Does anyone have any opinions about the council housing in Sheffield? Is it any better or worse now Sheffield Homes are running things? And why does everyine have a downer on Blundells? Hasn't anyone got anything good to say about them?

No. 'Blunders' have a one track habit - price low on market, get as many interested as possible, even if they can't afford what the seller realistically expects, then send them all to blind bids to cream every penny possible. They are also very poor at calling you back, so you may actually lose out when they don't call you to even let you know something has gone to final bids. Avoid them, share out the sales to other agents, please, Blunders need a harsh lesson in business that you can't just carry on being rubbish and get away with it

sheffield homes and blunders are both absolute sh*t tried to get a council house for 5 years from being 20-26 i arrange a private sale through a buyer and i have currently been waiting 4 months for the owners to leave if i pull out i would have to pay 10% of the full amount nice isn't it

Sheffield Homes have got much worse since the new lettings system was introduced. Although they say that all empty properties go on the weekly property shop list so anyone can bid on them, there seem to have been some properties that have been rented out without appearing on the list. If this is happening on our street, then surely it must be happening all over the city.

The 'new' lettings system, based on choice, was introduced by Sheffield City Council probably about 4 years ago. Sheffield Homes took over last year.

'Choice Based Lettings' is the system used in many places in the UK - it is not specific to Sheffield. Some years ago, there were lots of empty council properties in the North, so one of the reasons the system was developed was to try and advertise them to everyone - and 5 years ago in Sheffield there were lots of empty properties - and people who wanted housing - but often not where the empties were! It is hard for many people to get council housing now, one of the main reasons of course is that lots of the best houses were sold to previous generations of tenants under 'Right to Buy'.

I worked for a time as a housing officer (not in Sheffield), and many young people couldn't understand why they couldn't get a council house near their parents - it hadn't occurred to them that because their parents (and their friends' parents) had bought their council houses, their choice had been greatly reduced.

Originally posted by geo666uk
sheffield homes and blunders are both absolute sh*t tried to get a council house for 5 years from being 20-26 i arrange a private sale through a buyer and i have currently been waiting 4 months for the owners to leave if i pull out i would have to pay 10% of the full amount nice isn't it

Sheffield Homes have only been in existance for 18months so can't be held responsible for what happened before then. Choice based lettings means that anyone on the register can bid for any property advertised instead of having to wait for there turn on the waiting list. Trouble is if twenty people bid for one property that = one satisfied customer and 19 unhappy ones!!!!!!

Originally posted by Patchy
Sheffield Homes have got much worse since the new lettings system was introduced. Although they say that all empty properties go on the weekly property shop list so anyone can bid on them, there seem to have been some properties that have been rented out without appearing on the list. If this is happening on our street, then surely it must be happening all over the city.

Perhaps the properties you mention have been earmarked for
rehousing families from properties that are being demolished. The council is still responsible for demolitions (though they say there will be no more) and they have priority on some properties to enable this to go ahead.

Apart from getting rid of the points system, i can't see how the lettings system is any better now than it was before. You still have to have been on the list yay number of years before you can bid for certain properties, so what has the change achieved? I live in a 2-bed maisonette which has great proportions (but appalling lack of storage) and is due to be modernised next year, but ideally I would like to get a house with a view then to buying, but I'll have to be on the list at least another 3 years as the minimum waiting time seems to be 5 years before your bid will be accepted.

the waiting times mentioned in the council property guide is for guidence only.

your bid would be accepted on any property you are eligable for (i.e is not too big for your household) but the council state in their adverts how long they estimate the sucessfull bidder will have been waiting.

Even if you only have a short waiting time it is worth bidding on properties that you want because you just might get lucky. You never know who else is bidding on that same property, you just might have the longest waiting time of all the bidders even if it is shorter than the council expects the sucessfull bidder to have.

What puzzles me is this: at what point do you get to look at the property?

Is it after your successful bid is aceepted. If this is the case, then what if its not suitable and you dont want it? You cant tell if a house will be suitable just from the info that the council posts. If you decline a property does it go to the next bidder?

Originally posted by alysonpeach
What puzzles me is this: at what point do you get to look at the property?

Is it after your successful bid is aceepted. If this is the case, then what if its not suitable and you dont want it? You cant tell if a house will be suitable just from the info that the council posts. If you decline a property does it go to the next bidder?

Thats what I thought alysonpeach, but from what Ive seen the properties look like they get put back on the propertyshop and re-advertised.

I have experience of bidding on properties and then seeing them advertised again weeks down the line, when surely they should be passed down to the next bidder until someone excepts the property, after all I am sure this is what the propertyshop stated when I registered.

Its all a big farce.

Jo

The new system is even worse than the system that was in place before, and that was utterly diabolical.

As for this "choice based letting", it's us, the mug public, doing the job which the council officers (sorry Sheffield Homes) should be doing;

WE should not be bidding for the properties, like some lottery (and incidentally there are over 20 bids for each empty property....)

The Sheffield Homes staff should be able to look at the property, and the waiting list for the type of property and area it's in, and be able to allocate it to the person/ family with the highest eligibility criteria.

It's hardly rocket science, is it?

*thinks*

"Ooh, now... Mr Jones has been waiting 4 years 6 months, Mr Smith has been waiting 4 yrs 8months:- they both have two kids and are bang smack equal in the fact that they have no specialist needs, erm... who do I give the property to?
why Mr Smith if course!"

I mean, come on! Duh!

(and I couldn't agree more about the iniquities of the shortage of council housing, cos folk buy them up.)

PT

Originally posted by Plain Talker


"Ooh, now... Mr Jones has been waiting 4 years 6 months, Mr Smith has been waiting 4 yrs 8months:- they both have two kids and are bang smack equal in the fact that they have no specialist needs, erm... who do I give the property to?
why Mr Smith if course!"

And if Mr Jones doesn't want to live there then he risks losing his priority and going to the bottom of the waiting list. At least this way people have some say in whereabouts they live, imo.

the property bidding system and its policy on rehoming vunerable people in Sheffield is absolutely pathetic.

What their actual priortiy scoring system is I don't know because it is far from the rose tinted view they paint in their literature or website.

I know personally of one case where people were told they had the house even before the house went up for auction. Fine they had priorities and special needs but it sort of makes an even bigger farce out of the system than it already aparently is.

I could go on.....bit I would swear alot

Moon

I was looking at the results page for bids I've made over the last year or so, the other day. One column is headed "result" but I think that relates to the waiting time of the people given the property (somebody correct me if I'm wrong on that but I couldn't relate it to anything else - certainly nothing to do with my details). Anyway, a while ago I bid for a 2-bed house on Base Green (like rocking horse manure at best). In the result column it said 11 October 1978 and the house was let in 2005. I know the waiting list is long for Base Green but am I right in thinking that this means someone waited 27 years for that house?!

A friend of mine has a saying... " 'Better' is the enemy of 'good' !"

The system that is now in place is a total shambles. Under this scheme, no-one has the foggiest idea of where they stand on the list, or even whether they actually stand a chance of getting a property.

Last year, there were one thousand properties that came available, and there were twenty thousand bids.

Which equates to twenty bids per property.

Which means that there were nineteen disappointed applicants each time.

It didn't say whether there was twenty applicants who bid for every single home, or whether there were twenty thousand individual bidders.

What it DOES tell us, is that, despite the sheer numbers of council houses being sold off, or being demolished, and not replaced, the supply of properties is nowhere near meeting the demand.

Out of those nineteen disappointed applicants, there's no clue s to what proportion of those are:-

a) homeless

b) in priority need because of disabilty or over/ undercrowding, or perhaps family needs or

c) simply fancying a move to a "nicer" area, and not in any desperate need to move/ be housed.

I have mentioned before, the saga of my best mate, a wheelchair user, who was homeless for EIGHT months in 2004, whilst the council's housing department got into their collective concuiousnesses, the message that
"the property you are offering, with steps, up-to, or inside the property is no good for someone who is wheelchair dependant."

A couple of words come to mind...

"booze-up" and "brewery"

PT

There are fors and againsts with choice based lettings (cbl). When the points system was in place, applicants were limited in the number of areas they could have on their application form. With cbl, when a property is advertised, no matter where it is in the city anyone can apply for it.

With points, when an applicant had the most points for a property they would be offered it - most councils had a policy in place where a number of refusals, usually 2, led to suspension from the list for a period of time, usually 6 months. This also led to houses and flats sitting empty for ages if lots of applicants turned them down. With cbl, in theory, most applicants only bid on the properties they actually would want.

CBL is considered a more transparent system than a waiting list. There is often a public perception that there are loads of empty properties that they can't have - with cbl you have a situation just like a lettings agency, they advertise what they have got.

Properties when advertised will state if they are to be given to applicants with priority, (homelessness, overcrowding etc), or to applicants with waiting time - and in these cases,show an estimate of the waiting time likely to be needed.

Anyone interested in the perceptions around CBL might take a look at
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1155499

Originally posted by BobsGirl
Apart from getting rid of the points system, i can't see how the lettings system is any better now than it was before. You still have to have been on the list yay number of years before you can bid for certain properties, so what has the change achieved? I live in a 2-bed maisonette which has great proportions (but appalling lack of storage) and is due to be modernised next year, but ideally I would like to get a house with a view then to buying, but I'll have to be on the list at least another 3 years as the minimum waiting time seems to be 5 years before your bid will be accepted.

I seem to have been labouring under a misapprehension ... or the goalposts have been moved. I got this 2-bed maisonette 4 years ago, as a single person. Turns out I'm not entitled to a 2-bed HOUSE as a single person, only as a couple/with a 2nd adult. It's an updated policy from when I got this 4 years ago so that excuses my ignorance of that fact but what the hell is the difference between what is effectively a 2nd-floor 2-bed house (just with a flat roof) and a 2-bed house at ground level and why shouldn't I be entitled to a house just the same???? :rant:

Not sure about this bobsgirl, but isnt it to do with letting people with kids have a house so they have a garden to play in? Is it any different I wonder if you have a cat or a dog?

As a couple we acquired a 3 bedroom housing association house, but its very tiny, and of course the rent is higher than council property.

Since we moved in however, we have been joined by my daughter and 2 kids.... Although we feel overcrowded, according to the council we are not overcrowded, despite the fact that we have no where we can all eat together apart from the living room with trays balanced on knees. Our kitchen is nicely fitted but we have no room for a table. Fortunately the housing association considers that we have some priority and we will hopefully be re-housed with them.

Originally posted by alysonpeach
Not sure about this bobsgirl, but isnt it to do with letting people with kids have a house so they have a garden to play in? Is it any different I wonder if you have a cat or a dog?

As a couple we acquired a 3 bedroom housing association house, but its very tiny, and of course the rent is higher than council property.

Since we moved in however, we have been joined by my daughter and 2 kids.... Although we feel overcrowded, according to the council we are not overcrowded, despite the fact that we have no where we can all eat together apart from the living room with trays balanced on knees. Our kitchen is nicely fitted but we have no room for a table. Fortunately the housing association considers that we have some priority and we will hopefully be re-housed with them.

One of my neighbours on my floor has got a toddler so I don't think so - and pets aren't allowed.

Originally posted by BobsGirl
One of my neighbours on my floor has got a toddler so I don't think so - and pets aren't allowed.

Thats what I meant. If you had a dog would they be considering you for a house? Im not suggesting you get one but I just wondered what their rules were.

The neighbour with a toddler may be on the list for a transfer or may have moved in before the toddler was born. Or they may have accepted the flat in desperation as they couldnt find a house in the right area. So they could be entitled to a house but settled for a flat.

PS have you tried a housing association?

Originally posted by BobsGirl
I seem to have been labouring under a misapprehension ... or the goalposts have been moved. I got this 2-bed maisonette 4 years ago, as a single person. Turns out I'm not entitled to a 2-bed HOUSE as a single person, only as a couple/with a 2nd adult. It's an updated policy from when I got this 4 years ago so that excuses my ignorance of that fact but what the hell is the difference between what is effectively a 2nd-floor 2-bed house (just with a flat roof) and a 2-bed house at ground level and why shouldn't I be entitled to a house just the same???? :rant:

It's because houses are more frequently requested (for families with children) than flats or maisonettes, as I understand it.

PT