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.

Well this thread illustrates what many people try and say about social/council housing and that it costs less because you get less, not because the tenants are workshy, feckless individuals that live in squalor.
The rent is cheaper and the tenancies more secure, and the repair services for big things tend to be quicker and better.
But yes, you've got zero fixtures and fittings, and often the place is a bare shell - but that's good because then, you can make it your own, and more than that you're allowed to! Downside of course is that when you move in it's someone else's decor etc.
I moved in to mine 3 years ago and still have no carpet on the stairs and only decorated one room.
I started to sort the garden out at the start of this year....... and then the fence blew down. Savings gone while living in furlough so unfortunately the fence is tied up as a temporary measure with 'patches' here and there to make it secure and it'll have to wait until I've managed to save again.
I bought a £50 oven which I cleaned up and am still using, and roll end carpets that my friend and I put down, it's not a professional job, but it's a carpet on the floor. Prior to that I had rugs.
I slept on an airbed for a year and me and my daughter still share a wardrobe.
It seems really overwhelming to start with, especially having come out of rented where you pay extra in the rent for these things, but in all honesty you have to just get on with what you've got. A week at a time, a month at a time. I finally have curtains at every window, but some are still held up with nails instead of a curtain rod! I do things a bit at a time, I did my bathroom during lockdown, because all I needed was a few little bits, the rest I'd collected over 6 months, from paint, to bath sealant, to the cabinet..... A bit at a time.
And yes, I have painted over shit walls, I can't afford to get them plastered yet and it'll be a few years before I can but a coat of paint has at least brightened it up a bit.

@ariela in my first (housing association) flat I slept on the bare floor for two nights, in January, then on a fold out foam mattress for the first year. My mum gave me an old net curtain and money for a mini stove. TBF I was 24 and single. I wouldn’t do it again.

This post has annoyed me so much. You’ve been given a council house after being on the waiting list for 10 years, which implies you didn’t need it that desperately.
I moved into a council property 2 years ago after being evicted, I was homeless with 2 children. I was offered a house and took it. I have off cuts for carpets, 2nd hand furniture, My walls are all uneven and need a lot of work doing to them. My garden is a mess. But I have a roof over my families head. We have food on the table and beds to sleep in. If you want a perfect house buy one or privately rent one and let someone who would be grateful have the council house.

@Wakemeupwhenthisisover

I’m confused, why do you have to pay for the carpets/repairs/new oven? You’re renting you don’t own it, the council should pay for things like that. A private landlord wouldn’t make you pay for the upkeep of their property (unless you damaged it) so why would the council?

Are you serious?

@Butterer - l posted a link previously on this thread with some from Amazon

i’m confused, why do you have to pay for the carpets/repairs/new oven

Not carpets or new oven, but I think repairs, yes.

When I moved here it was in a very bad state, had a week to move in from homeless accommodation.
No voucher redecorating scheme. Flooring was cement. Toilet not cleaned in decades. Took a few of us working round the clock steam cleaning the place for most of the week to get it habitable.
No toilet seat, curtains, lightbulbs and some of the sockets broken.

We used rugs and end of rolls for carpet. Didn't match but so what. Kitchen was just the sink unit, used an assortment of shelving, boxes and odd cuts for the worktops (contacted every single kitchen design place locally and asked what they did with stuff they couldn't use)

Curtains, Ikea do massive curtains for less than £20 a pair. Other rooms I just bought a load of material and bought the curtain tracking stuff and used fabric glue as it was quicker than sewing.

White paint is cheap. I bought loads of the big tubs of the stuff, and small testers a bit darker than I wanted. Went home and mixed my own, takes a bit of stirring with a big stick, broom handle or a strong coat hanger, but not impossible.

Freecycle etc for appliances.

Yes it was hard, but the "payoff" is worth it. When my boiler packs in, I just make a call, when the roof started leaking, I didn't have that expense. When it's needed rewiring or the heating updated, didn't have to pay for that. Can decorate how I want. Don't have an overbearing LL who wants to do checks on the property etc. Yearly inspections aren't hit or miss for gas, same with the electric ones. Don't live with the what if the LL decides to sell up predicament.

Are you serious?

To be fair, it's only through Mumsnet that I know they rip out things like carpet and you have to buy your own.

@Niknick

To be honest from what I’ve seen more or less everything in the house is essential and needs doing before we move in. I don’t expect to be able to make it exactly how I’d like it long term and I’ll go for the easiest and fastest when it comes to decoration but I can’t leave most things as I’m not moving my kids into a half done house. Plus, once we sign for the house (if we definitely decide to take it) we have to start paying rent that same day. So for at least a month we’ll be paying two lots of rent which will definitely take its toll. So we would need to be as fast as we can doing the house up but it all depends how much the council pull their finger out and what state they leave it.

Sorry, but lots of people have to move their family in, and live with, "half done houses". Are you expecting the Council - i.e. everyone else - to pay for your desired lifestyle? If you choose to live in social housing you are already being substantially subsidised by taxpayers. I don't begrudge that, but it is unreasonable to expect that subsidy to then extend to all the things that you want to have.

You need to shop around - your quotes for carpets and blinds are exceedingly high. You can't afford the best, but there is cheaper than your idea of costs. There's second hand items. Other people have to work, look after their own children and also manage their home and it's maintenance. It's called making do until you can afford better. Everyone has to. You are being unreasonable to think it shouldn't apply to you. And if you don't like the state of the council's housing, then either buy or remain in the private sector - there are plenty of people on waiting lists so I am sure that the house won't have to wait long for other tenants.

1.6m wide blackout blinds in Wilkos are £12.

It's taken me 6 years in my council house to get a bedroom carpet down. Bedroom still needs painting. The carpet was £60 for 4.5m x 6m. A council house is an amazing thing to have we don't need to worry about losing our home for silly reasons, the rent is cheap and repairs are always done quickly including them replacing both sides of fence in our garden with 6ft wooden panels. I'm disabled and on benefits so it takes time to get things sorted but at least I have a safe and secure roof over my childrens heads.

@thewordistaken councils dont provide stuff like this. Never have and never will.
It would be hugely expensive for them to do so.

For me it's enough I have a roof over my head.

Oh yes we also have massive cracks in the walls and ceilings in fact a small piece of ceiling fell out on DH the other day. We'll fill it in ourselves and paint it. The other rooms with cracks will get wallpapered eventually.

I moved into my council house with my then(now deceased) husband who was blind, an autistic son and a 1 yr old. Bought the cheapest ever oven and fridge. A friend was getting new carpets so we had her old ones and cut them to size. Just had to buy stair ones after a while. Curtains and rods from Argos, again, super cheap. Then did it up over the 13 years that I was living there.

Just focussed on the kids rooms first but we had to do it once we were in. The council patched the holes in the floorboards and did a basic white wall everywhere. The kitchen and bathroom had Lino on so that was ok just slippers and rugs until carpet down.

If you need the house then you can't turn it down or you go back to the bottom of the list, as there will be a less entitled person right behind you who'll take it.

My aunt moved into a council maisonette when her autistic son was nearly four. She didn’t have any carpets or curtains for AGES - I was about 10 at the time and remember clearly wondering what was going on. My mum has since told me that she used to go over and babysit five nights a week so my aunt could do a night shift at factory and save up to buy furniture, carpets and curtains. She didn’t get a sofa until we got a new one and handed our old one to her.

Honestly, my cousin didn’t care. Your kids won’t either, so long as you’re there.

@SoupDragon

Are you serious?

To be fair, it's only through Mumsnet that I know they rip out things like carpet and you have to buy your own.

Yep. They rip out everything. There usually isn't a single peg or shelf in the whole place.

@SoupDragon luckily not me but my cousin across the road has that- just concrete and bare floorboards in every room.

*As they removed the carpets because they were filthy and they don't pay to replace them, the cost is on you.

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

One of these “kids” is almost 18. We’re not talking toddlers scaling building sites. I guess there are other consideration for your younger son, but surely getting his room carpeted and sorting everything else out afterwards will be workable?

Google 'furniture scheme + name of your local council'...(most councils run such a scheme)
Here you'll find donated items, furniture, rugs, white goods
etc. which have been donated, and are available free or for a small fee.

It's one thing that makes me really upset with council housing.

The bloody waste of ripping out everything.

Are you expecting the Council - i.e. everyone else - to pay for your desired lifestyle? If you choose to live in social housing you are already being substantially subsidised by taxpayers

To be fair, it comes out of Housing Revenue Accounts, which are the collected rents of all the tenants in social housing.

Good tips on this thread, though.

Not sure why this is aimed at council properties. We bought our house 3 years ago and having new flooring fitted next week. We do it as we can afford it

We had £15 stick to the window blinds until we could get proper blinds. You make do with basics a until you can afford what you would like. I agree get carpet/flooring down for the kids. You need an oven bit other things you could wait. The garden I suggest you clear yourself.

If you choose to live in social housing you are already being substantially subsidised by taxpayers

No, council housing stock pays for itself.