Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

£55000 to give up my council house?!?

196 replies

Edenviolet · 16/02/2015 21:49

AIBU to be in complete shock that the council offered me the above amount today to buy a home in the private sector if I relinquish my secure tenancy three bed council house?

It seems like an awful lot of money? Just for one house. Why don't they just build more social housing instead of paying out grants like this?

OP posts:
keepitsimple0 · 19/02/2015 22:22

A lost or not taken opportunity costs the taxpayers money.

it's not weird. if the government sells land to sainsburys at half the price it could have sold it to tescos, the tax payer just lost that money.

Galangm8 · 25/03/2021 00:29

Because as Bob Crow said:

“I’m the only person in my street actually paying rent”.

FaceyRomford · 25/03/2021 00:56

I'd refuse at that price. £100,000 and I'd think about it.

StarCat2020 · 25/03/2021 01:29

Apologies if someone has already said this but under the Right To Buy legislation councils are not allowed to build more council houses.

Crazy

notangelinajolie · 25/03/2021 01:31

If £55k was enough for a deposit on a house I wanted to buy and I could get a mortgage for the rest then I would take it.
Better to own than to rent.

Cherryicecubes · 25/03/2021 01:47

If they give you £50k to vacate, then they have a spare house. They are probably paying that amount for some families to stay in a hotel for a year. How much would you get the house for with right to buy?

LakieLady · 25/03/2021 01:58

@EhricLovesTheBhrothers

At £2k a month, a similar sized house that is occupied by a family on full housing benefit will cost them £55k in 2.5 years. It's a lot of money but it's worth it to them. If you can't parlay it into a similar home though it's not worth it to you.
And they can't build more houses because they don't have the capital to buy the land and do it. They would have to borrow it, and the government won't approve enough capital borrowing to build enough houses.

Spending money from savings from running costs comes is treated differently, and doesn't require central government approval, so councils can do it if they want.

Of course, not all councils have enough "spare" money in their revenue budgets to do this without making cuts elsewhere that would decimate other services. It's mostly big, unitary authorities that are able to, the districts/boroughs where they still have county councils have much smaller budgets, so less flexibility.

LakieLady · 25/03/2021 02:07

@Cherryicecubes

If they give you £50k to vacate, then they have a spare house. They are probably paying that amount for some families to stay in a hotel for a year. How much would you get the house for with right to buy?
One hotel that I know of, which is used by some councils for homeless families, charges £180 per night per family.

That's £65,700 a year (and this was a few years ago, so probably more now).

And it's allegedly an absolute shithole. One family that was placed there told me that they had 3 linked rooms for 9 of them (7 children) and the only shower was in the corner of one room, with no shower curtain or door, no cooking facilities apart from a microwave and a kettle.

JustLyra · 25/03/2021 02:18

Given the thread is SIX years old I’m sure the OP has long since decided...

ZOMBIE THREAD

Rockmehardplace · 25/03/2021 02:22

It may cost the council £50k but that would technically free up about 4 homes in A few years for them - ie. get the empty 3 bed flat back, move an overcrowded family from a 2 bed into the 3 bed, move an overcrowded family from a 1 bed into the 2 bed, then let the 1 bed to someone new on the list ho may move on in a few years. It would create a bit of movement in an area of high demand.

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 25/03/2021 06:34

@BMW6

Christ on a bike, you could buy an entire 3 bed house outright for that (or even less) in other parts of the UK.

Are you mad? Take the money and move up North. DH can get another job. You will never again be offered a chance of a free house.

Go on, where? I live in the ne and if houses are that cheap, there’s a reason-no jobs, depressed area,high crime etc. Stop telling everyone to move up north, house prices are already starting to climb. And maybe people don’t want to move to the other end of the country. Op, hang tight if that’s what you want.
Countrygirl2021 · 25/03/2021 06:56

That's completely appalling use of money. If they need you to downsize you should just be made to downsize not offered money to do it!!

overnightangel · 25/03/2021 07:04

@BMW6

Christ on a bike, you could buy an entire 3 bed house outright for that (or even less) in other parts of the UK.

Are you mad? Take the money and move up North. DH can get another job. You will never again be offered a chance of a free house.

This was my first thought too , get a decent 3 bed house for £100,000, put £50,000 down, negligible mortgage
LakieLady · 25/03/2021 07:13

@Eltonjohnsflorist

Social rents are cheap. That's the point of them Hmm they've always been below market rate
Back in the days before shorthold tenancies, when most tenancies were secure and subject to rent controls, they weren't necessarily that much cheaper, but councils could choose to subsidise rents from general funds if they chose.

My family moved from a 3-bed flat (with no bathroom and an outside WC!) into a newly built council flat. This was in a Tory council area and rents only had a tiny subsidy, if any. The council flat was more expensive than they'd been paying before.

I can remember my aunt being shocked at how expensive it was and thought that my parents wouldn't be able to afford it. It was a lot more than she was paying for her huge ground floor flat with a massive garden. This was mid-60s.

Once the law changed, and controlled rents didn't apply to most new tenancies, rents climbed inexorably. Ten years after we moved to the council flat, I left home and got a flat with my boyfriend. We paid £25pw for 2 rooms, kitchen and a shared bathroom. The council rent was still in single figures.

The numbers sound absurd now, but that £25 was 50% of our total income, and we were in jobs that were relatively well paid for 2 people who had only been at work for a couple of years.

UWhat · 25/03/2021 07:17

@MrsTawdry

Move to Bromley.
Erm houses in Bromley aren’t exactly cheap either. £55k is going to be a 15% deposit at best almost anywhere in London.
x2boys · 25/03/2021 08:08

I wonder if the Op did take the £55,000 SIX YEARS AGO!🤔

Galangm8 · 27/03/2021 02:44

They’re in council housing, probably MW jobs, crime in London😲

Great if people are born there and want to stay, they belong there...

£55,000 could get you a very nice mortgage free flat, OR very good deposit on a house.

Hankunamatata · 27/03/2021 09:30

ZOMBIE

ilikecakeandiknowit · 27/03/2021 16:31

Do not give up a council house in London you will never get that again.
If you private rent you will be at the mercy of a private landlord

JustLyra · 27/03/2021 16:34

@ilikecakeandiknowit

Do not give up a council house in London you will never get that again. If you private rent you will be at the mercy of a private landlord
Given that the thread is six years old I’m pretty sure the OP has long since decided...
New posts on this thread. Refresh page