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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Offered council property in terrible area

307 replies

ShouldITakeIt · 03/04/2023 20:27

Single parent of DS who is 2. Currently living with my mum but have been on the council waiting list since he was born. Was offered a flat before but turned it down due to it being in a rough road and have been offered another one this week which is in an even worse area! The flat itself is actually really nice but the estate it is on used to have a really bad reputation and is a deprived area. It was fairly quiet when I visited but pretty run down looking and I saw a few undesirable looking people walking about :( the problem I have is that if I decline this flat, then I'm booted off the list. Private renting isn't an option for me and I'm currently living in my mum's lounge. Would you take the flat? Does anyone have any experience of living in an undesirable area? Help!!! :(

OP posts:
SkaterGrrrrl · 05/04/2023 08:32

Bearlady · 04/04/2023 21:43

I was in the same position myself over a decade ago. I was made homeless due to my ex I had 3 small children with me. None of my family would take us in. I was worried as had never lived on a council estate before. It was actually a lot nicer than I thought it would be. The house was horrible but I cleaned and decorated etc. I remarried and we bought it at a great price with a good discount. We did loads of work on it and now worth 3 times what it was priced at a few years ago. Our circumstances have changed since then so we moved out and are now letting it. I never planned or thought any of that would happen. My cloud had a silver lining.

Buying a council property and profiting from it when the country is shocking low on affordable housing is nothing to be proud about.

purplehair1 · 05/04/2023 08:34

Take it. Even in run down areas there are good people. Like you! I’m sure you will find friends there.

Xenia · 05/04/2023 08:40

There is an interesting moral point - my suggestion if there is no way to get a better paid job and private letting, then move in and if possible sell it for a profit was not popular.. However isn't also taking the place just as "immoral" because she is currently housed in the living room at parent's place and by moving someone on the streets who has greater needs than she does might then lose his place? If taking the flat just as morally wrong, or right as taking it and in due course selling it?

"And selling a council flat to make a profit. That's a pretty stupid - if not immoral - idea."

Highlandflingbling · 05/04/2023 10:14

Buying a council property and profiting from it when the country is shocking low on affordable housing is nothing to be proud about.

100% agree. Should never have happened. I watched the panorama programme the other week and it was sickening the guy who was getting hundreds of thousands a year from taxpayers money for renting out x council properties.

Comii9 · 05/04/2023 10:50

Highlandflingbling · 05/04/2023 10:14

Buying a council property and profiting from it when the country is shocking low on affordable housing is nothing to be proud about.

100% agree. Should never have happened. I watched the panorama programme the other week and it was sickening the guy who was getting hundreds of thousands a year from taxpayers money for renting out x council properties.

What has that got to do with people like OP? I honestly think people who harp on about this argument have the anger directed at the wrong person.

Why would anybody turn down the opportunity to buy a council house especially as a single parent and given the tragic story OP told us..... I'm mean 🙄

Dwrcegin · 05/04/2023 11:02

Take the offer. Keep to yourself if you must.

After a year, try to swap if you aren't happy.

I know people now back at home because they can't afford a private rent and council lists are years long. Take the flat.

Highlandflingbling · 05/04/2023 12:26

Comii9 · Today 10:50
the op Isn’t buying the council house though, is she? shes renting from the council. I was talking about another op. So bore off!! 🙄.

Highlandflingbling · 05/04/2023 12:29

Anyway op, I definitely think you should take the flat. You can always put in for a swap. You can make it into a home. You’ll have your own space. I live in a run down council area in Scotland and have had no problems. Great sense of community. Good luck.

Itsbytheby · 05/04/2023 12:37

It is unclear from your post if the area is unsafe or you just don't like it. Frankly I think if you are living in your mum's lounge you aren't really in a position to turn down a home based on the fact the area is a bit shabby and you don't like the look of people. Obvsiouly if it's unsafe that's another story.

OldFan · 05/04/2023 18:29

In my HA/council you wouldn’t have been offered a top floor flat,

@HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend Wouldn't it depend what top floor means? I mean it could mean first floor in a maisonette, or floor 15 in a tower block. It's not the case that people with kids are only offered a ground floor flat, I'dve thought.

OldFan · 05/04/2023 18:32

And selling a council flat to make a profit. That's a pretty stupid - if not immoral - idea."

I'dve thought it's just a human idea. Everyone wants to improve their lot in life and that of their loved ones.

OldFan · 05/04/2023 18:35

Most council properties don't have much of a market for people to sell on, because people don't want to live in a council block/area.

I was looking at an ex-council flat to rent once and the estate agent said to me 'I mean, who would buy it?' I suppose that was in a block, though.

OldFan · 05/04/2023 18:36

@Bearlady Well done, I'm happy for you. x

Comii9 · 05/04/2023 18:51

OldFan · 05/04/2023 18:35

Most council properties don't have much of a market for people to sell on, because people don't want to live in a council block/area.

I was looking at an ex-council flat to rent once and the estate agent said to me 'I mean, who would buy it?' I suppose that was in a block, though.

That's a block though. You can get odd some lovely ones in well to do areas you wouldn't even know at all. This isn't helpful to OP update though.

You live where you can afford no point living with Jones. Growing up we moved to a posh area ish.... we wondered why the houses were empty and hardly furnished when we walked past. I would rather be comfortable in a council house than struggling to pay a big F off mortgage each month.

userfred · 05/04/2023 19:00

OldFan · 05/04/2023 18:35

Most council properties don't have much of a market for people to sell on, because people don't want to live in a council block/area.

I was looking at an ex-council flat to rent once and the estate agent said to me 'I mean, who would buy it?' I suppose that was in a block, though.

With flats I agree. It's still a good way to get on the market though regardless. With right to buy, they would be so much cheaper. If you modernised it, it could become quite desirable at a good price.

Highlandflingbling · 05/04/2023 19:04

OldFan · Today 18:35
good grief! Aren’t you a snob!

OldFan · 05/04/2023 19:08

good grief! Aren’t you a snob!

@Highlandflingbling No? I don't know where you're getting that from. I'm severely disabled and unable to work for life and I live in a 15 storey tower block in one of the roughest areas of birmingham.

OldFan · 05/04/2023 19:12

I said there's not much of a market for council properties, at least flats in blocks, because there's not much of a market for council properties, at least flats in blocks.

It's a fact, not a value judgement.

I'm not saying they're bad, obviously, I live in one. I'm saying people who buy them hoping to sell them on are often disappointed (a fact, with no moral judgement attached, except that people who buy them hoping to sell them on could be making the wrong decision as it ends up not happening.)

Highlandflingbling · 05/04/2023 19:15

OldFan · Today 19:08
i apologise. Got the wrong end of the stick 🌷💐

OldFan · 05/04/2023 19:35

No worries x

Mimilamore · 05/04/2023 19:39

Take it... people shudder when I say where I live. Never had any trouble, few " locals" look a bit dubious but don't bother us. Pub at end of street can be noisy when live music on but everybody just seems to be getting on with their lives as best they can and once I'm indoors then I have my sanctuary

MichelleJC · 06/04/2023 14:30

This is a difficult one. I understand people saying take the flat don’t be picky etc, but as a Mum to a 2 year old myself I can understand how scary it must be moving into an area that you are not sure you are going to feel
safe in, it’s all well and good if it’s just yourself to think about, but the worry around what to do for the best for your child is understandable.
I would say it’s worth taking a chance on the flat, if you can agree with your Mum that if worst comes to worst and it really isn’t a safe environment for your child, you can go back to live with her again until you come up with something else? You won’t really know until you give it a go, and with any luck any concerns you have about the area will turn out to be fruitless, but at least you will have tried and have the fallback of going back to your Mums if you really need to?

green85 · 11/02/2024 20:29

ShouldITakeIt · 03/04/2023 20:27

Single parent of DS who is 2. Currently living with my mum but have been on the council waiting list since he was born. Was offered a flat before but turned it down due to it being in a rough road and have been offered another one this week which is in an even worse area! The flat itself is actually really nice but the estate it is on used to have a really bad reputation and is a deprived area. It was fairly quiet when I visited but pretty run down looking and I saw a few undesirable looking people walking about :( the problem I have is that if I decline this flat, then I'm booted off the list. Private renting isn't an option for me and I'm currently living in my mum's lounge. Would you take the flat? Does anyone have any experience of living in an undesirable area? Help!!! :(

id decline it sorry.... next there will be keyed cars and broken windows to deal with - aim high

Bluebuddha10 · 11/02/2024 20:57

@ShouldITakeIt I would be inclined to take it. Every area unfortunately has a downside. I live in SH, been in home for over 20 years. Not a great area, ups and downs, but there are definitely positives, it's not all negative. Raised 2 kids, they've turned out great. Both went to university. And at the end of the day, you make your home lovely, once you close the door to the world, it's your space, you make it as lovely and as homely as you want it. Sometimes things happen in the area. But it's also fine most days too. No area is perfect, unless you're mega rich and live in the middle of nowhere! Like other people said, you could look at swapping at some point. But it might just be ok........

Beezknees · 11/02/2024 21:03

This thread is 10 months old so I imagine OP has already made a decision!