Hi

Sorry to bore you all with another housing thread!

We had an offer on a 4 bed detached house,private rent (we are currently council) 15 miles south from where we currently live, its a long windy country road and it really is in the middle of no-where!
Myself and Partner drove up to the area on tuesday night to see what it was like but it really is too far, i know it doesnt sound much. The nearest town to it was 18 miles away, but then it leaves us an extra 30 miles to the hospital where Evie is admitted every 4-6 weeks!
The trouble is i have 4 other children to consider who are all settled in their schools etc and we have just got Evies 1-1 carer sorted out for her day at nursery.
I rung the council up to refuse the offer and she got really snotty with me, i told her we couldnt afford the rent on a private rent and was also unsure on the security of a private rented house, but she didnt seem to care, because we are high priority for a house at the mo and there just arent any big houses suitable enough in the area we want.

I dont know what to do or what the council are going to do next for us? Anyone else had this problem??

They wont adapt the house we are currently in!

Thanks for reading if you managed to get this far

Firstly why wont they adapt the current property?

In regards to a private rent RUN A MILE if you are currently in a council house.

Tell them you only want a council or housing association house.
Private rented properties throw up so many problems you wont be needing like the type of tenancy wont be long enough if you ever needed further adaptions
Also ive done private renting and yes whilst i had a nice big house i was having to move every few years as landlords dont like you there too long as it gives you more "Secure rights" so they rotate tenants to ensure they dont ever give away those rights.
This isnt ideal when you need to plan long term and your thinking of the short term and where you will live.
Private renting is a nightmare when you need adaptions because the DFG grants stipulate you should stay there for 5 years something the landlords wont like so think carefully about the future.
Also if you were to take the property and then in 6 months you thought i cant do this no more and wanted to return to council housing they wouldnt class you as needy enough to be in with a real chance of getting a property as the property would be suitable if nothing changed.

Think long and hard and if it was me i wouldnt dream of it.
Honest answer i know but really its upto you but it sounds like you are already having doubts and need someone to help you make up your mind on that doubt.

One other thing to consider if you are getting housing benefit at all is to think of the proposed changes to housing benefit as that could well effect you as well.

Thanks
They wont adapt because we are overcrowded and there is just to much work to be done, step access all around the property, internal doors need to be widened we have a tiny kitchen which you wouldnt be able to get a wheelchair through, its going to cost them so much money!

I dont like the idea of the private rent and have said no to this offer but thats what they are currently looking at for us as they dont have the housing stock!!
I tried to tell the lady on the phone that there wasnt any security in the private rental housing, but she said we know the landlady etc etc! I told her we couldnt afford to pay £600 rent but she didnt seem to take that into consideration! We currently pay £300 for our council house!

You are entitled to refuse an offer on suitability for many reasons, security of tenure isnt one of them I am afraid BUT location away from support networks and services is. They are trying to lower their average waiting times by using private sector solutions... stick to your guns and do everything in writing

contact shelter.org for advice and assistance. They are fantastic at helping people with tenants rights and don't let the councils fob them off!! They helped us to get a council flat when the council were saying they couldn't help.