Affordable Housing Options....

[rover07]

Is it worth going on the Council/HA lists anyway. Maybe somewhere will come up?

Friends of mine (Urbanites) got a 2-bed flat in Southwark that no-one else wanted cos the block was quite rundown and the flat itself a tip. No way would they have got the flat on points. But they got it through being in the right place at the right time!

 

[Thora]

As Quim and Marty have said, you can go on the council housing list - anyone can regardless of income. You just won't be high priority.

There are quite a few studios and 1-bed flats through housing associations, and, once on the list, you could find them in the local newspaper and apply for them through choice-based letting. Again, you wouldn't have a lot of points / be in a priority banding (depending on your council's system), so you might not get a place - but it does happen sometimes. Say it's a one-bedroom flat on the third floor with no lift - there won't be a huge number of people applying for that, and if the people who do apply then don't turn up to view the place (because they have enough points that they've got somewhere better in the meantime), then you might be lucky and get it.

when i worked for a housing association, i carried out multiple viewings with people who had bid under choice based lettings, i have known people who were 9 or 10 on the list who got the flat because others just didn't show up for the viewing -

Is it worth going on the Council/HA lists anyway. Maybe somewhere will come up?

Friends of mine (Urbanites) got a 2-bed flat in Southwark that no-one else wanted cos the block was quite rundown and the flat itself a tip. No way would they have got the flat on points. But they got it through being in the right place at the right time!

I totally agree with what they all said - no harm in getting your name on the list, is there? And if you're prepared to live somewhere that's hard to let, you might get lucky.

 

[oryx]

Friends of mine (Urbanites) got a 2-bed flat in Southwark that no-one else wanted cos the block was quite rundown and the flat itself a tip. No way would they have got the flat on points. But they got it through being in the right place at the right time!

Nice one. A colleague of mine recently went to show a three-bedroomed house in a half-decent area to people and NO-ONE showed up!

 

[boohoo]

As Quim and Marty have said, you can go on the council housing list - anyone can regardless of income. You just won't be high priority.

Ok, I'll apply anyway... nothing to lose.

Your options are either stick with a room in a shared house, marry someone with their own house, or follow your dreams and move to some dinky, run down, ramshackle place on the coast - you've already got a glue gun to fix the dodgy bits, and you can fill it with plants and cats and stuff.

marry? I don't date home owners...

Share a flat with some mates of the internet and hope for the best that they don't move some more of their mates/boyfriends/girlfriends in and turn the place into drugs hell. Oh, wait...
xx

That's chapter 7 in my autobiography - my internet flatmate drugs hell in Brixton

 

[EastEnder]

marry? I don't date home owners...

Is that one of the criteria you stipulate on dating sites - "GSOH, must like bricks & old stuff, no time wasters or home owners"?

I don't know why you're worrying about buying property, affordable or otherwise, at the moment - with any luck there's at least another 15% to drop before prices bottom out.

 

[boohoo]

Is that one of the criteria you stipulate on dating sites - "GSOH, must like bricks & old stuff, no time wasters or home owners"?

Hey, my brick knowledge got me a point on a pub quiz...

 

[_angel_]

... they don't really exist do they?

I wouldn't be able to get on the council list as I can afford to rent somewhere to live without the assistance of housing benefit.

This also means I can't get onto housing assocaition list.

Sorry -- but either your local authority operates totally differently to Leeds (and every other authority I've heard about) or that's not true.

I don't recall actually ever being asked about income/ benefits when applying for council or housing association housing...

Do you really think no-one in council housing have jobs or pay all their rent?
Have you been told you can't apply for council or social housing??



ETA: it seems several people have said this already - sorry

 

[boohoo]

Sorry -- but either your local authority operates totally differently to Leeds (and every other authority I've heard about) or that's not true.

I don't recall actually ever being asked about income/ benefits when applying for council or housing association housing...

Do you really think no-one in council housing have jobs or pay all their rent?
Have you been told you can't apply for council or social housing??



ETA: it seems several people have said this already - sorry

Unfortunately the form is a PDF otherwise I'd copy everyone the section which seem to implied that I wouldn't be accepted. Anyway, I'll give it a shot and let people know the outcome.

 

[_angel_]

Unfortunately the form is a PDF otherwise I'd copy everyone the section which seem to implied that I wouldn't be accepted. Anyway, I'll give it a shot and let people know the outcome.

Really?! That sounds wrong. Maybe they are trying to deter people from registering, however. It won't hurt to give it a shot but don't hold your breath.

Where are you, and if you don't mind me asking, how old are you. I noticed a lot of social housing for single people prioritizes the over fifties (or sometimes over forties)

 

[osterberg]

... they don't really exist do they?

I wouldn't be able to get on the council list as I can afford to rent somewhere to live without the assistance of housing benefit.

This also means I can't get onto housing assocaition list.

Housing options rent to buy or renting option is generally out of my league because I can only really afford a room in shared accomodation which is what I have anyway.

Buying a property through shared ownership - well on my wage I think there is one place I would be allowed to apply to which is located somewhere like Stratford which takes me away from my job, friends and family. Also I can't save much money as it's being spent on rent travel and remaining alive in an expensive city.

So basically back to private renting market....

any other ideas?

I was in the same situation.
Whatever happens just get your name down on the council waiting list and as many housing association waiting lists as possible. You maybe waiting forever but it's better than not being on lists .
I had a two year wait but got something eventually.

 

[marty21]

Really?! That sounds wrong. Maybe they are trying to deter people from registering, however. It won't hurt to give it a shot but don't hold your breath.

Where are you, and if you don't mind me asking, how old are you. I noticed a lot of social housing for single people prioritizes the over fifties (or sometimes over forties)

the current trend on new build social housing, is to build more one bed flats, i think there was some demographic boffin who suggested that single people will increase over the next 30 years or something

 

[Badgers]

I was in the same situation.
Whatever happens just get your name down on the council waiting list and as many housing association waiting lists as possible. You maybe waiting forever but it's better than not being on lists .
I had a two year wait but got something eventually.

Been said already but I am about to fill in the paperwork for the Lambeth register. I hold out little hope in the short/mid term at best but better to be on there now rather than rush through in the occasion that things get more difficult.

 

[boohoo]

Really?! That sounds wrong. Maybe they are trying to deter people from registering, however. It won't hurt to give it a shot but don't hold your breath.

Where are you, and if you don't mind me asking, how old are you. I noticed a lot of social housing for single people prioritizes the over fifties (or sometimes over forties)

I'm in south London and I'm 35. I think it might be a way of detering people. But it does basically mean that I have no access to affordable housing whether through shared ownership or council/housing assocaition.

 

[marty21]

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/story.aspx?storycode= 6503709

article here about homebuy direct,

The £400 million programme gives buyers an equity loan worth up to 30 per cent of the value of the property to help with the purchase. It is jointly funded by the government, through the Homes and Communities Agency, and the developer.