone else and having a better housing situation doesn't make you better than anyone else!

Dw, I looked it up. Social housing rent is about 80% market rates. So that's how it helps people who can't afford market rates.

The trouble is that the stock is in crisis if no-one moves out of social housing and stays there forever, there will be a shortage of properties available for those that really need them. This is already happening but will obviously get worse.

@Wellandtrulyoutnumbered
OP you might of missed my post. You really should be able to register on local housing register for council and direct lets. It doesn't sound right at all. . Which council is it?

Hey, It’s the midlands, & unlike London or other councils, you aren’t allowed to be on the housing register until you are “entitled” to one, seeing as I’m not legally overcrowded I won’t be put on it till I am.

@bluegirlgreen

It's all be idiot who go "you deserve a bigger house" or "you're entitled to a bigger house" who who start accusing anyone who disagrees of being a general intolerant person. It is not intolerance to be fed up of people having masses of children they cannot house and then complaining when the council don't fix it for them. But when you expressed that view, you get accused of being intolerant towards everyone.

Some people are deserving of help. But people who fill a 1 bedroom flat with multiple kids through their own choices do not deserve the bleeding heart sympathy. But then someone accuses me of being racist or intolerant of all people because I don't think this woman deserves a big house from the council.

To those trotting out lines from the daily mail, do please fuck off and get off your high horse.

What high horse?

Why should the council pay for her to move to a larger property when she knew her house was cramped and chose to continue having children and she can afford to go private and rent somewhere bigger?

Plenty of people have to stop having children because they can't afford it or because they don't have space. OP decided to continue having children anyway, knowing her current living situation wasn't sustainable. She made a choice. It's not as if she became disabled or lost her job or unexpectedly had a triplet pregnancy.

Why is expecting someone to take personal responsibility for their situation such a horrendous thing?

I'd dread to think what your opinion is of someone on benefits in a council house is! You know they're human too right?

My opinion is that anyone who needs benefits should have them. Anyone who needs social housing should have it. People like OP who do not need it should rent privately and free up the property for someone in genuine need.

OP has said that she can afford private rent so why does she think she should continue in social housing that someone else is in desperate need of. Does she not realise that they are human too?

@Hereforhelp Well in my 'real world' I wouldn't of had 3 planned children whilst living in a one bedroom flat then be wondering what to do when the council refuses to give me a bigger house.

You said you can afford a bigger place so rent a bigger place which is what I mean by your own purse. I'm aware social housing tenants pay rent and council tax thanks.

I'm baffled as to why people are up in arms at those of us who are stating the bloody obvious.

I would think that a ground floor flat with garden is actually very appealing to someone older, like my DM who did give up a 3 bed house to swap to a flat because of bedroom tax, rent and mobility

You are on swap sites? Just one? Looking in multiple places? Perhaps this is where you need to push harder
You might just have to look further afield with your search criteria

And the rent and council tax to where I’m living now is not coming from my own purse? Where is it coming from? Your taxes? Or is it coz I’m in social housing that you assume my housing needs aren’t coming from my “own purse”? How ignorant.

*”Am I missing something? Isn't social housing rent lower than market rent. Is it not subsidised in some way?

Dw, I looked it up. Social housing rent is about 80% market rates. So that's how it helps people who can't afford market rates“*

It’s what happens when you jump into conclusions a little too fast then you should.