UPDATE on to be pissed off I have been offered a council FLAT instead of a house?

[OMFFG]

Thought I would update on my previous thread as you were all so sympathetic and concerned for me .

We have taken the flat and will move in tomorrow. We have no choice and will be unable to be put on the transfer list for a year and will then probably have to wait a further 2/3 years for a house to come up.

The flat is on the (top) 2nd floor of a small block. We are 'lucky' in that the block is being upgraded and they have put in new windows/balcony doors/front doors and replaced all the railings around the two balconies. There is one off the kitchen and one off the lounge. The flat is very light and airy (although was stinky) and DH has painted/bleached it to within an inch of it's life and it is now presentable. There was decent laminate floor down already and it has a recently fitted kitchen, new toilet!! and almost new radiators. We did not found any mould/damp at all which we were very impressed by! The DCs rooms are big enough and mine and DH's is much bigger than our current one.

There are 18 flats in the block in all and every 3 flats (Grd/1st/2nd floor) gets to share a reasonable sized gated garden that each overlooks. We all have large sheds as well so the trampoline and bikes can all get stored in there.

The block seems quite quiet. I am a bit meh about it now. I am hoping there will be other DCs in there that mine can play with and I will be quite happy. We have a very large town park/farm/paddling pool area within 10 mins walk. DD's sec school is walking distance and her mates live around the corner.

We have worked out that after paying rent on this, we will have over £2100 a month to live on! That is with just DH working. I can decide if I want to go back to work or not probably after the summer when DC4 is 2.

I have probably been worried for nothing and am looking forward to getting back on track and saving for a new house of our own.

Thanks to the council and all those who sent their good wishes .

The op is very lucky to be in a position to save as she is in cheap but rather nice sounding housing.

I think the discounts are not as good as when Maggie sold them all off.

Actually OP I do wonder why you felt the need to mention your disposable income after all you could just as well have posted how everything had turned out regarding the flat without saying anything more

My landlord still does right to buy.

We bought an ex council house for £210k (cheap for this area). The woman we bought it off bought it from the council 14 years ago for £86k. She's retired to the south of France. That's your problem with social housing right there.

We have about £800 left each month after mortgage payments. I consider us fairly well off. We both work full time.

I agree with getting that this thread would have taken a different turn if the OP had not mentioned her disposable income.

Good to hear the flat is fine.

Hope you get back on your feet,op.

I's good to hear the system works well sometimes, for working families such as yourselves.

(others - you can go on the housing list too, if you want. I work with people who have very good lifestyles living in council accommodation. They are hard working people who benefit from low housing costs to have a reasonable lifestyle - I don't see anything wrong with that.)

Rtb is a national policy although there are exceptions depending on the type of property.

Council housing is a normal way of living for many, many people. It is not some sort of emergency accommodation. I don't understand all the {hmm} when op mentioned her income. Good for her!

Banoffee yes it is subsidising. I am not saying it is wrong in any way, but it is one way of using council assets. It has to be considered as part of public spending as there obviously isn't an infinite pot of money. As you say there are other forms of housing subsidy too. So it is swings and roundabouts in terms of housing people who are unable to afford full private market rates. However where it seems plausible that people could afford market rates then providing council housing may be to the detriment of others on the waiting list.

I'm not sure that this thread is real but in case it is, my not very humble opinion is...

Twenty-odd years ago, DH, our eldest daughter and I were turfed out on the streets by our landlord (DH's delightful father). We were swiftly rehomed in a council flat despite our earnings being pretty good at the time.

The flat was lovely and really big although lacking in what you would think of as basics - no central heating and no double glazing so we were freezing during the winter.

We used that time to get on our feet, saved like crazy and, three years later, put a large deposit down on a house of our own.

We used the council housing as an opportunity because then, as now, private rents were fiercely high and the affordable housing that the council offered was a real leg-up for a young couple like us.

So what about those people living in b&b accommodation because they are broke and homeless? People who don't have 2k a month to survive on, let alone dispose of?
So it's going to take longer to save if she rents privately. Well Boo Hoo! My heart bleeds.

I haven't read the whole thread, but wow, you have more 'disposable income' than we have 'income'

We have a mortgage

We get no tax credits or anything like that!

Are you sure you've done your sums right?

Yes i'm jealous! I come from generations of council tennants but now own my own home. i wish i bloody didn't. we don't have that much money left over from 2 wages after paying our mortgage but we would never qualify for council housing...

Oh noes , some council tenants have more disposable income than some home owners.

That can't be right,, I mean they are council people

Storm you should get tax credits if that's the case

I'm really pleased for you OP. I hope you will be really happy.

We lose our 10 pound a week tax credit in April Bronze as we earn over 26,000 as a household. We get by but that's all.
I wish the op well but do think 'you lucky jammy sod you'!

Why isn't there enough social housing?
Maggie Thatcher, letting councils sell off stock but stopping them from building more.
Keeping the scheme going and now offering bigger discounts when there is so obviously a huge lack of council houses.

I asked before on another thread I think, why Labour continued the sell off. Surely it should have been stopped under a labour government? People continue blaming the tories but don't seem to question what happened next.

What a load of cod

It may be a wind up , but the ignorant opinions are not.

Labour being complicit and not stopping it doesn't make the scheme not Margaret Thatcher's idea.

It should have been stopped, without a doubt.

bronze unfortunately not, before tax we earn just over 26k. We only got ten pounds a week before, but now it's nothing.