The Labour Party are bloody hypocrites

Absolutely. It needs stopping.

I don't think that the right to buy was a great idea. Logically, if you sell off all the council housing stock, there are then less houses available for people who need a council house, for whatever reason.
I'm not sure how that was ever going to be helpful in the long term at a societal level.

And now... we have a shortage of council housing.

Also, wasn't rtb a Conservative policy? I don't think it is hypocritical for Labour to reverse a policy from the opposition.

The poster is claiming that it's a "council flat" but with a private landlord which isn't right and seems to think benefits will pay the rent forever, so it's either made up or they just don't understand how it works, either way they haven't done much research on the topic!

The council will be paying £412.86 per week tops for private rent. Hardly investment banker level. There is a ceiling on the housing benefit the council will pay. Have you not heard of the LHA?

Weekly LHA rate for October 2024
Central London BRMA

Shared Accommodation Rate:£190.97 per week
One Bedroom Rate:£331.39 per week
Two Bedrooms Rate:£412.86 per week
Three Bedrooms Rate:£497.10 per week
Four Bedrooms Rate:£704.22

I suspect you are telling fairy stories. Have a lovely evening!

Right to buy is a ridiculous scheme. If you can afford to buy you shouldn't have much needed social housing. I think it is possible to benefit from something whilst being opposed to it.

Edited as poster has already mentioned this.

If it's a private landlord then it's not social housing. Social housing is owned by housing associations, not private landlords.

Sounds like you really don't know what you're on about.

The point is … the market rent for her flat will be unaffordable unless she becomes an investment banker.
She is in a 2 bed flat, period building in Notting Hill with a private landlord.

i’m not sure how that transition will be made.

Interesting seeing the younger generation, who haven’t lived and worked under a Labour government before, start to realise exactly what they voted for.

Just because someone benefitted from something years ago does not mean they can never change it. Right to Buy has been a disaster for social housing

Absolutely.

Right to Buy has been a complete social disaster. Many of the properties (40%) have ended up in the hands of private landlords which are now let out at increased rents and with no security of tenure. It has landed the country with a huge benefits bill, contributed to the housing crisis and added to poverty and family instability - the two being linked of course.

The idea that it should continue unchanged because of one individual Labour MP is absurd.

As to the OP I'm afraid I don't think your objections have any merit. You have almost certainly benefited from lower rents than you would have paid in the private sector and you've had much better security of tenure. I don't know why you think you should also get a discount on buying a property when people forced to rent privately don't.

They won't ask her to leave, they'll ask her to work and pay the rent herself. Do you understand how benefits and social housing work? I live in social housing and pay the full rent myself out of my wages, my DS is too old for me to sit at home claiming benefits and I have to work full time like everyone else. You don't get your rent paid for by benefits your whole life!

RTB is seriously outdated and should have been abolished decades ago. It’s a shame for you OP that something you were expecting/hoping for isn’t going to happen, but legislation changes.

Angela Rayner (who I don’t particularly like) and her situation is really neither here nor there.

Yabu about not wanting rtb to be scrapped. A lot of people have profited massively from the scheme. But Yanbu about labelling Labour hypocrites. They always have been. It’s a case of do what I say, not as I do.

I'm sure many more of us could afford to buy properties if the price of them was slashed in half, but such is life. I'm struggling to understand why people lucky enough to be in a council property should be able to benefit from this windfall at society's expense when everyone else has to pay market price.

Lots of people move back in with their mums to save for a deposit, by the way.

Do you think they will ask her to leave when child is 18? 25? Out of education? Do they do that? … evict long term tenants? Is there any incentive for her to get off benefits ?

I’ll keep an eye on situation and let you know.

YABVU. Count your blessings.

Well she won't be able to stay "on benefits" forever when her child grows up, will she.

YABU, OP and I live in social housing. We should not be able to buy these properties. When I pass away I would like mine to go to somebody in need, just like it went to me when I was homeless with a baby. I'm very grateful to have my property.

My friend's sister's husband's neice is living in a mansion opposite Hyde Park. She has a kid, twelve cats, three budgies and a boa constrictor. All paid for by benefits. She got a free Mercedes too because she pretends she can't walk.

Madness.

Then you don’t buy the average house. You buy a smaller house. I bought my own place when I earned £27k. It was a one bed flat as that’s all I could afford.

I agree the Labour Party are hypocrites - they always have been. Claim they’re for the working classes but all as corrupt and feeding from the trough as any other party. Look at Starmer and his £100k freebies - anyone with an ounce of integrity would’ve turned that down just because of the sheer crookedness of it. But no. Didn’t even cross his mind…

Baffling.

But you yourself are a hypocrite op. And that’s the problem. People want taxpayer support to get a leg up, but then they’re ’I’m alright Jack’ and pull up the drawbridge. Every right to buy is another chip off the social housing stock. Some things need to be for the greater good and not sold off and privatised, even if it’s costly. We need a basic safety net for everyone.

What’s crazy … my friends sister, 27 yrs old. Becomes pregnant, she has job which doesn’t pay well. Baby dad not in picture, she was in house share. She needs a “council flat”, in Kensington …. A proper mum and baby flat. The council pays for her be in a private landlord, lovely flat — completely unaffordable except for maybe a banker. She’s laughing - look at my council flat!!!!! She got a better flat than her older sister who has really good job, could never afford preg sister flat.
She can stay forever, in millionaire flat. On benefits.
Council must keep her “in Borough” … the economics of that are crazy. I understand the keeping her in borough. But could house 6 families for same rent few miles away in another council.

system doesn’t make economic sense.

Exactly. You’d think a graduate would be able to work that out for themselves.

because the council are selling off assets for 50% less than the market value. They will then need to replenish the housing stock at full value, cost covered by the public purse.