Should people on a good wage say £40,000 pA give up their social housing home?

[Cheekychops84]

not a personal opinion would just like others views on this matter? Is £40,000 enough to save up to get a mortgage or privately rent if you have 3 children ?

I hope so too yellow. I think the other thing would be to make renting a better situation. I know my SIL and my DH, both of whom are not British, are shocked at the way our systems usually operate. I think the problem is, when you have decent landlords it works very well, but of course you can't rely on that - you need legal protection. I think if renting were better, it would become more socially acceptable, and there might perhaps be less driving-up of house prices and too-quick building.

Landlors aren't there to rip people off! They are running a business, which bizarrely enough, comes with costs!

thekidsrule I am suggesting that housing benefit should go up, not down. Charging more rent for council houses is how I would pay for it. If you are poor and living in a council property you would be no worse off. If you are poor and not living in a council property you would be better off.

I agree vodka jelly ! We are here for the security I don't mind paying more rent as long as we are not forced to move it took us 5 years to get the house we have now. We were being overly charged for a private rented house which was riddled with damp and a leaking cellar for 6 years. We would never get a mortgage and even to private rent would mean finding 2montjs deposit in advance of say £2000 again not easy with 3 children ! We struggle and sometimes I wonder y are we actually working? I never see the kids we can't afford holidays etc amenity thought of loosing our home aswell seems unfair really?

I agree that landlords should be encouraged to offer longer and more secure rentals, but I'm not sure how that can be achieved.

Yes, it is scary renting in this country. In other countries, it's totally normal and people do up their houses and live there for ages. Here there's just no point in doing up your rented place, you could be chucked out any time.

Plus, the amount they charge you is a joke especially in London.

Outraged, there are plenty of landlords who are out solely to rip people off.

I earn 24,000 and DP earns 90,000. I am just in the process of buying my council house. I got my house because I was made homeless at 17 and managed to do some savy swapping to get the property I wanted to buy. I do not know many people my age 21-24 who can say they have bought their property. although DP and I live together the property is mine. my little bit of security!

trills i know you are

but then the councils payments for hb will rocket,where will that extra come from

True.

I think maybe the renting uncertainty is part of the reason why we are as a society relatively happy with the idea of moving people in social housing out - we don't have a lot of legal protection for less well-off people's rights to privacy and stability in a home.

I'm not getting polemical, I don't know the perfect solution, but I do feel this is a problem. I don't really think our population is so large that it should be impossible to house us all.

EmptyCrispPackets (picking you because you seem less shouty than some)

Right now of course there is no incentive for you to move house, and a very strong incentive to stay. So I can absolutely see why you would stay.

How do you think would you feel if, over the years, the amount of rent you had to pay on your current house had slowly gone up as you earned more money? Each increment would have only been a small jump, but now you would be in a position where you were paying close to the amount a similar private house would cost, so it would be easier to imagine moving.

Yes.

There are plenty who aren't though. Most are either just trying to earn a long and provide an asset to be passed down o their children, or are forced into having to rent because they can't sell.

They have mortgages that need to be paid for. Why shouldn't they charge for the service they provide?

I think landlords get a really unfair reputation on MN.

Social housing is being built..... Lots of it here!

Ever single new build 'estate' has to have, by law, a percentage of housing which is allocated to be social housing

And it gets built first.... Along with the showhomes.

I have a gorgeous brand new HA house, outs is a new community, so employment is being built too. It's happening, just taking time

Living.

Well, to be honest Outraged, I'm a bit of a lefty so not really into people buying up cheap housing in the 90s and then renting it out and making money on it. I find it all a bit grubby.

But I think that's another thread, to be honest, cos I don't see the socialist revolution coming any time soon.

Oh, that's good to hear KK! As I said, it's happening here too though we don't yet know how much of the new build will be social housing. All of it should be more affordable than the surroundings though.

I think what is awful is when social housing is really deliberately poor quality. My dad did a stint on his council and used to come home being really sad about the planning proposals for social housing which seemed to assume it's a good idea to build something you know will be uninhabitable in twenty years. I think that's awful. A false economy and insulting to the people who live there.

Our income is less than £40k and it has never even occurred to me that families on the same income are getting subsidised housing. Honestly, I've just never thought it through, never had any need or desire to! Now I feel a bit resentful tbh - ONLY £100 a month less someone said. My goodness, for our family (2 kids, another on the way), an extra £1200 a year would make a big difference. We can manage without it because we choose to, and I totally accept I have no right to resent others being better off - but we don't have the choice to live in subsidised housing. It does seem a bit like the choices are not spread evenly. I'm sure I'll read more responses and feel a bit more balanced, but I know I'm going to get to end of the month budget balancing and remember that £100. ONLY £100.

a good few lanlords round here deserve the negative views they have

what i have noticed is the programme "houses under the hammer) 9 out of ten sales are for resale or renting out,more renting out no wonder people cant afford to buy,thus creating this crazy problem in the uk

it is likely that higher earning tenants will have to pay more rent before long - there is a government proposal in consultation at the moment. Could come into being next year.

Just to be clear before flaming sets in, I'm not claiming my reaction is reasonable.

Fair enough Yellow. I don't have a problem with people making the most of opportunities that are presented to them, but I don't think that the majority of LLs did that anyway. I know I didn't.

Why build more social housing? Why not just build more housing? If there is a better ratio of houses to tenants then rents will go down.

I live in an ex-council flat, where the council still own most of the flats. A couple of years ago the council put new kitchens, bathrooms and central heating in all of their flats. Of course, people are entitled to a reasonable standard of accommodation but I'm human - it does rankle that we can't afford any of those things for our flat. If your circumstances change once you are in social housing, your rent should go up to reflect market prices.

We just got a letter about getting a secure entry system installed in the block, for which we have to pay £500 but our neighbours won't have to pay anything. IS that fair, if they are earning more than me?

No, it's not fair Crystal. Unless they are paying full market rate rent out of their own income, in which case it's perfectly fair