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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think i would be better in a council house rather than Housing Association?

44 replies

MoodyDidIt · 10/01/2013 15:41

am in a HA house at the moment, and i have the chance to swap with someone for a council house

its same area, so still near dc school, my friends etc. similar size, maybe very slightly bigger. the rent is a bit cheaper (about £17 a week). However, is very scruffy and needs a LOT of work doing to it. it would probably cost at least £1000 to get it to a decent standard. i am talking new carpets, new flooring and painted throughout as a bare minimum. and things like new blinds and curtains, and possibly a new bathroom and kitchen as soon as i could afford it.

i am on a secure tenancy now and if i moved, i would also be on a secure tenancy (how it works is you basically swap tenancy agreements).

however, since i have been in my HA house, the weekly rent has crept up substantially every year. and i am very concerned that, with all the changes afoot at the moment, HA rents will keep on rising - as at the end of the day, housing associations are for profit, and i believe they will keep squeezing the tenants for more money. and i also suspect they will start moving the goal posts for existing tenants - ie if you earn too much you have to leave. even though they say they won't, i can deffo see this happening.

am i being naive to think that council rents won't? or if they do, not as much. also being in a council house will be my only chance to ever buy my own home, in my area, you can still buy your council house once you have been there a certain period of time - but you can't buy HA houses. and i know its only about £70 a month cheaper but to me, thats a lot of money.

so what do people think?

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 10/01/2013 15:49

HA's are not for profit.

And many many councils have long eradicated Right to Buy.

holidaysarenice · 10/01/2013 15:51

Think what you will save a week, work this out over a year and see if it helps with deciding on how much you have to spend/would like to spend on paint etc

MammaTJ · 10/01/2013 15:53

You are being naive. I live in a HA house. It used to be council but they sold all their stock to the HA.

You could move, go to the hassle of making the new house nice, then they could sell to a HA, as is the common thing to do nowadays. Most HAs make an agreement to only increase rent by a certain amount for 5 years, then they can do what they like.

You would be no better off.

expatinscotland · 10/01/2013 15:53

Many other councils have also put moratoriums on Right to Buy or no longer offer it for new tenants.

expatinscotland · 10/01/2013 15:54

YY, Mamma, our council sold off to HA. There is no 'counci' anymore, it all belongs to this crap HA.

Cabrinha · 10/01/2013 15:54

If it's so similar, why does the tenant want to swap? I'd be concerned there were bad neighbours!

MammaTJ · 10/01/2013 15:58

Oh and missed you saying that HAs are for profit, they most certainly are not. They are non-profit organisations as would be set out in their information.

McNewPants2013 · 10/01/2013 15:59

I would say better the devil you know.

CaptChaos · 10/01/2013 16:00

The way things are going, tenants in all forms of social housing are probably going to be asked to move on when their earnings reach a certain level, which is probably only fair, given the shortage of social housing.

HA's charge higher rents, usually because they use the money collected to improve their properties, Council's were not allowed to use the money they made through selling stock on improvements or to build new stock. Then Labour issued an ultimatum which said that all social housing had to be of a certain standard, and most councils didn't have the money to raise standards in the pot, hence selling stock to HA's.

If you are happy with your present home, save yourself the money on the move, £1000 to get a house to a 'decent' standard, when you already live somewhere of that standard seems an odd thing to do.

oldraver · 10/01/2013 16:01

You may not be able to buy a HA house but many offer schemes where if you give up your tenancy to buy a house they will help you with a grant... something to think about if you are planning to buy in the future

Original poster
MoodyDidIt · 10/01/2013 16:01

she wants to swap as she wants to be nearer her children's school as its quite a long way away from where she lives now

and also she wants a house thats already decorated and nice as she is on her own and can't afford to / and doesn't have the skills to do it herself. (lme reason i know, but some people are shit at this kind of thing, myself included dh does it all :o )

OP posts:
cestlavielife · 10/01/2013 16:02

you havent given a single reason why you want to move apart from possible chance to buy in the future - and there is no guarantee of that happening.

but unless you going to get v good income in a few years time how will you get a mortgage anyway ?

it doesnt make sense.

same area same size etc - why move?

littlemisssarcastic · 10/01/2013 16:02

OP, Are you referring to the 'pay to stay' scheme?

Not sure if govt still intend on going ahead with this, but it would affect all social housing AFAIK, not just HA properties.

expatinscotland · 10/01/2013 16:06

'and also she wants a house thats already decorated and nice as she is on her own and can't afford to / and doesn't have the skills to do it herself.'

So you're going to basically subsidise that to a tune of £1000 when £70 is a lot of money to you?

There's no way I'd swap from HA to a council house in that state of disrepair, tbh, as pointed out, many councils are selling off their stock to HA.

HappyJoyful · 10/01/2013 16:08

for not getting your facts correct YABU.

a) HA's are not for profit.
b) All rents are rising on a scale so that they will eventually all 'merge' - historically HA's rents were typically higher than Councils but where I work this year the Local Councils rose higher than the HA's
c) I'm surprised as a HA tenant you have a 'Secure' Tenancy - I think if you look you might find it's called an 'Assured Tenancy' (HA's to best of my knowledge haven't ever issued 'Secure Tenancy's') - but your right's are still protected.
d) You can actually exercise what is called 'Right to Acquire' with your HA which in effect would be same as RTB. Are you able to get a mortgage ? I wouldn't worry about rushing into home ownership - you might think you'd be £70 better off - what about the repairs and upkeep of your home that you would suddenly become fully responsible, boiler breaks down, toilet, roof ? all your responsibility.

Original poster
MoodyDidIt · 10/01/2013 16:08

cestlavie - the cheaper rent appeals to me, am pissed off with how much the HA has increased the rent since me being here. and also, the bedrooms are bigger, which, to me, is important. and i just don't trust housing associations anymore

and as for buying, i know its not guaranteed, by any means, but its the closest thing i will ever get in my life to buy. and at the moment, in my area (may be the same in others) you get a good discount, so even though our income is not massive, we should be able to get a mortgage.

also, i honestly had no idea they were not for profit? if they are not for profit why are they raising the rents all the time?

OP posts:
Floggingmolly · 10/01/2013 16:10

The council house is the same distance to your kid's school, but the tenant wants to move because your house is much closer to her kids school? Confused. There'll be other reasons, probably none of them positive for you...

ihearsounds · 10/01/2013 16:12

My rent has crept up a lot every year, it will be increasing a lot this year as well. Read somewhere that eventually council rents will be nearer to private lets.

Ask yourself why the bathroom and kitchen need doing, becuase the council wont do them if they are under 30 years.. So a 29 year old kitchen will not be done. The bathrooms its even older. The exception being that they are not fit for purpose. In council trying to get any works done, is like trying to get blood from a stone. Whereas HA will deal straight away, or almost immediatly. Yes the rent mighgt be a bit cheaper, but you get stuff fixed..

expatinscotland · 10/01/2013 16:12

'also, i honestly had no idea they were not for profit? if they are not for profit why are they raising the rents all the time?'

Because the costs of maintaining the properties is rising, just as everything else is.

It's entirely possible the council is no longer offering RTB for new tenants, many are not. Or they put moratoriums on it and just keep voting to extend it.

The cheaper rent, well, that £70/mo. x 12 = £840 v £1000 to do up that shit tip house and there's no guarantee the council won't raise rents.

MammaTJ · 10/01/2013 16:35

I will add that a HA is more likely to offer a part buy part rent scheme than the council. That might be worth looking in to.

MammaTJ · 10/01/2013 16:38

One of the main reasons that councils have sold their housing stock is that the RTB scheme just doesn't work a far as replacing sold housing is concerned.

The govt decided that any money taken by the councils through this had to be frozen ie not used to replace sold stock.

HAs on the other hand are able to sell their houses to those entitled to buy ie previous council tenants when the stock was bought by HA and then use the money to buy or build more houses.

Marne · 10/01/2013 16:38

I thought all councils had sold of their houses to HA years ago? ours did anyway, we are in HA and we still have the chance to buy (get it for a lower price but not a huge difference). Our HA also does part buy part rent.

Original poster
MoodyDidIt · 10/01/2013 17:48

thanks for all the responses so far

bit depressing though....having seen her house, i could see the potential, and i was beginning to feel a bit excited about it, a better life for us, only slightly, but slightlys better than nothing

god it pisses me off how they raise the rents, it shouldnt be council / HA rents rising to meet private rent levels, it should be PRIVATE rents dropping to fairer levels. at the moment, private rents are completely disproportionate to people's wages. so IMO all it will do is increase the housing benefit bill and push people into poverty. but thats a whole different discussion i guess.....

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 10/01/2013 17:54

The potential? But you aren't even going to do the work, but lump your DH with it.

Original poster
MoodyDidIt · 10/01/2013 18:00

well he lives with me expat, he will benefit from it too :o

anyway....i would, erm, paint or something Blush

OP posts:
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