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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:
JakeBullet · 31/05/2013 19:53

Social housing generally ISN'T kept in a good state of decoration by the LL, it's kept that way by the tenant (hopefully) although the previous tenant here left the walls graffitied, holes in the plaster and a garden full of rubbish.

I got this place in a good decorative state.

And yes to the issues with private LL too, I had a dreadful let a few years ago. Took months to get the LL to do anything and he would not allow us to sort things out either.

mrsjay · 31/05/2013 19:54

this isnt a benefit thread it is a foot stomping it s'not fair thread, which tbf most benefit threads are when you think about it,

williaminajetfighter · 31/05/2013 19:55

Jake I actually don't think people paying into the system always get access to it. I know someone who was told at the job centre after becoming redundant that they couldn't get UI because they owned their own house and had to sell it first and live off the profits before they could have recourse to public funds. It's not really a safety net for all.

However my point is on MN that most of the enlightened folk just tut tut at others for not being so enlightened...

JakeBullet · 31/05/2013 19:57

Lots and lots of people need a fucking reality check then. Even on a low income I brought in more financially than I do now. And if it's such a cushy number why are they not giving up their jobs and living on benefits? Could it be that they secretly suspect it's not the life of Riley that they have been led to think?

Why are they thinking like this? They need their bloody heads examining if they think this is so great! Hmm

usualsuspect · 31/05/2013 19:57

I think William needs to read up on the history of council housing and why it was introduced.

LuisSuarezTeeth · 31/05/2013 19:59

Nobody called the op an ass, actually or by inference. There have been intelligent, informative and well researched posts, backed up by personal experiences. If that's not a debate, I don't know what is. The op was also gracious enough to point out that there were things she didn't know and that she had learnt a few things.

MrsDeVere · 31/05/2013 19:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JakeBullet · 31/05/2013 20:00

When I had a mortgage and my DH lost his job we had access to public funds. Nobody told us we had to sell our home at all. Your friend has been told incorrectly, everyone needs a roof over their heads and can't be forced to sell just because they need benefits. We didn't sell at that point.

mrsjay · 31/05/2013 20:02

Our old block had those metal windows. Some of them dropped ou

did you get your new windows after that Shock

1 housing inspector told me and I think somebody else said it happened tp them pages ago to open my windows to air the rooms that we had no damp at all knob

williaminajetfighter · 31/05/2013 20:02

Usual you are kidding right? I did a MA in with a full year on the history of housing. Should I say that I got a first?

Oh oh I might have a different opinion than you. I must therefore be dumb and ill informed!

I didn't say that I didn't agree with it but that swathes of people don't and that those are legitimate opinions held by people in this country even if not by you.

You've merely proved my point about 'debate' on MN! There are the people who are 'right' and everyone else.

JakeBullet · 31/05/2013 20:03

That was to william btw, unless everything changed in April this year then your friend has been advised I correctly. They won't pay the mortgage but they WILL give some benefits. We got council tax benefit, income support and my DH got JSA. Thankfully he found work very quickly but nobody ever suggested we sell the roof over our heads, that's just madness unless being out of work is going to be long term. Even our mortgage company were helpful for the few months it took.

ParsingFancy · 31/05/2013 20:03

william, the increasing restrictions on the welfare state are precisely because of people who whine that others are "getting too much" and it should be cut back to just for those who are desperate.

I've just lost my contribution-based Incapacity Benefit, for precisely this reason. I now have no income of my own, nor any prospect of acquiring any. I'm in the financial position of a Victorian woman: completely dependent on family, possibly for the rest of my life.

mrsjay · 31/05/2013 20:03

My mil was on benefit and had a mortgage she was made redundant she wasn't told to sell her house although she did struggle with repayments she got HB for interest on the mortgage or 'something'

usualsuspect · 31/05/2013 20:07

So you are speaking for the silent majority then?

I speak for myself.

I would never start a thread moaning about a random on FB if I didn't know all the facts, would you?

ParsingFancy · 31/05/2013 20:07

Oh, and agree with the others: unlike me, your friend probably can get benefits, even though they own a house.

In fact, they will even be entitled to additional benefits to pay their mortgage (interest only).

Sorelip · 31/05/2013 20:07

YABU. I once went to view a council property (ended up in a HA property). The condition was disgusting, there were holes in the walls, mold all over the walls where the windows were, and bare concrete floors, and it stank. This place was being advertised as 'ready to move into'. The council will have saved a fortune if the person who accepted the property was given even £250 worth of vouchers, rather than getting decorators in.

LuisSuarezTeeth · 31/05/2013 20:08

No-one is saying anyone is right or wrong william, isn't it about opinions? Which have been given. Perhaps the demographic of this forum is not to your taste?

JakeBullet · 31/05/2013 20:08

I think those who think it's all wrong need a year on benefits and housing on a slum estate: I had to do that for a year with a disabled child, I suspect they would soon have their beliefs challenged about State support.

It isn't easy and I DO get unreasonable angry with people who sniff and say "State help is wrong" because without help I could not survive and nor could DS.

AND I paid into the system for nearly 30 years before I had to stop work in order to meet my son"s needs.

RhondaJean · 31/05/2013 20:08

Just for the uninformed on the thread. I am heavily involved in social housing and the highest costs to social landlords are from people changing tenancies frequently (void loss) and people not taking proper care of their properties.

There are proven links to reducing both costs by helping people come to view their homes as their own and take ownership of them. Therefore giving tenants vouchers to personalise their homes isn't actually an altruistic act by landlords giving out "your" tax money willy nilly but a cost saving exercise designed to reduce tenancy turnover.

That's without even thinking about the ethical consideration of whether yknow, poor people are entitled to have nice homes or should just settle of
R what they get and be bloody grateful...Hmm

usualsuspect · 31/05/2013 20:08

You do get benefits if you own your house, not HB but you do get benefits.

mrsjay · 31/05/2013 20:12

I am not sure what the benefit was really I wasn't going to pry but we helped her change her mortgage to interest free and she did get money towards it,

ThatGhastlyWoman · 31/05/2013 20:12

Wallpaper paid for by our taxes? Like this..? (Apologies if someone beat me to it already...)

usualsuspect · 31/05/2013 20:13

After a certain length of time you get help towards the interest on your mortgage.

usualsuspect · 31/05/2013 20:15

I've never ever heard of anyone being turned down for benefits because they were a homeowner.

D0oinMeCleanin · 31/05/2013 20:20

We were home owners when we last applied for benefits. We were on benefits for a whopping day and a half when DH was lucky enough to be offered his old job within a new company. We got about £20 iirc and after 18 weeks we would have qualified for help with paying the interest on our mortgage.