To turn down council property?

[Dipitlow]

I have been offered a council flat (recently split with partner) 2 children,
living with parents at the moment. If I decline what are my chances of being offered another one? I didn’t bid on it they have bidded for me? Do I just take it? Or should I private rent?

It’s not about how poor you are , there is an upper limit earning cap however.

Its about NEED

Priorities given to:

Care Leavers

Veterans

Anyone who is about to be evicted - not given notice but evicted via court action

Anyone in Local Authority temporary accommodation-

-so those fleeing domestic violence
-there is risk to life eg kids involved with gangs/ county lines so that families need to be moved (loads in Peterborough from London/Nottingham)
-People who were evicted but could not be housed straight away or are homeless due to flooding or fire
-Asylum seekers who have been granted leave to remain and are in TA
-Substance misusers / ex street homeless people in hostel as part of moving on-
sped up if they have type 1 diabetes (need a fridge for insulin) as the risk of insecure housing is a factor.

Overcrowding/missing a bedroom- ( unless you deliberately put yourself in the situation eg. a family of 8 intentionally moving into a two bed house

-also a couple sharing one room property with a baby ( so long as lived there before baby was conceived)
-three kids in one room
-living in a dining room at parents for example
-opposite sex children sharing a room out of necessity over aged 10

That’s more or less it

Take it! You would be absolutely mad not to!

Are you registered under the homeless duty as oppose to the regular list? If they bid for you, it suggests you might be. Most local authorities consider they will have discharged their homelessness duty if they make one offer. So if you turn it down you will lose your priority place. Sometimes this can be challenged though. Before you do anything, talk to Shelter to understand your rights.

OP wouldn’t be under the homelessness service
She living with her mum and dad.

But surely once they are comfortable and stable in suitably paying employment they are just like everyone else not in council housing so that housing stock should be made available for people who are in the situation they were in when they got the house.

I can see a system when council housing is made available to more people who need it and then a few years like 5 or 10 years later when people have got on their feet and stable they then surrender the house for others who now need it

wouldn’t this be more socialist to do this? Help those in need and then those people move over for the next person in need.

I would be very very careful OP - think this through. Once you are in council property you can look to swap later - you are secure for life.

Are you absolutely sure the area is problematic -? Have you been? how many miles/ what transport from your parents?

How many more chances do you get to a property?

This is what we would call a Direct Let - would only usually happen if OP was actually street homeless with the kids or about to be evicted by court order. And yes she would have to accept it or the council could discharge their duty and claim she would be making herself intentionally homeless.
They would then in theory have a duty to the kids via children’s social care but not the adults.

She could. Legally homeless doesn't require you to be sleeping on the streets. She is 'staying with' her parents but this isn't the same as it being her home.

In my local authority this is done for people who are being put up by friends or relatives who want them to leave too.

OP, don't listen to the people being unsympathetic. Some people genuinely think that people who need social housing should be happy if they're put in a shed at the dump.

Different councils have different policies on turning down properties. Your best bet is to speak to them directly, tell them that your parents provide childcare and moving so far would make it impossible for you to work. I wouldn't mention the area being rough personally, just stick to the logistical problems. I used to occasionally help service users do similar at a previous job and my local council was far more likely to care about access to work than how safe the area was (even though it's a valid concern in my view).

Have you explored housing association housing? Sometimes the registers can be different to the council's list, and the areas can be nicer (where I am they are often on new build estates that have a mix of privately owned houses and housing association houses, I'm not sure if this is the same everywhere).

Good luck

Why not ask the council? They will have their own rules which we don’t know.

Any system that says you have to take any house they offer no matter how badly it impacts your life is flawed and I’d be surprised if that is the case. By posting here you will find people falling over themselves to tell you how ungrateful you are and anyone in the position to need social housing should bow down and be thankful for any property no matter how bad it is. God forbid we actually try and help people who need it.

In the same way your adult kids living at home are not homeless, nor is OP.
Of her parents ask her to leave then she will be from when she actually leaves the property.
She could then present at the council as homeless and that would be the case.
But until they do this OP will be considered currently housed but in NEED of housing due to overcrowding at parents I imagine.

they have to have a date on it and no caving in when the person is offered a direct let or temporary accommodation in the area or council will consider it collusion.

She needs to change childcare! Jesus, a council property is like unicorn shit in 2025

The first one I was offered was a concrete prefab with visible damp, an insecure back door opening onto a well-trodden woodland path. The wood was littered with syringes. I explained why I felt this wasn't a secure home and would not be good for my mental health. I was offered the flat I now live in less than two weeks later.

This is obviously different from OP's situation but "unsuitable" does actually mean something. I get a bit tired of the attitude on here that beggars can't be choosers. We are not beggars.

The idea is to provide a safe and appropriate long-term home, not any old thing with a roof. It's not at all impossible that OP's local provider has someone else on their list who'd be better suited by the home she saw. They should have it, and the provider should prioritise her for suitable homes near her kids' schools.

It depends entirely on your council's policies. Different councils do different things. Housing is so tight in our area that our council's policy is you take what you are offered or you are taken off/ downgraded down the list as you are then considered voluntary homeless. The advice people are given in our area is to take the offer and then when you are eligible to swap you can try and swap. There are an awful lot of people wanting to swap so things come up for swap quickly.

In our area you need to be street homeless/ in a hotel/ temporary accommodation to be offered anything quickly. The fact you have been offered a property within weeks of bunking with parents suggests the strain on council housing in your area is not as tight so they may allow 1 or 2 refusals.

What a great incentive to get on your feet.

"If you improve your financial situation then we will kick you out of the house and you can be at the mercy of private landlords and extortionate rents"

If you refuse then you are classed as making yourself intentionally homeless and then the council no longer have any duty whatsoever to house or help you, so unless you have the money to rent privately I would not advise declining.

Or considered to meet the bar for homelessness based on occupying accommodation its unreasonable to expect her to occupy. LAs have different interpretations. That's why the OP needs impartial advice from Shelter.

Accept it so that you’re in the system but start building up the case to move out of there straight away. Contact CAB if needed.

I didn’t know this was a “thing” so I accepted a flat in a crack den building and have been trying to make the best of it while I’ve seen other neighbours with children come and go. I’m trying to set up the paperwork now, but if I knew I could request being on a moving list I would have done it years ago. I just didn’t know it existed.

No, you just get to keep it. I have a coworker who was a single parent, eventually married someone who earns very well and they’re on about 80 to 100k/year on a rent for a whole house that’s less than my shitty flat.

I’m very supportive of social housing but I do think that after a certain threshold it should be made vacant for the next family in need.

Get on Homeswap and Facebook howe swapping sites- and start talking to people. People swap all the time no matter what the area or standard of accommodation for a
multitude of reasons

What a load of bitter nonsense being spouted on this thread.

In most areas, you can say no at least once and still stay where you are on the list.

Awful to see how much some begrudge getting any help whatsoever.

Could you say it’s too far from your current job?

IME having worked for my local council some years ago, if the council bid on it for you rather than you bidding on properties you are interested in, that generally means you have been allocated it through the homelessness policy. With my council, if you turn it down the council will discharge their duty to you unless you can prove it is not suitable on medical grounds. Distance from support networks/not having transport won’t count.

Are you not on the general council housing waiting list? That can take many years though.

I’d advise you to check your council’s allocation policy for homelessness OP, and you should seriously think about taking it as private renting with children is very insecure and obviously a lot more rent.

You could try it and then go into private renting if it really is awful. You have nothing to lose at this point.

How old are your DC? If you work, would you be better off on benefits if under school age for a few years so you don’t need childcare? Retrain for a better job in the meantime or study (with childcare grants if studying) so you are in a better position to have more housing choices later on? Could you learn to drive now you can save money for cheaper rent if DC are pre-school etc. Even on benefits with maintenance loan for a Uni course, you may be better off.

This offer may well change your life, if you use it cleverly to improve your prospects, within the safety net of a secure home.