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 love frothy posts that don't know what they're talking about peppered with ??? !!! though. Please do more of that

Look at Freecycle- like Gumtree but all free stuff! Totally random what is there but can be great finds. I've got rid of furniture that the charity shop said was 'too old fashioned to sell', unwanted paint, light fittings, rugs - it's def. worth a look. Also a curtain tip- Ikea do very cheap ones, including black out curtains, and you can buy thermal lining fabric separately and hand sew to the top (or safety tip together) if the house is cold.

I haven’t RTFT but I’m in a council property & the fence here was put in by a charity for the previous tenant who had an autistic child as be needed to be in a secure garden. Is this something you can look into? Our garden was a complete mess, we’ve been here 2 years and it’s still no where near completed. We found a man who does carpets for a hobby so he did the whole upstairs for £280 including underlay. My parents kindly gifted us some flooring for the bathroom. We brought blinds from Argos & B&M which we then fitted ourselves. We’ve since had downstairs floored to our taste but we had to save up for that, and lived with quarry tiles until we were able to afford it. It can be done but you have to prioritise what is needed.

I grew up without carpets until I was around 11 yrs old. It was not that unusual. I do love carpets now though but I always see them as a luxury. I would grab that council house and not let go. It may be a while till the chance comes round again. Thick slippers are cheap these days. : )

Buy off cuts for carpets and fit them yourself or make do without until you have the money for them and that’s lot for blinds, why not curtains that are cheap and cheerful and then you just buy stuff and update as you go along. It’s hard but as long as you have food and it’s warm and a roof over your head every thing else can wait until you can afford it. I had nothing when me and my three children got offered a council house and four years later we are slowly getting there and making it ours

Sorry but this is a really silly post. You do it like everyone else does. Regardless if they're mortgaged, no mortgage, renting, council, you budget and save. You prioritise and go without if you have to.

The council should be the ones fixing the fences. The other bits just do gradually, do you have to have blinds straight away, could you use curtains. Maybe try to do your garden yourself of a weekend, ask friends and relatives to help.

We moved into council property last year, it was such a state, literally cried but we got a home we can now call home without moving every few years. We got given B and Q voucher and literally bought tins white paint. We whitewashed everywhere. We got carpets £1000 and got blinds for £300 online 247 blinds and fitted ourselves. That is it. Yes whole house needs plastering, new doors etc.. but we will do it bit by bit. Once all our stuff was in, looked so much better anyway. We have now sorted overgrown garden and rest will be done gradually. All our neighbours are the same. Not many people have lots spare cash to do house up straightaway unless of course you go down credit route. I’m just grateful for roof over my head and to finally feel settled.

Thick slippers are cheap these days aha good point and everyone has to live within their means.

That does remind me of a Viz top tip I read once Save money on carpet by simply taping a square of carpet onto all your house member's feet

Apply for a discretionary housing payment. It can go towards removal costs.
You may be eligible because of son's needs.
Also can get referrals to charity's like Buttle Uk for white goods, childrens beds etc.
Freecycle and gumtree...
And do bit by bit as others have said.
Credit union for low cost loans.
I had no flooring just floor boards for a year when my son was a baby as I'd always rented furnished flats. Saved up and bought when I could.

My house was a new build when we got it, after ten years of private rental and being on the waiting list. There weren’t even curtain rails, so I bought cheap modern net curtains and telescopic poles for every window and carpets cost me £800 for a 3 bed house, the cheapest one I could find. I also bought the cheapest cooker I coyget. Gradually over five years I bought blinds for every window and now have a lovely double oven cooker and have had the living room floor laminated. Next year I hope to have the kitchen and hallway done too. You don’t need to have everything perfect straight away.

I forgot to add, for the first year of a council tenancy your property is under the voids team not regular housing office. So push to get all the plaster/repairs done in the first year because it will be done faster.

You can get carpet cheaply enough off the likes of eBay. We bought our first house last year and put down cheap carpet with 10mm thick underlay The underlay cost £94 for 4 bedrooms and the carpets have cost approximately £45-60 each. The first two were stuck down with a staple gun which did the trick but doesn’t look that great but we used spray adhesive for the other two and it was ridiculously easy. Looks as good as if we’d paid to have it fitted.

We bought a fixer upper because it was what we could afford and as soon as we got the keys things started going wrong so it’s cost us way more than expected between the new boiler, the toilet that pretty much broke in two and other bits like that but we’re slowly getting there. If we get the living room papered and painted by Christmas I’ll be a happy bunny.

Oh and we also put Lino in the kitchen and bathroom which we bought off eBay and fitted ourselves. It’s pretty easy too. Curtains were brought with us from the old flat and a couple of massive but cheap pairs bought off eBay and then cut down for the extra windows so the two pairs did 3 windows plus a wee curtain for the toilet and we had enough to make cushion covers but I couldn’t be bothered so it’s still sat there

Try carpetright for cheap carpet, look on Freegle/freecycle/trashnothing websites as in my area there a loads of three piece suites, dining tables, beds (single, double, bunkbeds) and pots & pans.etc, etc offered for collection locally or even sometimes delivered.

@Niknick
My ds turning 18 won’t change things. He plans on going to Uni next year if everything goes to plan but he is going local as we have a great uni close by that offer the course he wants to do. So he’ll be living at home still as opposed to staying on campus. He will be an adult so still entitled to his own room the same as he is now and we won’t be asked to move once once ds older and gets a place of his own.

I would double check that Before you spend a fortune, in my area council housing isn’t on a life long tenancy anymore, 5 year and reassessed, some areas close to me is every 3 years.
When you’re reassessed they take into account your income, how many room are being used etc. If your eldest leaves home at some point you will be classed as under occupation, the council will then move you to a 2 bedroom.

On another note, you can buy roll end carpets much cheaper than having it cut from the roll for you, much much cheaper. I did 2 large bedrooms and the stairs and landing for £250. One of the bedroom carpets is wool.

To add, people don’t necessarily let their council homes get into poor condition. When their tenancy ends the council remove all carpets and flooring. Anything that wasn’t council installation normally, As you’ll find out the council are pretty poor with repairs being aesthetically pleasing.

@Niknick

Newspaper in the windows and bare concrete floors? Erm no. I will most definitely starting looking around for cheaper alternatives but I’m not moving my kids into a new house, which will be unsettling enough for my youngest dc, coming up for winter when it’s freezing, to bare concrete floors and no window coverings. I have a credit card, which to be fair I’ve just finished paying and don’t want to go back into debt but I’d use that first before moving my kids into a house with no floor coverings.

I've just moved into a housing association new build which had concrete floors down stairs and I had to make do with lots of rugs until carpet could be fitted. I had to wait 3 months IN WINTER after ordering for it to be fitted and had no curtains for the first 4 weeks! Also, I too have a child with ASD before you try using that one as a Trump card - she was absolutely fine! She helped put the rugs down and knew to wear slippers. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I kind of miss it actually as it felt like an adventure like we were 'camping' in our new house.

Don't be so snobby and look at the bigger picture

@SmileyClare

I'm quite reassured to hear so many posters who have moved into new homes and made do with plastic seats, cardboard boxes for tables and sheets hooked up as curtains, horrible cement floor in the kitchen and bare gripper rods on the stairs. I had to do this for a long time when I moved into my council house and I was really ashamed I couldn't afford more and far too embarrassed to invite any friends over. I never had mum friends over for fear of being judged or worse, them feeling sorry for me. It was a horrible way to live although I gradually improved it.

That's awful you would have felt judged, I'm sad that other people would be so narrow minded. Having been in a similar position at points in my life I certainly wouldn't have thought anything negative but I appreciate others might.

Many years ago my father had a friend who basically sold everything he owned (and took out a huge mortgage) to buy a house on Bishops Avenue (one of the most expensive roads in London). He and his wife then had no money and no furniture and ended up sitting on fruit crates, eating beans on toast by candlelight in their million pound house for quite a long time. But they felt that short term discomfort was worth it to get the home they wanted.

Whatever end of the scale, very few people can ever afford to move in and redo everything immediately, buy all new furniture, curtains, carpets etc.

Purchased our house 7 years ago.... have properly decorated one room, fitted new windows and repainted outside ( to make good where windows were fitted) everything else we will eventually get around to I hope.

Thanks jojo Your story sounds almost like a parable. Not sure whether your dad's friend was mad or a genius but he would have made an absolute fortune if he'd sold a few years down the line, the way house prices in London have sky rocketed.

I've no doubt it's a shock for anyone going from a warm nicely upkept rental home to a fairly derelict council house. Yes there are advantages but it's still a disappointment to see it for the first time and be suddenly faced with costs Op clearly didn't expect. Yes it's reality, perhaps Op had unrealistic expectations but it's still a shit prospect!

Hopefully the Op has got over her shock and disappointment about the state of her new home and has realised making it a home is doable in time and with some hard work and making do.. And sees the bigger picture.

It is difficult for anyone in a similar position, home owner or tenant. She has my sympathy.

The only advice I have has already been mentioned; look into an affordable loan from the Credit Union, rather than maxing out a credit card. Martin Lewis online always has good advice about this sort of thing.

I think you are being a bit OTT about the house!
I moved to my council house in February this year having spent 2 years in a hostel/temporary accommodation after being made homeless 😫
Most people who are offered a house from council have been in my situation and to be honest, would take it whatever the condition!!

We received decorating vouchers from the council so have painted every room but have yet to afford carpets so have some large rugs on the floor. We got cheap blinds from The Range/Wilkinsons and we haven’t had time to really concentrate on the garden!

But after a few years of uncertainty it is home and I am truly grateful that we are finally secure and settled!!

Seriously you need to stop and look past all the (non) issues! Be grateful!!!

It is always wise to live in a place for some time (some would say years) before deciding what needs to be changed. The kids will see it as an adventure that things are getting done along the way. If they are the ones expecting it to be perfect in day 1 then you need to give them a reality check about your financial situation from the sounds of it. We are well off (definitely not always been the case though) but still spent many years getting everything right after we moved into our new home about 10 years ago. At first we made do with the shabby garden and cracked plaster boards and neither of us suffered terribly as a result. In fact I barely remember how bad it was. After a few months of saving rent and cooking cheaper meals (vegetarianism is a great way to save money and everyone likes beans on toast!) you'll be able to afford all those things you talk about in the post. The best way to ensure you will become financially better off is by honing your ability to delay gratification and save.

When we moved into our own house from renting we started looking for furniture on eBay, Facebook, Freecycle, Nextdoor etc. to avoid spending money on temporary items. There are is always stuff going for free or next to nothing, even new things which people have bought by mistake i.e. wrong size and cannot return. It just takes a bit to time to keep looking. On local website you can also ask to borrow tools if we can't find them for free or cheaply. With borrowed or second hand tools you can cut down the overgrown garden yourselves over a weekend, and use free pallet wood to fix the fence temporarily.
A council house opportunity does not come up very often, don't miss the boat. Good luck!

Go and join Nextdoor. Ask on there for the help you need. There are some kind people out there who maybe able to help. Also have you got a community facebook group? I know in my area we have groups that can help with furnishings etc.