What do you think about council housing and people who live there?

[Borntolurk]

Genuinely curious about this. We finally received a council tenancy four years ago, after privately renting for upwards of 11 years. We are very grateful that we have the house we do, and treat it well. The security felt and ability to feel like we have an actual home (as opposed to house sitting), is immense.

However, I’ve had people I know suddenly become less interested in being friends, when they found out that our property was rented from the council. Others let slip accidentally/without realising what they were saying, that we should accept whatever happened to our house (shoddy contractor’s work for example) as it was ‘free’. Sigh.

So I guess I’ve been wondering whether this is the general consensus these days, and why do folk feel this way? Experience? Lack of other affordable housing? I can understand that!

Thanks for your thoughts.

Right to buy was a great idea though. But the proceeds should have been spent on building quality replacements.

I grew up in council property. We've always wanted to own our own property so done a scheme where we could give our council house back to the council for a smallish deposit.

We bought a ex-council property as they are well built, big and can't hear my neighbours sneezing like new builds.

A few Directors i work with always pushed me to do the RTB as thats how they started their property portfolios and are extremely well off now. Do whats best for you and your family

This exactly, I think we were led to believe that’s what would happen, my grandparents bought their council house for not much money, everyone assumed the council would just buy/build more properties with the money. In a way they have built more but not enough for demand. There’s such a high demand because so many people can no longer afford to buy and private rent prices are crazy.

@Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · Yesterday 22:16

I think council houses look awful and do t understand why they can't be built to be a bit more aesthetically pleasing for the people who have to live in them. The people I've known to live in them have been scrounger, lazy types and I associate them with "rough" people.

OMG, what an ill-informed and nasty comment!

As a pp said, 100s of 1000s of social housing homes are built amongst 'private sale' ones and look the same, and even the ones that are built all together, as 'new estates,' are nice and smart and you cannot tell them from newbuild private housing estates.

Social housing homes have been built to look like private sale ones since the early 1980s. The big sink estate ones you are clearly referring to with your bigoted, vitriolic comments, have not been built since the late 1960s/early 1970s. Neither have the big tall tower blocks you see in cities in towns.

Amongst the rural/shire type counties, you have 1000s of social housing homes in villages and hamlets and small market towns, that are beautiful and smart, and near rivers, lakes, canals, and woodlands. And you get a LOT of very jealous and bitter people who are sore and butthurt, that people on low income and who have a social housing need have been allocated these lovely affordable-rent homes. (Ya know, people like YOU!) 😆

Finally, I have to say, the vast VAST majority of people who are in social housing, whether they have been there 3 years, 7 years, 10 years, 15 years, or 20 years plus, will NOT ever become massively high earners, with a high-flying six-figure a year career. Very few people who qualify for social housing have a very successful well-paid career. Sure, they will work (many of them,) but very few will be in really well paid careers... And very few of them will be 'living the high life' as some badly informed poster said further back in the thread.

They will be comfortable and secure and financially better off than in private let, or if they were BUYING a home, but they will NOT be living the bloody HIGH LIFE! FFS! Acting as if people who are in social housing travel to Dubai and South Africa and New Zealand on holiday every year, own a villa in Florida, and have their own yacht! Fucking ridiculous!!! Most people in social housing who do work (and many do!) have ordinary jobs with ordinary pay, and are just getting by, and are comfortable and secure. Why do so many begrudge people this? SO nasty.

My dd is at a fairly well-to-do grammar and one of the insults she is currently having thrown at her by the snot-nosed, entitled little bastards that go there with her is that she's the one most likely to end up fat and living in a council flat.
This is so wrong on so many levels. The fact that their parents have raised to them to view council tenants with such disdain is appalling. The people I have known that came from council estates are some of the hardest working people I know, who work harder and more hours than any of the parents I know from her school. The disdain for fat people is also a sad indictment of how the middle classes view those of different socio-economic demographics to themselves.
I'm so sad for my DD, I'm disgusted at the attitudes that are now so prevalent in my world. I've always determined to take people for who they are not what they have but I feel a reverse snobbery rising in me that I find hard to quell.

I'd feel pretty jealous tbh

Why do you think it was a great idea?

How could they build more in the same area when there's finite space in many areas (e.g. central London) and right to buy flats were sold at a significant discount.

Right to buy is the reason that there's low social housing stock in many of the areas we need it most.

No idea why just because someone is a council tenant they should have the right to buy subsidised housing that others wouldn't have the opportunity to buy.

Could your daughter move schools? That sounds horrific! If you can move her away from those bullying children please do so!

Right to buy was akin to flogging off the family silver but then the Thatcher era was never a good thing anyway. Right to buy has been done away with for a number of years in Scotland.

I grew up in a council tower bock in London, and I was allocated a council house outside London as a teenager after I had a baby. I did a house swap back into London so I've lived in a few council homes. Most of my relatives lived in them, and my sisters were both allocated flats as well in London.

We've all had difficult life circumstances which put us higher up the list - my parents were refugees, I was a single mum, my sister experienced DV, another sister was a carer. So in a way we've all earned our tenancies, it wasn't just a matter of putting our names down and getting lucky. And having the tenancy brings disadvantages - not having the flexibility to move for schools, people do look down on you, life can be rough on the estates and there is anti-social behaviour and a lack of ambition. Of course it was good to have the security and low rent though. But I often envied those who lived in smart modern new build private rentals, or those who would rent in a different catchment to get their kids into a sought-after school. People can seem to be bitter and envious about those with a Council tenancy but they're unlikely to want to live in the areas we lived in, even though it was in zone 1, as there were gang postcode wars, deprivation and general anti-social behaviour.

Financially my situation has improved and I met a man years ago and got married. We bought my flat under RTB, refurbished it and rented it out as he bought another flat to live in. So that has given me financial security with the rental income. We are selling it this year after five years, as we would have had to repay the discount if we sold it sooner. Not a great time to be selling property in London, and it doesn't have any outside space, but we got a good discount so it will have increased in value.

After 5.5 years on a list, i finally got offered a council house. I work full time as a nurse, im a single mum of 3. I previously owned but when my marriage fell apart i had to private rent. In the 7 years of private renting, ive had to move my children 4 times. Private renting offers no security. One house the landlord wanted back as her marriage also fell apart, another the landlord died so we were issued a section 21 then the family sold it. Council housing offers security for me and my family. One of my children is unlikely to ever live independently, having a house we can call home for as long as we need it is life changing to us. My children have never known a stable secure stable home as i left the marriage when they were very little, and im thankful that a council house can offer them this.

Cant be great for the NHS either having their staff having to move every 5 minutes but hey.............its what the social housing haters want so lets hope it doesnt affect them in an indirect way eh.

This (rental payments not counting towards anything) is changing! I have a budgeting app called Emma (admittedly I have paid for an annual subscription) which reports rental payments to the credit agencies. Hopefully this will be done by banks someday soon. The whole situation is ridiculous.

You should expect a decent standard of workmanship regardless same as any one else. I’m quite outraged that you think otherwise. It is the tenant’s home. If you wouldn’t expect it in your home, why should they put up with in in theirs? It doesn’t cost more to do a professional job. Yes, maybe the materials aren’t as expensive in kitchens and bathrooms as in a private home but they should still be finished to a good standard. Unbelievable.

Can I ask I what circumstances repairs on a council house are not free? I have a relative living in one and they quite happily admit they haven't paid a penny for repairs!

I tend to think they’re lucky. And sometimes I’m intrigued by times when the council do maintenance.

Depends on what the repairs are. Generally minor stuff is down to the tenant but others are done by the landlord. Anything to do with windows/doors which leaves the property unsecured they do. Fixtures and fittings etc. Internal stuff mostly we do. Apart from electrical repairs and replacing taps which officially we are not allowed to do.

That said they are generally okay if we want to make improvements but we have to get permission. We were given a little bit of money a few years ago (less than £10k) and we were able to pay someone to level the garden which was a swamp nine months of the year. We now have a garden we can use all year. The landlord was happy as long as they were kept informed and had a copy of the guarantee. The garden will be gifted on with my blessing to the next tenant but no plans on moving just yet

I wouldn’t think less of the person but would wonder why they had ended up in social housing. I would expect they would not be in a really high earning wage bracket. Many things just happen to us and we have no control whatsoever but we do have some choices and it’s always interesting to see where life leads people.

My first feeling is envy. I've been privately renting for 25 years with no hope of ever saving up a deposit for a mortgage. Both parents in council houses which were easy to come by for them.

I envy the security more than anything else.
The right to buy was a massive mistake in my opinion.

It must vary by area I think, some of the repairs my relative has had done would definitely be classed as minor. Some were much bigger like new windows.
I know a few people in council housing and none of them have paid for any of the repairs they have had.

I’d think you were bloody lucky. Heard too many stories of renters being ripped off by dodgy landlords.

I’m a homeowner btw

I'd think great news that you were in secure housing. We live in a house with low rent and secure tenancy, not council though, we rent from a charity. We get a lot of similar comments including that we are lucky to be getting new carpets for free. The carpets that were old with threadbare patches when we moved in 18 years previously and were full of holes when they were finally replaced.

“ Chat with, laugh with, cry with. “

yes, yes. Those are the most important things. 🌺🌻.

@NightLightHalfLight People who do low paid jobs like care work have to live somewhere. If they all left their jobs tomorrow for a more "aspirational job who would do the caring for any elderly relative you might have Would you take time off from your career and do it?

The irony is not lost on me though. People seem to be happy with their relatives being cared for by people they look down on

We live in a 3 bedroom council house. Currently privately rented to us at £1800 a month. I actually think our neighbours who pay around £500 a month to the council look down on us!