to think i will never get a council house?

[bellver888]

been on the waiting list 2 years - showing 30 in bidding systems
DV occurred up to September 2020 when i forced my exp out the house.
rent is 600 and i cannot afford it now there’s just me and DS.
Landlord is shit, I have no heating, riddled with damp and window hanging out of pane. It’s a 3rd floor flat. HSA (housing standards authority) keep saying they’re contacting my landlord and he’s sending someone round, they never come.
PTSD is kicking in and i can’t go in my bedroom without vomiting and panicking as that’s where the abuse occurred
poor credit and no guarantor and no way i can afford private rent as average is 600-700 in my area and i need support
severe depression, OCD and anxiety
im getting 1140 in UC and im in arrears with everything, DHP was rejected and can’t appeal

Every single time when I phone up I get “keep bidding you’re moving up the list” yet I’m really not. I can’t take anymore of this, I hate my life and I don’t think I have a future at all.

@movingonup20 ive enquired today and I’m waiting for someone to email me back, shame side council are utter dog shite

Why do people like 20mum bother? Is it a sense of superiority that they are smugly ok?

Bellver888, I have no real advice or help but I absolutely think you are being treated appallingly. Your landlord sounds like an absolute arse.

I will sit in my damp freezing shit hole house and shed no tears cos im not bariatric (yet ;))

OP I've just ready your thread and I'm so angry on your behalf.
You need a plan, you've already had some amazing advice but I think it's time to start making complaints.
Complain to the council that they are not giving you landlord a kick up the arse. Email them telling them this is a complaint and you would like to see a copy of their complaints procedure. That should start a fire under them. Is there no complaint you can make about your landlord too not sure if that even exists.
Please dont give up on uni. It will be a few tough years but will be worth it.

Why do people like 20mum bother? Is it a sense of superiority that they are smugly ok

Just merchant bankers.

Got some response from my MP. He’s phoning me today to chat about what’s going on and why the housing have left someone at risk of DV and serious assault in a home which is unsafe.

Hopefully he’ll have a pop at the council for me. I’m still in the 60’s for these houses and they’ve only been on for 2 days. The man downstairs has reported a leak from my flat and obviously cos it’s someone else affected landlord sent a plumber out who has taken my sink out in the kitchen with no timescale of when he’ll be back, I felt so sorry for the plumber as he’s just contracted by the landlord and he literally said he’s no instruction to come back as of yet. I haven’t heard anything, phoned my landlord 5 times and he’s buttoned me every time.

OMG you have no kitchen sink!!!

Phone that woman again and tell her the landlord is refusing to answer your calls and he's taken out your sink!!!

@20mum Go away. We are not playing housing hell top trumps. We are addressing OP’s very particular and unpleasant circumstances.

Nobody is interested in your multi-paragraph whataboutery.

Are you still certain @20mum is smug?
Even more so having read your latest post, yes.

@20mum will u seriously just go away? ur doing my head in, sorry im not disabled and nah im not watching anything about disabled people being abused because i don’t want to.

just seriously go AWAY. I have never once intended to push anyone aside or grab, and don’t come on here chatting shit about domestic abuse considering I endured hell of it for 2 years, I’ve been knocked out clean in my own home, been ordered to put my fingers in doors so my ex could slam the door on to them and break them, I’ve had him cut chunks out of my hair. The incident which has given me PTSD was being beaten unconscious and having to phone my own ambulance, and it did indeed prevent me from calling the police so don’t even go there. You do not know me, you have no idea of any of my circumstances so I’m asking you to seriously STOP commenting. My credit is shit because my ex partner took loans and credit cards out in my name and took all my wages/benefits so I couldn’t pay them off.

Forgive me that I’m “grabbing” but cleaning my own blood and hair off a carpet, walls and mirrors has taken a toll.

You see I quite clearly know nothing about housing or vulnerable people or issues with social housing/private rentals/grabby landlords. I've only worked in the homelessness and housing sector for 12 years.

I do know when someone is attempting, for some unknown reason, to make person who is clearly being treated appallingly feel worse.

She’s been deleted. Thanks MNHQ 🙏🏻.

Yay to the @MNHQ gods xx

Thank goodness, I reported not sure if anyone else did.

I should think everyone did.

Annoying little psycho.

My God, this is appalling. I'm so sorry you are suffering so much OP. I hope your MP will take up your case and get you and baby safely housed.

Please, don't give up on your studies. Your education is a glimmer of hope for you. It will open up opportunities and lead to the lovely life you and your DS deserve.

A phone call from your MP does sound very positive news. It can be hard to engage MPs. Fingers crossed for you.

My MP is really good at engaging with the public to be fair. Shout out Andrew Gwynne!

Feel so sorry for you, your situation is appalling, I am a land lord and would never treat my tenants like this, can you speak to CAB because I know my contracts have a clause in, that if I do not fix major problems (which yours are) the tenant can fix them, provide an invoice and can legally withhold the cost of repairs from the rent, as a refund for this, does not state what circumstances this includes, (cos as their my properties I want them to be kept in good order so never had this) this clause is standard for the letting agent that manages mine. I know it wont help with the long term problem of re-housing but may help with the short term damp, broken window and no sink issues and done this way is not rent arrears. Hope you get some good news soon

@bellver888

HSA are our councils version of like environmental health :)

I have no connections to any other areas, therefore get rejected half the time. The only other option is to private rent in areas around 1-2 hours away where I don’t know anyone. I’m already isolated and I’m frightened to be further on my own, plus my bar job is local.

I will put a disclaimer I am fully aware I’m not the worse off and I don’t claim to be

If you present at any local authority with a child they have a duty to offer you a safe space to sleep.

I can really feel your desperation and you feeling at your wits end. You have mentioned wanting to go and asking to be sectioned...I know the threshold for mental health services is so high, services are patch and often poor, and sadly I don’t think that being in hospital would be a good experience. That said, is your GP able to refer you to healthy Minds for therapy?

I think it’s really important that you don’t act on your current negative cognitions (nothing will get better, there is no future) and persist with your degree. That is your long-term ticket to a better situation than this.

I know you have your mums support in your area but would you be able to look at private rental properties around Whalley Range, Longsight etc? There are often big terraces that have been converted into multiple flats and they can be had for about £500 a month and not too picky about credit- yes they’re not the greatest but you would be close to uni. Once you’re a student again a whole new world of support will open up, including their student support service and increased financial support like bursaries.

Today I escalated my complaint to the local gov ombudsman, as I’m pissed off with the final response, hopefully I get somewhere.

The private rented property I applied for I wasn’t successful which isn’t a shock to me.
I’m at the doctors at half 6 tonight as I got in the shower this morning and there was a massive clump of hair in the plug hole, which frightened me. I’m putting uni on the back burner I think, I don’t think I’ll have anywhere new to live by September

Sorry I keep coming back to this thread. It’s like my diary, I can’t stand my life at the moment and I really do just want it to stop. Nothing good ever happens to me, except my beautiful son, but that’s it. I wish ex would’ve killed me.