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E12Hammer 6:31 Sat Jan 11
Help with Social Housing
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My daughter, a 28 year old single mum of 2 (sorry, no link) is having problems getting out of the shit hole where the Council have current put her.
Long story short, her bloke, father of both kids, beat the shit out of her, and after she'd finally had enough took herself and the kids away, went to the Council, who put here in emergency accomodation. That was nearly 2 years ago.
Now they're telling her that if she wants out of her current flat she has to find her own place. Easy enough you'd think, but every single Estate Agency she has contacted have told her she needs a Guarantor that earns over �50k a year.
Basically, the council will give her �X amount per month for the housing, and she has to fork out the rest. Not too big a deal as she has plenty of people willing to put money in for her and the kids, its just she cant legally guarantee the money.
Im getting the feeling she isnt being given all the necessary information, surely not everyone who rents a house has to have such a large guarantor.
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
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Replies - Newest Posts First ( Show In Chronological Order)
Pickle Rick
10:49 Mon Jan 13
Re: Help with Social Housing
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E12,
That's the norm I'm afraid, it varies from borough to borough and the response given about finding another place herself is standard, its a case of wait, keep badgering the local authority, then they'll get moved to better accommodation. As others have said, they may have to be prepared to be moved to another authority elsewhere in the country if they want out of the emergency accommodation now.
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Sniper
10:09 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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Lower marsh
Working in housing in Bristol for years I can categorically say that bribing for keys for houses simply doesn’t and couldn’t go on here - the processes of applying for and getting a council house along with the process for turning round vacant void properties into lettable ‘relets’ are too stringent for any part to be skipped and would involve a hell of a lot more people than just a housing officer To be bribed to get to the top of the list. In fact the housing officer would be the least likely to be able to help - you’d be better off bribing a voids surveyor
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wansteadman
11:28 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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Sad it has to come to that. I can’t see tower hamlets council doing that
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joe royal
10:58 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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wansteadman 9:37 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
Oddly enough they used so much positive discrimination that as of 2 years ago whites were getting preferential treatment with job vacancies to try and even things out a bit.
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Toe Rag
9:49 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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lowermarshhammer 1:31 Sun Jan 12
I don’t think any of the housing officers I worked with would have done as they all seemed to be pretty decent people.
Can’t vouch for the other offices dotted about the borough (I was based in Tulse Hill)
I was there when almost the entire housing property services management were sacked one weekend for gross incompetence for allowing a huge fraud which ran to multiple millions of pounds to happen on their watch.
(I think you might have mentioned it on here before)
If that was an indication of the general uselessness of large amounts of the management at the time I can well see how bent officers could get away some pretty dodgy behaviour.
Like I said though, the ones I dealt with all seemed to me to be good people.
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wansteadman
9:37 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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We had a Peabody trust place which at the time was trying to keep people born in the area in the area so was mainly local white people. A Bangladeshi took them to court saying they were racist so they had to let him have a place, no guessing what’s gone on with Peabody trust housing since
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joe royal
7:33 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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As an aside , another ex is the lettings director at the Peabody Trust, while the council/housing association are obliged to re house you , they are not obliged to do so in the same area .
Here is a “for instance”
A refugee family were living in a studio flat just off Slone Square, mum ,dad and a baby. A bar room lawyer told them if they have another kid the the trust have to legally re home them, They were rehoused in Birmingham .
I asked for a Peabody flat as they have a load of empty 1 bed places in zone one , was happy to pay rent etc , but over the years it changed from a trust to help the “working poor” into an association that houses , emergency services , single mums and refugees.
So even now I’m homeless I still can’t get one as I’m a single bloke with a job.
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lowermarshhammer
1:31 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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Toe Rag
I heard that the going rate for a set of keys for a council property from a bent housing officer in Lambeth was around 10 to 15k. This was around 20 / 25 years ago. Once you handed over the readies the property would be wiped from all records and apparently not exist.
Not sure how true that is, just wondering what you think?
I wonder if true just how many people might still be living in rent free / mortgage free accommodation with just utility bills to pay for.
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On The Ball
1:19 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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If I was in E12's shoes I'd beat the shit out of him, THEN plaster it all over the internet.
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Toe Rag
1:18 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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I was contracting for Lambeth Council years back and it was quite common to find tenants very unhappy with the places they were allocated.
Their answer to this problem was to simply set their flat on fire.
Bingo! Rehoused.
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joyo
1:02 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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E12 why haven't you beat the shit out of the father of her kids.. The cowardly wife beating cunt? If you can't do it pay someone else. Fucking scum like that only know one message
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overbyyer
12:48 Sun Jan 12
Re: Help with Social Housing
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As others have said, it's a dire situation but not that uncommon. My sister ended up in EA after being on the housing list for 10 years and being a priority for health issues. She was in private rental housing for 8 years, but the landlord sold up so she was homeless. Ended up in a house split into 8 bed sits, women upstairs, blokes downstairs, most had addiction issues.
I spent time fixing her door as it was insecure and a fire hazard - had to threaten the housing department with their own safety standards document to get the door replaced, the landlord wasn't bothered at all. My sister toughed it out and eventually got a flat in an assisted living complex which is great, but you've got to be a pain in the arse to get things done - I was phoning the housing department frequently, pointing out there obligations and the deficiencies in the EA they were providing and paying thousands of pounds a week for, to a slum landlord.
Your daughter is going to have to tough it out and your going to have to hassle the housing department. Good luck to you and remember this experience the next time some arsehole tells you social housing is full of lazy scroungers.
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joe royal
9:01 Sat Jan 11
Re: Help with Social Housing
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And for what it’s worth , when I was looking to rent a place with the ex we got turned away from two places as “a zero hours contract cannot guarantee the rent will get paid”
Fact I have worked at the co for 13 years and carry 30ks worth of credit cards stood for nothing.
Even offering 6 months up front would not sway the landlord.
If she has a roof over her head then as tough as it sounds try being thankful for what you do have than what you don’t have.
I’m currently homeless , crashing in a friends spare room.
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joe royal
8:54 Sat Jan 11
Re: Help with Social Housing
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To cut through a lot of red tape when my mum needed to rent a place last year we paid 6 months rent up front . 6x 850)
When my ex needed a place she had to pay a year up front . 12x 1150.
Ex gets UC , mum was a straight cash jobby.
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Side of Ham
7:32 Sat Jan 11
Re: Help with Social Housing
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The boyfriend is relevant if they were in a place together and he still has the place to himself.
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Westham67
7:18 Sat Jan 11
Re: Help with Social Housing
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Try spare room.com. you can get a room to a 3 bedroom house from private owners. Some take benifits. There will a deposit only required
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Sniper
7:13 Sat Jan 11
Re: Help with Social Housing
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There’s not really anything the council isn’t telling you other than the fact that there is such a huge shortage of social housing and such a plethora of people on the waiting list that there literally isn’t anything else they can do for your daughter. It’s a sad but horrible truth and having worked in and around social housing for many years (largely on the repairs side) and even working on a project to reduce the time spent in EA, I can say that your daughters situation is not uncommon at all, sadly enough and I know how horrendous the EA places are to be. I have enormous sympathy for you all.
Have the council provided a list of local private housing providers that offer to take DSS tenants? Some areas have specific agencies that deal with just these situations where they don’t try to rip people off.
Or, and I appreciate the difficulty of doing so given the situation with her ex, but has she or you tried asking on Facebook etc? For some landlords housing benefit tenants are easy money - they just set the rent at or slightly above the maximum level of benefit on offer in the area, but it’s easier to do it privately than lose out paying agents fees etc
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Darlo Debs
7:07 Sat Jan 11
Re: Help with Social Housing
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Has she tried going to citizens Advice who might be able advise her on her options?
Or if she got help via the women's refuge to.get her current place, a support worker there may be able to help.
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alfs barnet
6:51 Sat Jan 11
Re: Help with Social Housing
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Not really relevant though is it?
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cup of tea
6:39 Sat Jan 11
Re: Help with Social Housing
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"Long story short, her bloke, father of both kids, beat the shit out of her"
I'd be more inclined to concentrate on this part. Surely you've either by yourself or arranged to have him ironed out? If not why not?
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