Who can apply for a council house? Is it worth it or a waste of time?

[healtywealthy]

Recently seen an increase in people applying but also heard people on the list for 3 years. Who can apply and is it worth it in the end since it's a long process? thanks

In most areas there haven't been council houses for years. You are talking about social housing. You will need to look at what the criteria are locally, here the income threshold is quite high but unless you are overcrowded by more than one room (and that means siblings under set age sharing, counting the living room as a bedroom etc) you will probably never get anything. Average wait for a 3 bed house with overcrowding that is affecting health of the inhabitants is about 4 years. It is a bidding system though, so occasionally somewhere seriously nasty comes up and hardly anyone wants it (like the top floor of a very high semi-derelict tower block) and those are fairly easy to get. It can be worth it and can financially set you up for life if you are able to eventually buy the property as you can usually get a significant discount. But for most people it's just a life line so they finally get a genuinely affordable rent. You lose nothing by applying but I wouldn't hold out much hope of getting anything quickly. However having said that I'm in the SE, the situation I'm other areas is not the same and in some places the wait is much longer or shorter. You should be able to find statistics for your local authority or group of local authorities online which will give you a rough idea of the wait time at different levels of need.

It's always worth applying, secure and cheap rents and if you want to buy a decent discount too. I have a 5 bed House and pay £525 a month and will be buying it in the next 12mths.
Not everywhere has any available homes though and the wait can be years (my area is OK and no ludicrous waits). Google your area and social housing to get an idea of what the housing stock and waiting times are like

10 year plus wait in my area...they move people out to luton etc and put in private rented instead....i put my name down in the 80's and 6 years later got offered a flat...lived there for 5 years and then bought a house and gave it back...all areas are different and councils may just put you in a rented house and help with the deposit etc.

Varies wildly around the country and the type of property you need.

In parts near me you could be housed tomorrow if you were willing to live in certain areas.

thank you everyone great info and tips. I will google my area.

when you do buy it in the end, is it much cheaper than a private house? how much cheaper 50%?