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'm living in a half done house with a toddler - it's not ideal, but you just do bits and pieces as they come up.

Get cheap/second hand rugs for the floor and tension rods and cheap blackout curtains off amazon for the walls. They'll tide you over until you can afford to get nicer stuff.

Agree with prioritizing the garden though - ours had a broken fence and was overrun with weeds and nettles, so we prioritized getting that sorted first, so we could have a bit of safe outdoor space for DS and the dogs.

@supersonicginandtonic, I used to do a job that sounds similar to yours.

I've had clients cry with relief at viewings, even of really quite shabby places.

I'll never forget one young couple, who were in one-roomed temporary accommodation for almost a year, and had a baby during that time (they were chucked out by the lad's mother because of the pregnancy). The HV kicked off because the baby wasn't crawling - there wasn't room for her to crawl!

They really lucked out and got a nice 2-bed house on a lovely estate, the kitchen and bathroom were brand new because the previous tenants had trashed them, and their reaction when they saw it almost made me cry. You'd have thought they'd won the Euromillions!

The baby rolled over the for the first time the day they moved in and was crawling within the week.

You could push for the garden to be cleared and the fencing patched up by the council. Say you're worried about potential broken glass/needles in the long grass/weeds. They'll probably at least strim it to the point its easier for you to tackle. Fencing should be secure (doesn't mean it'll be pretty though). Decent lining paper really makes a difference on crappy walls.

It's a matter of perspective.

The comment above about a council property being more like owning your own home is a good one. Private rented houses are often in very good state of repair (I know lots aren't however), are redecorated after every tenant, new fittings etc. So expectations will be higher.

I had a relative who worked housing people who had been in temporary accommodation/ B&Bs, also people who were refugees/ asylum seekers, and all were overjoyed with just having a roof over their head, and willingly accepted properties that existing council tenants (or those looking to move from private rented) had rejected, because they were better than what they had, or had previously lived with. Anything seemed like a palace to them from that position.

Going back to the quality of fittings, kitchens is an interesting one. My grandparents lived in a v old council property where all the kitchen cupboards were solid wood, they still had a larder etc. I suspect that all got ripped out subsequently. The cupboards were huge, really useful and the doors were easy to paint and keep nice.

The 1970s kitchen of my childhood home (council) had it's quirks (the cupboards had no backs!) but it was still quite solid, formica type stuff with metal trim, bit like the picture I've attached though ours was white. It was still in great condition 20 years later when we moved out.

However I have seen much newer kitchens, from the last 20-25 years - especially those where the cupboards are coated (melamine?) which look awful, flaky and horrible. So I will accept that not all kitchens last well, and unfortunately the 90s/00s stuff which probably replaced all the better quality older kitchens will now last less well.

the picture I mentioned of 70s style kitchen

A bit like my 1980s kitchen here!

Watching their Mum make the best of a bad situation, carrying on smiling and being positive, will be a far better memory than having a perfect pristine home. For the first three years in our home we had a third hand sofa (from a friends mums neighbour) our fridge and cooker were second hand. We sat on a couple of beanbags for a while and had awhite plastic garden table and chairs inside. Didn't go on holiday for many years. You sound so entitled, and need to lower your expectations. It’s natural to want the best for your kids, but maybe it’s best to teach them how lucky they are to be in a house instead of a hostel with a shared bathroom and kitchen, in a positive way.

At least having the month overlap will give you time to work on the house. Fill and sand walls (and plaster in the future if needed as/when you can afford) start with kids rooms.
You probably need to shop around for carpet - you can get the deals where it's £600 for a whole house etc - cheap carpet but it'll do short term then as you can afford it in future replace it. Have soft rugs on top of carpet for the kids (IKEA super cheap). Or think about cheap or second hand laminate flooring downstairs?
Cheap lino/cushion flooring for kitchen and bathroom - for it yourself using YouTube.
Second hand sofa and cooker.
Blinds - IKEA do roller blinds really cheap and even £5 ones that you stick on and has Velcro to hold at the bottom - they're canny and you can replace as you can afford.
Cheap paint and emulsion - do everything white for now (except kids rooms if needed).
Furniture - start second hand or cheap until you can afford to replace. We actually found it quite fun to start up when we were young!! Think of it as a challenge and the overlap will be so helpful. Good luck x

Don’t!! Just don’t even go there!

I need a new lounge carpet so spent yesterday watching YouTube videos on how to fit carpets and what tools I need...I’ll be giving it a go as my lounge is pretty much rectangular. Makes the cost a lot cheaper

Go to an independent carpet supplier, it will be much cheaper including fitting. You’ll never do it as well as a proper fitter.

@Brainfogmcfogface

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

Then don’t take it, and let a family who’ll be grateful for a home even a half done one! Jeez! My sisters place was covered in graffiti and smelled awful when she moved in but she was just grateful to have a home for her and her children and be out of a bed sit. She did it bit by bit and her kids lived in a not-even-slightly-done house for a good year or two and they never moaned.. Urgh!

This

Welcome to real life - when me and my husband bought our first house we had zero money left in our account! We slept on the floor Until we could afford a bed, we sat in Plastic garden chairs in our Lounge until we could afford a sofa etc etc I would be counting myself extremely lucky to have been given a subsidized rental property!

Write a list and prioritise it. Also work out what you can do yourself. I am a single parent of two I work part time and I’m a full time mature student trying to get a degree so I can have better job opportunities. I have very little time. But I still fitted our carpets by ordering from eBay which was much cheaper than shops and fitting them myself and decorated the walls and plastered the hole up and built the furniture etc. I changed the bathroom taps and fixed the running toilet. I still don’t have curtains in every room because the windows are so huge I can’t afford them so I did the bedrooms first and then the sitting room but the other windows are still bare because it’s lower down the list. Not everyone’s priorities will be the same either. Do you absolutely NEED to use the garden right now? Maybe it can wait until after winter. Or maybe you have a microwave a George Foreman grill and an electric steamer or slow cooker etc and don’t NEED and oven for the first month. Maybe you need curtains for a child’s room but could just pin up a blanket for yours for now etc. What you need versus what someone else needs will be different but you will have to prioritise it and do it not by bit.

Ps you sound quite ungracious considering your rent is subsidized by our taxes yet we aren’t well off by any means!!

Your initial post and subsequent posts are so entitled.

It's a council house, you're lucky you got it and you make do the same as everyone else.

We had no carpets and all furniture was 2nd hand or donated and we went from there.

You've been given a free house with cheap rent. Be grateful for what you've been given.

Paying someone to do your garden? You've clearly got money if you can afford that because gardeners are bloody expensive and as for your comment re: plastering..... Jesus wept! I can't think of a single time that was a concern.

You need to get a grip.

Wow this post is beyond infuriating. If you’re that worried don’t move then!

I would be counting myself extremely lucky to have been given a subsidized rental property!

Social housing isn’t subsidised. I think that’s been pointed out at least five times on this thread.

What an ‘entitled’ post. If you don’t like it don’t take it and let someone else have an opportunity.
There are sites like ‘freecycle’ where you can get perfectly serviceable stuff (eg oven) from for free. Ok it’s not brand spanking new, and probably not in the colour you particularly hanker for, but you can save up! Things that are ‘essential’ to some are perfectly ok to live without for a time. Eg carpets....lots of rugs on freecycle.
I’m really proud of my 2 son’s who equipped both their houses totally free. We’ve never been tenants of anyone (fortunate) and when I bought my first house lived on a deck chair and a fridge with portable B&Q telly for about 18 months.
Count yourself lucky you’ve been offered anything.

Please don't peddle that myth MrsBadCrumble council housing is not subsidised, in the absence of government funding, it pays for itself through rents.

Op has said she and her husband are working and paying taxes themselves. The median council rent is £1733 per month in Islington, at least 2 thirds of most people's salary.

Rent is not vastly reduced compared to the market. It's around 80% or more and the housing provided is very basic, far below the standards of a private rental.

People sometimes assume because you get a council house everything is handed to you on a plate..... not true , my daughter pays £600 a month plus poll tax and bills and could prob have a mortgage but cannot pay a deposit .She is trying to save for blinds now and did kids bedrooms and living room first and then in time will do a room at a time. You cannot expect to do everything at once like every other person starting out.

You might have to live in a house that needs painting or wall papering for a while, I know I did! We bought a wreck a few years ago and had to put up with no decor on the walls and old carpets for months. With three kids and four businesses to run between us we could only put a minimal amount of time into the house. We had no decent weekends or holidays for two years after moving in as every minute of our free time was taken by doing work to the house. It took 5 years for the work to be just about finished and during that time we literally lived on a building site but it was all worth the effort. My advice is to do what you must to make the house and garden safe first. The rest will get done as and when you can afford it/ have time to do it. You can save a massive amount by doing as much as you can yourselves.

sorry you sound entitled and ungrateful. Do what we all used to do, second hand, hand me downs and charity shops. You have also assumed the council won't repair the fence before you move in and ensure the work is of a reasonable standard. Obviously you will be saving a shed load of money from not paying private rent so you'll be able to save up for New! As for the garden and the cleaning just get on with doing it yourself thats what everyone does most people can't afford to get someone in or have much time because they are busy, but they do fit it in, so I think your are expectations are so much. Think yourself lucky, my daughter would love a council house, she'll never get one even though she is a single mum of two kids.

Long time ago for me, but my daughter and I moved into a council property. I think it's standard that they remove carpets (unlike private rentals) so we had to buy them (got really cheap ones as we didn't have any spare money), think we got some vouchers towards decoration so got some cheap paint. Everything else was done bit by bit. I'm sure that we had to move in within a certain amount of time after taking it on (literally a few days) but that might have been because we were claiming housing benefit (it was 20 years ago so I can't remember). You just have to live with it and do what you can when you can afford it. We borrowed a strimmer for the garden as the grass was waist high! You will get there eventually. B&M, Home Bargains etc will be your friends! Good luck

I've twice had new neighbours who, at great expense, got their new home absolutely pukka before moving in. They both ended up broke and repossessed. Clean it and live with the imperfections. And what's this British thing with fitted carpets?