Successful bid on council property

[TheTartfulLodger]

Posting for traffic as the housing forum is slow.

Possibly soon not to be a Tartful Lodger but a Tartful Tenant.

Miraculously I was placed in position 1 on a council property the weekend and was still position 1 when bidding closed at midnight. Does anyone have experience with how long it usually takes to be contacted for viewing please? It's Redbridge if that helps?

Yes I know 'why don't you call them, we can't tell you', but you can't because they won't tell you anything and it's possible someone on here can actually tell me because they've been where I am with bidding themselves recently.

The problem is -

A) I'm seeing multiple incidents where people have still not been contacted weeks later,

And

B) My anxiety is through the roof to the point I can't eat and feel sick because In more than 3 years of bidding I've never been in position 1 and this property is my absolute dream come true. It's really everything I dreamt of. I'm frightened to believe this is even happening.

Equal measures of scared and anxious, more so because I made the mistake of getting too invested when I realised nobody was out bidding me and I know I'll be devastated if this doesn't work out 😭

I'm just really unfamiliar with how the system works and don't know what happens if you get to position 1 because they don't really tell you much on the website. Has anyone been bidding on council property lately and got to position 1? Was there a long wait to be invited to view?

I feel so nervous I have to keep running to the loo! Really grateful for any feedback , even the ones telling me to just call them and ask. ☺️

Yes, I know I'm being unreasonable for using two emojis in one post. I'll take that one like a woman.

Title edited by MNHQ on OP's request

Still slowly making a home for myself. Loving the basement space so much that I bought some shelving for storage and my condenser dryer arrived this week so I can dry my washing when I can’t hang it outside. By leaving the door open the heat also comes upstairs into the flat and helps to warm it up.

And the kitchen. I felt strangely exposed on the ground floor so I was going to get a wood effect blind to match my varnished wood floors but as they are too far away from the kitchen window I thought it would look odd so decided on a grey blind to match the kitchen floor instead. Seriously need to wash that floor too! Next job curtain rails for the living room bay window so I can hang the lovely lined curtains I was given. Also still need a sofa but I’ve been given a discount at a nearly new warehouse through the council so as soon as they have something suitable in stock I can buy one. Then rugs all round. but I need to wait til I have a bit more money for those $$$ 😂

Love the pictures OP! Keep posting updates please. Your wooden floors are beautiful.

It's looking great! I'm so thrilled for you and love seeing your updates on making this your home

This is a great update have been following since the beginning .

love the pictures .

I moved in like you . Couldn’t do it all at once a room at a time

I always enjoy being able to post what are just little things but major achievements for me. Had some news yesterday regarding my UC review and I will be getting some extra money each month now which is going to help a lot with the flat.

Oh, not sure how I managed to quote myself there 😳🤣

I'm so pleased things are working out financially for you. Great news!

Oh goodness this thread has warmed my heart, happy new home to you it's lovely so much potential, I have floor envy too

Ah it looks fab now! I got a cheap rug from B and Q, was £35 I think? Won't last forever as it's not machine washable but is nice and cosy.

But the floors are beautiful as they are.

You know that's what I'm thinking anyway. I love how the floors look and don't want to hide them completely. Maybe just a nice one for the living room and hallway at first.

And finally managed to fit my curtain rails after lots of wrangling and almost giving up. These lovely lined curtains were given to me on Freegle by a man in a really big house who said they were in his attic doing nothing and when I said was getting my own place soon he gave them to me. They must have been so expensive and are thickly lined to keep the warm in. I love them ❤️

It is going to be so toasty indeed this winter x

Congratulations on your house Tartful!

I had to wait 6 months for mine....it's a newbuild, and the builder refused to sign off on it for that long for his own nefarious reasons. During which time one of my future neighbours gave birth, so they had to move I with a newborn.

The floorboards look great- definitely the best option!

I have made some peg loom rugs for our house- I don't know if you like making things? It's very easy, the hardest bit is collecting all the fabric you need. Attached is a photo of the rug, also with DS doing something totally unfathomable.

Oh I’ve never heard of these rugs before. I will have a read up and see if it is something I could do. I can put things together and do bits around the house so certainly a possibility 😃

What a lovely thread. I work for a HA and it’s so nice to read about the other side of my work. The Void process can take a long time, particularly if there is extensive work to complete but trust me, the repairs teams will have had a LOT of pressure to get the work completed ASAP!

Im glad you’ve decided to embrace the natural flooring, when I read your post about saving for laminate I hoped I wasn’t too late to advise against it-if there are any issues, like leaks etc then if the laminate is damaged then your HA wouldn’t generally repair or replace it so we never recommend it and always advise on carpets, they can at least be rolled up and cleaned if necessary.

I wish you so much happiness and contentment in your new home.

I bet that was an awkward rail to fit but definitely worth it. I think they look great!

My friend does a lot of fixer upper stuff and the first thing she said when she saw the floors was it’s such a shame they would take so much work to look decent. They did look pretty bad cosmetically but once I made progress with the sander I kind of got too far to change my mind and had to continue. I certainly don’t regret it. They look so much better than I expected.

I couldn’t get one to fit completely and found a little connection device online you can join two tracks together with in the middle. But god it was awkward 😂

Well It is that time of year now and I decided to dress my front door and put some lights up around the patio doors. I love it ❤️

That's lovely, OP. Enjoy Christmas in your new home

I normally can't be arsed with christmas decs but that does look really lovely! :D

I still don't really have living room furniture and it will take a while to sort that out so I'm using decorations as a distraction really 😂

Have a look for local Freecycle or giveaway groups on Facebook, people give away all sorts of good stuff

So it’s been a while. Christmas was very quiet but I wasn’t too well so didn’t want a lot of fuss. I’ve saved hard and did something absolutely crazy. I bought a beautiful antique Welsh Dresser for my living room. I would never usually spend so much on a piece of furniture but i love it. It will work beautifully with the high ceilings. Arriving next week ! So all I am wanting now is a cosy sofa to curl up on with a throw. I found a place that does nearly new seconds which do clearances every week so it shouldn’t be too long before the right one turns up.

Oh that's really lovely!