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.

I bought the cheapest carpets I could and have slowly replaced them, I painted the stairs and put stair carpet treads on them, not to everyone's taste but cost me £30 to do. I got a voucher for decorating supplies.
You can buy blinds and or them up yourself.

@dontdisturbmenow

They renew kitchens and bathrooms every ten years And this becomes something seen as a due rather than a luxury. I do not know home owner who buy new kitchens and bathrooms every ten years. Our kitchen and one bathroom are 11 years old and nowhere needing to be renewed. The other bathroom is 20 years old and probably needs it now as do our 20 years old carpets. We earn a very good joint income but no way would be consider new kitchen, bathrooms and carpets every 10 years anything else but utter luxury.

I can assure you our new bathroom was well over due and having to live with black mould in the bathroom for seven years. The bathroom needed to be coated in treated anti mould paint every month as after four weeks all the walls and ceiling would look like that.

I should also mention that we are top floor of of the complex and everytime it rained for the past two years water would pour in through the light fixture in the ceiling as the roof was severely damaged.

For the last year we'd to use the bathroom in the dark as the light (understandable) stopped working and I lived in fear that the it was a fire hazard. I pray you never have to experience the anxiety I suffered everytime it rained knowing I was going home to a flooded bathroom amd there was nothing I could do about it and the HA couldn't give me a time frame just they'd get to me when they could.

It's shocking isn't it WindsorBlues although I'm not that surprised. A lot of HA tenants are paying to live in barely liveable conditions.

I've found it an almost impossible battle to get even basic maintenance repairs done. It's now even harder due to a huge backlog caused by the covid restrictions.

I'm laughing wryly at the strange misconception that HA tenants are "entitled" and "expecting utter luxury".

Some of the youtube videos I have seen show dreadful places although plenty are privately owned by the residents too. I think we have equal opportunity mould in the UK and lots of people who own but cannot afford repairs. I have gradually been building up my stock of tools to do things myself but even that is expensive - my latest toy is an electric jigaw which I was using yesterday shortly after having had my arm in muck up to the elbow down one of my drains.

I'm busy with work and the kids and do my own garden. I lived with unfitted black carpet that cost about £70 for 2 years whilst we saved up for the flooring we wanted. I own my own home. Get over yourself.

I am surprised our 30 year old carpet throughout the house is still going strong actually. It must have been a very good make. I will not be replacing it nor the similar aged curtain which have been in since the house was built - too expensive as a homeowner to do that. My older son got curtains in some of the rooms at the house he bought last year and was his biggest expense since moving in, but at least the neighbours cannot see in now.,

The bathrooms and kitchens are done every 10 years (if you're lucky) primarily because the fixtures and fittings are really low quality aka the cheapest of the cheap. They really need doing by that time. It's not oh let's choose a nice new bathroom and kitchen, can't have you using something that's 10 years old; it's falling apart by that point. If they invested more up front then no, people wouldn't get them done.

Xenia I think the key there is "very good make." Do you think that's what the HA are replacing with or someone moving in can afford?!

We have carpet that looks awful. We bought it 12 years ago and it wasnt the very cheapest but close. It was sold to is as hard wearing/office carpet. We couldn't afford underlay too...

I'd love "good make' carpet that lasts 30 years!

We've been told that next on the list for renewal are the internal doors, door frames, and banisters/stair rails. Our house has the original 1950s frames and doors so well overdue!

@RevolutionRadio, can those Ikea blinds be cut to fit narrower windows?

I want some blackout blinds, but we have a bay window where the 2 (angled) end windows are only about 600mm wide, but 1200mm high. I haven't been able to source cheap skinny blackout blinds!

They're not luxury kitchens and bathrooms, they're basic ones and because they're basic they don't have the longevity of more expensive products
This is very incorrect. My oh works in the industry and what is sold to the Council is not too.of the range but very close.

Does your local authority offer crisis grants or loans?

We do (we're an outer London Borough and many applicants are those who are moving into a new home and cannot afford to buy everything.

NB only certain items are available: beds, cot, fridge freezer and cooker as these are essentials. We order the items from Argos and cost up to £350 is free and anything above that is a loan.

Give your council a call and see if they have a similar scheme

If you're on universal credit you could apply for a budgeting loan, which I believe is repayable over 12 months

Try Freecycle as you can get quality items for nothing

As loads have pp have said it doesn't have to be done all at once

Oh and if you're on housing benefit (not uc) and have liability to pay rent on both properties, you should apply for payment on two homes. This tends to be because you've moved quickly but still have rent to pay on your old place (ie the notice period)

If agreed you can have housing benefit paid for both properties for up to 4 weeks.

We'd ask for proof that you've given notice, and confirmation that you've physically moved into your new place

You need to have moved into the new property before you can apply for payment on both properties and are supposed to give the reason

This though will not cover the council tax which you lo have to pay on both properties and most councils don’t give any discount on empty properties

Our house has the original 1950s frames and doors so well overdue!

My house had the original 1938 doors and frames, there’s nothing wrong with them and I won’t be getting them replaced anytime soon

What's wrong with 1950s door frames?

This is very incorrect. My oh works in the industry and what is sold to the Council is not too.of the range but very close.

Must depend on the council, here that is absolutely not the case.

My late 1950s Council kitchen and bathroom looked gorgeous on the day I moved out in the late 00.

My new kitchen and bathroom (5 years?) are chipped ( bath and sink) and falling apart (kitchen). The council also should provide laminate on bathrooms and kitchens. It’s the stuff that is impossible to clean.

When we bought our first house, we had to do it bit by bit, as we used all the money for deposit and fees. Just be grateful you got council property and do it up gradually.

We bought a 1950s council house and were gutted that two of the downstairs doors had been replaced, the originals are far nicer (albeit coated in A LOT of gloss when we moved in)

Most people who own their own homes are desperate for original features, not insisting 50s door frames are removed

It's those kind of comments that give people a poor impression of council tenants.

I grew up in council/ HA properties. Our flat had no central heating and was full of mould, my mum used to have to bleach clean the walls weekly to remove it. Not ideal, but it was what it was, and better than being homeless.

When we moved to a house, which was admittedly brand new, there was no carpet or curtains, curtain rails or anything else. We were lucky that a relative gave us some rails, curtains were a mix of jumble sale and ones we brought with us from the flat (which weren't quite the right size but they covered the window mostly, so job done). Plenty of our neighbours who had been rehoused from even worse situations, had sheets taped to the windows at first.

Someone we knew was ripping up an old carpet and gave it to us for free, my dad laid that on the stairs. My parents bought bedroom carpet as cheaply as possible, the stuff that is now about 2.50-2.99 a yard. No underlay. It lasted about 10 years by which time they'd saved money for something better. We had no carpet in the living room for about 5 years.

The point is you cut your cloth accordingly. Carpet is a nice to have, but you can easily live in a house without it. It's not ideal, but it's doable if it's a choice between that and say a cooker. Likewise perfectly fitted curtains or blinds. There is a school of thought that everyone must live immediately in perfect homes with everything new, no one saves any more or does a room at a time!

There are plenty of places also as has been said upthread (Facebook Marketplace, Freecycle etc) where you will get offcuts of carpet, rugs, curtains, being given away for free. Larger items too - I've just given a sofa, single bed and a rug away free to someone in need.

You can move in for virtually nothing (only necessity is removal and appliance costs), whether you want to is another matter.

I agree with others, it's a crying shame and such a waste that every home improvement a previous tenant has made is ripped out and taken to the dump on the council's insistence.

I had to pull out all the lovely flooring I had spent quite a lot on, shelves, a fitted wardrobe, light dimmer switches (fitted by a certified electrician) even the new kitchen door I'd had hung. The flat looked bloody awful when I'd finished.

There should be a way for a new tenant to sign a disclaimer if they wish to keep carpets and fixtures from the old tenant.

Here's the house'. I'm not going to put you through affordability checks, you've got it for life, can redecorate as you please, have pets

You generally don't get it for life, you get it on a 5 or 10 year tenancy?

Every council house I have placed a bid on has stated NO to pets?

Not sure your info is correct.

Most people who own their own homes are desperate for original features, not insisting 50s door frames are removed

I'm not insisting that they're removed, read my post, where did I insist? I haven't even asked that they be removed. The council sent out a mass letter saying that they are coming out between January and March to replace all the internal doors, door frames, and stair rails/banisters and we will get a letter with an appointment when it is our turn.

It's those kind of comments that give people a poor impression of council tenants.

It's your own prejudices doing that.

What's wrong with 1950s door frames?

The ones in our house are old and very worn, they're starting to pull away from the wall in places. The doors are also very old and worn, the hinges are coming away, and a couple of them no longer fit the frames properly. They are in need of updating.

We moved into our house over three years ago and only this month are we getting carpets in our upstairs bedrooms and it's been fine and we certainly aren't badly off but our house was a total fixer upper and there were other more important things to do. Honestly OP you will be fine. Think positively about it. It's your long term home you have years to redecorate it. I know it's nice to have the house all done up when you move in but realistically that rarely happens. We moved into an absolute shit hole with two small children and after paying solicitors fees etc we hadn't any money but I was still so happy as it was ours.