to think that elderly people living alone in 3/4 bed council houses should not have a choice about whether they want to stay there?

[BlessYouToo]

In fact, they should be moved into one bedroom accommodation as soon as the kids leave home (this should have happened years ago of course). Having a 'spare' bedroom in case the grandchildren come to stay should not be an option when they are in state owned properties.

I have today been to view a council property with a friend of mine who has been homeless for 3 years (in temp accommodation) after finally getting to the top of the bidding queue! She was called to see a 4 bedroom house and it was absolutely rank, the smell made me want to heave. Plaster was hanging off the wall and the whole place was damp as the previous tenant either, did not or could not, heat and ventilate it properly Apparently the house was in a much worse than the state we saw it in today but the council had done some remedial work on it to make it safe so it was a bit better. The garden was also just a sea of brambles.

We were told that an elderly person had been living there and had just been moved into a nursing home. T

I was shocked that the council could rent out a property in this state. I would have expected that they would have made sure the property was up to a decent, clean standard before renting it out as any other landlord would have to do (all my friend will get is a paint allowance if she is eligible) but I am even more shocked that this elderly tenant was allowed to let the property get into this condition. Why do councils not carry out inspections to ensure their properties don't get into this state? Obviously the house was too much for the previous tenant to cope with and surely they would have been better off with a smaller property that they could keep clean?

We were told that many of the properties coming available after elderly tenants have either died, or gone into alternative accommodation, are left in a similar state. How many families with young children are left crammed into tiny flats while elderly people are living in houses much too large for their needs, letting them decay around them? I find it unbelievable that this has been happening.

I feel gutted for my friend as she has been desperate to get a stable home for her DCs and will now be going into a total shithole without even carpets on the floor, just cement. It's a bloody disgrace! AIBU?

I kind of agree with you OP, I think "Social Housing" should be managed in accordance with the needs of society.

If I was in temp accommodation/homeless/sofa surfing with my DC I would likely be put out at one person having a 3/4 bed house.

However the thought of actually forcing someone to leave their home feels so wrong.

maypole im talking about the low income families living in high private lets that Gaelic is speaking of.

Not you.

Oh right sorry

Erm no they wouldn't AmberLeaf. Around 18k is the point where all assistance stops dead.

I have aready explained that we were lucky to have bought a house in 2000 so had the equity to buy another. If we hadn't been able to get the new mortgage that is the position we would have been in. This is not about me, I merely use the figures as an example.

There is frankly too much selfish protectionism on this thread to have a sensible discussion.

In the rest of Europe, there is much more security with tenancy and it is far, far cheaper.

I don't think it's the case that council housing/housing association properties are so 'desirable'. I think it's more the case that the private rental sector is not fit for purpose in many cases. It is saturated by buy-to-let landlords trying to maintain houses they can't afford by charging unrealistic prices. This bandwagon was quickly jumped on by everyone else in the sector and made worse by the etension of housing benefit payable to private landlords. The end result is that renting - which has traditionally always been significantly cheaper than buying - is now as expensive, if not more so, than buying.

Instead of council housing rents going up, the private sector should be coming down. The fact that it isn't is a reflection on the ludicrous state of housing in the UK.

It's not all about money. We keep hearing about the 'Big Society' and the importance of community. How does anyone think communities are established? There is a huge, huge link between turnover of residents and strength of community. In just the same way that the industrial revolution has eroded the extended family, shorter tenancies will lead to more fractured communities, a rise in crime and all sorts of other unintended and undesirable consequences.

The solution is to get housing costs and availability under control, not force OAPs out of their homes. Right to buy should never have been allowed without replacement homes being built for every property sold. Likewise, there isn't a shortage of houses in the UK - just ones that people can afford.

Why do they get rid of the carpets between tenants, regardless of condition?

It is because everything that is in the property when you move in is owned by, and must be maintained by, the Housing Association or Council. They remove the carpets, curtain poles, showers, shower curtains etc. to avoid tenants phoning them up 10 years later (or at any time really) insisting that they replace their electric shower, lay a new carpet, provide new curtains etc. etc. which the HA would then be obliged to do.

We were told that by our Housing Association anyway.

I think the housing situation in this country is beyond shite

I don't think its the social housing tenants fault though, nor do I think its up to them to solve it

hurrah sunshine!

I'm not sure how you can possibly have felt resentment towards council tenants when you were able to buy a property, gaelic.

I'm sorry, but since you asked for other posters' housing situation, I wanted to know yours. Thank you for telling me. I am a HA tenant, BTW. I would love to own my own property.

I don't feel any personal resentment and I'm unsure why you are reading that ino my posts. I was very clear where I was coming from at the outset. I am speaking about the many people on similar incomes who are not so fortunate. People whose children are going cold and hungry as they struggle to pay private rents. It seems that you and others cannot think beyond your four walls.

Go Sunshine.
Go Sunshine.
Etc.

People's children are going cold and hungry in council houses too gaelicsheep.

The real problem stems from selling off council houses without replacing them. And although some amateur landlords are in it to make money, lots of people are reluctant landlords e.g. friends have a flat rented out because 1 was living in it as owner occupier. They met and got married but couldn't sell the flat so ended up renting it out.

I know that very well thank you. I really don't think I need to labour my point any more. You presumably all learned basic maths at school.

But Gaelic you're saying that as if all council tenants have the heating on full blast and shop at Waitrose!

Seriously, being a council tenants does not = rolling in it.

Can I just say that this "huge" difference between Council/HA and private rents so many of you are mentioning does not exist everywhere in the country. I have a 3 bed HA house which I pay £490 a month for. A privately rented house of the same size in the same area would cost approx. £595 to £650 per month. Certainly not this "quarter of market value" I have seen stated on this thread .

I KNOW that! I'm just saying that pound for pound on an equivalent income council tenants, on average have a great deal more disposable income. More low income families in private rented are in dire straits than those on equivalent incomes in council properties. And like it or not, there are people taking up council houses who could afford to rent privately and maintain a decent standard of living.

PPP I did ask what the average council rent was but no one answered me. I found an average figure for Scotland.

Theres really no such thing as an average council rent though.

It varies hugely.

I find the suggestion of turfing the elderly out of their homes a little bit sick tbh. I live in an ex council property, several of the homes in the street are still council owned. Big 3 and 4 bed houses in the main. My next door neighbour who lives alone in such a house is in her early 80s. She moved here as a young wife and mother when the houses were first built in the 1950s. She brought up her children here, later her husband died. She has lived here for almost 60 years; I can't imagine how cruel it would be to make her leave a home with so many memories at this stage in her life.

It seems incredibly selfish to me. My neighbour is of a generation which lived through real hardship of which none of us who have grown up in the UK have any idea - lack of medical care pre-NHS, WW2, rationing, none of the mod cons we take for granted (even those of us who think they are poor). Yet still she and those like her are begrudged a home? Unbelieveable...

gaelic - It would be like asking what the average private rent is. The answer is it depends - on property and location.

How can you think that children going cold and hungry in a country as rich as ours is anything at all to do with council housing or tenants, gaelic?

"I don't feel any personal resentment and I'm unsure why you are reading that ino my posts."

When you post things like this

"Two years ago if we had to rent privately we would have had a grand total of £30 a week to feed and clothe a family of four. In a council house, at average rent, that figure would have been £200 pounds a week.

And yet you lot think it is acceptable for people with a much higher income, who could afford to rent AND feed and clothe their family, to keep their council house while other families effectively live in poverty."

It certainly seems as if there is personal resentment there.

Out of interest, why is you think I am unable to consider anything outside my own four walls? It's quite a sweeping statement, and I'm not sure what has given you that impression. Is it because I live in social housing?

Come on the op has a point.how can an elderly person justify having a 4bed home to themselves when it is being subsidized by the state.
Indeed there should be regulations that ensure they swap for a smaller place. Private tenants must pay for the amount of space they have and have no security either.
Getting a council place should not be like winning a lottery for life but needs based.

hatesponge - It would probably kill her in reality if she had to move.