Hi, At the moment we are privately renting, we are moving again shortly, (same landlord just bigger house) so the the property we are currently in we didn't bother decorating as we knew it was only temporary. We have to get a bigger house for Max, as most of you know the equipment alone could warrant needing a garage! Anyway, the problem is that the house basically needs stripping and then re-decorating, not just the walls but the carpets too, and seen as this house is fairly large the cost of this is going to be a struggle.

Does anyone know if we would be entitled to any help or do you only get help if you live in a council property.

(We did get awarded priority with the council but there were no suitable properties available at the time, not to mention the fact that they deemed any 2 bed suitable, irrelevant of size, which was the whole point in moving!)

Thanks for reading xx

wouldnt the landlord be expected to have it decorated and carpeted before you move in to make it habitable? i know when my parents moved into a house that needed decorating the landlord dropped the rent for first few months to cover my dad doing it (he was a painter/decorator) so they could choose their own tastes, the main reason the council give some vouchers for decoration when u move into a council house is they remove all carpets the previous tenant put in and if any work has been done like plastering it would need painting or wallpapering though £180 didnt go far in our house as they had plastered or ripped wallpaper off all over house.
depending on if anyone works and stuff there is social fund or there are grants you can get from the council but i dont know how you get them

Thanks for your reply Corinne, Yeah I know what you mean about the landlord being responsibile but I think as far as they are concerned it is liveable. But the carpets are old and Max isn't walking yet so he 'scrawms' (if u know what I mean) everywhere, plus he has a tendency to lick the floor (lovely I know!) so It really needs to be re-carpeted. The decor I can live with and do it bit by bit I suppose :-)

I could always ring the council just to check I suppose, I just don't like feeling cheeky but it is for Max and when you survive on benefits you have to do what you can I suppose.

Thanks again x

I was just going to say that, Corinne, if it needs redecorating and recarpeting then surely that's up to the landlord to sort out or at least to give you money/a reduction in rent to pay for it. x

Hi if you are on a qualifying benefit you could apply for a budgeting loan. Hope this helps x