Wednesday 26 June 2013

New Home

Last week I was feeling pretty low. It wasn't really post holiday blues because on the way home I received and invitation to go to another Center Parcs, and then on the evening I found out that I'd won a holiday to Blackpool! Plenty of treats for us this year then.

I guess the holiday followed immediately by our weekend in London and trip to Legoland did take it's toll. We were all very tired. Ok, absolutely knackered. And it affected some of us more than others resulting in someone's very bad and selfish mood which put a damper on things for me.

Then back home there was another incident which upset me, but has since been resolved and I shouldn't have been so hasty to judge.

So I was feeling low already before I decided to take a look and see if there were any homes available for us this week on the housing transfer website. I logged on and there in big red letters were the words, 'suspended from bidding' I was so upset. I tried calling, all day long, but the line was permanently engaged. I whipped off an e-mail and got an automated reply saying that my e-mail would be read within 28 days!!! I was bloody furious. I had a bit of a tantrum and announced (well, I say announced, I was the only person listening) that I was no longer wanting to move house, I'd given up and was going to stay here until I died.

The next morning I went to the cemetery to talk to mum. I had a lot to say and sometimes I feel she's the only person I can really talk to even though she's not here any more. I knew she would have said all the right things if she could.

On returning home I found an e-mail telling me to ring a number urgently and that it was to do with my  housing transfer. The person I urgently had to speak to was out of office. Bloody typical.

The next morning I got a phone call....offering me a brand new five bedroomed house.
I didn't really take it in at first, but the woman on the phone arranged to come and visit the same day.

The first thing I asked her was would I be fighting for this house along with others. On the bidding system six people are chosen to view then a final decision is made to who gets the house. She said no, I was the only person and if I accepted the house on viewing then it was mine.

The house has not been finished being built yet. I went to look at it and it had no windows, floors or doors, but the main structure was there and  I have the plans for the finished house. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am. I've been on Google Street map and 'walked' the area over and over, the routes to the schools, the shops, the church. I've studied the bus time tables and even checked to see if we will be able to keep our Virgin tv and broadband.

Deep down, I think my mum had something to do with this.

There is one problem hanging over it all right now, it's complicated to explain but I'll try briefly. We can't move unless our rent account is clear and currently it's showing an overpayment of housing benefit. This was news to me so I phoned the housing benefit and they said I didn't owe anything. I phoned the rent and they said I owed housing benefit, I told them that the housing benefit office said I didn't and they told me to call the housing benefit office and sort it out with them. So I called them back and they said there was nothing to sort out. I screamed, but not down the phone.

So I went to speak to someone in person but they couldn't work out what had happened but put an urgent request into head office to sort it. I was told it would be sorted in a few days but rang again and was told it could take 28 days. So I rang again (how many calls is that?) and demanded to speak to someone higher up so was put through to a manager. They have now put my query on Emergency which means a 48 hours response. I truly hope so because I have until next Friday to sort it out or I lose the house. I'm 100% sure that it is a mistake and have all the documentation to prove it, but if it isn't sorted then my only option to not lose my house is to pay £685 (which I haven't got) to pay a bill that I don't owe. I don't even know who I would pay it too.

There's always something. I'm trying to stay positive that it will be sorted.
please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, and I still don't know why I'm suspended from bidding...not that I want any other house now.

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