Sheffield property shop

[ladyovmanor 10]

can anyone out there give me positive look on sheffield property shop as i have been bidding for two years with 7 points and no joy i have two kids and a partner and need a 3 bed house and i have a 2 can some one give me some hope on this do people actually get propertys !!!!!!!!!

[Squashie28 10]

Ive only just gone on the waiting list for housing in Sheffield and there seem quite a lot of properties available.

 

As I'm not from Sheffield I found it quite surprising on how many council properties are vacant, as where I live council houses are few and far between because they are given to asylum seekers constantly the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham has become a major dumping ground now, hence the reason why I want to get the hell out.

 

What surprised me is when you said you have accumilated 7 points because I was told by the property shop that the points system is now obsolete and this has been replaced by the new method of bidding your interest in properties via the website.

 

It was explained to me that properties are given to people based on their priority or waiting times.

 

I understand that I wont get a place straight away but I hope its not going to drag on for years and years, I can understand how frustrated you are, but I would of thought that you would be considered a high priority because there are 4 of you in your family and I presumed that was considered overcrowding for 4 people in a 2 bedroom house.

 

I wish you luck I hope you dont have to wait too much longer, let me know when you finally get offered a place.

 

Regards

 

Joanne

[jonhanson 10]

there is a couple of things you could do to speed up the proccess, the first being house swap, in each local housing office there is a big book of ppl wanting to swap houses and there are a quite a few that would like to downsize and because it is a pretty dull book not many people look through it so you have a high chance of finding a house in there, or the second thing is if you are on benifitsa and get housing benifits you could always look to private rent and get it paid that way this would urge the council to house you as they would be paying money out, hope this helps, jon

[kati 10]

I was curious, to know how high a rent the benefits will pay, is there a limit?

[Plain Talker 11]

Originally posted by kati

I was curious, to know how high a rent the benefits will pay, is there a limit?

 

if you are renting a council or a housing association property, your rent is automatically what's called a "registered fair rent", which means that it is not "exorbitantly high". and that if you are on Income support, you will automatically get coverage of the amount of the rent.

 

if you are renting from a private landlord, unless he /she has registered the rent as a "fair rent", you may not get your full rent paid for you.

 

If it is dearer than the "cap" that the council's housing benefit service have set as "reasonable" to pay, then you will more than likely have to make a contribution toward the rent. (of course, what the council say is reasonable, and what some greedy, rip-off private landlords think their property is worth in rental-income are two different things - after all why rent it out as a family home, for, say 80-100 quid a week when you could double that income, renting it out as bedsits, and get 3, 4, or even 5 or more in there, individually paying 50 or 60 quid a week-plus for one room. it's no decision is it?)

 

so i would recommend being extremely wary of what the landlord will charge, and what the council benefits department will pay, because if you have to pay a big difference, it's going to cripple you financiallly!

 

not all landlords are ripoff merchants, and on for a fast buck, but there are those out there who are.

 

PT

[yorkiepudd 10]

I don't know if the 'points' have any relevance now, each property is listed with a 'preference' and 'approximate waiting time' reqd to get the property.

 

Anyway, my sister in law is (to all intents and purposes) homeless, and she even has a social worker helping her to negotiate with the council (the private landlord she was with refused to renew the tenancy as he wanted to sell the property), and she has been bidding for everything and anything for ages (and I have seen some of the s**tholes she has gone for) and she has been unsucessful with every single one.

[kati 10]

Hi,

Any one know the procedure when the council require tenants to move due to reovation plans, ie Park Hill and one hasn,t been able to find a house under thhis new bidding system? Last year every one from there was given 40 ponits which this year don,t count from what I gather.

 

Well I still havn,t even got my Reistration number after fillng in 2 forms. Sheffield Property Shop reckon I,m not registerd and kindly sent me a 3rd form. The First Point Information site say they can,t give me my Registration Number online and to either go ther or to Park Hill Housing and ask for it or to ask for it in writing. (Ye right then they can lose the letter as well as both of my forms)

 

Well I,m not planning on running around after the Registration number any more. I feel like just giving the Head of Housing the replies to my enquiry when they want me to move and he or she can run around after. I,m not in a hurry anyway.

[yorkiepudd 10]

Hi Kati

 

When you get registered (eventually!!!) you will find houses in an area that you are given priority for. If you don't have any luck, write to your MP or find out when their next surgery is and get

down there.

 

BTW, another week and despite reassurances from the housing dept. my sis in law still wasn't sucessful (2A and 3K currently sharing 1 bedroom at the in laws)

[kati 10]

Thanks for the tip. Well its going to be interesting because I want live around Meadowhead and thats what I,ll be bidding for. (When properties are available in that area)

 

In October the Housing Officer told me I didn,t have to be out untill summer 2005 at the very latest but today I got the idea they,d like every one out pretty quick, when the housing consultant who mailed my Registration Number kindly offerd to put in a bid for me, if I see a property before my Pin Number arrives?

 

They can evict tenants who refuse to move out but I hope that doesn,t apply to tenants like me who don,t want to live in areas of the councils choise (ringfenced for priority) but in an area of one,s own choosing?

 

Well it may have been helpfullness but it made me uncomfortable as I was also invited to discuss 'the sittuation'. Of course I declined as 'the sittuation' had already been explained in full when the Housing Officer visited me.

 

17 years ago I was homeles with a baby and had the good luck to get a house the very same day I went to the council and the same happened last time when I moved to Park Hill. I could hardly believe it myself but I was in the right place at the right time, for once.

[yorkiepudd 10]

Too much red tape - as usual these days. Everyone is so concerned about ensuring guidelines are met that nothing gets done.

 

I had (the misfortune) to have to contact the council the other week. I wanted to inform them that my income had increased and I no longer wanted to claim any c/tax benefit (even though I just still qualified, I wanted the flexability to earn more if I so wished without any hassle).

 

No problem, fill in a "change of circumstances" declaration. Then go down and wait in a queue for hours and take all the original documentation under the sun for them to photocopy so that I can claim..... NOTHING, because I don't want to!!!

 

But I can't do that, I can't say I don't want it. I must be assessed. If they say I can still have some benefit, then get it I will.

 

Bureaucracy gone mad, that's all I can say.

[kati 10]

Just change your Bank account so they can,t pay it to you?

 

I know of a woman who went to give her social security up they tried to get her to give them info on her new partners income. She just put her soc. book om the counter, told them it wasn,t there business and left the office.

 

You sure here some stange stuff.