applying for housing

[FLOPSEYfairylightswithBUNNIES]

i'm going to put in an application for a house, i'm living at home with my parents, and have a ds 18months. how long does it normally take?, has anyone any experience of housing associations, i feel i have to go down this route as alot of private landlords don't want dss, and i really dont have any other option. thanks

A lot depends on where you live. In our area the waiting list is at least 6 years. We have been told that people are 'encouraged' to use the private sector and then claim housing benefit as there is no housing stock available. To apply for housing associations we had to go to the council anyway as you just fill in the one form and tick boxes for what you are interested in.

The only help we have been offered is to go back to the council if we are going to be homeless in less than 28 days and they will supply temporary accomodation (ie b&b with 2 children, 1 disabled!)

thanks for that wpm, but how do i find out about landlords in the private sector who are willing to rent to people on dss, seems none of the ones that advertise in estate agents windows want to, makes me feel really low, like they think we're all wasters etc, no offense to any wasters out there but it does cock it up for the rest of us.

whereabouts do you live flopsey?

im in the south west were there is a huge shortage of housing!! yikes

Ah, well if there's a shortage of public housing where you are then you would probably have to be homeless in order to be housed by your council. First step is to go to your local housing advice centre and/or CAB and ask them how you can go about applying for housing. They'll be able to give you details of private landlords who will take DSS too.

hi flopsey,im in exactly the same situation as you are splitting with my ex.me and my two kids are back home living with my parents and my brother.ive put in council forms but the waiting list is two years.ive just gone through the local telephone directory and wrote letters to all the local housing ass asking if i am eligible for their lists and emailed aload too.you can now legally apply for housing in any area without having family there etc.
also ive looked into private rental and housing benefit,theres not many landlords that will rent to dhss sadly and benefits wont help with a deposit so if like me you have no savings your stuffed anyway.there is a website that private landlords do advrtise on and some do rent to people on benefits ,i cant do links lol but heres the addy www.letsdirect.co.uk theres a search page and you can get it to search for landlords who consider dhss.you can also register for a month on there so landlords can get in touch with you too.
i hope that helps and good luck
karenanne

there are two options that I was told about:

1. your parents write to the council saying that they are going to kick you out by this date, and that the council will have to house you

2. you look through houses that are privately rented, usually advertised in local paper, and when you ring up about it, you can ask if they are willing to take tenants on HB.

Im currently privately renting and my landlady was quite happy to take housing benefit HTH

Benefits will help with deposit but it is only a loan and you have to pay it back.

I think you can get help to find landlords who will accept hb.

My dh will be jobless in january (hopefully not for too long) and as our flat goes with the job we have had to find somewhere else to live. Thought it would be easier now while he is still 'officially' employed. We asked the housing officer at the council what would happen if we had to claim hb ie could the landlord kick us out, and she said 'well he won't have to know will he' Very honest I'm sure!

Actually just picked the keys up to new place about and hour ago. I thought I would be excited but I've got this horrible sinking feeling. It was still being done up when we looked at it and we said yes straight away as we were getting a bit desperate. I popped in on the way home and it's been turned into the sort of place Hyacinth Bucket would find twee! Also, the landlord has left a massive list of things we are NOT allowed to do. Seems to be a complete control freak (with poor taste-large kitchen windows with lacy net curtains AND yellow plastic venetian blinds over the top!) Oh well, I expect we'll laugh about it one day.

My Mum wrote to the council when I was pregnant and said we had to leave by X date, and a week before she'd said we were due to leave, we got a meeting wth the housing officer, who put us in temporary accomadation (actually a really 3 bedroom terrace house!), and we got the palce we're living in now about 6 months later! Don't know if it will be the same in your area or not, but they seemed to work pretty quickly here....!
xx

That's basically what happened to me too. I was living with my mum and she sold her house, so I knew I'd be homeless once the house was sold. I was put into temp accommodation for about a year (a rather grotty but could be worse 2 bed flat), and was then offered a 3 bed house.

FlopseyBunnies

You could approach a few letting agents and they will know which of their properties would accept DSS, or could ask the question on any that are vacant.However I think the problem may come that you don't actually know how much Housing Benefit you are entitled to until you have taken it on so you may find out that you still can't afford the rent so landlords may not be flexible enough in practice. In some areas there are schemes to guarantee the equivalent of a deposit to a landlord (one I know of particularly operates through YMCA) but again it is not always acceptable enough security. Your Housing Dept at local council should know if there is such a scheme locally.

Good luck

thank you for all your advice, that flat sounds like luxury wpmx, and you will laugh about it one day, i've lived in enough of them to tell the tale. will try some private 'to let' places soon.

I'm from Bristol and when I was pregnant with my first I got a council house (flat) after 6 weeks of being on the list. I was about 18 weeks pregnant when I got my flat as my Dad had written to the council and said I could not live with him with child.

I also contacted this organisation re deposits and they were very helpful:

england.shelter.org.uk/home/12805.cfm

HTH and good luck!