getting a council house? or private

[stevon111]

well hello all!!!

been while since ive been on yet again! so hello to everyone!

me and jen have handed in out forms for council housing and it seems like its just going to take months before we could get our own place its crazy...how does it even work i think we are going to be hearing back from the council offices about our form if its accepted and we get a code then go on the website and look at houses and we apparently bid for them....how on earth does that work then people! i think you get a certain amout of points if you are high priority....ahhh i really do NOT want to live in complete terrible area nether grrr haha! we shall see

next option would be to private rent i think but thats going to be around 450-475 per month which i just dont know if i could afford if its just me working and living with jen and a baby it would be really tough as i earn around 1000 per month but with bills included and food etc it would just financially cripple me i think

anyone got any good advice here with this...i dont know what benifits we could get nether hmmmmm....

any good help will be great!!! ha way guys!!

 

[angelkatelyn]

hey not a teen but pop in to give advice, me and my hubby did this for our place, atm you will only be entitled to a one bedroom until the baby is born, at our council u r put in bands a-e, a being highest priority. we were in band b as the builders completely f*d our place up. if either of you live with parents u should be higher priority but only if ur overcrowded. the bidding number u get is to log into the site, we dont have points our council, the way ours works is:

e.g
we are bidding on a 3 bedroom place, if we get it depends on our band, we could be in band b but if someone from band a bids they will get offered it, if no1 from band a - its the person who's been on housing/ bidding register the longest. if someone from band a was offered it and turned it down u would be offered it next but only if u were next in the list for property

hope that makes sense its a bloody confusing process lol

good luck to u both, hope u get somewhere soon and obv preferable thru council as its cheaper and ur allowed to decorate it.
rach x

 

[shimmy]

Make sure they have given you the right points, if you come come back with lowish points then get on to someone to have a one to one meeting and dont stop being pushy, they can sometimes put your points up. They did that with my council house (i got it for very different reasons tho) . Did they say they about any kind of mum and baby house? You might want to concider it because you will get more points in the long run living in a shared house like that, i know it might not sounds great but they are ok hope you get it soon xx

 

[littleblonde]

Once baby is born you may get housing benefit to help with the cost of private rent. You could possible get a little now and is worth finding out. You will also get child benefit which is about £20 a week and also tax credits. At least i think you still do. Im not sure how the government have changed this. Tax credits is based on what you earnt the privious tax year. We earnt about £30,000 last year and get £20 a week so you may get a little more than that. There is a website called entitled to. you put in your detail and it gives you a rough idea of what you may be entitled to. If you type entitled to into google it should come up. Where is says to put info on what children you have (before kacey was born) i used to put that she was born a few weeks before as you get more when baby is here.

 

[_laura]

Me and my oh didn't want to wait a year on the housing list so were privately renting and claiming housing benefit to pay for the rent we can't make up.

 

[stevon111]

everything seems to be so stupidly hard to look into and theres nothing really set out in place...its us who have to go trailing after different options and looking into different things and i bet theres stuff we all dont look into which we can claim...

 

[_laura]

Well if you go private then you can get housing and council tax benefit to help out. We just went to the council and asked exactly what we could get. We then get child benefit and child tax credit and working tax credits aswell. Pm me if you have any questions

 

[babytime1992]

Everyone from the UK is so lucky In the states we get no housing assistance...or at least, none that I know of. So I'm stuck living with my mom until I can afford to move out (will probably be years)

 

[rubixcyoob.]

Oh steven! I remember you from yonder back! Congrats again, you and Jen must be thrilled!

Anyways ...
Jen could probably claim Income Support at 29 weeks if she is claiming JSA just now. If she gets Income Support she will automatically get Council Tax Benefit and Housing benefit, so that should help. She should also get the £190 HIP grant, healthy start vouchers and a £500 grant if she is on IS.
If you work over 16 hours a week you can try and claim Working Tax Credits to boost the income.

Once the little one is here either you or Jen can claim Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits (but not both of you), you should still be able to get Working Tax Credits and if Jen isn't working she can get Income Support plus Council Tax Benefit, Housing Benefit etc. and healthy start vouchers.

With all of that you could probably privately rent a decent little 2 bed flat or 2/3 bed house and still have enough money. It's all about budgeting. For example. Do you really need a house phone if you two have mobiles? Do you really need sky if you get a freeview tv? Turning off all the power and night to save money etc. It can be done

Plus, going private you'd be guaranteed to find somewhere you liked in less time than a council house, most likely.

 

[MissMamma]

I was on the list for a council house for aaages. I was put in the lowest band possible because they don't class you as higher priority until LO is actually here so me and OH went private. You can get you rent paid by housing benefit if you're on benefits...we managed to get a three bed house for 395 a month, we get most of paid by housing benefit atm and when LO is here they'll pay it all.

https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Default.aspx

this website helps you work out what you're entitled too..xx

 

[loopylass]

a three bed house for 395???!!!! a three bed house private rent where I live is 1000 a month at least.

But you can get working tax credits if you taking home a grand a month, if you earn under 20,000 a year it works out quite well, I know someone who earns a grand a month, and gets about 380 in tax credits, child benefit, etc

 

[_laura]

I know it's 600 for a 2bed flat in my area. 395 will get you a room in a house share here!

 

[stevon111]

395 from round here would get you a possible 2 bedroom house in a really really rough area..im looking at around 450-500 per month but not sure how much i would get in benifits if im 21 and working full time for 40 hours and jen is going to go onto a 13 week apprentiship at £95 per week but its only for the 10 weeks then she will go back onto JSA from then....

i hate benifits there just seems too much to look into grrrr lol!

 

[loopylass]

You cant claim jsa if you live with someone who is earning!

 

[MissMamma]

395 from round here would get you a possible 2 bedroom house in a really really rough area..im looking at around 450-500 per month but not sure how much i would get in benifits if im 21 and working full time for 40 hours and jen is going to go onto a 13 week apprentiship at £95 per week but its only for the 10 weeks then she will go back onto JSA from then....

i hate benifits there just seems too much to look into grrrr lol!

I didnt say it wasnt rough
Seriously go to citizens advice, they were sooooo helpful to us when we were going through all the benefits shite!

 

[BeckyBoo]

Speaking from experience here,

Private renting is rubbish.

We tried for a year, we were paying £525 for a 3 bed house with a poxy garden. We weren't allowed to put a mark on the house or anything. We were always being careful in-case something got damaged (very hard with two young kids). We applied for a council property in the end and we pay £220 a month now and we're so much more relaxed.

Benefits are not a desirable 'stigma' but just because you're in a council property doesn't mean you're not a good parent or a hard worker. It's just a stepping ladder until you get your first home. So what's easiest and best for your family. When you got kids, you can't be too proud.

 

[sarahxx]

me and my boyfriend were put as high priority as we were living with family and friends, but we were still waiting around six months.. however, i do think it was worth the wait as we got a 2 bed house in a nice area 6 weeks before the baby is due and only have to pay £66 a week rent, which gets paid for us anyway if we stop working. i think its definitely worth waiting as long as you can for a council house, thats just from expecrience though.

 

[sarahxx]

also, you wont get any benefits if your working full time, no matter what your girlfriend works.. that is until the baby comes and you get your family & working tax credits and also your child benefit, that boosts everything a lottt.

 

[mayb_baby]

I'm in a low category atm (until the baby is born) and couldn’t wait as I want to be in a home for our baby who is fast approaching so I have just got a home, private rent and they pay half until bubs is born Its £100 a week so they pay £50 I don’t mind it’s for 2months like then they pay full.

I don’t mind tbh it’s a beautiful new built bungalow and I will stay long term until a council property comes up and our land lady is really nice xxxx

 

[bbyno1]

i been on the council list since july and got told i got a minimum of a 5 year wait!!x