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.

First off, how old are your children? I think there's a stipulation somewhere that a boy and girl siblings should not share a room together over a certain age for privacy reasons.

Get the diagnosis for your son first of all. Is he classed as having special needs? Get all the support you are offered if he gets the dx, since this might help you get further up the housing lists.

Are you in danger if defaulting on the mortgage payments and losing your home?
Go onto your local council's website and join the list for housing. Then you're going to have to climb it.

Best of luck! 🤞

You need to go for a shared ownership house. Then you can use UC for the rent element, and port your mortgage across for the owned element.

I would either move a bed into the living room for you two, OR one of you shares with your daughter and the other with your son.

You have to keep your daughter safe from her brother.

Where is this magical land where the council is building loads of new houses and you can get one with no waiting? Because there are many people in desperate housing need who would move there.

And advising OP to have more children to get rehoused? Do me a favour.

This is a really good suggestion!!

It is worth applying and also looking at HA.

I was on the council list with an estimated 20 year wait. I happened to be in the civic centre and I saw an advert for a HA new build.

Because I have disabilities and will eventually be a permanent wheelchair user I fitted the category and got a home.

You could also look at shared ownership In fact you appear to be the type of family it is made for, you are currently adequately housed because your children are young but you won't be soon.

Selling your existing home would give you enough money to buy part of a home. Some housing associations will buy houses so it is worth looking at whether you could sell your 2 deb to a HA and get a shared ownership 3 bed.

www.propertyinvestmentsuk.co.uk/sell-my-house-housing-association/#:~:text=Housing%20associations%20may%20also%20buy,with%20a%20tenant%20in%20situ.

Would it be possible to build a small extension at the back of your property and make it a bedroom?

🤣🤣🤣

what with? The magic fairy builders that don't charge you a penny???

Be careful of the rules in your local authority. If you dispose of your property to rent you could be deemed intentionally homeless.

I’d put a sofabed in the living room. You can still keep your clothes etc in the biggest bedroom.

Do not do this.

Yes, councils have rules on who can share etc in social housing, but the OP is not going to walk out of a property they own and straight into a HA/CH!

They're going to have to go into private rented, which means whatever they can afford in the area they're living in and as they have crappy credit ratings, thats unlikely to be a lavish 3 bed property, its likely to be a shitty property that 'better' tenants do not want, so 2 bed flats way above ground floor, 1 bed pokey little starter homes etc.

Then unless there are other factors, the wait on the council list could be decades long. The kids could very easily be grown and left home before the OP gets a council property!

It is absolute madness to leave the security of an owned property to the insecurity of a private rental unless there is no other choice (ie, house repossessed by the bank).

Id just contact your local authority and get on the register. Only they can advise what their criteria is and if your circumstances change later down the line your situation will be reassessed and your priority will change if need be. Lots of weight is given to the band your put in and also the length of time on the register so the sooner your on the list the sooner they can provide you a house.

Where I am (midlands) if you own a property it's an immediate not allowed on the list unless you're in a serious life threatening situation.

As others have mentioned too, don't sell as you'll be deemed intentionally homeless and you won't be allowed on the list.

Talk to StepChange-if you enter a IVA you will have repaid an agreed proportion of your debts in 6 years, the rest are written off, and you can start to repair your credit history.

I think a sofa bed in the lounge for you and DH is probably the best option here.
You could also put in a sliding door rather than a traditional opening one which would allow you to split the DC’s room.
Or split the larger bedroom? There has to be a way around this without selling which sounds like a terrible idea having read the suggestions on this thread.

This really depends on the area and certainly isn't true for Scotland.

This is your best advice 👍

I think your best bet would be to do something creative with one of the rooms so two people sleep in a room that also serves as a living room.

How much equity do you have in the house currently as I think that might make a big difference on the advice, I'm guessing you've been there 10 years? It might be worth posting a mortgage/debt monthly breakdown, as people might have suggestions, as on the face of it considering how many people end up in debt purely from the costs associated with going to a new private rental after a landlord kicks them out, it seems mad to sell

It feels like the issue is the poor credit rating and debt. Selling the house doesn’t feel like a solution - I think it will remove the only safety net you do have. Have you spoken to a debt councillor? Are you still accumulating debt or are you now paying some off. Are you in arrears on the mortgage? If not have you spoken to them about reducing the payment through perhaps an extension. Could you move into something bigger but the same price and port the mortgage that you have (you’d have to be up to date with mortgage payments).

An Iva follows you for a really long time and isn’t the best solution for most people. They would desperately struggle to get a bigger house if they went down this route. They can also come after them for the equity in the house if it increases in value in the future.

You’d have to maintain or lower the loan to value allowed by the product that you took out. Ie if your original mortgage was a 80% LTV, if you moved to a cheaper property, you couldn’t suddenly have 90% LTV. You’d have to give some of the equity to reduce the mortgage to within the 80% threshold.

As long as you stayed within those bounds, yes you could do what you liked with the equity (including paying off the debts)

This is only if you are up to date with your mortgage payments though.

Most (but certainly not all) allow porting, so you would need to check.

This looks a good idea

OP I would be wary of shared ownership, it’s not the silver bullet some people think!

Can you share a floorplan of your house? We could then share any ideas for potential reconfiguration.

I think you’d be mad to sell your own home. (I am a housing officer in a large council )
Firstly , Go and get debt advice .
Secondly, you are assuming you’ll get a “house” but what if you get a 3 bed maisonette or flat ?
These often have communal access and endless ASB issues. You might not have a garden , and you’d forever be worried about the noise your own children would be making whilst listening the noise of others in the block .
Thirdly , to be eligible for council housing you’d have to sell and move to rental - and you’d be at the mercy of the landlord hoping he doesn’t end the tenancy during your long wait for a council place.
You potentially could end up having numerous house moves which could really unsettle your children, before you get your council property

In my work I deal with cases like yours regularly and almost always the people found it harder than they thought it would be to get a council house and had made many house moves in the process,
The majority would give their right arm for the security you’ve got - despite the lack of space .
Think long and hard if that’s what you really want .