Council Properties - people taking the pi$$

[contentedsoul]

I'm sure this has come up before.

Colleague I work with rents out a former 1 bedroom council flat, The owner has only owned it 7mths. It was her mothers and she bought it prior to her passing (£14k). Charges colleague £400pm. The other flats in the block are still owned by the council, they pay £360. Colleague has to pay cash and is not allowed to use the address for mail (so all mail is diverted to his parents) also has to pay full council tax and all utilities. The owner/landlady has just told him she's had her own house valued £650K!
Colleague then tells me of a mate of his, he managed to get a 3 bedroom council flat 8yrs ago. He has never slept in it once, still lives with parents and rents out the flat, his aim is to qualify for maximum discount and use the money he's made from renting to buy the flat outright!! Will then sell !!
Brothers girlfriend - never worked in her life, met brother, brother used his savings to buy her council house at maximum discount, moved out the same month and rents out, she claims single parent, and as still living in the house and keeps all the rent herself!!

Sorry, but this is ridiculous, that's three separate scenarios that I know of, multiply it by all the other people on here and those not on here that all know of similar stories...

When is it going to stop, I'm sick to the back teeth of seemingly everybody taking the proverbial.
Why dont the council all offer a anonymous means of reporting this and WHY doesn't the council be then be forced to investigate each and every report. If fraud is discovered the owner should be automatically be stripped of possession and face criminal charges of fraud.

No doubt most of the bloody councillors and MPs are already in on this scam themselves.

I'm pig sick of following the rules and getting nowhere whilst every other devious fuck is blatantly screwing the system.

Enough is ENOUGH

[Samcro]

yabu and GAF

[MargotPolo]

TOTALLY AGREE

[Stressedout10]

They do investigate and prosecute them for fraud when they catch them. The BBC has a whole series of programmes about it.

If you know that someone or 3 are committing tenancy fraud report them to your council (can be done anonymously) instead of whingeing online

[CoffeeRunner]

I know lots of HA tenants (no council housing here, all passed over to HAs years ago).

Literally none are subletting. If you know three, you should report them. If they don’t need the property as a roof over their own head then they shouldn’t have it.

But I’m not sure the problem is as widespread as you make out.

[namechanged2000]

They stopped this in Scotland and Wales. I didn't know England still did this. Maximum discount is £100,000 for London, £80,000 elsewhere.

You can report it to the council if you feel strongly about it.

[Chipsandcheesecake]

I feel you! We work hard and don't claim anything except child benefit. In debt, don't own a car or home, literally everything is cheap as can be. But know loads of folk who don't work, diddle addresses etc and have cars, holidays, new stuff etc.
Could easily diddle the system because it's pretty easy, but we're raising our kids by a good example, don't expect everything to be handed to you! Life's not about getting what you want all the time. And when you do get a reward it feels worth it because you earned it. I think that's a better feeling than just getting given things. I just think these people that take the system for a ride, if their 'privileges' get stopped they won't know how to cope!

[MauisHouseOnMaui]

If it bothers you so much, report it. The phone number will be on the website for the council involved, you can do it anonymously, they will investigate, and they will come down like a tonne of bricks on the perpetrators.

Or would you rather just post goady shit online about it?

[contentedsoul]

@StressedOut10 actually it can't be done anonymously - same as reporting people for tax evasion and serious benefit fraud - you now have to give them your details for them to take the case up.

As for whingeing....strange comment....are you in it too??

Everybody blames the "Foreigners" yet actually it's clearly the idle English who are too fucking lazy and clearly self entitled to get of their fat arses - yet then moan about "bloody Foreigners"

[MauisHouseOnMaui]

Could easily diddle the system because it's pretty easy

It's really not as easy as you'd think. I used to work in Compliance and it has become increasingly difficult to "diddle" the system but don't let that get in the way of your frothing.

[Gran22]

Right to Buy should be discontinued in England IMO, except in areas where the properties are difficult to let. If more social housing is built, there should be a stipulation it isn't for sale.

@contentedsoul, anyone who is renting and not living in their social housing property could face eviction, especially if it is discovered they are subletting. Their tenancy agreement will spell that out clearly. He is breaking the rules and depriving another household of decent accommodation. Report the man if that is what he is doing.

[MauisHouseOnMaui]

actually it can't be done anonymously - same as reporting people for tax evasion and serious benefit fraud - you now have to give them your details for them to take the case up.

That is utter horseshit. Anonymous reports are given just as much consideration as non-anonymous reports. You may well be asked why you are reporting it and how you come to know that fraud is being committed but you do not have to give your name.

[Taloolaleh]

That was a nasty comment Mauis calling OP a shit - you are the one who sounds goady actually. Its just OP's experience she's sharing, and a fair point for some people. The nasty over-reaction is entirely yours.

[Havingarethink]

But these are just your common law fraudsters and would be committing crimes regardless of the council house aspect surely?

[MauisHouseOnMaui]

That was a nasty comment Mauis calling OP a shit

I didn't call the OP a shit, I asked if she would rather post goady shit. You could easily substitute the word shit with stuff and it would have the same meaning.

World of difference between "you are a shit" and "I find this post to be goady shit".

[MummytoCSJH]

A hell of a lot more people than the few you know live in social housing (and the last one doesn't..) and plenty of them work just as hard as or even harder than you and pay their full rent just like any other tenant. Even if they claim benefits, it's the minority that are doing anything fraudulent. YABU and goady.

[Custardo]

couple of thing getting mixed up here

so if you are entied to do so you can buy your council house at a discount - it is then yours to do ith what you will - so like any other person ho buys a house and then rents it out - you cn do the same

this should not be confused with subletting, which is illegal.

if someones boyfriend buys the council house - he can do with it what he will - it belongs to him not the GF. if sh is sinlge parent - she can claim legally, if they live together and is claiming, then that is benefit fraud and not related to buying a council house

hope this helps

[Stressedout10]

@contentedsoul
No I'm not in on it to (sorry to disappoint)
As for my comment about whingeing online you are. Rather than doing something about it, (which in my opinion is almost as bad as doing it yourself since you are knowingly turning a blind eye to it ) you start a goady thread

[Anewbooknotanewchapter]

Bought a flat for 14k, had it valued at 650k. Ok then

[Treaclesweet]

I'm more concerned with corporate tax evasion, the scale of which will dwarf any alleged benefit fraud.

[twattymctwatterson]

The first one isn't subletting and is perfectly legal. If you buy a council property through right to buy then want to rent it out it's fine to do so

[SayItLoud1]

There was a news item on social housing or lack of it on BBC news this evening. Firstly housing stock should NEVER have been allowed to be sold off, secondly right to buy..... if you can afford to buy a Council house then you can buy a house full stop OR privately rent.

I know of a couple who both work full-time and holiday abroad every year because they are ‘entitled’ to social housing.

What can I say, system is there to be abused. Meanwhile those in genuine need live in hostels or bedsits. Go figure.

[MauisHouseOnMaui]

Around £2 billion a year is lost to benefit fraud, roughly 1.5% of the overall spending on benefits, whereas approx £7 billion a year is lost to tax evasion (illegal) and tax avoidance (legal for the most part) much of which is committed by people and companies who could easily afford to stump up the cash.

[HelenaDove]

@SayitLoud i saw that news item But the part of history some seem happy to rewrite is the fact that social housing was for everyone.


www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/the-rise-and-fall-of-council-housing-56139 the welfarisation of council housing.


By John Boughton the author of Municipal Dreams The Rise and fall of Council Housing

[WorraLiberty]

Just the English then?

[HelenaDove]

In the 1980s, residualisation may have been a partly unintended consequence of housing policies pursued with varying ideological intent.

Since 2010, and more so since the return of single-party Conservative government in 2015, we’ve seen something further: welfarisation – ‘a conception of social housing as a very small, highly residualised sector catering only for the very poorest, and those with additional social “vulnerabilities”, on a short-term “ambulance” basis