help - council house questions!

[ticklyteddybear]

Long time lurker first time poster. A bit of background information: I am a mother of three. Two secondary ages and one primary school, 2 girls and 1 boy. My father also lives with us and is disabled, is on tones of medication. The house we are currently in and have been in for five years has three bedrooms and one bathroom but we can no longer stay here as my girls need separate rooms - my middle girl is 16 and has been diagnosed with ASD since 12 (the signs were there as a child really, should've been sooner) and is on medication as well for anxiety attacks and depression. While it wasn't a problem when she was younger she now cannot share a room with 17yo sister as her sister is sloppy, messy and sleeps with lights on and she also smokes. My DD2 cannot stand that and needs everything tidy and goes to bed at a certain time ect. I don't want to get to into it as I dont want this too be too long but will say more if asked. The three rooms aren't big ones to share anyway. My DS who is 10 also has his own room which is the smallest and could pass as a closet. Then my father sleeps on an airbed downstairs in the front room and I sleep on the sofa (no reclining bed or anything, just 3 seat couch) but we have no downstairs toilet and my father needs a bedroom because he has a very bad back and cannot take walking up and downstairs plus pumping up the bed everytime. He naps daily because medication makes him very sleepy so he has to pump it up which takes around 5 mins but its very big or rather our front room is very small so furniture is having to be moved and it's a great big fuss we have to deal with.

So early Sept I applied for a application for a council house because just a few minutes away a family is moving from a 4 bed with downstairs toilet and if I'm not mistaken it also has a utility room which they use for a bedroom so that could work for us as well. I think they are moving sometime November. I phoned up a few days ago because we hadnt been emailed back in over a month when they said 5 business days, and they are currently waiting for an occupational therapist to come and assess our home. They said my girls could share until 21 yrs unless one is disabled and one is, my autistic child and they said that approves ect. My youngest is disabled too, partially blind and then counting my father's needs so overall we have three disabled living here and then me and my oldest.

When I phoned they said we have very high priority so do you think I would get that house nearby if I bid on it? The area is very high demand and the house is less than 10 years old but it is literally a 1 minute walk away, 30 seconds if you ran. I can't move further away because of my job. Children don't attend any special schools (DD2 homeschooled) so that doesn't add to our priority either. Not to mention we have outdoor cats so they know the area. It isn't near any roads and I wouldn't want to move to a place near a road because of that and my son because of his eyesight

So my questions are:

How does the bidding system work, meaning what does first in queue mean? Is that highest priority?

What do you think my chances of getting the 4bed house nearby are?

Sorry for the essay. Made an account just to post this because our home isn't suitable for us anymore and it is stressing us out.

I'm not an expert but from anecdotal previous situations i've seen you might well be assessed as needing a 5 bedroom house and then be left rotting on the waiting list forever as there are no 5 bedroom council houses. It's a crazy system.

Does your dad have to live with you? It might make sense to reapply for the 4 bed as a family of 4 and get your dad a nearby 1 bed flat?

Can you do anything to divide the room the two eldest share into 2 proper rooms? Stud walls are easy to put up and can be removed and damage "made good" fairly easily when you move out.

How long is this likely to persist? Is 17yo likely to be moving out and going off to university next year? Remember that council tennancies are no longer granted for life, they are reviewed and won't be renewed when your needs change. You are at the peak of your family's needs right now and it must be very stressful - but your family's needs are going to get less over the next few years. If you move into a larger place now, and then in a few years time are reassessed as only needing 3 beds again (say for example your dad has needed to move into residential care for his health and your eldest has left home) then you will need to move again and your dd with asd will suffer more from 2 lots of disruption.

Bidding system you never get a house instantly everyone has to bid regularly for months and you slowly go from having say 47 people in front of you to 22 people in front of you and only the top 10 ever get offered it if someone refuses. I think. I just gave up. A 4 bed house or 5 bed will be very rare as op said and say they move out next month even if it is a dump inside the council will list it and it will be gone by someone already on the system.

I had an idea though. If you know the family ask them to do a home swap with you for money. They don’t have to live in your property they just have to swap and then they can leave your home after 1 month. They never even have to live there and if they are moving anyway they might do it if you offer them money. I’ve heard of lots of these arrangements. You could join the home swap site too.

Another idea. Stay where you are and apply for a disabled facilities grant to make the adaptions needed for your disabled daughter. The council are not going to care about Pets and if you are not actively bidding as yet and haven’t been given a band yet. Chances are not v likely. A straight swap is prob the best bet if the other family are moving anyways and you both have council houses.

You will be placed in order of priority, so you're in the priority band but anyone who has been in the priority band longer than you would come up higher on the bidding if that makes sense.

If you are not even properly registered to bid on the system and that family move next month you basically have no chance of getting that house to be honest. Try a home swap or the disabled facilities grant.

Also like op said you could be stuck with a 5 bed need meaning you can’t bid on a 3 or 4 bed property and council houses aren’t for life anymore. Are you able to buy your council property?

I have heard of people using their right to buy discount, renting their bought property out and then themselves renting somewhere bigger and as your eldest may move out soon you might not always need a bigger place but would still have the option of keeping your home and moving back if your eldest leaves home.