to not want to wait for a council house anymore?

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

I've name changed for this.

To cut along story short, I've been stuck living with my mother for the last five years after I was left destitute by divorce.

I've tried to move out but my employment status has made this difficult.

Two years ago I met a lovely man and we have been planning to move in together ever since. We were even TTC for awhile last year.

My Mother and I are close to killing each other. My DP thinks that we should wait for the council to house us - have been trying to get somewhere since November.

I could just about afford to rent somewhere privately. Hell, if I had a permanent job I could get a mortage!

Do I force the issue and rent privately (I hate it - had some horrendous landords) or do I slowly go mad living here?

Letting agencies will not take us due to my not having a permanent job, DP being on the sick and his terrible credit rating.

It's a fairly new requirement though, and it's going to take a while to see a reduction in waiting lists. Plus, part-buy part-rent property can be counted as social housing, but isn't going to be suitable for most people waiting.

when the council houses were sold off in the begining , it was promised that the money earned from that would build more homes to replace them.it never happened .there are new builds with houseing associations but they are few and far between.....and there seams to be a surplus of privately built brand new homes that are laying empty because no one os buying and even some that are part-built and left because they have ran out of money to finnish them.
Why dont the councils buy them cheaply to add to their housing stock?

haven't read all thread far too late!

we have been on the council list for ages and actually had a phone call off them say ing that it would be years before we became entitled to a house.

we rent privately at £550pm with DS 2.9, expecting dd in3 wks, and DH in work, full time but obviously low wage as we get £5 a week working families.

we have to go live with my pnts at end june as our lease is due up and the flat my bro is buying to rent to us has hit a delay.

we would love a council house, just a house to decorate ourselves, not have the threat of being kicked out of at the end of leases etc and hopefully we will get on living above bro and sil when the flat comes through.

if we could get a mortgage we would have. we could just afford the repayments but our total income is not high enough for the mortgage to be approved so in this respect i sympathise with Op, but, if we could turn back time, do better training, have better jobs and bourght a house before the big boom/having kids a few years ago things would be different...

if you really need a council house and are not getting on with your mother, get her to write an eviction notice. we are lucky enough that though it is a royal pain in the bum to be at m+ds for a couple of months and we have no chance of a council house, at least we all get on. we have had to do it before.

I live in HA acommodation- guess what? They are proposing to sell ALL of their affordable housing to a 'blue-chip private landlord'. Oh, and this is land owned by the queen (The Crown Estate). I am a key worker and neither myself or any of their tenants can afford to rent a flat in the city in which we work. It's scary.

It's a myth that affordable housing is being built- as Missus84 says, most of it is part-buy part-rent, which is, frankly, a rip off. It is no more affordable for most families than renting privately. It also largely comprises of 1 and 2 bedroom flats; hardly family homes. There is a lot of noise made about building 'affordable housing', but scratch the surface and you will find that it's a con, and still completely out of the reach of most ordinary families, particularly the ones it was purported to be built for.

The affordable rented accommodation which is being built is a drop in the ocean and still doesn't replace even a fraction of the housing stock sold under the right to buy scheme.

AFAIK, councils are still prevented from building or buying new housing stock on a large scale? Perhaps someone can clarify this, I may have dreamed it...

have now read all thread now everyones gone to bed!

bit wingey this one isnt it. we cant afford to rent privately but we get help from housing benefits and DH does work f/t perm 42hrs per week for less than 16k a year. i worked until ds was born and was returning to work when found out expecting dd

pissed thatr we are not entitled to council house but who the heck is nowadays?
at least we have a roof over our heads even if some months the council tax has to be paid on credit card

if OPs partner is on incapacity then you will almost certainly would get a substantial sum from the benefits if you rent privately. if neither of you have children and current housing is adequate you will get precisley diddly-squat whether that is right or wrong.

prob too much detailed info here but sod it no-one knows me!!!!!!

I work in Housing for my local council. In the past 5 years the waiting list for social housing in our Borough has increased from 3500 to 6500 people.

The average time on the waiting list for single people currently being housed is 9 years, so it's fair to say that this can only increase.

You can't blame councils for selling off houses - the legislation was forced upon them by Maggie Thatcher's government. Very few homes are sold in our area because the discount is now capped at £34,000.

There is a dire shortage of social housing for rent but building them is effectively subsidised when they're part of a mixed development and the current economis situation means that it isn't happening at anything like the rate needed.

Tethersend, I live in HA. Are they really selling off housing?? What will that mean?

We have just mutual exchanged from council to HA.

OP, you've been on the list 6months. You don't have kids.

You have savings! You have somewhere to live

Rent privately FFS if you want to TTC, paying with your savings (as that's what the rest of us have had to do) and leave the few scant flats there are to those that need them.

I would love to be near the top of the list for a nice cheap council flat.

But. Get this. Even with a practically disabled DP, and a child, we're still nowhere near qualifying for a council place. So I'll keep going out to work my hours, coming back home to to everything anad caring for both of them. And still paing full rental prices!

I'm actually quite cross at your sense of self entitlement and importance.

"I'm actually quite cross at your sense of self entitlement and importance."

Perhaps is just misinformation of how the system works rather than self of entitlement? Besides, the poor woman was not demanding a council house but was tired of her DP telling her to stay put at her mums, until one became available.

Stretch, unless your HA is The Crown Estate, you needn't worry....

hang on, the OP doesn't have kids? i assumed she did.

odd thread.