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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

for being annoyed that our tax is paying for people to buy wallpaper.

536 replies

suzexxx · 31/05/2013 07:51

I saw a post from a girl on facebook asking whether the social could help her buy things to do up her home e.g wallpaper and paint. Alot of people commented that she could get some vouchers to use on a certain paint brand and B&Q etc.

AIBU to think this girl should save some money or attempt to get a job for extra luxeries before expecting the social to foot the bill?

I'm moving house next month and the whole house will need decorating. However i am realistic in the fact i won't be able to afford to wallpaper the whole place at once, instead doing a bit at a time as and when i can afford it. My partner earns a moderate income and i'm currently on maternity leave, so money is tighter at the moment, but would never expect someone to pay for something i could manage without like wallpaper.

I completely understand people using the social to buy essential items such as a cooker or fridge, but not non essentials.

OP posts:
ditavonteesed · 31/05/2013 07:52

since when is wallpaper a luxury, poor people should have bare walls, wtf.

Pozzled · 31/05/2013 07:52

Yabu.

TiredyCustards · 31/05/2013 07:53
Biscuit Much more concerned about MPs doing up their 2nd homes to sell for a profit.
TiredyCustards · 31/05/2013 07:54

'the social' Hmm

Asamumnonsense · 31/05/2013 07:55

Wallpaper is hardly luxury though...YABU

Isityouorme · 31/05/2013 07:56

The OP probably means that wallpaper is much more expensive and so should not be an option. YANBU. I work but can't afford paper.

BlackholesAndRevelations · 31/05/2013 07:57

People's responses on here really baffle me. She could paint the Walls as wallpaper IS a luxury and not one we can afford with both of us working.

cornypedicure · 31/05/2013 07:57

you have people on 'the social' on your Facebook?
How liberal of you.

Dahlen · 31/05/2013 07:58

I think you may be overestimating how much people on benefits get.

When someone moves into a new social housing home, they get a voucher for B&Q yes. How much it is depends on the size of the property, so, for example, it's £100 for a 2-bed house. That has to cover everything, including flooring (as it is part of the rules that the exiting tenant has to remove all carpets etc before they leave).

Bearing in mind that a tin of paint is now about £15 (and that's non-branded), I don't think that £100 is going to go very far and I rather think the lady in question will not be spending it on wallpaper after all, whereas I suspect you will spend considerably more on doing up your home over the years.

It's not this lady's fault that you are on maternity leave and that money is tight in your home. The solution to your own difficulties is not to make life even harder for those that have even less than you.

How did you feel about MPs using tax-payers money to wallpaper their homes and the Cabinet office?

HighInterestRat · 31/05/2013 07:58

I think these come from the housing associations rather than the council (I used to work in Housing). It helps people take a bit of pride in their homes and I suppose means that they are more likely to settle in and look after it which I can understand is better from both perspectives.

I have lived with bare walls for a few months due to not having the time / cash to get it done right away but at least the house was mine iyswim. On lower incomes with no money spare you could be stuck living like that, possibly for years.

mumnotmachine · 31/05/2013 08:00

Don't know where she will get the money from off "the Social", Social Fund was abolished in April

Yamyoid · 31/05/2013 08:00

FFS! Do we dictate how people spend their money?
As Dita said.
Are you a DM reader by any chance?

sashh · 31/05/2013 08:02

OP

Have yo ever seen the state council properties are let in?

No matter how much decorating your new place has I bet you will not be cleaning excrement off the walls.

TooTabooToBoo · 31/05/2013 08:02

Is this fact? Do "the social" do this?

I know when I moved into my LA house I was given £250 to decorate. The house had been trashed by previous druggie tenants and it was cheaper for the LA to give B&Q vouchers and me put the work in, than pay for decorators to do it.

As it turned out it cost double that to get the house to a reasonable standard with cream wall paint, white emulsion, white gloss and plain wallpaper to cover the lime green and pillar box red painted "art work" Hmm

JogOnKitty · 31/05/2013 08:03

Yabu. I got given this voucher when i moved into my current home. I used it to get rid of the carpet that was in the living room,as it had mould all over it from previous occupants. I didnt realise that unmouldy carpet would be seen as a luxury.
Bloody social, ffs.

HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey · 31/05/2013 08:04

YANBU

Original poster
suzexxx · 31/05/2013 08:06

'The Social' were her words not mine and the post was on a facebook selling page.

I used to live in a council house when i was younger and when we moved in the council came around and painted the whole house magnolia, so at least it was clean and tidy for us. I think it's wrong giving people £250 B&Q vouchers as who's to say they won't sell the voucher and spend the money on something else.

OP posts:
ParsingFancy · 31/05/2013 08:06

Oh I thought this was going to be about the Lord Chancellor's wallpaper!

But if this woman's renting, isn't it the landlord's job to keep the place in good decorative order (damage by tenant excepted)?

In which case her landlord (council or HA) are just doing what my private landlords have done to me over the years and said, "We can't actually be arsed to do the work ourselves, but we'll pay for materials if you do it yourself."

If she gets a fixed amount, she'll soon work out whether she can afford wallpaper or whatever.

Original poster
suzexxx · 31/05/2013 08:07

And also i didnt realise people were given houses in such unfit states, perhaps i'm being naive.

OP posts:
MousyMouse · 31/05/2013 08:09

yabu
sometimes council propoerties come 'bare', no floor covering and bare walls. a bucket of paint would make a big difference to making the place feel like home instead of like a hole.

TooTabooToBoo · 31/05/2013 08:09

you don't get 250 as standard. I got that because the house was trashed.

Pathetic comment about vouchers being sold for something else. All LA remand being feckless, lazy morons eh?

Goady much?

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 31/05/2013 08:10

YABU and mean spirited

TooTabooToBoo · 31/05/2013 08:10

*tenants not remand

Chiggers · 31/05/2013 08:10

YANBU. Wallpaper is a luxury. It isn't actually needed for decorating to a reasonable standard.

Nowt wrong with bare walls? They'll look just fine with a decent lick of paint, as long as all the cracks and dents are filled in and sanded down properly.

SolomanDaisy · 31/05/2013 08:12

So when you lived in a council house the council actually paid for someone else to come and decorate your house for you? But it is wrong for the council to help someone do the work themselves, at a much lower cost than someone else doing the decorating? That's not very logical, even from a council budgeting viewpoint.

Incidentally, given that your partner earns a moderate income and you're on maternity leave, you're probably not net contributors to the state at the minute so don't worry it's not your tax paying.