Council houses

[miasmum]

We went to view one tonight for Luke. I didn't realise you don't get anything provided, not a hob, fridge, nothing. Yet in a private rental, they have to provide basic white goods if it is let as furnished.

[Kaz]

No you get nothing provided

When I moved into one, with Chris, many many years ago I was in the same boat. Luckily for me my sister had just had an upgrade on a few bits and I got her old fridge, dining table and chairs and an old sofa, and I bought an old second hand cooker out of the newspaper, then chatted up the guy into fitting it for me

There weren't even carpets, or lino down, I had to buy all those too, but the carpet took me ages to save for

[miasmum]

I know, just concrete floors. I didn't realise it had always been like that, I thought maybe they used to be cut backs had stopped it.

Blimey, all Luke has is a chair, his bed, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe, we have a whole house to buy

[Gal]

Gosh no, absolutely not, just the basic house, and as Kaz says, likely no carpets either - I was born and raised in council houses, the one time mam moved (downsized) she took what she had from the first much bigger house, carpets, the lot, and had them all refitted, or bought new.

I think you can get a grant to buy stuff like white goods but you'd have to google it to find out - I'd do it but am rushing off to work shortly>>>>>>

[Kaz]

Gal is right, it has always been like that! I also grew up in council houses in the 60s and early 70s and my mum and dad had to buy the lot! The time I described was in 1990.

You might get some sort of grant for Luke, although with both you and Tim working your income might preclude that

I hope you can find somewhere he likes Shell, and that is suitable ((((((x)))))

[JoM]

I hope you can find somewhere, has Tim come round any to the idea of the bungalow that you saw?

I'm sure there is or was a scheme where people could donate old furniture etc to social services which was then passed on to tenants who were without? I'm on my phone but will have a search around later and see what's what.

[debih]

It shocked me when I moved from working in private rental to social housing.

I was used to an unfurnished private rental having carpets, curtains and generally built in appliances. To find out that they got nothing was a real shock.

When I first started with the housing association I work for now they used to actually tell the outgoing tenants that they had to rip the carpets up when they left and if they didn't they would get it done for them. Then the incoming tenants would have to go out and buy all new carpets to replace perfectly good carpets that had just been ripped out! They were also told to take down any shelves or cupboards that they might have put up, so bathroom cabinets, etc were also being removed, leaving marks on the wall meaning that the incoming tenants were having to decorate even when it didn't really need it, other than to cover up gaps where cupboards had removed unneccesarily. Utter madness - particularly as we are company that provides affordable housing for those in the greatest need!!

It came to the attention of our board who were horrified and now if the carpets are in reasonable condition they are left in and "gifted" to the incoming tenants which means that we are not responsible for the upkeep or replacement of them. Much more sensible.

[Gal]

It shocked me when I moved from working in private rental to social housing.

I was used to an unfurnished private rental having carpets, curtains and generally built in appliances. To find out that they got nothing was a real shock.

When I first started with the housing association I work for now they used to actually tell the outgoing tenants that they had to rip the carpets up when they left and if they didn't they would get it done for them. Then the incoming tenants would have to go out and buy all new carpets to replace perfectly good carpets that had just been ripped out! They were also told to take down any shelves or cupboards that they might have put up, so bathroom cabinets, etc were also being removed, leaving marks on the wall meaning that the incoming tenants were having to decorate even when it didn't really need it, other than to cover up gaps where cupboards had removed unneccesarily. Utter madness - particularly as we are company that provides affordable housing for those in the greatest need!!

Yes that happened to us - tbh though it was the norm so nobody ever questioned it, we just got on with it When mam died in 2000, the council would only allow us a week to clear her house of everything, so we had to deal with our grief and shift all her stuff, pronto.

[JoM]

Yes, that's the situation we were also in with our Nan's bungalow after she died Gal. Thankfully there was enough of us to pull together and get it done with a bit of team work but it must be awful to have to do that on your own while dealing with your grief
We cleared her garden too, not because we had to but because she spent hours out there and it was immaculate (she won the council's gardening contests well into her 90s) and none of us could bear to leave it in case someone came along, dug it up and skipped it so the weekend before we had to hand the keys back there must've been 15 of us there, digging up her lovely plants and sharing them between ourselves and her neighbours

[JoM]

I can't seem to find anything about grants or furniture being donated and passed on, all I could see was that you can no longer apply for a community care grant but can apply for a budgeting loan which has to be paid back within 2 years https://www.gov.uk/community-care-grant/overview