To want to move to a house in a mankier area, but half the rent - council house too...

[OracleInaCoracle]

well, been on the council list for agggges, paying £550pcm on the house we're in at the moment, just had a phone call offereing us a council house. problem is its in a really manky area. but (and heres the kicker) its half the rent that we are paying at the mo. dh really doesnt want to go (because of the area) but i think we should, if only so we can save some cash.

we are both f/t students and money is stupidly tight. struggling for rent this month!

I think I'd stay put. Moving is a PITA and it's not cheap is the main reason.

I mean, you have to get all your stuff changed over - electricity, council tax, gas if you have it, water, phone, etc.

Since you're planning to leave so soon, I just couldn't be arsed.

Plus it would depend on the actual street and even the actual house, as custy points out, it can vary by yards AND by neighbour, even.

You can start out with a good neighbour and then the next month they move and then the council starts using the place as temporary accommodation or puts a neighbour from hell in and just that six months you're there seems like a thousand years.

But mainly I'd stay put because moving sucks.

lissie have you been round there at night? If the area is bad, it's generally worse then.
My friend used to live in quite a bad inner city area - the other roads around her were bad but hers was actually mainly OK. She did have trouble with neighbours but I guess that could happen anywhere. I remember her having mice/rats due to the derelict properties on the street! She was glad to move out of the area though.
I guess I wouldn't move to a worse area if I had a choice, especially if I had kids.

think dh has definately decided no.

definately no. i do understand where he's coming from, but im so disappointed. i liked the house and we could ahve made it ours. im fed up off renting and not being able to decorate or puts ds's fecking swings up because the landlord wont allow it.

Was reading the posts wondering if you had children, from last post you have a ds, so I really think it's the right decision to not move there. You are thinking of all the benefits of living in this house, as I'm sure there are a few, but you may find that the reality of actually living there would be a nightmare with your ds.

If your private rent is only £550 p/m then would you really be saving that much on council rent? It would work out at around £25p/w?? Is it really worth it to live in a really bad area?

I wouldn't have ruled out living in a "manky" area though it sounds like your dh isn't about to budge too quickly. I own a house in what was one of the last cheap areas in London, and I wouldn't choose to live in the cheaper areas, but mainly because they're so far out and their political complexion. We looked at places in slightly "better" areas but they were all flats and dodgy conversions. One estate agent wouldn't show me anything in this area althought I already lived here, but was keen to sell us a second floor mansion flat on a very busy main road, in a "better" area.

Hopefully you will get to move in a few months, and that does change things - if you don't, cheap rent and security of tenure, plus the choices you can make as a council tenant that you can't in private rented, would be more valuable.

Things this area has going for it include good public services and a lot of free stuff for babies that mums in posh areas on the side of the borough have to pay quite a lot of money for. Though that may be taken away in the next few months in the hope that we'll make less of a fuss than our neighbours in middle class areas.

What age is DS?

It's up to you what you do and its a difficult decision, but speaking from my own experience I was in a similar predicament and it all went wrong for us.

We rented privately and as house prices soared we couldn't afford to buy. We got offered a council house in an area we didn't think was too bad. Not an estate...just a council road and there were plenty of lovely residents, but unfortunately we lived next door to an awful family and dead opposite another equally as dreadful family.

We kept ourselves to ourselves, but these people liked everybody to know their business. It was like the Jeremy Kyle show everyday with regular arguments in the street that would go on for hours, usually between these families and drug dealers. There were always big gangs of youths congregating outside, drinking, swearing etc.

Within time these people started to go out of their way to annoy us (perhaps as they got no attention from us) and I had my car damaged 4 times.

The 15 year old boy who lived next door would regularly urinate up against our wall and would flash his genitals to my children who were very young at the time.

We also had nights on end of loud hard banging house music which frightened our children and meant that they couldn't sleep.

I complained to the council, environmental health, the police etc. but nobody could offer any help. We had back up from other residents who were experiencing the same difficulties but there was nothing any of us could do. Infact the council rewarded one of the scum families with a costly loft conversion.

Relations between me and my partner went downhill as we would be at loggerheads as how to deal with these people. My partner would want to go and confront the youths which I worried about because of revenge attacks or worse.

Eventually things panned out well and I had the opportunity to move.

The stress has all gone now and its lovely to lead a normal life.

However saying all this, I lived in a street with 80 houses and 78 houses had lovely residents so there was an upside. In fact they were some of the most decent people I have ever met and were a good support network. I felt guilty leaving them behind.

Can you view this street, perhaps go to the street at different times of day and have a peek at what is going on down there.

we have officially turned it down, the extra £50pw would have come in very handy, but i have to respect dh's wishes. ds is 3 btw.

Take it. You don't have to stay in a council house just because you've been put in one. You could alays rent privately again if you don't like it.

I think you're mad really. We moved from a very 'upmarket' area to an area that was - to put it bluntly (and coin one of my friends favourite phrases) - as rough as a bears arse'. We loved it, peopole were very friendly, down to earth and we made some great friends. We were sorry to leave it to move down here - but picked a similar area here and have some great friends, and an excellent support system etc.

i know, im gutted!

Lissie - if you can avoid it, don't go. Hold out for a nicer area!

I live in an ex-council house in an area with a poor reputation. It was all we could afford to buy as house prices are so high here, and we only have dh's wage coming in. I wasn't hugely keen to move here, but tbh it hasn't lived up to it's poor reputation. I like the house, the majority of the neighbours are fine and it's pretty quiet overall. The graffiti bugs me & I'm working up to tackling the council about it, but that's my only real complaint!