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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be envious that my neighbour lives in a council house........

304 replies

EnviousEvie · 28/09/2011 10:04

and pays £600 a month less than me for the exact same bloody house (her's is nicer inside) next door to mine?

Difference is hers is a council house, mine is a private rental. The owner of mine bought it from the council and now rents it out while he lives in a 4 bed detached house in a nicer part of town. We pay £950 a month, neighbour pays council £350 a month (3 bed terrace). We had to move here after selling our house last year because DH lost his job and we needed to release the small amount of equity we had to pay the bills we were behind on because we were terrified of being in debt. Our rent is now £150 a month higher than our mortgage was.

We struggle every bloody month and live on 'value' food. We are not entitled to housing benefit (DH now working again after a year, I work part time - 3DCs). Neighbour's DH is an accountant so she can afford not to work at all. That £600 would make a massive difference in our lives but we have not got a chance in hell of getting a council house. There are over 5000 people on the waiting list in my area. We are on the list but have been told that it could be over 5 years before we have a chance. Love my neighbour to bits but can't help feeling pissed off about it!

AIBU to think that this is bloody unfair?

OP posts:
usingapseudonym · 28/09/2011 16:19

Er but those of us who have problems sometimes being envious (and I know lots of people are in much worse situatinos ) but actually DO live on a council/ex council estate and just find it hard they are living next door to someone paying far less/not paying who earns more than them! It just doesn't seem fair.

And yes purple - you do sound "entitled". We couldn't afford to have a 3rd child as we can't afford to rent a 3 bed place. Lucky you. Surely you would get reduced childcare if your partner is on minimum wage? Most of the working mums around here are better off working if partner is on minimum wage as tax credits refunds most of the childcare. Not saying you should work, just that in your case the childcare argument shouldn't apply.

margerykemp · 28/09/2011 16:21

What is needed is rent control and security of tenure in the private rental sector.

usualsuspect · 28/09/2011 16:24

Lifes not fair ,but tbh I'm far more envious of rich bankers and their 2nd homes

Ol Cameron and the Daily Mail are doing a good job of making tenants the bad guys

and people fall for their shit

usualsuspect · 28/09/2011 16:25

council tenants*

Thingumy · 28/09/2011 16:33

Love to know how you know that your neighbours have much higher incomes than you?

5inthebed · 28/09/2011 16:35

Usual, I quite like my council estate as well. My neighbours are lovely, they bring my bins in for me and one old lady gives my DC easter eggs and selection boxes. It depends on the estate, but even private estates will have a shitty part with dodgy residents. Just because you can get a mortgage does not make you a civilised person.

Empjusa · 28/09/2011 16:35

It's easier to blame the tenants, they're easy targets.

usingapseudonym · 28/09/2011 16:37

I don't go along with the usual Daily Mail line, and really genuinely do feel for those that are struggling. I think most people looking to go on council housing these days are struggling and not housed and in really really awful positions, being moved around, in temporary housing etc.

I still however think its unfair that there are people in council houses whose circumstances have improved and could well afford pirivate rent that are still being subsidised. I also think the system is unfair that those that just about miss the line for benefits really really struggle and aren't helped - so those working can end up worse off than not. I accept that this is a very small minority but I can completely see where the OP is coming from as when you live right next door to people benefiting when you are not it seems hard!!

Sevenfold · 28/09/2011 16:40

I wonder if anyone is jealous of my shiney HA house.....
I wonder if they are also jealous of why we have it.

Thingumy · 28/09/2011 16:41
Flamingredhead · 28/09/2011 16:57

I wonder who is jealOurs of the fact I am having a HA house built for me and the dc .And even worse I don't work either so be full Hb ..and it be a home for life no 5 year reassessment tennacy either

Op instead of complaining it is unfair of your neighbour how about in reality looking at the fact your LL probably brought the house for a song and rents it out . So he infact has contributed towards you not being able get council place

Flamingredhead · 28/09/2011 16:58

Ironic I'm not allowed to tell anyone in RL I'm getting one as apparentkey it will mean the HA and the council will get more abuse about me queue jumping and whining about not being fair

thefirstMrsDeVere · 28/09/2011 17:02

I think the big problem is that CH is now only for people who are desperate.

That isnt what it was designed for. It was supposed to be to provide good quaility, affordable housing for ordinary families.

You shouldnt have to be in dire straights to qualify. This can create ghettos of disadvantaged people living together just because they are all struggling regardless of why.

I think we should go back to having large amounts of social housing. Of course need should play a large part in allocation and it would be silly to allow those on large incomes to rent. But why NOT have lots of nice council homes? They are rented homes - they just happened to be owned by the state.

Nothing wrong with living in council. Unless you are one of those people who seem convinced 'they get a free house and everything paid for' 'if you get knocked up you get given a house for nothing' 'if you are forrrin you get given a mansion' etc etc.

Market rents ARE too high. When everyone rented pre 70s/80s rents were not such a high proportion of income the way they are now.

Not everyone will agree with me but I strongly feel that decent, affordable housing is a right.

usualsuspect · 28/09/2011 17:04

I agree completely ,affordable housing is a right and thats why council houses were built .

People being vilified for daring to live in a council house ,really pisses me off

Thingumy · 28/09/2011 17:05

totally agree MrsD.

Sevenfold · 28/09/2011 17:08

Thingumy it has a through the floor lift, and we just had a brand new bathroom filtted,

PeneloPeePitstop · 28/09/2011 17:09

Trouble is the property market in general became a magnet for the greedy. Prices were hiked by buy to letters building their empires and starting to charge obscene rents, so mortgages had to rise and hence repayments, so then landlords who weren't in it so much for the money but perhaps for eg long term investment needed to get higher rents in to cover the mortgages..... vicious circle.

The housing market (both in terms of people buying and renting property) shouldn't have become so unaffordable. It's a major problem for our economy imo.

Flamingredhead · 28/09/2011 17:11

Sevenfold we could do holiday swap I see you a lift and raise you not one new bathroom but there's two new bathrooms

PeachyWhoCannotType · 28/09/2011 17:16

Perfectly understandable to feel a bit annoyed but

getting a council house is hard; somewhere along the line something went seriously worng if she ended up in HA housing.

We might do so in the next few eyars: quite likely. If so we will jump a list of- wait for it- thirty thousand people. I am sure some of them would be a bit annoyed at that. But in order to get that jump we have:

Had two children diagnosed with autism, another beinga ssessed and the last one school tells us has ADHD but GP refuses to assess

DH has been made redundant and is on a drastically reduced rate self employed now, I had to pack in working to be a carer (did that before redundancy or DH could have done that though would have prevented him retraining and his potential is bigger than mine)

DH has been through MH illness and a particuarly long bout is why we no longer own our own home and rent; we've rented ehre 7 years, we are good tenants, but no local LL will touch us should the lease end just becuase of our income levels / self employment / DHs student status / the boys.

I haven't admitted this here before but since ds4's referral i've been struggling myself wrt to my MH and have had to put my business and maybe college course on hold just to cope.

Let's be honest, few people are going to trade that for cheaper rents and a secure tenancy are they? Esp. as getting the house may mean time in a B&B that the boys cannot access and two may end up in foster care as a result until we are housed. I can cope with many things, not sure I could that.

The situation with LA housing is wrong, when I was growing up most people ahd access to it if needed and as a result there was far less stigma attached. I grew up in a council house, it was fine.

PeachyWhoCannotType · 28/09/2011 17:20

WRT to the people who used to be poor thing I used to agree but via my parents have had a sharp lesson in why this might be

Dad slogged their income rose; not to Banker levels by any emans but about average income

He is now part time as pushing 70 and with no pension* is on a ridiculously low income again

Costs more ina dmin to shift people about for short spelss I would imagine

(* in dad's case his pension vanished as part of a buy out by an American company who used it, as is legal there, to cover an asbestos lawsuit; he should ahve been sitting on a gold plated pension but I know many on the old estate who never got the chance to save, whose living wage pahse was cut short by lots of things including redundancy, illness etc)

usualsuspect · 28/09/2011 17:25

When I was growing up ,most people I knew got council houses as a result of slum clearance and living in houses not fit for habitation

To have an inside toilet was a bloody luxury back in the day [very old]

My mum still lives in hers ,and no I don't think they should ship her off to a one bedroomed flat up flights of concrete stairs

PeachyWhoCannotType · 28/09/2011 17:27

WRT to older people in 3 beds yep that's Mum

they get bombarded with stuff offering tehm £X to move

Mum is a carer for Grandad and dad still works but has a badly injured leg and neitehr can drive: they ahev said repeatedly that if anyone offers them somewhere where they can access Grandad / work they will ahppily move there.

All tehy get offered is a palce on a new estate with no evening buses (Dad does nights) and where Mum can't get to Grandad. As he is 90+ trust me the state really doesn;t want to ahve to fund his care and he won;t live with Mum unless she divorces the fat wanker (AKA my lovely Dad who ahd th agll not to be a GP and yets till married Mum Hmm)

Housing is complex; the reasons people are where theya re even more so.

scarlettsmummy2 · 28/09/2011 17:31

I work for a housing association and I know that they are now changing their policies on how long a tenancy can be for- certainly no more tenancies for life. They also would like to be able to ask about incomes but unfortunately can not.

icooksocks · 28/09/2011 17:33

This argument always really boils my piss.

So all I'm going to say is I totally agree with MrsDeVere.

Flamingredhead · 28/09/2011 17:35

Scarlelets mummy they do ask about your income here . I'm on housing list and because my points are high and pretty good chance if I bidder in a house I get it .They fo a second support information point at that level and I had to list all my incomings even though I'm On Is which very often means ok we need no more info

And yes I been told the ten acts have changed here they now only giving 5 years as standard so I'm unusural in getting mine as a home for life