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AIBU?

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Original poster

To take a bigger council house than we need?

999 replies

isthisunreasonable · 15/01/2013 10:11

Have namechanged for this as it's pretty obvious who I am if you know me...

We currently have a two bedroom house (3 children) and we can fir just about but it's a squeeze. We are "entitled" (cringe) to a 3 bed house but it's likely to be 4-5 yrs by the time we would be offered one so placed our details on the Housing Association's "mutual exchange" site. We have also said we are happy to take a 2 bedroom house with separate dining room to use as the 3rd bedroom.

Have been contact by someone via our housing association's "mutual exchange" list. They have a large 4 bed house with a dining room and massive garden and they want to downsize (older couple all kids left home) and would like our house.

Given that is is bigger than we actually need . Part of me thinks it should go to a family with 5/6 kids but part of me thinks this couple are looking for a mutual exchange to downsize to a 2 bed house, what's the chance of them fining such a large family in a 2 bed house that they want.

It would be fabulous for us of course, lots of space for everyone, kids could have their own bedrooms and a nice big garden to play and we wouldn't have to move again when we have more children (planning another 1 or 2 in next 5 years perhaps).

Would we be unreasonable to accept it?

OP posts:
BelieveInPink · 17/01/2013 20:06

Lady, really, say whatever you feel you need to to justify yours and the OP's gutter level attitude.

WileyRoadRunner · 17/01/2013 20:07

Lady why do you keep spinning the envious line

Because that's what people say when they have no logical argument.

It lacks basis and is the last resort of defence.

Bogeyface · 17/01/2013 20:09

Gutter level attitude?!

Try looking closer to home for a bad attitude Pink FFS you should be ashamed of yourself!

maisiejoe123 · 17/01/2013 20:10

What I am questioning is that the OP is stating their house on a full time and part time wage with more children on the horizon is worth in excess of £500k! Something people who plan properly and dont feel entitled to have as many children as they wish for someone else to fund can only dream about.

Or maybe the OP is right. Have 5-6 children, work part time and allow others to fund your lifestyle choice.

To be honest you blew it when you started boasting it was worth £500k.

Wallison · 17/01/2013 20:11

Oh come on, there have been people like BelieveInPink et all queueing up to say how superior they are to the OP because they wouldn't ever take a council house, oh no, they pay their way etc etc. That kind of talk, with the need of the poster to assert - just so everyone is clear about it - that they are made of better stuff than the OP, smacks of insecurity about one's life choices and, yes, envy.

maisiejoe123 · 17/01/2013 20:12

If I fell on hard times and my circumstances changed I would HAVE to move. Why do others have a house for life???

Wallison · 17/01/2013 20:12

Oops, et al, I mean.

Wallison · 17/01/2013 20:13

Because they are luckier than you, obviously, maisiejoe. They've got something you haven't. It eats you up inside, doesn't it?

WileyRoadRunner · 17/01/2013 20:15

I don't believe it is envy. I believe it is despair that some posters are struggling whilst both working full time, only being able to afford one child in a tiny flat etc etc whilst a poster gleefully announces how they and their 3 children will be moving into a 4 bed house that costs half a million pounds. Oh and then she's going to have a couple more kids.

No, it's not envy.

MrsDeVere · 17/01/2013 20:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsDeVere · 17/01/2013 20:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bogeyface · 17/01/2013 20:18

So its worth £500K. So what?

It could be worth £500,000,000 but it ISNT THE OPs MONEY! The asset belongs to the HA, they are simply renting it to her, so whether it is worth a tenner or ten million is neither here nor there. She mentioned the worth to illustrate that not all council homes are run down blocks of flats.

The OP will pay rent and what will she have after 25 years? 25 years worth of receipts, and thats it. Had she been saying that they were giving her the house to own then you wouldhave a point. Do get huffy at someone in a £500k house rented from a private landlord? Thought not.

Spamspamspam · 17/01/2013 20:18

Bogey, I don't need to repeat myself again do I? Have you not read a single word that has been posted on here?

NO ONE HAS A PROBLEM WITH SOMEONE HAVING A BENEFIT IF THEY ARE IN THE NEED.

PEOPLE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO TAKE A BENEFIT WHEN THEY NO LONGER NEED IT.

That is ludicrous, unfair, selfish and entitled.

No envy, jealously or bittnerness here. I don't need a HA home and therefore will not apply, my personal morals and beliefs won't allow me to take something from the state that I don't deserve. However I MIGHT need help in the future and I would hope I could then get that help because some other person has also realised they don't need the help anymore. But it seems that No every single poster on here defending the system would continue to take take take for as long as they can get away with it.

If I feel anything at all it is shame, I am ashamed of every single person who claims to be Left but is anything but - it is all still about ME, ME, ME.

maisiejoe123 · 17/01/2013 20:19

It doesnt actuall Wallison. MY DH and I work full time and always have. We dont have child benefit any longer. Getting up yesterday at 0530 to attend a meeting is something that I strongly suspect the OP has never had to do in her life. We are home owners in the home counties. My BIG issue with this is that OP feels entitled to this. To have as many children as she wishes and to allow us to fund this lifestyle choice.

Many many times have I wished I worked part time but I want to work for the good things in life. The OP is making a mockery of the system. Have 5 kids, work part time, and still live in a £500k house.

BelieveInPink · 17/01/2013 20:19

Wallison, you need to read properly. I have not once said I would never accept social housing. I have said repeatedly that if it's needed then it should be given. I have said I don't agree the OP should be given a new home when she no longer needs it. So don't put words in my mouth.

sukysue · 17/01/2013 20:19

no yanbu grab it with both hands and you and your family enjoy it. Good Luck with the move you know what they say new house new baby you may be in need of that other bedroom lol!

WileyRoadRunner · 17/01/2013 20:20

Don't know why you're all starting on me, I haven't said the OP is BU. I'm on the fence as I think it's a trolling thread anyway.

I just think its childish to say people are envious.

I can see both sides of it. I would never call it jealousy or envy though.

BelieveInPink · 17/01/2013 20:20

Applauding Spam

PureQuintessence · 17/01/2013 20:21

"The new house we are due to move to is in a gorgeous rural area, it's on a lane with only a few other houses and surrounded by fields, it has a lovely back garden (somewhere under the jungle I know we will find one) it's massive and has lovely period features, open fireplace etc. Probably worth £500,000"

Yup, the council should definitely build more of these. Everybody is entitled to the same great standard of living.

For every field in Britain, they should build 4-5 council homes with winding lanes and orchards, where tenants who had a crap period in their lives once can live happily ever after, skipping into the rainbow, shouting "ner ner" to the rest of us.

Brilliant!

WileyRoadRunner · 17/01/2013 20:21

Plus it was the OP that drip fed about it costing £500k.... We are only privy to that information as she announced it when the thread was getting boring...

Bogeyface · 17/01/2013 20:22

Wiley no one is stopping any of those people putting themselves on their local housing list! But a lot of the posters moaning are the same ones that said that they wouldnt live in a HA/council house anyway, so they have made their choice and must live with it.

Of course, if they change their minds or their circumstances change then they too could ask for a HA house, but that will be ok wont it, because it will be "different" for them Hmm

And as for the Why should they get a house for life that is no longer going to be the case anyway. There will be regular assessments that tenants are in appropriate housing to avoid the very situation that the people the OP is swapping with are in, an elderly couple with a 4 bed house, half of which they cant even access never mind need.

PureQuintessence · 17/01/2013 20:22

It is still nothing to do with envy, but all to do with this conflicting with the idea of helping more people get on their feet by not having secure tenancies for life, but based on assessments and needs.

BelieveInPink · 17/01/2013 20:23

"Try looking closer to home for a bad attitude Pink FFS you should be ashamed of yourself!"

Nope. Not ashamed. Ashamed of people like the OP, yep,

Now do calm down.

maisiejoe123 · 17/01/2013 20:23

Spam and Wiley - you put it much better than I did. Its not envy....

And does anyone think with 5-6 children the OP will continue to work to fund her £500k house (I realise it nots her £500k, however whether it is or isnt she is still living in it and gaining the benefit of such an opulent house.

BelieveInPink · 17/01/2013 20:24

And drip feeding with regards to her work situation.

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