Council house offer

[JazzieJazzie]

I’m currently on the list for a council house and I’ve had to tick two areas or more areas (suburbs) as preference. On the form I highlighted the areas within suburbs that I could move to due to my son being in comp and needing to easily access his school himself in the morning. Just had an email stating that the council have to put me down for all the areas on the list which is worrying as my son might not be able to access his school easily.

Has anyone got any experience of being offered a council house? Apparently you only have one offer and if you turn it down that is it and you go to the bottom of the list again.

Some of the areas are in very deprived areas too which is a worry.

Has anyone been offered a council house and what kind of condition is it in? Also concerned that what I’m offered will be in a bad condition and need a lot of work.

Thanks!

You are more likely to get a flat quicker then a house

As everyone wants a house and garden

Rather then a 3/4th floor flat with no open space /garden

Hi I became homeless 4 years ago so I was put in the priority banding. Band A. However with homeless final offers they are only given one offer and they usually offer what you have bid on if you are at the top of the list. I was just offered a 2 bedroom house not in the nicest area but Iam forever grateful. I’ve lived in 4 different temporary accommodation in the past 4 years I was homeless. So I would advice you to only bid on properties you are interested in.

What band have you been placed in? I am assuming with only 1 refusal you are in immediate need of housing?

Hi, I process housing applications for a living. In our area we work on a choice based lettings system where you can bid on up to 3 properties each week. When you fill your application in with us you select your areas of preference however this is for our own stats (council use it to find the popular areas where they may build more houses) and you are shown every property available in the borough to bid on.

If you have a homless priority you usually get 1 reasonable offer and if you refuse you’re suspended for 6 months and your priority removed so we always advise people to only bid on what they would want to move in to. Our system shows you the street name the properties are in and you would have time over a weekend to go and have a look around the area to see if it would be suitable before placing your bid.

Of the areas you’ve listed, how far realistically could your son be away from his school? Lots of kids in my area (big city) travelled for an hour plus, often with changes of public transport. It’s not ideal but it’s worth it to have a secure/ affordable place to live.

Yes the borough I live in. We are only given one
final offer, if it gets rejected they’ll remove you from
the list and also lose the homeless status that’s if the persons homeless x

If there's only 2 of you I'd be shocked if you got offered a house, surely it would be a flat?
It varies by areas though. If you're in London I'd say you've probably got no chance.

There’s 3 of us, myself and my two children.

Thats what I’ve just found out - I don’t get to bid on properties and just get one offer.

Presumably living in a household witnessing/suffering DV is potentially more harmful than changing schools?

I’ve done a bit of research and caught a bus to a couple of the areas on my list, they approximately 4.5/5 miles from his school and around 25 minutes on the bus. Most areas we could make it work apart from one or two which have no direct bus routes. It’s a lottery!

They are still processing my application so I’m not sure of the banding yet but I do have a priority need due to DV. I think I’m looking at just one offer of a property, just hoping I can make the logistics work.

Glad to hear you were offered a house. Yes there’s a good few suburbs within my city that are known to be more deprived, not so nice areas. I’m in a decent(ish!) area now so it’s a bit worrying where I could end up, I did visit one of the more deprived areas the other day and it wasn’t too bad, quite a few decent looking new builds and fairly close to amenities and bus routes. It’s always possible to house swap eventually too.

Do you know roughly how long applications take for those with homeless priority? For a 3 bedroom house? I know it’s difficult to say depending on areas. Thanks x

For info: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/council_housing_association/how_to_apply_for_council_housing/how_long_does_it_take_to_get_a_council_home

All local authorities have extremely long waiting times for council housing. In the city nearest to me, depending on your situation, you could be waiting up to 10 years for a large family home and up to four years for a studio, one or two bedroom property.
In some ways it might be better if your DS has finished his secondary education before your LA makes you an offer as there will be significantly less chance of you having to turn it down if it's not in your desired area and being removed from their list.
Good luck! 😊

Oh my gosh, I really hope I’m not waiting that long. My original plan was to remain in the marriage until my oldest left school however I cannot remain living with my husband/married for much longer. I agree it would definitely be easier when he’s left school and potentially I can be housed anywhere.

I was told by the council that the wait could potentially be 4-6 months which isn’t bad at all. Hard for them to say though, there’s lots of council properties in this area but one needs to become available.

Try not to worry before knowing the facts. My area you bid and can turn down 3 properties if you don't like them/they aren't suitable. Many on MN won't like this, but I've ended up with a brand new Bellway property. It's stunning. Yes you can get address before bidding (in my case, I was only told the name of the estate as it wasn't finished being built yet), so you know what you're bidding on. Good luck.

Ahh well done, that sounds fantastic! You were really lucky to get that! I’d love a new build, even just an “old” new build ha ha. Although some council houses are nice solid houses and are bigger than new builds. I can’t bid unfortunately, my council has stated that I get one offer only.

Sorry, I hadn't finished the thread when I commented. I'm in an area where loads of new estates are being built, and a huge amount per estate are allocated to HA. Do you know if any are being built in your area? With a 4-6 month wait you could get lucky. I wish you all the best 💐

I’m keeping an eye out for any new developments. It would be amazing to be considered for one ☺️ I do worry that I’ll end up in a place that needs a lot of work which I don’t have the budget or time for.

I never would have dreamed that I'd have what I have now, so try to stay positive. And as somebody has said above, any work should be cosmetic only, which they can provide b&q vouchers for. I've actually never heard of the system your area has in place with only one offer available, so I really hope it works out for you.

There’s no rough timescales I could give you I’m afraid, it’s all completely variable on what properties become available each week and who else bids and what banding/how long they’ve been on the list.