Council housing eligibility

[user125]

I know this post is probably going to receive a lot of hate so I have changed my username. Please know I am not trying to be controversial or begging etc.
Me and DH were lucky enough to have put enough savings aside in our very early twenties to buy a small two bedroom terrace. Originally it was our plan to be here for 5 years and then move on to something bigger. Life had other plans. After struggling with infertility and lots of treatment we are now a family of 4. Currently the children share a room and me and DH have the other room. One of our DC's is awaiting an asd and ADHD assessment. He is a gorgeous sweet boy but struggled with being unregulated a lot and can get very violent towards his sister. This is a regular occurrence and is getting worse as he gets older.

We are desperate to be able to give them their own room but we have an appalling credit history and are unable to get approved on a higher mortgage. Someone mentioned applying for council housing. I assumed we would not be eligible because we own our home (with two mortgages on it). I don't know what else we can do. The downstairs is not big enough for me and DH to move a bed in to so the kids could have their own rooms. Would we be eligible or would it be a case of being on the list for years and years and never getting any further?

I know there are people in much higher need than us as we have a roof over our heads, but I need to be able to give both children a safe space of their own.

Its far from ideal but if your son is violent to his sister then I would put 2 single beds in each roon and basically have an adult share a room with a child each.

Have Adults just use the rooms for sleeping and basically let the kids have separate rooms until you can either afford to move or become eligible for a council property.

But you'd potentially be in private rented for years, waiting to get a council place. It may never happen. And private rent is insecure, the landlord can want the house back then you have to find somewhere else in budget, near work and school, moving costs etc, possibly several times. And rent can go up. I understand your issues but you'd be making yourselves so insecure.

@Whaleandsnail6 this is pretty much the set up we are doing at the moment. DS is in with me and DH is sleeping on a bunk bed with DD bless him. We are just trying to do the best we can with what we have.

Please bear in mind that you may find it hard to rent privately with adverse credit so even if you sold you may be in a position you can’t get private rental!
We had to pay deposit plus six months rent so nearly 10k to be able to privately rent due to adverse credit history.

did you get into debt because you cannot afford bills? Because that isn’t going to get any better without a change in circumstances. If it was for a one off expense then it might well be better staying put as there would be light at the end of the tunnel.

Is the kids room big enough for a dividing wall to give them both a bit of privacy for now

@huuskymam no unfortunately their room isn't big enough. It will only just fit a bunk bed, with two singles the door wouldn't be able to close.

@9fthighfence it started because we couldn't afford a big expense that we occurred with the house and then because we couldn't afford repayment on a loan things escalated and we unfortunately got in to a "borrow from Peter to pay Paul" situation.

It's definitely worth checking out what the criteria is for your locality.

Here you wouldn't get onto the list with a house or a rental agreement at all. You would have to literally be kicked out then show up at the council offices and get put into temporary accommodation for a year or 2 minimum.

If you sold your house then they wouldn't let you onto the list for a year at least, and that's only if you were considered homeless ie sleeping on a relatives couch.

Some places may be less strict.

It's worth exploring all of your options though, see what grants and funding you may be able to get when your ds is diagnosed, you may get enough money to split one of your rooms in half to give him his own space.

I don’t think selling your house in the hope of being housed by the council is a good idea. Could you have a sofa bed in living room and the children each get a bedroom? Or maybe rent out your house and rent a 3 bed flat or house in a cheaper area?

As others have said, you are currently not considered over-crowded because you would only qualify for 2 bedrooms if you apply for social housing. However, if you do go down the social housing route then it may be worth looking into whether your DS needs his own room for medical reasons, in which case you would need 3 bedrooms and would currently be over-crowded - but owning your own home will probably impact your rating.

As others have said, moving into rented accommodation is not necessarily going to make it easier to get into social housing. The council's assessment of your priority will likely be based on your housing circumstances, not your financial situation (unless you have high income/savings).

Why don't you talk to a Housing Advisor at your council? They can advise you on all of this.

If your credit report is that bad, you’ll need a guarantor for private renting. Have you got one? It’s not a choice I’d make.

You won’t count as overcrowded for another 8 years and in 6 years, adverse credif history will be completely wiped, so you’d be better to focus on the financial situation than the housing one.

The barrier for getting a room for your son for medical reasons before then will be pretty high, especially as he doesn’t have his official diagnosis’ yet.

The thing to bear in mind about 'overcrowding' is that that, on its own, is very rarely enough to get you rehoused, unless there are other needs (eg technically homeless, staying with family and overcrowded)

To give an example, years ago when I worked with homeless families the maximum number of points they could be awarded for overcrowding was 15, 5 per room needed, up to three bedrooms short. The minimum number of points realistically needed to ever be offered a property was 80 points. So overcrowding could give you an advantage if they were 'additional' points, but were never enough on their own.

Sorry to be negative just don't want you to sell your house unless unless you have a realistic chance! Your local housing office should be able to give you an idea how things look in your area.

Can you not fashion the bunk beds into a room divider for the bigger of the 2 rooms? There are lots of images online about how to do that.

Absolutely do this. As a home owner you can only have the number of bedrooms you can afford, even if that means opposite gender children sharing.

As a council tenant they legally have to give you a bigger property to fit your growing family and boys and girls can’t share over a certain age.

Cheap rent, no risk of being kicked out by a fickle landlord and a bigger property than you could afford on the private market - what’s not to love?!

If me and him indoors hadn’t been such mugs saving and scrimping through our 20s and 30s I’d be doing the same. Instead we have a growing family and a tiny property so will have to move to the arse end of nowhere soon and lose our community and support network.

Do not sell your home.

It will be seen as deprivation of assets and you won’t get on the council list.

If by chance you do get on it, you’ll be so far down the list that you’ll be paying years of private rent, which is going to be very expensive and you’re still not guaranteed to get a home.

The council list is very long and the homes that are offered are not the best.
The good ones are taken by those whose needs are the greatest.

By all means apply, but don’t rely on it and definitely don’t give up the security of your home by selling it.

For now, I would create a bedroom out of the front room, so your kids have have separate rooms.

You don't need a diagnosis to apply, it's based on how much extra support your child needs with their daily activities than a child of the same age with no additional needs. Such as help with dressing, washing, eating, getting from one place to another etc.

That's not true. The council do not 'legally have to give you a bigger property' - there is a finite number of council houses, especially bigger family houses, they can't give what they haven't got and the demand for family houses way outstrips the supply. Also there are no longer necessarily tenancies for life, they can be for 5 years then reviewed and if your circumstances have improved you have to move out. Don't encourage OP to risk her family's security if you don't know the facts.

This is terrible advice. The council won't automatically house you after selling your home & you may have to live in temporary accommodation until somewhere can be found for you. Not a risk you can really take with a child who has SEN and is violent to his sibling already - never mind all being cooped up in a B&B together. I understand the situation is frustrating, trust me I'm also frustrated with the lack of available housing options & the fact I don't have a secure tenancy - but you don't make yourself homeless by choice.

Is your room bigger? If yes I would suggest swopping with them, and you an DH get a trundle bed set up in their room to give more space during day

You should check your local authorities guidelines as they are all different. You can also apply to other nearby areas if you have close relatives living in them and you are allowed to be on more than one council list at a time.

Our local council does allow homeowners to apply if someone in the household has a disability that is made worse due to their current housing situation.

Also, if there are any other reasons why you need adapted housing ie wet room this would give you a higher priority in our council area.

Then if your children are unable to share a room due to disability this would also place you in a higher band.

It's definitely worth exploring.

This is a great idea, could you buy a 3 bed house in a cheaper area? You could port your existing mortgage across meaning you don't have to apply for a new one if you're not asking for additional funds. We did this when I moved house last year.

Depends on your council as to whether or not you could go on the list as you own a house.

18 years??? That's crazy. Have you contacted them to check where you are on the list? We were privately renting in a desirable area and got a lovely house within weeks of joining the list. Hopefully you'll get somewhere soon

Check to see if you can get on the list and if your son has an OT, ask for evidence that the house isn't suitable for his needs.

My son is disabled, though we were renting and due to his needs we were able to get the highest priority and were only waiting for a month for our council house. We were able to get a lot of evidence from OT and his consultant.

I think I'm missing something here - why would you use the proceeds of the sale to pay off debt rather than to buy a 3 bed in a cheaper area with your mortgage ported across?