Hi, my name is laylrose! i'd like to move out from london to be nearer family. Can council help?

laylrose

i need some advice on housing it's a bit long so please bare with me ,
i've lived in the home i'm in now for nearly 30 years it was housing association but was bought by private landlords ,so over the years the rent has increased considerably it's a big three bedroom and my children have flown the nest so it's now just me and my husband 
im in considerable pain most of the time with osteoarthritis and trying to keep the house warm is impossible so i'd like to move out from london to be nearer to my family is there anything that my council can do to move me even though im a private tenant 
ive applied to the council in swale to put me in there waiting list but was wondering if there was anything else i should be doing 
i really want to live nearer my family for support 
thankyou

Albus_Scope

Heya @laylrose and welcome to the community.

I'm afraid I'm not sure about your question, but I wanted to let you know I've changed the title and moved your post to the housing category, so more people in the know will be able to see and hopefully offer some top support. I hope that's ok?

Luchia

Hi,

Theres nothing stopping you from registering on the council housing list but it’s likely they will deem you as adequately housed so priority will be very low, It could take years if you ever got an offer of housing at all.

It’s a shame it was changed to a private rent as you would of gained quite a large amount of extra points for downsizing to a 1 bedroom(You would only be entitled to a 1 bedroom with council housing) but as it’s private this wouldn’t apply as the council don’t gain a larger property back by downsizing you to a smaller.

I’ve never of a AH property been eligible to be sold to a private buyer while it’s currently occupied so might be worth inquiring about that.

You could request a OT assessment for your health needs but I don’t know how viable this would be as you are wanting to move out of the area so you would need to speak with the council in the area you are wanting to locate to as they might have different criteria and systems in place, The council I am with won’t do a OT assessment to move out of the area and the surrounding councils won’t allow a OT assessment to move into an area, They only allow it in the area you are currently living in(Must have connection to the area) but this may differ for each council so worth checking.

You could also look at private rents in the area you are wanting to locate to and see if there’s anything in your budget.