Council House Envy - it's a real thing

[LuisSuarezTeeth]

To be fair, I thought I'd only seen it on MN. I've now experienced it in three different scenarios and it's depressing.

Never mind all the misconceptions about "free housing", "subsidised rents" and all that. People who live in council houses seem to be the envy of the rental community with an automatic black mark against them because of the way they might have secured their tenancy.

[StillFrigginRexManningDay]

Is there a cap on the rent? I was watching How to get a council house and places were being advertised as X amount per week, is that the amount you pay? Here you go on the list, get a number and just wait your turn, no bidding or anything. We get one refusal if we don't take the second offer we go back to the end of the list.

[greeneggsandjam]

Do you pay £177 a week rent for a council property? I would be interested to know what the maximum rent is for council properties of say 2/3 bedrooms are in the most expensive place in the UK.

[StillFrigginRexManningDay]

Yes E177 for a three bed but like I said if there is more money coming in the rent goes up. its roughly a third of your income.

[StillFrigginRexManningDay]

Euro not sterling green.

[ArsenicyOldFace]

It varies green. I do remember reading that Wandsworth (south london) council rents were double the rate of all the neighbouring boroughs' rents. So I should imagine they are pretty high.

Wandsworth came under scrutiny after the London riots for the way the treat their tenants generally because they tried to evict a number of women purely for being the mothers of youths who had been involved in the riotting to varying degrees.

[ender]

Definitely no envy from me, it must be hell for "normal" families with young children living in them in our town. The council estates are known rough areas full of druggies, lots of violence including 2 seemingly random knife murders over the past 6 months.

[Missunreasonable]

Hahahahaha! My poor friend has her (only) loo out of action at least once a fortnight and it is always a struggle to get her council LL to fix it.She has to put three DC in the car and come here or to other friends in rotation every time it happens. What is really needed is replacement but they have been fobbig her off.

Wouldn't it just be easier to get an identical toilet and pay to have it plumbed in herself? She could then pursue the council for the cost through the small claims court. The amount of money she must be spending on petrol ferrying the children around every time the loo breaks will add up over time, not to mention the inconvenience of it all.
Or she could just use buckets of water to flush the loo when it is broken whilst she waits for the council to get their act together (if it is the flush mechanism that isn't working).
People often compare UK tenancies to those in other parts of Europe such as Spain where it is the norm to rent and tenancies are much more secure. However, in those countries tenants do most repairs themselves and take a lot of responsibility for maintaining their homes whilst renting.

[Purplepoodle]

Of course It's real. Neighbours house is council house which is identical to ours but we brought (ours has been under private ownership for 39+ years). They have had new windows, new kitchen, new bathroom in the last few years plus they have rent fixed £300 ish. Our mortgage is over double that. They also earn double the amount we do. Why on earth wouldn't I be a bit jealous

[Olga79]

We bought an ex-council house a couple of years ago, our mortgage is £450 a month. One neighbour is a private rental paying £600 a month and the other side is still council owned and the rent for that is £300 a month. Identical houses.

[ArsenicyOldFace]

Because you own your house purple?

You have autonomy and an asset to pass on (or blow in retirement), collaterol should you ever want to finance a business or project, equity that would make it easy to relocate.......

[Patrickstarisabadbellend]

£300 per month? I highly doubt it's that low.

[greeneggsandjam]

I see RexManning, but I think in England/Scotland the rent doesn't increase when your wages go up. So I think its like if a council house has a maximum rent of £120 a week you would pay that whether you earn £20,000 or £100,000. I also think you don't have to move out if your wages become very high. I may be wrong though.

[StillFrigginRexManningDay]

Ah I see, no in Ireland if you earn E30,000 a year then roughly E10,000 will go to rent. with an allowance for each child.

[Egghead68]

Autonomy and and asst to pass on (or blow in retirement)...

No. Just something that you will be forced to sell to finance care-home fees when you become frail and elderly.

[ArsenicyOldFace]

Wouldn't it just be easier to get an identical toilet and pay to have it plumbed in herself? She could then pursue the council for the cost through the small claims court. The amount of money she must be spending on petrol ferrying the children around every time the loo breaks will add up over time, not to mention the inconvenience of it all.

I think someone suggested something of that ilk Miss. I'm not sure exactly what the sketchy plan was but in any case it turned out that she had to submit a form and pay £800 or £1000 (can't remember but thereabouts) to even request permission to do any work herself. She is nervous of going ahead w/o following the procedure, scared the will come after her for the fee retrospectively and can't really afford the cost of the work and/or that whopping fee if she wasn't reimbursed and/or was pursued for carrying out unauthorized work.

It's a bureaucratic nightmare. They do have a reputation for officious, grasping, incompetence so I understand her anxiety, alone on a tight budget.

[Missunreasonable]

purple when your mortgage is paid off your neighbours will still have to pay rent and then you will be much better off.

[Patrickstarisabadbellend]

Council house aren't just for single mums and those on benefits. Where I live you get priority if you work apparently.

[Olga79]

Yes, £300 pounds per month. This is the average price for a 3 bed council house in this district.

[expatinscotland]

How many are houses and how many are flats? Ours is a flat. Not many want to bring up three kids in a flat not on the ground floor and no garden on a busy road.

[Missunreasonable]

some body posted about 2 teachers they know, one of whom is in a council house, how does that situation arise?

Why shouldn't a teacher be living in a council house? Council houses are not just for the unemployed.

[ArsenicyOldFace]

No. Just something that you will be forced to sell to finance care-home fees when you become frail and elderly.

Not everyone ends up in a care home Egg