Council want to house us opposite paedos!!

[Ilovepugs2017]

I’ll try and cut a long story short.
We are at risk of homelessness due to our landlord wanting to sell. Our section 21 ran out in July.
we have been bidding on properties every week with no luck.
The council bid on a property on our behalf in our local area (for personal reasons I didn’t bid on this particular property - issues with threats of assault from someone living on the same street as the one advertised).
anyway we were no.2 in the queue and couldn’t withdraw the bid which gave me huge anxiety. I’d even emailed the housing officer to say I didn’t bid for personal reasons.
2 weeks later which is today they have called and offered us the property. They have said if we refuse to take it they will help us no further!!
my partner has been to speak to a couple of the neighbours and they have said to be warned that a couple of convicted paedos live opposite the back entrance!

we have three young children how is this acceptable?
Im going to refuse the house and appeal!
anxiety is through the roof!! :(
anyone been through similar?

How do you know this information is true & not just gossip?

The neighbour has lived on the street all his life

That doesn’t make him privy to the private details of all the neighbours.
so is it the threat of violence from someone you know or the threat of possible sex offenders that is the problem? You mention both in your op?

You need to look at your councils allocation policy and see what it says about reasonable refusals - the threat of assault should be acceptable particularly if you made a police report

I privately own and there have been 2 peodophilles who are now in prison within a quarter of a mile radius,one that I knew. At least you are aware of them, it's the ones you don't know which you need to worry about. Just accept the house of all else is good and beat in mind you don't actually know of the neighbour is correct. You would be absolutely bonkers to refuse the property.

Take the house, turn down the neighbours offer to babysit.

Hmm really not seeing the funny side 😒

It’s that & the fact a guy lives on the road that has verbally threatened to hurt me and my family!

And you called the police?

How does that answer the question?

It was an ex of my sister. He ended up in court so it’s all on record but he lives on the exact same street they have offered me & has threatened to hurt me & my family so I wouldn’t feel safe there

Why would he have any reason to lie about something like that?

You would be horrified to know about the ones you don’t know about who live locally. You are in danger of becoming homeless. Speak to the housing team but be careful. Unless there is only your house in a street you never know for sure.

Why would he have any reason to lie about something like that?

Blimey, how long have you got?

I mean, people have all sorts of reasons for spreading nasty rumours and lies about other people, surely you know that?

Either way, you could be surrounded by paedophiles where you live right now for all you know.

Go back to the housing team and explain the history with the threats.
If they still won't back down get your MP involved.

Get her MP involved??

But as a PP says, the threats thing is probably your best bet here in terms of not having to take the property.

The council aren't interested in the fact paedophiles are living in the street, otherwise they'd never be able to house anyone there.

Accept the house. Any sniff of threats then call the police, if it's all on record then they will know what's been going on. If he was going to hurt you seriously then I imagine he'd have done it by now, surely, he's not going to do it just because you've moved in.

Also, ignore gossipy neighbour.

This is what my plan is.
I explained to them there were personal reasons why I didn’t bid on this property and I didn’t even get a response and then today when I mentioned it again they asked why I hadn’t mentioned it before?
Er I did.
thankfully it’s in writing via email ✍️
our local mp is involved so I will update them tomorrow

What is your actual worry here? They are not going to be abducting your children, and you aren’t going to allow your children to grow up trusting them.

It’s less of a danger than being on a busy road in terms of risk to your family.

You have to accept it and then ask for a suitability review on the basis of safety, because of the neighbour who has threatened you with violence in the past. If you refuse it then they are under no obligation to house you/make you another offer.
seek advice from shelter on asking for a review once you have accepted it.

the “paedophiles” are a red herring. Don’t even mention that rumour. You have no idea whether that is true or not and in any event they are entitled to live somewhere.

I'd be taking whatever house I could get with homelessness hanging over my head.

Easier said than done tho. I suffer with anxiety anyway and I know I wouldn’t be comfortable there. My kids are my world and I don’t want to put them in harms way by moving there :(

I agree, don't mention peodophilles.

I’d place a bet there are paedophiles living on pretty much every street. They are not rare. Convicted ones are rarer.

you should pursue the threats angle I think if you don’t want to live there.