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 guess I’m just struggling to understand why people let their houses get so bad.

Really?

I can think of many reasons. All of them quite sad.

Aw wow £900 is a lot isn’t it. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good size house has a big garden so we could definitely make it our own in time. I’m no snob and have lived in worse places than where we are now, but that was before I had kids, and I’d just love to make it nice for them before we move. My youngest son being autistic doesn’t cope well with change so one priority is to make his room as cosy and familiar as possible is same wall paper curtains etc as he would then feel more settled.

Everything is not essential! Seems that years of living in rented houses has skewed your idea of essential. I know it's not easy doing up a house when you're living in it with dc, but that's what people do. Visit IKEA and charity furniture shops, ask on your local Facebook group, get what you need. Then you can replace as you can afford it. It will be worth it in the long run.

I think some of the things on your list are making you sound very unreasonable. I'm sure there are loads of posters on a here who would jump at enough bedrooms for the whole family.

It is, however, very bizarre that council properties don't come with even basic flooring.

Buy curtains not blinds.

Just paint the uneven walls it won't kill you

I'm 8 years into my house and only now is it starting to get to be what I want.

@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.

Then don't. Let someone more grateful for the opportunity take the house.

Are your kids more special than other people's that they can live without carpet for a bit?

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

Great - please let the house go then for a more needy family who will take it half done.

Exactly how am I entitled? I’ve waited on the council list for almost 10 years and I will be paying full rent council tax etc. My ds has medical issues and if I had wanted I could have pushed those issues and would have probably moved up the list and got us a house years ago. So please, do not call me entitled! I have waited patiently on the list like everyone else.

Moving is expensive. We rent privately but we've just moved to a bigger house in a better area and we've been saving for about 1.5 years to do so.

In practical terms, do you really need a carpet? You can get nice large rugs for a few hundred pounds. You can get curtains from ebay or charity shops, they don't even need to cost that much new if you get them from somewhere like IKEA. Anything that's dangerous the council should be fixing. Oven can be got cheap off ebay or you might even find one on freecycle. Other non urgent stuff like redoing the plastering you can surely leave and save up towards. No way should you move your son into a dangerous house, but "unfinished" wouldn't be a deal breaker for me personally. Our new house has a lot of the same problems you mention - the garden needs sorting, fence needs mending, curtains and washing machine needed buying, bathroom needs retiling etc. The essential bits will be our landlords job but the white goods and the "finishings" we'll just start again to save up for.

Just the same as people who buy a property it takes time

When we bought our house I was 4 months pregnant and all we had was two deck chairs and a mattress on the floor

It took us 4 years to fully furnish our house.

6 years later we have painted half of it

You just do bits as you can afford them

Judging by your responses you’re not interested in the idea of doing it bit by bit...

In which case you’ll just have to try and get credit and pay through the nose for it to be done all at once. 🤷‍♀️

Ive been in my house for 18 months and still can’t afford curtains in the reception rooms. I prioritise the bedrooms and a blind for the bathroom. It doesn’t matter to the kids at all. They’re happy wherever they are!

Our council runs a huge warehouse full of donated goods and things from house clearance.

When I moved into my current house I could hardly afford to put the heating on. No curtains, or carpet.

This warehouse was a God send as I managed to buy fairly decent (old fashioned) heavy curtains to do the downstairs for less than £50.

They do white goods too and ovens.

Do your council run a similar scheme?

But you will need to move your kids into a half done house if this house is a good long term option that you want.

We moved at the start of lockdown, we'd stripped the wallpaper and ripped the carpets out, had a rewire and 2 rooms plastered and bought new appliances for the kitchen but that was it and we had to just move in. 6 months on we still have bare floorboards, no skirting boards, bare walls, the old creepy bathroom and old blinds that are falling apart. My kids are not concerned at all! Their bedrooms are plastered and painted and they'll get their carpets soon. Our bedroom and the hallway belongs in the Trainspotting set and we've only just managed to have our living room plastered which is a lovely bit of progress but there's still a gaping black hole that we need to fit a fireplace to.

I thought with my first house it had to be perfectly finished to move into but I know now I don't have the funds for that lifestyle. We stayed at parents for the first few weeks as we were getting rewired but other families can and do stay at home during such work. You should check out the many home renovation stories on Instagram to make it feel more achievable, 'The Turner house project' is a good one to start with.

Bit by bit - there's charity shops which have second hand electrical goods, you don't need blinds, use the existing curtain rails or make do buying only essential rooms. I didn't have carpet for 3 months. We are buying a house and it will be at least 12 months before it's properly furnished if not more and repainting will take years. Council houses are like gold dust, but they are basic however at least if something goes wrong you can call them.

This is a wind up isn't it? You can always refuse it if you don't like it and let a family in genuine need take the house. Many people move into social housing without a pot to piss in. The important thing is having a safe, affordable, roof over their heads. Sort the rest as and when you can.

When we bought our house, we had to remove the rotting carpet, had half the upstairs floor up, scrape fat of the kitchen walls, change the loo, for years the hallway was a beach wherethe render was crumbling, the heating only partially worked and a miriade other things. 8 years on it's not finished! I bought a cheap carpet £2 a meter from online carpets- which is still down one room!
Go slowly and you can make it very comfortable, you have secure affordable housing it's not meant to be a show home.

It is, however, very bizarre that council properties don't come with even basic flooring.

I have never heard of a council property that comes with flooring.
In our LA if a council property is vacated then the flooring ( no matter even if is is new or pritsine) is torn up and dumped.
The council won't leave any fittings or items that it is not liable for.
Same goes for shelving etc- that will be torn down if not council installed. Walls will be made good again if here is any damage and decorating grants given.

Your local Freecycle might be useful, and people often sell white goods (cookers, fridges) etc. relatively very cheaply on Gumtree.

@muddledmidget is correct, you won't get plastering done in the next month if you take it. There's a national plaster shortage, it was in the papers, and it's very hard to find anyone who can do the work even this side of Christmas! It's also very expensive right now with everyone wanting home improvements.

It's not fun, but either you take the more run-down council property because of the size and better rent and do it up over time, or you go back into the private sector. I would take the council secure tenancy myself- and try to accept it won't be 'done' by the time you get there.

I also agree with the person who said you may be able to put pressure on the council at the very least to fix the fences and secure the garden.

Everything else will be up to you and yes, it is bad to leave people without carpets but it's standard, I'm afraid.

We be been in our house 6 years and still not done everything that needs doing. We have had to save up and do things over time. Other friends lived with a concrete floor for over a year and no carpet as they couldn't afford the flooring yet. You can't have it all.

As everyone else has said, you do it bit by bit and buy second hand if you have to.

Work out what's essential, ie your oven, beds, sofa. Get on your local Facebook market page or charity shops (sue Ryder have big furniture places).

You don't need carpets or blinds straight away.

This is nothing to do with it being rented, council or mortgaged. I work full time and earn a good wage, I've owned a house since I was 18, and at the grand old age of 47, I've just bought my very first brand new sofa, I've always ended up buying second hand until now

@AuntieMarys

Talk about entitled.

This!!

As others have said, that carpet estimate is ridiculous. Ive just had my hall/landing/stairs done and it was £200, including fitting. The others we fitted ourselves and the smaller rooms were from roll ends so really cheap.
Blinds were bought from the next sale for between £8 and £12 and fitted ourselves. It's taken me 15yrs to be able to get blinds in every room and that's for a private house so it doesn't matter that yours is council as we all have the same costs.
Freecycle, car boots or eBay for appliances and furniture. Wait for the wilko sale for paint and wallpaper.
Also why pay removal costs? We rented a van and did it ourselves. Had to get my dad to drive it though as neither of us could afford to learn to drive.
The garden can wait. It will soon be winter so you won't be using it much anyway. Ours had to wait for a few years as we only had the odd day here and there to work on it. It took 10yrs for us to replace the fence even though it was a disgrace.

Talk about entitled

My thoughts exactly. ^

^
How do you think anyone does it? You're being given a house to live in, you haven't had to pay for solicitors, a survey, stamp duty ,a deposit of thousands^^ and all the other expenses that go with buying a house. You sound entitled and ungrateful.