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?

My kids are my world and I don’t want to put them in harms way by moving there

But you’d be putting your kids in harm’s way by making them homeless. Please put your children first. They need somewhere to live, and you’ve been offered a house. Long-term, you can think of something else if you like.

Please do not turn the house down, I work in a council and your reasons are unlikely to stand up in appeal and an appeal is time consuming and will be exhausting. While you're going through appeals you're going to end up in emergency housing and means a B&B which is awful especially if you have children.

Getting social housing is almost impossible so take the house and if you don't like it request a transfer, much easier than starting from scratch.

I would not be on the streets, I’m pretty sure my parents would make sure of that even if temporary until we found somewhere!

Is living with your parents an option for now until your situation changes (better income etc).

OP with regards to the 'pedo' issue, most of us don't know where people like this live. It's about safeguarding your own children by not allowing anyone the opportunity to harm them. Opportunity is what these people bank on. You could have one living next door to you right now and not know or next door to what you think is the the 'perfect' house. The difference with these people that you've been told about, is that they're known (if it is true, which it may not be).

You protect your children by keeping them safe. You protect them by keeping them housed.

My guessing your husband told the neighbour you have three kids and the neighbour told him about the convenient 'peados'. He probably doesn't want footballs and trampolines disturbing his peace and, if he said other families haven't stayed long, it is probably because he has made it unpleasant for them.

You need to forget about the potential sex offenders. You could live next door to one right now and wouldn't know.

How long ago was the sister's ex threatening? It is probably all water under the bridge now and he has moved on, as should you - literally and metaphorically.

I think your sense of entitlement rather than your anxiety is getting the better of you.

Take the hightly subsidised housing, then sort your lives out, and move into an area of your choice. You have a family of 5 living off a part time salary. You both need to get jobs. Your partner needs to be full time or you need to work part time around your college, preferably both. Oh and don't have more kids, you clearly can't afford 3 if you are in such a precarious situation.

As for the suspected "Paedos", how do you know your neighbour just doesn't like them and thinks they are weird and has thus concluded they are sexual offenders based on that? How do you know if you move in to another property there will be another busy body neighbour with 40 years of observations to impart on you? Don't establish any kind of relationship with these neighbours, as most victims of child sex offenders know their offenders.

Some of the replies on this thread are shocking, I’ve said this before, some people think that because a situation is outside of their experience then it isn’t real

Weve been guarantors for our daughter three times,. However the latest house she’s in, is a situation like yours, a friend of hers is the landlord, he didn’t require one nor a deposit. He approached her when he was buying it as she was living with us at the time and offered to rent it to her.
Now I know some people might not believe this is possible but it truly is.

OP, your worries are real but. In your shoes I’d take the house, the threat of homelessness and the possibility of your children going into care because of that can’t be ignored. Take it with the view to it being short term, apply for a house swap if you can.
The previous assault on you, if he’s been convicted for it you’ve got the law on your side.
I can feel the anxiety through your posts. We all suffer from it in one way or another, the way through it is by rationalising it.
Good luck op.

If you are saying that you are at particular risk of violence, then that will have to be backed up and verified. So someone saying ' I'll bloody well kill you' threateningly may be uncomfortable, someone saying it under different circumstances where the police have investigated MAY be a reason for your L/A to accept a refusal. There has to a real threat which could lead to harm. You can also accept the property but also request an immediate review that the offer is not acceptable on the grounds that you are at particular risk of violence. I would suggest that this course of action would be the most sensible as ,if you just refuse, then request a review you might end up with nothing, if you accept and the review is in your favour then you will be moved, if not in your favour you still have a roof over your head. As I said, I am a retired housing officer and that is the advice I always gave.

Also, if your husband cannot find a full time job right now, he needs to apply for another part time job which will open up more options for you in the longer term.

I feel for you. The situation you are in is horrible. Homelessness or threats from a neighbour and maybe a pedo.
Either situation is not a good one but you do need a roof over your head.
I would inform the council about the threats as they have to take this into account and mention the anxiety it would cause. Sorry you are in this situation it must be very hard.

Bloody hell!
The nasty responses on this thread beggar belief

@Ilovepugs2017 accept this house for now, as the alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

This thread is depressing because so many people are missing the point...

Of course you can't move in the same street as someone who has threatened you in the past and who you fear will assault you again or make your life a misery in other ways.

The fact that pedophile is also housed in the same street is a secondary factor and not the main issue.

Would people happily live in a street where their abusive ex partner lives for example or a toxic, violent family member they had cut out of their life? see them everyday and worry constantly that they might start targeting you again? of course you would never buy or rent a house in that street because you know there was a high chance that they would target you again and even if they didn't you would never feel safe.

Yet the message from so many on this thread is that because this is social housing the OP should be grateful to move in and be sandwiched between a peadophile and a violent person who they know has an existing grudge against them.

OP I understand your position and you are completely right to write back to the council, remind them that you already clearly aised the point that you cannot move in the area without putting your safety at risk due to previous threats of violence and that they made a mistake by allocating your this property and send them a copy of your previous written evidence. Your MP can also support you.

If you can you might also make it clear to the council that you will consider homes out of your usual, local area. to have more choice and to avoid living next to people you might know and who don't have your best interests at heart.

The law has changed now. Councils are supposed to help prevent homelessness as well as just helping the actually homeless.

So if they're doing the job right and have the housing available - an offer before eviction is possible.

OP you can challenge the suitability of the offer there will be details in the offer letter how to do this.

I suggest you get advise from shelter on your liklihood of success before you do.

If you do get them to withdraw the offer then you need to be realistic with bids you make.

I’m afraid it seems like the ‘peado’ story is fabricated in order to give weight to the fact you don’t want to live there. I completely sympathise with the fear of violence- why did you not explicitly explain what it was immediately? Why did you say ‘personal reasons’?

Her parents rent their house so it could void their tenancy agreement if 5 other people move in.

The op is refererringvto you and the the other poster 'Still going strong today' to say you make a good team, so it's not '
"you' Re"

Hope that helps in case you were struggling to read while on your high horse.

I also think the ‘ I want what’s best for my children’ is added to give weight to your desire not to live there. I think there’s somewhere else you’d rather live and you’re trying to create a case and garner sympathy. I worked as a key worker for and genuine fear just doesn’t read like this.

You’re being picky and dramatic.

You could spend £10m to buy a mansion, and a paedophile or someone’s abusive ex could move in next to you.

That’s life. You can only control what you can control.

Some of these posters are either very naive or just totally vile!
OP take the accommodation but make it known that you have this previous threat in writing.
I live in South Wales, I don't know where you live but a previous poster stated that they are crying out for care home, care staff. They are now offering the level 2 qualification as stated so although it would be long hours and hard work your partner would be gaining too.
You can also get support via the disability services at college to help manage your anxiety with study, you would need evidence from your GP and then its quite straighforward.

If this person is anything more than a verbal bully surely they would make the effort to cross town, or even travel to a neighbouring town to find OP in order to harrass/ attack her. So, will OP be turning down any property she is offered in the area that she has asked the council to try and rehome her? Because if she is, she is going to find herself homeless soon, also she has presumably already put herself out of the private rental market if she is past the end of her Section 21 notice period (if I have read that correctly) as she won't be getting a good reference for any future properties if the landlord has had to go through the expense of evicting.

It sounds more likely to me that the neighbour doesn't want a noisy family with kids next door so is trying to put you off. Don't make yourselves intentionally homeless

No one is missing the point. The IP’s title is about paedos, the opening post is about paedos. There’s no mention of a threatening ex of a sister on the same street.

Probably fabricated by the long term resident on the street telling the story in an attempt to prevent a large family of potentially noisy kids moving in. Interesting tactic!

Everyone loves their kids and has anxiety about them. You need to take personal responsibility for keeping a roof over their heads. The paedo story is ridiculous, the neighbour probably made it up because didn't like the look of you or doesn't want a load of kids in the garden. Take the house the council are offering you fgs and then keep yourselves to yourself and look for more work.

Cross post, I agree.