For those in council housing

[LittleMissMe99]

I've no experience with social housing. But my mum is getting a flat when rules relax a bit. I understand that it doesn't come with flooring/carpeting of any kind. So I'm wondering what people do regarding this? Is there any help available? What have those of you in council housing done?

Your council may have a fund - ours is a community grant I think. We are in homeless accommodation so when we eventually get a house I think they do give you a grant to pay for carpeting and basic white goods. Some people have stuff already and others have nothing as storage costs were ridiculous so I’ve got a washing machine only. Quite daunting starting again from scratch hopefully your mum will be entitled to something as flooring is quite essential. I was surprised they ripped the carpets up too but when explained it makes sense. I wouldn’t want fleas or worse in the house.

The district council here insist that people in flats, apart from ground floor flats, have carpet in all rooms except for kitchens and bathrooms, because of noise transmission to neighbours below. But they don't give any help in paying for them!

Occasionally, some housing officers will be sympathetic and "forget" to issue the instruction to rip up good carpets.

The county council used to have a scheme where they supplied basic white goods to tenants who were being housed because they were homeless, but that was cut a few years ago.

There's no help apart from getting grants from charities here now, or buying on credit. It's really tough for people since the community care grant was abolished.

In Scotland Councils offer a grant for moving essentials like carpets, but it is means tested. Worth checking out what might be available.

Who dug this up?

I understand that councils don’t want to be responsible for flooring. Old flooring laid by previous tenants might not be installed properly and cause an accident, or be infested. They don’t want to be sued or responsible for the cost of replacement. This is why they rip it out.

I think the approach where councils ask tenants moving in, to sign to say they take any flooring as they find it and the council isn’t responsible and won’t be replacing, is a good and green way to prevent perfectly good flooring being wasted, without the risk of come-back.

It would be luck if the drawl whether the property you get already has decent or terrible or no flooring anyway. So actually, only if it’s decent (and an issue here, which leads to it being ripped out too, is that people have different definitions of decent) is to ever potentially to your benefit anyway.

I guess, carpets are rather like curtains or furniture. They are seen as replaceable and the responsibility of the tenant. Tenants wouldn’t expect furniture to be provided and most wouldnt expect curtains or white goods. These are unfurnished properties.

However, it is very true that furnishing from scratch is really expensive and most people won’t have the cash to do everything at once. It is then a case of having to prioritise and buy what you want most to start with. This is also the case when people buy their first home….they often live for a long time without certain items of furnitre or whatever, whilst saving up to get them.

Definitely ask if help is available. Do check the terms carefully though. You might be offered loans and these might commit you to payments you don’t feel you can afford at the moment. The terms won’t be terrible, and probably better than getting a loan elsewhere, but it’s still a question of whether you can actually afford them. Yes, to Freecycle having amazing stuff and also to furniture charities. Not sure if they offer carpets because of the possible issues of infestation/fire risk etc too.

Good luck to your Mum…hope it feels like her home really quickly.

Where are people living that they offer grants?! They certainly don’t in my borough in London. You could apply for a budgeting loan if on benefits that you pay back but certainly no grants for carpet or white goods, the only thing my council offer is a paint voucher that has to be spent at the Dulux trade centre which is over an hour away you have to go there in person to choose the paint but they will delivery it once chosen. That’s it. My sister moved into a HA property and when she viewed it the carpet and wooden floor was immaculate, she asked to keep it and was told yes just need to fill out some forms which she did, when she moved in the whole lot had been ripped up and removed.