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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to ask a question about council houses?

240 replies

Pipbin · 03/03/2014 22:32

I'm not wanting to get into the rights and wrongs of benefits etc but I just have a honest question about council houses.

If someone is granted a council house, is it like renting a private house, but the landlord is the council that they pay rent to, which may be covered by housing benefit?
If they then get into a position, for example finding work, where they are no longer entitled to HB, do they cover the rent themselves or do they lose the house?

I have no reason for asking this other than curiosity. I've claimed HB in the past but I was in a private rental then.

OP posts:

BumpyGrindy · 03/03/2014 23:39

No they don't Chloe but there's the small issue of not having enough money for a car to consider. This is the reality of being a parent on a low income.

usualsuspect33 · 03/03/2014 23:50

What happens if they get kicked out of their CH for earning too much then lose their jobs?

Silverdaisy · 03/03/2014 23:57

Council housing cannot be sustainable for everyone and then their children. Something needs to be addressed.

In my area a council 2 bed is 70p/w. A 2 bed private is £145 p/w. when it comes to private let, housing benefit is capped.

If someone is a council tenent they are in preferable situation, rent wise.

Chloerose75 · 03/03/2014 23:59

Same as what happens when anyone else loses their job - benefits including housing benefit while they look for a new job. Tbh when losing your job surely the worst situation is for those who have stretched themselves for a mortgage, as HB will cover rent but not a mortage? As far as I know anyway.

usualsuspect33 · 04/03/2014 00:01

The private rental market needs to be addressed.

usualsuspect33 · 04/03/2014 00:05

I'm glad people on lower incomes can get fair rents and secure tenancys in CH.

Long may it continue.

Silverdaisy · 04/03/2014 00:08

Many landlords cannot give their properties as cheaply as council/HA. Not everyone who puts their house out for rent is making a lot of money.

usualsuspect33 · 04/03/2014 00:11

They could start by giving tenants longer leases though.

Who is going to give up a secure tenancy for a 6 month lease?

No one in their right mind would do that.

Silverdaisy · 04/03/2014 00:52

No of course not, don't give up stability.

My addition to the thread was some private landlords cannot charge much less.

Some landlords rent to the council which allows for longers tenancies.

However if I had a spare house to rent, I dont think I would offer a long let. That would purely be down to the fact that most people don't have job security.

I think I would like the safety net of being able to sell.

MistressDeeCee · 04/03/2014 01:07

How many more of these threads are there going to be, nosing into who rents a council house how much they earn and whether they deserve it?

Ingeniously worded OP, but it was still yet another turgid thread aiming to re-hash whats been done to death here. Picking over what people do and don't have, and judging them for it

BillyBanter · 04/03/2014 01:18

Offer landlords incentives to provide tenants with long term secure lets. The incentives could be that when they offer a long term let, the tenant pays the council tax...offer short term lets and you own more than one property then the Landlord must pay the council tax.

I'd say offer LLs disincentives to be LLs.

Build more council houses, I say. Specifically council houses, not 'social' housing, not 'affordable' housing, council housing.

The private rental market is the problem not council housing.

fideline · 04/03/2014 01:23

I've got no problem with limetime tenancies for council tenants. Communities need more stability, not less. People ditto.

Pointlessly reshuffling everyone every few years would be so unsettling and expensive.

Silverdaisy · 04/03/2014 01:28

Mistress - great point. Let's not worry about who has what in life. I don't sit envying others rental prices. Maybe I'm lucky that way, but other crap things have happened in my life.

Grennie · 04/03/2014 01:35

More council houses should be built. We have encouraged the rise of Buy to Lets which do not benefit tenants. It has pushed rents up. More council houses are the way to reduce housing costs generally.

AgaPanthers · 04/03/2014 01:37

Manicinsomniac, here's a story about a council flat in London:

www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/01/council-tenant-move-bankers-covent-garden

Market value is £1.2 million, ludicrously.

In another story, people in another central London block were given £1 million by developers to get them to give up their protected tenancy rights. Basically equivalent to a lottery win, in financial terms, getting one.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-the-dukes-lodge-the-apartment-block-the-candy-brothers-and-another-chapter-in-the-expulsion-of-londoners-9164054.html

AgaPanthers · 04/03/2014 01:38

sorry, in Covent Garden specifically.

Chloerose75 · 04/03/2014 01:53

Silver daisy at your last post. Taking an interest in issues that affect our society and thinking about ways the system might be improved is not envying others their cheap rent and doesn't mean I and others discussing this have no problems to worry about in life. Maybe I have got your tone wrong but it came across quite rude.

tiredgranny · 04/03/2014 04:21

my local h/a you are put on a contract for ayear then renewed evert 5 years . if and when children grow up and leave they can downsize you to a more suitable place that meet your needs . there r two many pensioners living in 4 bed houses who do not need the space . i know of somebody who has pensioners either side and opposite who have 4 bedroom 150 ft gardens they cannot manage . to me that is wrong but h/a cannot move them to smaller place they have secured tenancy for life. the new tenancies are way to go.

Twinkletron · 04/03/2014 04:39

I work with two people that both of which live in a council property which was given to them years ago, both now earn £40k + and both own other properties which they let out!!! there should be some way to stop this as I'm sure it happens a lot!!

Twinkletron · 04/03/2014 04:39

MistressDeeCee · 04/03/2014 06:36

This post is a good indication that people shouldnt talk about their financial business to all and sundry. In fact, not even to close friends. Other people's envy can cause all sorts of problems. If someone's in a council flat, stop watching them. Its not YOUR flat, not YOUR life. If you don't like the fact that people are living in council flats and you are not, then I say instead of nosing, venting, whatever all this is...write to your MP regarding consistent government failure to build affordable housing, and why private landlords have been given licence to scam tenants by providing overpriced sub-standard accommodation with no security.

The fact theyve done this isnt council/HA tenants' fault; so why look at them? Or should they have to uproot and move into expensive, insecure, private accommodation just so some can say 'good. Now they're in the same boat as us'. & that will improve your life/accommodation in what way...exactly? If council flats were to be vacated so people on benefits or very low income could live in them, the same nosey folk would be screaming from the rooftops about people on benefits being given council houses whilst everyone else pays through the nose. Thats the thing - you will never please people who don't know how to be pleased with life.

Cameron and his cronies are in power because meanminded, curtain-twitchy people outnumber decent, community minded people. He's created the perfect model of chaos. Crap policies, and people scrambling around looking down or at each other because of it.

Fusedog · 04/03/2014 06:43

What are you talking about

we have a council house and pay 100% of out rent however we live in London and could not afford private rent we simply would have about £100 left after any private rents which wouldn't even be enough to get oh to work

So YABU

Fusedog · 04/03/2014 06:50

I think the whole thing is crazy my oh has a decent job I don't feel that more council homes need to be built

What needs to happen the price of houses should come down many people in council homes actually work full time and have decent job and earn what you call an average wage however in London that is not enough to get a mortgage or live I private rented home which is madness

The people across the road her husband is a fire man ffs and she works in asda like us the average wage leave you in London pretty much only being able to afford to live in social housing

Fusedog · 04/03/2014 06:53

All we need to support to move area and we would be happy to relocate and hand the house back out main stumbling block has been ds school he is in year nine and it's virtually impossible to get him transferred to a different school

KittensoftPuppydog · 04/03/2014 06:57

Mistress dee dee.
Spot on.

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