I desperately need some advice about council housing!!?

Question

OK, I am trying to find a new house for myself and my daughter. I have been on the housing waiting list for a while but have only been offered really horrible places in scary dangerous estates. Recently I have seen several really beautiful derilict council homes (one in particular has been derilict for seven years). I would love to move into one of these places and make it habitable again, it would be of benifit to the council (no squatters etc ) and also to my family and I. How can I go about trying to get one of the beautiful unloved homes? Your advice would be so cherished and would really change my life. Thankyou.

Answer 1

Councils have a legal duty to provide reasonable housing to council tenants so they shouldn't be offering you houses that are in a terrible  state and in a dangerous area - particularly as you have a daughter. Unfortunately though you cannot choose a specific house. But it might be worth writing to them with plans for the house and how it would benefit the local area - and if it is a semi or terraced house you could get support of the neighbours as it is likely that the adjoining wall is also in a bad state of repair. - however you may have to agree that the council would not be liable if  any accidents occour due to the state of repair. however, contract clauses excluding liability for death or personal injury are void - so this is unlikly to happen, so there may need to be checks on the gas, electric and plumbing within the house, so that may also be why they have not offered you the derilict house

In reguard to how long you have being waiting, for them to be quick about providing housing you have to be in priority need - if you are currently homeless or threatened with homelessness they have a duty to act - also any additional circumstances have to be taken into account such as illness, disability or pregnancy - I do not know if any of these are applicable to you but these mean councils have to speed up claims.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

hi as mandy says make an appointment with the housing officer and plead with them to have the house go in smart clothes as it will make a difference if they think your a smart person and weekly ring the office [allocations ] pester them till you get what you want but weekly

Answer 3

just keep annoying them, either phone or visit the office everyday. talk with your local counciller and see if they can put the pressure on, write to the director of the council with your idea. they will eventually get tired of you asking and say ok.

hi, tried to e-mail you  but it came back failed.

Answer 4

I'm not going to be a lot of help to you I fear but will try to just throw out a few ideas and pointers.

The first is the good news that your idea is not totally crazy, some councils have tried it in the past, it was called 'homesteading', I remember Haringey where I live doing it in the late seventies or early eighties, but it was scrapped, and I suspect very few councils do it now.  Sheffield does a version of it but you have to buy the house.  Anyway that is the term you need if you want to ask about it.  It seems unlikely though that your council operate it so the derelict houses seem to be out of the question and you have to consider your other options.  I'm surprised though that these houses have been empty for so long, if they actually are still council houses, because councils usually try to let properties as quickly as possible now because of the demand and the shortage of council housing.  You could raise this with someone like one of your local councillors though, it won't help you directly but it would get some positive energy flowing in the right direction.

Your next option I think is to consider ways towards getting something nearer the type of housing you do actually want as opposed what you have been offered that you don't want.  One thing you could look into is whether there are any housing co-operatives in your area, also of course housing associations, but you have probably thought of them, and they may only take nominations from the council anyway.

There are also the lone parent organisations, if you are in this situation, such as the National Council for One Parent Families, and Gingerbread who may be able to advise you, there's a page here of general housing information from them:

http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/informatio...

The next thing, which is a bit sensitive I realise, is that maybe you should challenge your assumptions a bit about how dangerous and difficult estates such as the ones you have visited would actually be to live on when you had settled in and made friends.  The first impression is usually the worst.  Have you had the opportunity to ask other mothers what it is really like to live there for instance?  Another thing is that if you think you could stand the estate but don't like the flat much, there is sometimes the possibility of getting moved to a nicer flat on the estate once you are on it.  I know that our council used to do this, but you would have to check your council's current policy on it.  I live on a large council estate btw which had its problems in the early days but has now vastly improved.  I didn't like it at first, but I got used to it, and it was improving anyway, and it was still a desirable secure council tenancy when all was said and done.

That's about all I can think of for now, I hope all goes well for you eventually with the housing situation, good luck.

Answer 5

The council (or anyone else for that matter) can't rent out houses that don't match the regulations for things such as electrical wiring, plumbing, fire safety, structural integrity and so on.  Not only would they be breaking the law, but if someone got hurt they would get a costly legal bill.  Even if you said you didn't mind and would do the place up, they wouldn't be allowed to let you live there.

A house that has been derelict for 7 years would almost certainly be *legally* unrentable.  Houses deteriorate very quickly if left empty - damp, vermin, vandals, outside plants etc all cause things to perish, and minor problems left for that long would become quite major.

Sorry, this is probably no help...