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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:
stubbornstains · 31/05/2013 09:44

immaculate rather than down.

I'm not even on a smartphone FFS.

Wowserz129 · 31/05/2013 09:44
Biscuit
Original poster
suzexxx · 31/05/2013 09:46

PearlyWhites - i just said this particular person wasn't on my friends list thats all. I'm sure alot of people i know claim benefits of some sort, suggesting i wouldn't be friends with someone because of their social status is silly. Also i said we moved into a council house because my father was abusive and had no where to go. Lots of my post say i agree with people being given help in some ways.

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 31/05/2013 09:47

OP, you do realise that tax payers fund the council and the wages of the people who work for them? yes..

So it is probably cheaper to supply the tenant with the materials to do their own painting than send a team of decorators round to do the work..

ItsallisnowaFeegle · 31/05/2013 09:51

YABU!

FFS! This woman is probably moving into social housing and as someone who has lived in my fair share of sh properties, she's probably going to walk into a right shite hole and I for one don't begrudge my taxes being spent on a few rolls of bloody wallpaper!

In fact, even if she's lucky and it's not a shite hole, I still don't begrudge her the opportunity to make it 'hers'.

The vouchers will most definitely only buy enough supplies for one or two rooms, if they are specifically for B&Q.

Count your blessings that you don't need to rely on this type of support!

TheSecondComing · 31/05/2013 09:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ariane5 · 31/05/2013 09:53

YABU

When I got my council house nearly 5 years ago we were lucky enough to get a community care grant for essentials like carpet, beds for dcs, stair gates, cooker, fridge etc and also a 'decoration allowance' fron the la, it was amounts per room etc like £90 for front room, £60 for hallway etc etc.

Without this help we would have been living in a terrible state and I was very grateful. The council had checked our electrics/ heating /changed locks but the house was left in a disgusting state by previous tenants so we needed every penny.

I think especially where children are involved accomodation has to be of a certain standard. That said we got cheap paint not wallpaper!

NettoSuperstar · 31/05/2013 09:53

I spent over £1000 just getting my HA flat into a liveable state for me to move in.
The HA gave me £117, hardly bloody generous.

mrsjay · 31/05/2013 09:54

Lots of my post say i agree with people being given help in some ways.

just not wallpaper right ? you council house you were in as a child was decorated for your mum to move into this random person is getting a voucher it is just the same thing

ArbitraryUsername · 31/05/2013 09:58

Setting everything else aside (and i agree with the general direction of the discussion) I'm not sure why you think wallpaper is so much more luxurious than paint. Have you seen the price of paint recently? Painting your house is not cheap.

There are some new build HA properties near where I live. It always saddens me to see how many of them still, more than a year after people moved in, don't have any kind of curtains or blinds. I don't imagine the people living in them want to have bare windows, no privacy and no way to sleep in the dark (bar newspaper), so I suspect the issue is that heir budgets are so tight that there hasn't been enough spare at any point to get curtains or blinds.

WileyRoadRunner · 31/05/2013 10:01

So it is probably cheaper to supply the tenant with the materials to do their own painting than send a team of decorators round to do the work

^^ what squeaky said.

YABVU.
I used to work for a HA many many many years ago and it was common practice to give tenants a "decorating voucher". Purely because of the costs of using contractors.

ItsallisnowaFeegle · 31/05/2013 10:03

Why the fuck does anyone care if the vouchers are spent on paint as opposed to wallpaper?

And why do people think it's their right to have an say on which of the two should be 'allowed'?

Poor people should never be offered choice. They should be happy with the crumbs we see fit to throw to them. It'll be enforced, approved, shopping lists with gruel as their main staple next!

Original poster
suzexxx · 31/05/2013 10:04

Personally i think the council shouldn't be giving out vouchers and should make sure the house is in decent condition before allowing tennants to move in. And TheSecondComing- nice little dig at me there. I'm not married (thanks for assuming) i'm with my partner because i love him not because of how much money he makes. He earns a good wage as a lorry driver, actually better than me as a newly qualified nurse. Not sure how you can take the piss out of his job at least he works for his money, lots of people my age expect everything to be given to them and act like the world owes them a living and wouldn't even conisider doing jobs that are hard work.

OP posts:
mrsjay · 31/05/2013 10:07

your gripe was the wall paper and the woman not that it was terrible that the council didn't do up her house, you are sort of changing your story from your OP your POV is wallpaper is a luxury it isn't this woman is entitled to her voucher to decorate her house ,

usualsuspect · 31/05/2013 10:09

There was a mad thread on here once about someone in SH having Laura Ashley wallpaper. And how very dare they Grin

Ashoething · 31/05/2013 10:09

Wallpaper and paint are very expensive.People who work save up for such things.Your op is worded badly op but in essence yanbu.There is a huge sense of entitlement due in part to abuse of the welfare state.It has to stop.

mrsjay · 31/05/2013 10:11

Wallpaper and paint are very expensive.People who work save up for such things.Your op is worded badly op but in essence yanbu.There is a huge sense of entitlement due in part to abuse of the welfare state.It has to stop.

OKay then Hmm

Original poster
suzexxx · 31/05/2013 10:13

Yeah i am slightly changing my story from the OP as since people have replied i admitted i was being unreasonable not realising just how awful some houses are being left in. Saw some posts about blood on walls and i would never wish anyone to have no option but to move into a house in that state. I admitted i was being naive as i didnt know and since said i think it would be better for councils to make sure houses were fit for tennants to live in first.

OP posts:
WilsonFrickett · 31/05/2013 10:14

You do get it's cheaper to give out decorating vouchers than to have teams of decorators on the council's payroll*, right?

*also funded by 'our tax'.

mrsscoob · 31/05/2013 10:15

YABU For a start it isn't YOUR taxes anyway. It's a housing association scheme so the money comes from the income generated by their rental charges. Nothing to do with you unless you also rent froma HA. The tenant is only allowed to use it for specific items ie paint and is given a card by the housing association which has to be handed back, with receipt, which means it cannot be "sold on" They usually would be given £50-£80 to decorate an entire house and that is only if the house was in a terrible state.

Don't forget the tenant is paying rent. If they were to move into a private rental it would be expected that it were decorated and by the landlord too.

If you're bored and a jealous type I would suggest you get worked up about the money being spent on decorating mps houses and second houses, some of them are claiming thousands and that money really is coming from your taxes.

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 31/05/2013 10:16

I would imagine it is more cost effective to give the new tenant £50-100 of vouchers and turn the house around in a few days than it is to buy in the paints, pay the decorators and wait longer for the the house to be ready to re-let?

xTillyx · 31/05/2013 10:17

OP I understand it must seem annoying if you're looking at it from your situation and thinking well I have to pay for tha tmyself, but you own your house. If the lady on facebook lived in a private rental she would expect the landlord to maintain it. Having money/vouchers is probably cheaper to the housing association because the tenant will be doing the labour for them. Also some houses become available in horrible circumstances and would need doing up.

ArbitraryUsername · 31/05/2013 10:17

It's lovely that people can assume that decorating a new council house is simply a matter of getting it to your taste or something, not that you need to do something to make it vaguely habitable. Shit-smeared walls with giant chunks out of them and drawings all over them, dirty nappies stuffed everywhere and a broken window is what the council presented me with when I got a council flat many years ago.

delboysfileofax · 31/05/2013 10:19

Don't worry YANBU, but this is mumsnet, so you will have each poster falling over themselves to prove just how right on they are. Followed by the Stock answers as usual with the 6 kids all with disabilities, husband who left them and of course the "it could happen to you so don't judge" mantra

Why can't people on benefits be expected to pay something towards the decoration of a property?

ArbitraryUsername · 31/05/2013 10:21

Also nice assumption that the vouchers cover the cost of decorating the flat you get.