To think if all your children have grown up and left you should give up your 5 bed council house?

[dilemma456]

The housing list are so long and especially for bigger properties.

I met someone who lives by herself in a 5 bed council house last night. Her children have all moved out. There are people who really need that house crammed into much smaller properties.

AIBU to think that if you're massively under occupying social housing you should be under an obligation to move out into something smaller and that the council should offer you support and encouragement to do so?

vegasmum your Nan sounds lovely :) I'm sorry to hear she isn't with us anymore :(

That is why I said in my post that people over 65 shouldn't be moved - but the new generation of people do need to be freequently reassessed. They need to start out knowing they will have a roof over their heads, but not necessarily this roof.

It is mad to have an older couple in a 4 bdrm, government owned, house, while a family of 5 struggle in a, government owned, 2 bdrm place. They are government owned buildings and need to be used to house people appropriately.

People shouldn't be 'thrown out onto the streets' but neither should they be able to stay in a home that is far bigger than they need, while families are crammed into tiny places.

AnxiousLand - sorry, no idea which post you are replying to?....

Tough one this, if it was her property she could stay in the house with all it's memories but because she is unable to afford to own the property she can in effect be evicted.

Hmm can see both sides of this

Well you obviously own 2 houses mjinhiding ..so rather easy for you to say

well said mjinhiding.

Short term tennancies would solve this type of problem, if each term was two years and would only be renewed if the same number of people lived there etc.

However, if people are living in small houses with x children and are cramped then you do have to wonder why they choose to have more children. Society does not owe large families a living, adults have to be responsible for the choices they make.

Yes, mjinhiding, it's easy for people to make the assumption that you all had it fall into your lap, when the truth is far from that!!

I have friends who live in an MOD house. They have 4 kids and are in a decent 4 bed place. But apparently there is a massive MANSION within the base( presumably was already theer when MOD bought the land) which is occupied by one on the top ranks - on his own - he gets it because he he important, not because he needs it.

Where are all these people going to go then, when they're booted out of their council housing?

yeah i thought that jenai

YDNBU

& Personally I would like to see all Councils, HA's etc renting out the now spare rooms in these under occupied properties for them....with the option of downsizing instead of course....that should get them giving the big properties they no longer need, pretty damned quick

To be honest, I have a much bigger problem with ex-council properties being rented out privately than I do with underoccupancy. There are loads of 'to let' signs up on ex-council properties on the (highly sought after) estate near where I live. My partner and I get quite irate about the fact that the government actually allowed a situation whereby houses bought from the council could then be rented out privately at market rates (which are pretty steep round here).

I can see why people who've lived in a house for years and made it a home wouldn't want to be forced out of it. As a private tenant, I'd really appreciate the kinds of security that council tenants have and I definitely don't agree with any plans to reduce this. Luckily my partner and I should be in a position to buy our own house in a couple of years, because we find the insecurity of private renting (and the way in which we are at the mercy of our landlords in terms of maintenance etc) really quite stressful. We've been forced out of a property in the past by a landlord who wanted to sell up, and it's not fun at all. I'd hate to see vulnerable, elderly people forced out of their homes for whatever reason.

So are you going to rent your spare rooms out then ?no ,thought not ..I have a big problem with fat cat bankers in their big fuck off houses and holiday homes in cornwall ..not council tenants, oh and mjinhiding plenty of council tenants work hard to pay their rents, they are people too with families and problems just like you

Indeed, usualsuspect

I fully appreciate the frustration of waiting and waiting for a council/HA home but having a go at people who continue to live in their homes once their DCs have flown the nest is missing the point, imo.

I don't hear anyone saying that homeowners should sell their oversized houses - and nor would I want to - but hey, flooding the market with family homes would surely bring their prices within reach of more people. Or maybe it would put upward pressure on one and two bed properties and fuck things up further still...

There is just so much fecking envy on threads like this, so much sense of entitlement, so much "it's not fair!" whining and so much aminosity towards older people.

Having said that, we are all entitled to demand better, affordable housing.

I am glad that the old couple a few doors down aren't being forced out of their home. They and others like them bring stability and diversity to the area. I am glad that the widow across the way have a spare room so her grandchildren - or indeed anyone she wants - can stay the night in comfort.

It seems to me that some people believe that only those who can afford to buy have the right to security of tenure, and fuck everybody else.

So where do you suggest they go then? when they have been reassessed? kick them out to find private rentals, the difficulties of that have already been pointed out on here.House prices are so high now and mortgages near on impossible to get for the average Joe.

My point is that people who say kick em out forget they are talking about actual people with lives and problems of their own

The petty jealousy on these threads wind me up especially when half the posters wouldn't live on a council estate if you paid them

Rant over ,is it wine o clock yet

This whole thread is a lovely example of divide and rule. The govt would bloody love it.

[old lefty emoticon]

'The petty jealousy on these threads wind me up especially when half the posters wouldn't live on a council estate if you paid them'

I would! Oh, wait, I already have/do :o.

Wish someone paid me for it, though, instead of the other way round .

all the old tories have come out of hiding now i've noticed

would be a shame if they used mn as a representative view now

[old lefty emoticon] power to the people

usualsuspect, I understand your concern, but I don't think anyone is saying boot them out of ALL housing, merely ensure that if they are in social housing, either subsidised or paid for on HB, then it needs to be of an appropriate size for their circumstances.

If these people want to be assured of an address longer term, then they can do what the rest of us do, private rent or buy.

Housing in general is ridiculously expensive in this country, but at least there IS a social housing programme that doesn't involve building your own shack on the edge of a favela.

It's not jealousy, it's a matter of fairness and reassessment of entitlement if you are not the one funding your own housing.

All over Britain there are places where you can pick and choose the house you want, in the area where I live the wait for a council house is over 14 years.

Perhaps if we encouraged others to fill up space where there is excess, it would mean that some families in very over crowded households could live a little more comfortably than they do at present.