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.

Where does it state the tenancies are reviewed after 5 years? Are you able to enlighten please

See here:

https://www.home-link.org.uk/choice/content.aspx?pageid=80

Not all council tenancies but some are now 5 years then review.

Presumably to get away from the 'home for life' era where people moved into 3 bed council homes with a young family then stayed for on 40 more years and single pensioners live in the house they've had for decades and families can't get housed.

@Namechangetry Thank you x

You own your own home, you are very very unlikely to be eligible for council housing. Sell your home then you might be

You cannot become verified to bid on social
housing even as a bottom band D if you own a home of any type either in the UK or abroad. You would not get past the application stage

It's not council housing that's unfair, it's private housing that's unfair. We either need to build more council housing or have much tighter regulation on private rentals (and yes, that probably would push some landlords out of the market. Whether that's a bad thing is up for debate) so that people renting privately have more security.

Could you save for a loft conversion?

Could you do a garden room?

Old thread

Sorry - just realised this is an old thread

In my area anyone can set up an account to bid on a house but it would only be enough rooms to meet need. If your DC are under 10 they would be expected to share so it would only be a 2 bed you could apply for. Although anyone can bid, there is a banding system. If you don't have a priority band you have next to no chance. Priority banding (A) is for vulnerable people who are roofless unintentionally, band B is for vulnerable people who are sofa surfing unintentionally. I don't know about the bands further down, I only know of these bands as I work with vulnerable people. I do know even these people struggle to get a house. I know as family who were in a hotel for a year, which is against the guidance, but the council had nowhere else to put them. They got a private let in the end so could have been there even longer if they waited for council.
So in my area, I'd say your chances were next to zero.

For those suggesting porting the mortgage, it's not always as easy as it sounds. You still have to apply to your lender to do this I believe and pass an affordability check before they'll agree.

Might not be ideal but we have 3 kids in a 2 bed at the moment OP and the oldest has suspected ADHD or PDA (will be hopefully diagnosed once I go back to work and have my private healthcare again) and she needs her own space too.

Our bedroom is the biggest so we're going to put a stud wall in to make a wardrobe/storage area for our clothes and then move her into the bedroom section, we are going to buy a sofa bed for downstairs and then the younger 2 will share eventually (youngest is currently a baby)

We've got our fair share of debt between us to pay off before we will be able to buy a bigger property so in the shorter term while we try and sort that out we're having to make do.

Our council wouldn't home us if we sold as we would be make ourselves voluntarily homeless and ineligible

Go to a free debt advice agency to get help with your debts. You could go into some kind of debt repayment plan.

could you put a triple bunk (double below/single above) in your/big bedroom and have dd in the top above you and give ds the other bedroom?