Council house

[Kelsey22]

Any advice
was offered a council property on 31st July and was stated in email they do not expect it back before September due to doing remedial work I rang today as our current housing situation is getting worse and the lady on the phone was fairly rude I explained our current situation and was wondering if there was an update on the property and she said there’s no update but you was only offered it two weeks ago and can take 2-3 months I said we won’t be waiting 2 month we have been awarded the property due our current situation we can’t wait that long. Before any one comes at me i understand people waiting a lot longer than that but this is all new to me and never done this before so I am unsure of the steps I am just stressing know whether or not they can withdraw the offer because I said we can’t wait 3 months.

I lived on a council estate but paid private rent. I'd have loved a council house (£275 for a two bed flat in East London vs £1000+).

I now privately own.

If I'd ever gotten my foot in the door, I doubt I'd have ever left Council Housing. It's basically free.

How is it free? If you have to pay rent?

£275 a month for rent on a two bedroom flat in Central London.

That's £31 a week per bedroom. Even on minimum wage, it's only 3 hours wages.

There's no way it can even cover the costs of maintenance.

My landlord received a bill of £25k to replace the lifts. They then came back for more money once it went over budget.

I think a lot of Council tenants don't know how lucky they are. When I read the 'go fuck yourselves' posts that are aimed towards people in private sector housing, it certainly makes me question whether a bit of gratitude wouldn't be amiss.

Yep SH tenants are well lucky 🙄

https://www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/24516896.witham-family-suffer-hell-flood-destroyed-house/?ref=socialflow&fbclid=IwY2xjawExfMVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRtkIzd3mKhWI7YuoyqZhFZ2tkulIzplsPZ9gj35TsNC4HGOCQ-iDihcJw_aem_yYuQrBPl6S94PivhQjn1jg

This. What's the plan if you're not waiting for the council property?

It's not council house tenants fault that London is full of money grabbing Landlords.

If I were you I would write an email to the housing staff both apologising as you felt your tone was off and didn't meant to be rude but you are under significant stress and laying out your circumstances asking for advice on next steps should the house not be ready for you in time. Will they house you in an emergency B&B, are you expected to stay with family if you have them etc etc?

It's not their fault that private sector rents are so high, but given that council houses are dished out based upon 'need', and that results in a very large proportion going to people that don't work, perhaps they could be slightly grateful to those people paying private sector rents on top of all the taxes that subsidise their housing as well as paying their benefits?

Anyone who doesn’t feel lucky and grateful for being given a life long secure tenancy at way below market rate rent should take a very hard long look at themselves.

Yawn.

Don't wait then, insist on taking the property in a uninhabitable state. A few months from now your new carpets will probably be covered in mould and damp and you will be complaining that your family are ill. If the council taking that long it is because the property will need the repairs. Why would the council keep the property void for so long ?

'we won’t be waiting 2 month'

so what are ' we ' doing for 2 months ?
staying with relatives
staying in a hotel
staying in a holiday let

as you won't be waiting, does this mean you have now turned it down ? and the property can be offered to someone else on the list ?

down here the properties are not advertised until they are ready.

the property is advertised on a Weds, closing day is the following Monday
on the Tuesday onwards the housing officer looks to see if No 1 is the right candidate, THE phone call may may made that day, usually at least by the Friday
when the phone call comes you are invited to view the property say the following Monday ?
after or during the viewing the person is offered / accepts the property and the paperwork starts
and down here once checks are done say 10 days ish
then the new tenant will be given a moving in date and they are supposed to move in asap

the only properties that are not available now ( see above for ' now ' ) will be new builds and the advert gives an idea of completion of building date.

I recently viewed a council property and the lady who accepted it was told it wouldn't be ready to move into for a couple of months because some work needed doing to the heating system.

There was a empty housing association flat opposite me the new tenants viewed it last week and they moved in yesterday.
The flat had been empty since the previous tenant passed away in January.
Last month i saw some workmen over there must have been getting the property ready.

I imagine the poster is under the (usual) false assumption that all council tenants are scrounging benefits and therefore in receipt of full housing benefit.

What do you mean by you won’t be waiting 2 months, what will you do? Were you telling her you’ve someplace else lined up? Is that why yoy think she will withdraw it? Do you have someplace else, or did you think if you were rude you’d get it quicker? I think I’d be calling back if I don’t have someplace else.

To be fair statistically approx 80 percent of council/ha tenants are on benefits , which is what you’d expect as they are allocated to those in need.

@Ruelzdontapply so weirdly, if someone dies, it doesn't actually mean the tenancy is ended legally. Sounds crazy, but when some one dies the HA or council will need to do some work to ensure that there is no legal right to succession, and will need to issue notice to quit to end the tenancy. This is why sometimes properties where previous tenant has died are often empty for a bit.

@Staunchlystarling yes, but someone can work full time on minimum wage (or sometimes above!) and still be in receipt of top up benefits.
Terrible really that that can be the case, someone working full time should be paid enough by their employers to not be, but frankly the whole system is shocking.

It's basically free when the rents are so far below market rates that they don't even cover the costs of ongoing maintenance.

Sure, I didn’t allude to if they worked or not.

however no , min wage shouldn’t make it up to cover what benefits do today. There is a col crisis as it is. Keep putting min wage up and rhe price of everything goes up to cover it. People are struggling as it is. Without seeing their weekly food shop go so high they can’t eat.

today we all chip in and pay to support the lower earners and poor in society via our taxes. Keep putting min wage up instead fucks so many more people by hugely increasing the cost of everything we want to buy from those suppliers.

@Kelsey22 I think part of the problem is you have not explained your situation so it's hard for people to understand.

If you wad to say to thr council we are not waiting to months . They will take you of the list and tell you to find your own place.

If you can't stay where you are for 2 months the council will put you into emgency accommodation until the new property is ready.

Just to add though if your going through a section 21 eviction the council will expect you to stay there until bailiffs come or you find /get offered a home. Which ever cones first . You have bedn offered si you should be ok . U just need to stay out for 2 months .

Friend of mine got offered council flat in the beginning of July. It's a newly built flat and council told her they will be finished in August. She is in an emergency accommodation 9miles from her work and DCs school and 1,5h on public transport (she is in London). Doubt it will be in August, but she has no choice but to wait.
Someone I know had waited 3 months from the offer to the keys- in London also.

How many years ago was this?

I waited 6 months for my place once offered . I was in temporary to. Just have to wait. It's part of how it is.

£275 a month? That must have been a long time ago.

I was recently working with some data about council housing for a London borough, one of the cheaper ones at that. 1 bed flats were around 200 a week,

A 2 bed flat for 275 a month must have been a real long time ago.