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 agree with PPs - many things on your list which can wait.
However, to try and be constructive, identify 1/2 simple things you can do to make the place at least a little familiar for your DS - maybe find some second hand curtains that have similar pattern or colours? Make sure familiar personal items are already placed in the bedroom which will be his on the day you move in?
As far as garden is concerned, as DS is vulnerable, I would put pressure on council to at least make this safe - boundary protected etc.
Otherwise, bit by bit!
We still have wallpaper hanging off the walls in our bedroom and the carpet was old when we moved in20 years ago!

Wilko is good for easy hanging blinds .We had a couple of my mother’s chairs to fit on as could not afford furniture .What about eBay Aren’t there people in the area wanting to get rid of stuff .Ut some plastic netting around till you can afford it

that's exactly why you see a lot of houses with scruffy gardens, busted fences and sheets at the windows - because people cant afford those luxuries. You do what you can when you can, and if you cant it just has to wait.

To be honest - you are lucky to even get a council house - getting a place with our council involves several years at a halfway house. When i was thrown out with a baby and a young child on my own they wouldnt do anything. They said my elderly mum had a duty of care to house us not them and if that wasnt an option it was the local homeless shelter and they might put me on the list if i could prove i hadnt made myself homeless on purpose (their recommendation was to stay in the house until the bailiffs took me to court and they had an order to remove me) but other mums have spent years in the shelters with no help at all and still waiting. It's a good area and the council is well known to be rolling in it, but they do nothing for the people. Ive had to break my neck to afford a 2 bed with a teenager boy and young daughter sharing for the last 8 years because there is nothing else.

Made to measure blinds are expensive - going for cheaper off the shelf or second hand would be the way to go (ebay or local facebook market place). As for carpets - try off cuts and end of roll. Paying people to do work for you is also a massive luxury - weekends and evening are when i have to get stuff done. By saving money not paying people to do things i can save to get the things that need to be replaced, no way i can afford to buy the stuff and pay for someone to do it. I also have to deal with the kids on my own so it can be done - you just have to make yourself do it.

Most people who have council houses dont move in and kit it all out the way they want it - they put up with it the way it is until they can do something about it. For many that means extremely bad living conditions as councils and housing associations are famous for doing less than the bare minimum, people often live with horrendous damp issues, mould, fall apart houses... just be thankful you have a roof and make do with what you have.

o 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?

Most of these are councils responsibility under the decent homes act. The ‘voids’ team aka the team responsible for making the property right before you move in- will have to come back and rectify the issues.

I know this as I work in the technical services department of my local council, and organising these repairs is my job.

Good luck with it all

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

I spent my entire childhood living in a house with rugs on top of lino on the floor & no central heating, and although we had an inside toilet the fights to get in the bathroom (sisters!) - made it easier to just go and brave the spiders in the outside loo.

Never did me any harm

The bog roll was shiny too.

Children are resilient OP. Your kids will have to suck it up!

Goodness - 744 posts since I posted a couple of days ago!

Alexi Sayle had a set including mimicking council tenants complaining. It included a line " The council's bleedin' useless. My Wayne, he done a massive dump this morning, that's nearly two hours ago, and the council still ain't sent someone round to flush the toilet"

Sadly you seem to be like so many people nowadays, it's all got to be now.

To pick up on your list, if you talk to the housing officer and explain about your concerns about the garden fence, they may sort this out. I'm guessing that you will be given vouchers for paint for decorating if you ask, as long as you've done a good scrubbing when you move in, you can paint room by room as you go along.

Wait on the blinds, and pop into your local charity shops for curtains, they will be very inexpensive and will then allow you to buy blinds as and when needed and affordable.

Cookers can be bought second hand and this will keep you going until you can afford a new one.

At this time of year gardening can be kept to a minimum, perhaps a family member could lend you a mower which you cut it back, then look on local selling groups. Or even freecycle for equipment.

Moving in can be done v e ry inexpensively, either with the help of friends and family or by booking 'man and a van' my husband and I managed this whilst working full time with 3 young children (one with autism, one a toddler, the other an escapologist), & more recently as pensioners, so I'm sure you can manage.

I do understand, we all have dreams about our forever home, and have often made mood boards, scrap books etc., but the reality I s so, so different, but eventually you will get there, promise!

Sadly you seem to be like so many people nowadays, it's all got to be now.

I know someone who's boss commented "you, young folk want to start where your parents are now, you forget they've taken years to get there"

That someone was married 50 years ago, reality is everyone wants a lovely home, with coordinating furnishings, nobody really wants to put up with cast-offs and hand me downs but sometimes needs must!

@20mum

Alexi Sayle had a set including mimicking council tenants complaining. It included a line " The council's bleedin' useless. My Wayne, he done a massive dump this morning, that's nearly two hours ago, and the council still ain't sent someone round to flush the toilet"

"I ripped me trousers on Tuesday and the Council still haven't sent anyone round to sew them up"

I remember it.

Alternatively [see what I did there!] Alexei also now owns houses in Bloomsbury and Granada. The full set.

I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off.

I wish to complain that my father hurt his ankle very badly when he put his foot in the hole in his back passage.

Their 18 year old son is continuously banging his balls against my fence.

I wish to report that tiles are missing from the roof of the outside toilet and I think it was bad wind the other night that blew them off.

The lavatory seat is cracked, where do I stand?

I am writing on behalf of my sink which is coming away from the wall.

50% of the walls are damp, 50% have crumbling plaster and the rest are plain filthy.

Will you please send someone to mend the garden path. My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday and now she is pregnant.

I request your permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen.

Can you please tell me when the repairs will be done as my wife is about to become an expectant mother.

I am still having trouble with smoke in my built in drawers.

The toilet is blocked and we cannot bath the children until it is cleared.

Will you please send a man to look at my water, it is a funny colour and not fit to drink.

Our lavatory seat is broken in half and now it is in three pieces.

Would you please send a man to repair my spout. I am an old age pensioner and need it straight away.

The man next door has a large erection in the back garden, which is unsightly and dangerous.

Our kitchen floor is damp. We have two children and would like a third so will you please send someone around to do something about it.

I am a single woman living in a downstairs flat and would be pleased if you could do something about the noise made by the man I have on top of me every night.

Please send a man with clean tools to finish the job and satisfy the wife.

…and he’s got this huge tool that vibrates the whole house and I just can’t take any more.

…that is his excuse for dogs mess that I find hard to swallow.

I have had the Clerk of the Works down on the floor six times, but still have no satisfaction.

We are getting married in September and would like it in the garden before we move into the house.

This is to let you know that our lavatory seat is broken and we can’t get BBC2.

My bush is really overgrown around the front and my back passage has fungus growing in it.

Alexi Sayle had a set including mimicking council tenants complaining.

You have misspelt "mocking"

The council will do the fencing. The garden you can do yourselves at weekends. Get a job lot of magnolia and do all the walls one clean colour.
We were in the same boat moving to our council house, 3 kids under 7, came from private rent, had furniture but no white goods etc.
Check out British heart foundation charity shop as they sell cheap electrical and furniture. Buy second hand and check out free facebook selling groups, people give stuff away all the time.
Weve been here 8 years and only now on our second decorating run have we got the house to almost where we want it. This time we sanded the walls properly, filled in holes etc. First time we just slapped the paint up, bought cheap carpets for bedrooms, sticky tiles all downstairs and made do with what we had.
You're very lucky to get a council house, as we were, took years on a waiting list.
Good luck

I think you would probably be happier renting in the private sector and going for a property that doesn't have all these issues.

You do it as and when you can. You can get a loan through UC to help with somethings..I used mine for carpets and decorating.

What did you expect? When I got married all we had was handed down futniture and the horrible old carpets left by previous owner. We worked hard and over a good few years got the house in order. Dont forget your rent will be considerably less than private renting so should give you extra cash each month.............you cant have it all at once.

You obviously dont want to take the advice of people on here. Kids dont care about carpets and curtains..................its you who care about carpet and curtains. I suggest you keep paying through the nose for private renting and get all these things thrown in. You are making me so angry with your stupid expectations. Look at the news and get this into perspective for goodness sake...........people are living in tents in some countries...........bet they would like a nice house without curtains or carpets.

I do feel, as one or two others have said, that there is a lot of snobbery being shown to the OP because she is moving into a council house. I agree with buying items second hand and sav money in that way but the overall impression l am getting is that she should be gratefully tugging at her forelock because she is being given a council house and accepting whatever condition it is in because beggars can't be choosers. I have an adult autistic son and remember only too well how extra safe and secure things needed to be for him and also what hard work it was bringing him up like four children rolled into one. I think everyone is entitled to move into a clean safe house. This means a secure fence and flooring. Those of us who buy a house expect that at the very least. The year is 2020 not 1920 or even 1950.

I remember getting my council house over 20 years ago and being really grateful and excited. It had horrendous wallpaper everywhere, bare floors and a leaky bath and roof.
I can't imagine complaining about having to spend money to do it up...
You can get cheap 2nd hand or free stuff on Facebook /charity shops. If you can't afford carpet get some rugs. Blinds are not necessary at the cost of £500 unless you have the money to spare... Also wondering how many windows you have when blinds are so cheap?!
Surely there's local places near you to get cheap appliances or start asking on Facebook marketplace.
Not trying to be negative but I know so many people who would but thier arm off to be in your situation... The money you will be saving on rent you can save and use to do one room at a time.
As for the over grown garden... A couple of hours of elbow grease and a cheap mower/strimmer and it will be fine

@Violinist64 the council have a responsibility to ensure the house is in safe and tidy liveable condition. She's only viewed while work is being carried out. I'm 99% sure that the council will get the house up to a certain standard before handing over the keys and starting rent charges. Most counsils also give rent free weeks.. I get 4 weeks for example.. That is extra money the op can put into decorating

This means a secure fence and flooring. Those of us who buy a house expect that at the very least.

Buying a house, you don’t really expect anything. Each one is entirely different depending on your budget and area and materials used in the house and previous owners DIY skill level etc. Shit decor and grime isn’t reserved for council houses, owned houses have the same problems. Most people having just put down a £30k deposit and paid thousands in stamp duty don’t have money for made to measure blinds either. It’s not council vs privately owned houses, it’s an expectation issue for OP. Some people might move in and not even want carpets, how can the council account for that? They’d be blamed for wasting money when the tenant rips them out.

I used to own a house, and for the first year we lived there we lived upstairs because the downstairs needed so much doing to it.

I was blaming the attitudes on this thread to social media influencers, but having watched a YouTube house tour today, the woman is saying when they first moved in they didn’t even have internal doors and couldn’t afford to install them for a long time. So I don’t know where this departure from reality comes from.

Not sure why people keep suggesting the council will fix the fences ? Mine won't ,the fences on my estate are all falling down ,the council says it's the tenants responsibility,they did eventually put up 6ft fencing for my disabled child but only because I went through the occupational therapist ,and it took ten months from the assessment to them putting them up with lots of phonecalls and dragging of feet

I agree that it could be social media influencers, they often just show a before and after pic, progress vids are sped up so you don’t properly understand the hard manual work that’s gone in to it, everyone has a brand to sell (frenchic or those made to measure blinds for instance) when there are much cheaper alternatives, and everyone thinks a beautiful home is store bought. It’s not, unless you can afford to go to next and buy everything in the showroom section on day 1. A beautiful home is built up and grows with you.

Hi OP I'm a council tenant, and as far as I'm aware (our Council does) the Council will replace the fence panels and any posts, as they are a security risk, and have the plastering redone if it is not up to scratch