To wonder how people actually afford to move into council properties

[Niknick]

So, me and my dh have been offered a house with our local council after years of being on the waiting list. We have two son’s youngest of whom is autistic and we have been offered 3 bed meaning we’d all have our own bedroom at last. I haven’t had an official viewing of the house yet ie with the hosing officer but workmen are currently doing some repairs and they allowed me and my dh in the other day to have a quick look round whilst they were sat in the garden on a break.

Anyway i went equipped with my tape measure to measure up for carpeta, blinds and just to get a general idea of how things will fit. I’ve since gone to a cheap carpet place and been quoted £1500. Blinds will cost around £450-£500. Then there are things like decoration, removal costs, buying a new oven as our current one our landlord owns etc. The property isn’t in great condition and having viewed another of the council’s houses years back me and my dh are under no illusion that the council will do anymore than the bare minimum.

So far it needs plaster work doing as the workmen have done a rubbish job. It needs scrubbing beyond recognition, the garden is like a jungle so that will be more cost as we’ll need to pay someone to do it as me and my dh are busy with work and the kids. Plus parts of the fences are smashed and need replacing as it’s not safe with my son. I know it’s the tenants responsibility to do a lot of these jobs but usually, people moving into these properties aren’t well off so AIBU to wonder how do people manage to do all this? We have virtually zero savings due to paying high private rent, so long term moving to this house would be financially a good idea, but short term I’m panicking about where the hell we find the kind of money we are going to need to make this house at least comfortable for us all to live in. Moving to my current house paying a months rent up front plus deposit and referencing check fees is cheaper than what we’ll have to spend to move to the new house so I’m quietly panicking.

Reading this thread. I don't think the OP deserves this council or property. I work with families and homeless people who have nothing, who would be grateful to sleep on the bare floorboard, just to have a roof over their heads. The property should be given to those who'll appreciate it and certainly not judge the previous tenants.

You do it bit by bit when you can. Just as other HA tenants or home-owners would.
You can buy barely used carpets/flooring /blinds on ebay. Same for the fence. It doesn't all have to be new, and from a shop. Get some garden tools from friends/car-boot and start on the garden. Even if you just cut and stack the debris for somebody to take away it will be cheaper than having someone do all of it

If you have been waiting for this house for a long time, why didn’t you put anything aside for the move? I appreciate you pay high rent but even a £5 a week for a year would have given you a small pot to start with.

I have slung a duvet over a line for curtains until ready to buy before now.

“ Reading this thread. I don't think the OP deserves this council or property. I work with families and homeless people who have nothing, who would be grateful to sleep on the bare floorboard, just to have a roof over their heads. The property should be given to those who'll appreciate it and certainly not judge the previous tenants.”

I’m with you - I also have worked with people and families who really appreciate being allocated a home and are delighted AND grateful despite having nothing but a couple of bare mattresses on the floor. Think about that when you speak with your housing officer and start whining because you might have to do something which involves effort yourself.

The original post comes across as so entitled and ungrateful, whether intentionally or not. The reality is that there are an awful lot of people who move in with bare floorboards or concrete, maybe one rug for the living room, nothing on windows until next time they get money in, or quilts on shower curtain rails or cheapest bamboo blinds, three to a large window etc, mattresses on the floor again until you can get your bed bases, garden dealt with slowly as need to save up for things like mower or spade/fork, white goods bought one at a time...trips to a laundrette or family/friends helping. Children kept in view all the time if in an insecure garden.
We couldn’t afford carpets so hand-sanded and varnished floorboards, the living room alone took 100 hours of back-breaking work. Kids even took a turn. It looked gorgeous at the end though.

Let’s not all pile on. Everyone has a moan from time to time. I’m sure she has taken stock and reflected on the long term benefit. We can’t all be utterly, grovelling grateful all the time (sorry daily fail).

It honestly is a case of prioritising.

The fence is a priority as your son needs to be kept safe.

Everything else can wait.

Social housing can be hot and miss.

I moved onto a home with grafitti on the walls, no carpets anywhere, filthy walls which all needed redoing.

I did my son's room and the living room for carpet. Everything else has been done over the past 11 yrs and there is still stuff to do.

I am still grateful to have my home at a rent which is cheaper compared to local private rents for the same property.

It means I can access family support where necessary for myself and my son who is autistic and remain near familiar services.

Honestly just take it and enjoy gradually making it yours.

I didn’t take the op as moaning but making an observation, which for those moving to a council property how do the afford to get the basics, such as flooring, white goods

We... did without stuff.

I didn't have carpets for years, other friends of mine used the cheap nasty no underlay cord carpets from places that would 'carpet your house for £99'..

I fenced my garden using a roll of stock netting rather than a nice but expensive panel fence.

Put up with the crappy plastering, just kept using polyfilla on the bits that kept falling off, and wallpapered over the top of old wallpaper as I knew stripping it back would cause all the plaster to come down.

It's shit, basically but frankly no different to moving into any run down property when you don't have the money to hand to do all the jobs straight away. I can't afford to recarpet my current house that I own out right, or re-wallpaper it. But I have a house, so that's nice :)

I had empathy with the original post as it's a tough situation. However, the attitude which followed in terms of not being willing to move kids into a part done house lost me. Not being able to afford what you want and having to make tough choices is part of life, as is learning what's really important and what's nice to have. It's nothing to do with council housing, it's just life.

You do without, until you can afford to do the jobs, then you do it bit by bit. I needed the council housing after escaping an abusive relationship, and losing everything I had but a suitcase. I got housed pretty quickly due to disability (and got a wet room, yay).

When I first got my flat, I bought an air mattress and slept on that. Gradually I managed to get bits of furniture being given away for free, and when my uncle passed away I got things like a cooker and washing machine and hoover. First thing I saved for was a fridge and microwave.

My floors are still bare and I've been here six years almost, we have slippers instead of carpets. I have a rug in the living room and hallway outside the bathroom. Mum helped me buy bunk beds after a couple of years of the kiddos (they don't live with me, but come for weekends and holidays) sleeping in my bed, and me on the sofa, which my uncle gave me when he was getting a new one.

It's not gonna kill anyone to do without a lot of the comforts of a nicely decorated home, sheets work as well as curtains, rugs as carpets, so long as you can keep yourself and your home clean, and have somewhere to store food and warm it through.

Op I do get that if you've been living in private rented you're used to things being a certain standard and you've paid the premium for that. You get none of the benefit when you move as it's always belonged to someone else and you don't have a cushion to help with a non finished place due to the money you've been shelling out. But you're getting a completely different type of property when you go into public housing. There are other, significant long term benefits to it, but it can be a hard adjustment when things have always previously been sorted and now you have to find your own way through.

As others have said, prioritise - get your home safe and secure and functional in terms of white goods, perimeters etc. Other stuff will follow. When you're actually in there after a few weeks you'll work out what pisses you off most and put your money into tackling that.

There are grants available and charities that can help - look on turn2us, contact your local cab, investigate your local community furniture store, look at charities like family fund and so on as you have a disabled child.

It seems daunting because there's so much but break it down, do what you can when you can and at the end of it you'll have a forever home that totally suits you and your family and that can't be taken away from you. That is worth so much.

It's not an ideal situation having to start from scratch. At least you'll be paying far less in rent than you were in a fully furnished private property because someone else supplied all the white goods, carpets, blinds...
Good luck in your new home.

We have these from IKEA on the landing they give enough privacy for us to go from bedroom to bathroom in a towel. I tried to post this earlier with a picture but it didn't actually post.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/schottis-pleated-blind-white-20242282/

@Niknick - look at Family Fund charity

I'll try the pics again

@MrsMomoa

I’m in a council pristine new build ?? I couldn’t afford floors downstairs at first so put loads of rugs an leftover carpet down. I’m doing it bit by bit it is a new build but loads of furniture I still need. I bought cheap blinds from Argos and got my dad to cut them to size for me ? They actually look fine is that an option for you? It does make you feel crap when you can’t afford to do it all at once but we are not the only ones x

That’s if your having roller blind x

I live in a council place and when we moved into our First home we had 3 under 5. You get o with it, you do it not by bit and you use the difference between the private rent and socisl rent to get it sorted.
We didn’t have fencing for years at our house and I’d just have to watch my kids in the garden which we had to make safe but live with in a bit of a state.
If you don’t want a project refuse the council house and stay in your private rental tbh

"as I’m not moving my kids into a half done house.

We lived in a building site for months. Surely your children will manage as well.

It doesn't matter if you're in a council house or a home owner, you live by your means.

We bought our house 2 years ago and we still have no carpet in our bedroom, just the wooden floorboards. It's cold in winter but we make do with a thick quilt etc.

Just be grateful you have somewhere to call home 😊

You can carpet a house for £500 with offcuts, you just need a decent carpet knife and some double sided carpet tape, decent fitted carpet + underlay can come later, a room at a time.

Use carpet tiles for the kids rooms as they get wrecked and you can rotate them as they get ruined.
You can buy curtains very cheaply and if you use linings they will look fine with either nets or cheap venetian blinds.

It takes YEARS to get a home just right for most people.

We bought our house 20+ years ago, when we were in our early 20s. We had thrown everything into saving for the deposit and then the mortgage, we literally had no money to spare when we moved in. It was in a right state, having been owned by an elderly man on his own who had done nothing to it. We didn't have a carpet for at least a year, we had a small portable TV on a tea chest in the living room, and instead of couches we had two sun loungers! It took us about 3-4 years to get the house into a decent liveable condition, but many many more years to get it exactly right. You can't do these things overnight!

For the fence, get a cheap roll of plastic coated wire fencing, although fence panels are fairly cheap if the posts are still ok, £15-£20 each.