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.

Watching that council estate programme on channel 4, it's shocking what work prospective council tenants are expected to undertake to get these properties into a liveable condition. Often many of these people are already vulnerable, for whatever reason, it must be overwhelming for them to know where to start. At least if you're buying a property, you know what you're letting yourself in for and are generally in a better financial position to obtain a mortgage and deposit in the first place even if you are a bit cash strapped for a while. It just encourages the cycle of poverty, making poor people get into debt, I imagine many get trapped into high interest debt, just to get their house safe and functional. The council should make the houses just ready to move furniture in, even furnished or part furnished with white goods depending on the need of the tenant.

I think the problem is social media shows us only perfection. And if you haven't had to maintain or furnish a house before how would you know where to find cheap things or whether a blind is £10 Or £100? The Op has got some quotes from shops that do it all.

It may seem overwhelming but The best investment will be a tool box and drill driver. I can't believe waiting for a fence to be fixed for months. Some bits from B&Q would probably make it safe in an afternoon. If you can't afford to pay someone to do everything then it's a bit of DIY.

I'll throw this in too Best ever DIY book

I can see you've said garden safety is essential. Are the fence posts ok? If so can you buy and slot in standard size panels from a garden shop / b&q? Ours were super easy to slot into (ugly) concrete posts that were already in place. Then as winter is coming just spend a couple of hours cutting back the worst over a few weekends and it'll soon be manageable. Maybe you can borrow a mower and other tools from a friend?
If you're able to get credit we got our carpets on a 4 year no interest deal from carpets direct I think. Cheaper than credit cards as we were sure we could pay them off.
We used temporary blinds - a combination of baby black out blinds on suction cups that we had already (check eBay?) and a company called blinds in a box (but can't remember how expensive they were - they lasted well).
Good luck OP. I hope your move goes smoothly and you're happy in your new home.

My friend was given a payment card ( to use in certain shops) to buy the bare necessities like the cooker and beds, when she moved into her housing association property. I think the fences were replaced by the association to keep her son ( profoundly autistic) safe. So you may get a voucher too - I don’t know how it works. But as others have said - you can’t do it all at once - you start off with the basics and gradually over years afford a little at a time.

Again the council will not necessarily replace fences ,my son has severe autism and learning disabilities ,we had to have an OT assessment that recommended putting up 6ft fencing in my garden as a safety measure before the council would replace the fences and it took ten months from the assessment to them putting them up.