Keeping a UK Council property for life even though you no longer live in the UK

[Vintlet]

This story has just been released
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyxkeny8x6o
It seems so unfair given the lack of social housing in the uk that the First Lady of Sierra Leone expected to be allowed to keep her London social housing property as a pied a terre. Surely we cannot be expected to house the world. No one in authority would have realised given that she was still paying the rent if she hadn’t boasted about keeping it on a radio interview. I wonder how many people keep and sublet uk council properties when they no longer have a right to keep it.

The social/affordable housing percentage in new estates is set by the LA as a condition of planing permission to the developer. Sometimes the conditions might include things like building a new GP surgery or library too, ensuring local amenities.

Look at the first few posts after the opening post. It is called a non story. That it has only been raised because she is black.

Could you quote the posters who call it a non- story?

As I said before, the one poster saying it has got attention because Fatima is Black is not also defending her or saying she has the right to stay there ad infinitum.

She was almost certainly not a student by the time the tenancy started in 2007. I said she studied and worked in London; not sure why you and PP have decided that means “a student got a council house.”

This post is full of whataboutery

This thread brings back memories of flathunting years ago… I had a lovely tiny one in a converted Georgian property but a friend told me that a huge one with a turret in a gorgeous building nearby was available and arranged for me to see it. I couldn’t believe that I could afford it, but she assured me it was cheaper than what I was paying. Yep, it was indeed just as spectacular inside as I had expected! However… it turned out NOT to have a private landlord in the usual way, and I was told to NOT get my post sent there, NOT to open the door unannounced and blah blah blah….. So, no thanks! Turns out her dodgy mate’s Mum had used to live there way back, disappeared off with some bloke and they just sublet it to people for cash, and told them to pretend they were relatives of her and she’d just popped out, should anyone turn up. Last time I looked similar ones in the same building ( minus said turret!) upwards of £500k… ( not London)…

The point is Fatima Bio did not seem to know that she shouldn’t have kept on her council flat when she returned to Sierra Leone. She thought as long as she paid the rent it was hers for life. How many other foreign born tenants or indeed native born tenants think the same?

ok so let’s say they’re £1m. Rtb discount (which you’re only eligible for after 10 years btw) is a maximum of 15%- £150k.

thats a £850k property, if you use the discount as the deposit as most people do you have to raise a £850k mortgage?

how many people who qualified for social housing can raise a £850k mortgage? You’d need to earn £250k a year.

She was not evicted. She chose to give up the tenancy when she found out she was not allowed to keep it for ever but no one would know if she hadn’t brought it up in a BBC interview presumably to show how much she likes London and the UK

Can you show the evidence that it is 10 years not five years in the Kings Cross Development?

Oh, I’m pretty sure Fatima Bio did know. She and her family own a fair bit of real estate.

If she really thought she was 100% in the right, she could have refused to surrender the lease and waited for the outcome of eviction proceedings.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/right-to-buy-overhaul-to-safeguard-social-housing

My understanding is that the Times discovered this in May 2024, rather than this being a result of the BBC interview earlier this year. Southwark council have said that they undertook a 12 month investigation (presumably begun at some point after the original Times article)

And even if it was 5 how are they going to get a £850k mortgage?

In a statement to the BBC, Reginald Popoola, Southwark Council's executive member for council homes, said: "We can confirm we have taken possession of a property in Walworth following a 12-month investigation by our Housing Investigations Team.

But why would you buy it?

People here are saying you can have subsidised family home generationally forever that’s ring fenced from inheritance tax and care fees.

If you are on UC do you get your ‘rent’ paid if in a council house?

Not quite the same but a similar mindset is some discussions I had with an older relative who was complaining about housing benefit/the welfare bill in general. Apparently he grew up in a council flat with very little but he went out there and made something of himself. I tried pointing out that the council flat was an equivalent in some ways to a family today renting privately and receiving housing benefit but he was insulted because he thought I was implying his family were scroungers when they all worked and paid rent.

The point of the council flats was secure housing that people could feel at home in. They do pay rent, but at reasonable levels. Feeling at home/some sort of ownership was sort of the point. Many people treat their council house properties very well, look after it etc. But the only downside is it really doesn't occur to people (especially older people but not exclusively so) that there is now a big shortage and many people don't have the privilege of secure affordable housing they had when they needed it. It doesn't suprise me that she felt like she was paying rent on it so not doing anything wrong. Lots of people seem quite oblivious to the issues around housing when they are OK.

So yes, there needs to be better messaging on the subject. Maybe also fines if it's found you moved elsewhere/Tenerife/Sierra Leone and didn't surrender the council house. Because it is unfair. But it's not a reason to not have council houses. Really we need more social housing so it's less of an issue, plus its cheaper for the taxpayer in the long run to own the assets themselves than be paying a private landlord/slumlords mortgage of via housing benefit.

I think one person is saying that. Many others are saying that council property can only be transferred once - usually to a bereaved spouse though possibly to a dependent adult child.

Also - I am not sure if “affordable” housing in this development is the same as “council” housing - I don’t think the council owns the stock. I’ll go and read up.

The OP is using it as an example of how unfair the system is, that you can access a hugely expensive asset unfairly.

you only get UC towards your rent if you qualify for it, like anyone in rented accommodation, private or social

The council won’t, they don’t build or own any new property nowadays. It’ll be a housing association

Are you her biographer?

You seem very well informed about het life and deeds.

Those who say they work in this field, what checks are made to see if someone owns property abroad? Because I suspect you can’t find out.

I mentioned upthread I know someone with an owned property here, but was awarded a social housing property in Italy (they rented privately and then said was evicted…). They go by married and single names.

There was a recent case of it being exposed that a whole village of Bulgarian nationals had council properties and benefits in the UK, but owned grand properties in Bulgaria. It was I believe a Bulgarian tax official who blew the whistle.

I agree most local authorities use HAs now. However, the TICs for HAs and Council housing are generally the same. 'Affordable' is different to social housing but Kings Cross is a mixture of the two I think. I read somewhere that Kings Cross was the largest regeneration of an area in Western Europe. When it was finished, The Local Authority could offer a lot of tenancies in Kings Cross to people on the Housing lists.

Of course you can’t find out if someone owns a property abroad.

they have to have a housing need in the uk, and get to the top of the list. That’s the criteria. Their property abroad doesn’t help them if they live here.

it was much easier to get a council property in the 90s/00s. This lady wouldn’t come
close to one now.

No - I read her wiki page (with references to publications) and skimmed her husband’s wiki page.

So much more edifying than uninformed and racist speculation.