housing

[scottishterrier]

sorry, didn't really know which section to put this.

Im currently privately renting an upstairs 2 bed flat. Its beautiful and we are settled but it is very small and although my daughter and i have a bedroom each its a case of fitting the essentials in only(i had to put a lot of things into storage)
Someone suggested applying for a council house with either 3 bedrooms for when baby arrives or with a much bigger second bedroom, but im unsure if id be entitled to a bigger house right now but wouldnt want to go through the hasstle once i had a newborn around.

 

[foxred]

I'm not sure what the rules are now, but it used to be that siblings can share a room (in the council's eyes! ) until they are 7 years old. If they are same sex then they can share beyond that but if it is boy / girl they have to give you a house with a room each once they reach 7.

It would be worth speaking to the housing officer to see if they can move you - You may also be entitled to full Housing Benefit and be able to rent a bigger house privately and have the rent met by the council. If you are single, are not working and have a baby on the way and a LO, you probably are entitled to full housing benefit and could ask what allowance you would get and could find and agree to rent a house yourself

Good luck

 

[Manda&Thomas]

me and hubby are having the same problem at the moment we are to renting an upstairs 2 bed flat but the rooms are very very small the spare room is filled with clothes dryer hovver a wardrobe and things like that (there is no cupboard in the flat to store things) our bedroom is filled by one bedside cabnit and a double bed thats it and there is a foot of room between bed and built in wardrobe so no room there either for a baby.
the stairs are very very tight aswell to the point that you have to colapse a stroller to get up them
so our problem is that we have no room for a baby at all so we have to see if counsil will offer us a place i doubt they will as they very rarly check a property so wont relise how small the bedrooms are.
sorry to hog the thread just wanted to let you no we are sort of in the same boat
manda xx

 

[muppetmummy]

I'm afraid to say the chances of the council re-homing you are small. Before we bought our own house we were living in a 2 bed council flat in a block. The tenency agreement said that 3 kids could live there! (in one small bedroom ) so it's unlikely they would think you were overcrowded.

At the moment it seems most councils across the country are struggling to meet demand due to a shortage of housing stock. I had a friend who was living in a one bed bedsit with 2 kids under 2 and the council took over a year to find her somewhere bigger.
It seems the norm at the moment, it's common for women with babies to be put in bed sits, or even b&b's because they are struggling so much.

Saying that though, definately get your name on the council list, you've nothing to lose.

Sorry to sound so negative but I don't want you getting your hopes up too high

 

[muppetmummy]

Just had a thought....you could try a housing association rather than the council as they sometimes have more available. The rents tend to be higher though

 

[scottishterrier]

thanks for the advice, will make an appintment with the local housing assosiation and get an applications for council housing, cant hurt to try!

 

[Manda&Thomas]

you might have to have an interview hun thats what weve got to do down here it sucks as me and hubby never really have a day together that we can spend in the counsil lol
manda xx

 

[little*red]

I agree with muppetmummy, i very much doubt you'll get giving anything as they will class you as adequately housed already. 2 years ago my husband declared himself to the council as homeless when he split up with his ex and a worker at the council told him it would take him 20 years to get a anything , WTF!
Anyway as said before council are basically knocking down and selling all their housing stock so have nothing to give to people. plus there will be people who are 'higher priority' than you and also people who have been on the waiting list longer will get priority too.
i lived in a 1 bedroom multi story block when pregnant with Evie, it was tiny and full of the scum of the earth. we were told that would would have to live there with a baby until it was a year old at least.
Luckily we got a management move due to severe anti-social behavoiur and threats from the conceirge (a council worker) but it took us about a year and we really had to fight for it.

I hope you get things sorted out for you soon hun .