Owning your own home

So I'm looking at part buy-part rent properties. As others have said on this thread not as an investment (not that you get that with social housing) but somewhere more secure/threat of being turfed out at short notice.

It'll take about 18 months to save the £8k for deposit/legal fees etc but I'm wondering now about mortgage lenders. I have a less than perfect credit file but have not had any defaults/issues in last 3 yrs, paid off credit cards & old debts. How far back do mortgage lenders look?

Not sure, but you've got 18 months to build up your rating. I think some people recommend that you get a credit card, make small purchases on it and pay it off in full each month. It's supposed to boost your rating. But I'd do some research on that rather than listening to me...