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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
gamerchick · 04/03/2014 11:22

no council houses are maintained by council rents.. as much as people would like to think they pay for people to live in social housing.. no banging on about it will make it true. The only time the taxpayer can twist is when benefits come into play.. which oddly is what people on this thread are wanting.

Our rent is going up to 420 quid a month (ish).. yet another 6.8% increase.. a mortgage on the place would be cheaper.

gamerchick · 04/03/2014 11:23

xposts

mrsjay · 04/03/2014 11:24

when we were in a council house we paid rent like in a private let although L A are bound not to hike rents uo willy nilly. we did get soem H B when dh income dropped but that stopped when he got another job

gamerchick · 04/03/2014 11:26

ours has been going up 6.8% every year because they aren't raising council tax.. which is a decent wedge of cash in itself.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 04/03/2014 11:28

I hate the words 'the taxpayer' - I pay tax and live in a council property Shock.

parallax80 · 04/03/2014 11:31

Our council disqualifies households from applying to the housing register if they have a household income > £40,000 (gross), irrespective of the points they would in theory score for over-crowding, medical needs etc. So there clearly is an element of means testing going on. (Although this only applies to new, not existing applicants and sadly due to it being London, bears little resemblance to the private rent or mortgage costs locally.)

gamerchick · 04/03/2014 11:33

I know..but it's the quickest way to filter through those rock hard beliefs that have been drummed in by the media Grin

We pay tax as well.. I hate checking payslips to see how much the swines take off Angry

gamerchick · 04/03/2014 11:34

aye it's just the start parallax.. theyll do a ninja on the threshold eventually. :(

mrsjay · 04/03/2014 11:38

my husband was a tax payer does that mean he was paying for hi sown scrounging Grin

mrsjay · 04/03/2014 11:38

is a tax payer*

gamerchick · 04/03/2014 11:39
Grin
Original poster
Pipbin · 04/03/2014 11:52

I know..but it's the quickest way to filter through those rock hard beliefs that have been drummed in by the media

And this is why I'm asking. Some daily mail reading friends seem to be of the opinion that people living in council houses are all living rent free. My only knowledge is through claiming HB many years when I was in a private rental.
I didn't think it could be the case that all people in council houses are rent free and I want to set them straight.

OP posts:
SaucyJack · 04/03/2014 11:54

Anyone who thinks the cost of maintaining council houses is subsidized by the taxpayer should actually go and look round a few council properties.

I live in a council flat. We have the original 60s bathroom complete with overhead cistern, no heating save the original gas fire and gaps on the kitchen wall where the previous tenant smashed the cupboards off and they weren't replaced.

Cost to taxpayer for work carried out to "maintain" property to this standard = £0 and 0 pence.

mrsjay · 04/03/2014 11:54

tbh your daily mail reading friends are up in their ivory towers looking down on people because they believe the daily mail ,

gamerchick · 04/03/2014 11:57

well even those who are on full HB have to pay something now.. whether its a percentage of council tax or bedroom tax.. or both. Even then people had to pay water rates so there was no such thing as free.

But no.. there are a large portion of people in social housing who pay full rent and council tax.. it's the likes of the daily mail who have linked social housing to benefits which it is not.

You're probably wasting your time though.. there are some people in this world who like to stamp on the heads of those they deem beneath them.

BillyBanter · 04/03/2014 12:05

This might answer some of your questions, pipbin

www.redpepper.org.uk/mythbuster-home-truths-about-housing/

mrsjay · 04/03/2014 12:06

most of the people who live in my mums street have been in their council house for decades and work and pay rent my parents can't retire until they are nearly 70 I think it is now so they are still working paying full rent , oh and yes people who get HB have to pay rent from their other benefits

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 04/03/2014 12:07

just out of interest, to my fellow tax-paying (but scrounging) council house dwellers, do you see yourselves ever being able to rent privately or get a mortgage? Because I honestly don't know how we would afford it :(.

JakeBullet · 04/03/2014 12:07

Can definitely confirm NOT rent free OP Grin...even the slummy sink estate houses have a rent attached.

procrastinatingagain · 04/03/2014 12:08

I lived in a council flat about 15 years ago. It was a nightmare trying to get any repairs done, the kitchen was shit and all the units didn't match, there was no flooring apart from the black rubber tiles. It was also freezing cold because it only had storage heaters. I'm not saying btw that I was entitled to any of those things, just making the point that council properties are not the lavish, benefit-funded palaces that they are made out to be.
I bought the house I'm in now, at the time it was cheaper to get a mortgage than it was to pay council rent, which seems amazing now.
I know plenty of working people who live/grew up in council housing though, and amazingly they are perfectly normal people, not a different breed at all.

JakeBullet · 04/03/2014 12:10

I have had a mortgage and have privately rented in the past. Currently I could not afford to do either as DS needs continuing support due to his autism and it affects how much work I can do.

I suspect I will remain in HA for the foreseeable future. For me this is good as DS might always need to call this house his home.

mrsjay · 04/03/2014 12:10

we did get a mortgage but our house is tiny and ex council it isn't the house i wanted but needs must it was hard though we only managed about 8 years ago it is hard i wouldnt private rent if you paid me tbh , I feel for people who private rent a woman i knows private rents has just shot up her husbands wages do not cover the rent they are having to move again ,

Viviennemary · 04/03/2014 12:11

The whole council house thing drives me mad. And I don't think people should be living in them when they can quite afford a private rental. And hardly anyone pays the full rent. I wish there was a fairer system.

procrastinatingagain · 04/03/2014 12:14

I think that if council housing becomes only available to people who are on benefits, then there is a real danger that the poor become ghettoised from the rest of society, which won't be good for anyone.

mrsjay · 04/03/2014 12:15

I think it is tragic that the view of social housing has changed it is now seen by the daily mail as full of benefit scrounging junkies who have 100 kids to get a better council house drives me mad