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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

wibu to buy my council house? would you? has anyone?

76 replies

GaryShitpeas · 20/02/2015 09:22

got a letter from the council yesterday offering RTB, i rang the helpline and we are eligible. just not stopped thinking about it since and just wanted to ask advice

pro's

assuming all goes to plan we will have no rent to pay when we are old, something which worries me to death

we will possibly have an asset to leave to our dc

we will be able to extend/alter the house (money permitting)

its a nice house but a shit hole area (recent murder on my actual street) if we buy, we will be able to sell up in five years and move somewhere nicer

I don't want my dc growing up round here its like the Bronx tbh. shit schools, feral kids and teens, burnt out cars and jezza families everywhere (sorry if that offends but its true, I live with it every day)

i want a home for life.....even though we have a secure tenancy here, we will almost certainly have to move anyway when dc leave / we are old due to bedroom tax

cons

dh would have to get the mortgage as I have shit credit and only work a few hours whereas he earns ok money...so he would own it (I think?)

I am dead against the selling off off council homes and would feel I am adding to the problem

the mortgage would actually be higher than the rent by about 100 pcm, more if interest rates rise, we are not high earners and this would be a lot of money to us

we would have to pay for all repairs

I suspect the gas boiler is on the way out so we would almost certainly have to stump up for that within next few years

if dh and I ever split I'd end up back in private rented for the rest of my days as id never get another CH

this has always been mine and my dc home, whilst renting if dh ever fucked off he'd be the one up shit creek whereas me and dc would still have our lovely home

sorry for long post!!

OP posts:

happy2bhomely · 20/02/2015 11:30

Sorry OP. I don't mean to hijack your thread! I sympathise with what an emotional decision it can be. Most people who are in council homes got there because at some point they were in a very bad place in their lives. It can be very scary thinking about giving up something that was so hard to get.

TheFecklessFairy · 20/02/2015 11:30

But you expect to be able to easily SELL it to some other poor sucker when the time is right?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 20/02/2015 11:32

Worst case scenario. You buy your house. Most others in your area don't. The remaining council houses gradually fall into disrepair, the council starts moving people out, and demolishing the council houses. Your house is now worth nothing...

I have seen this happen btw...

mrssnodge · 20/02/2015 11:41

HAPPY-you said- "Most people who are in council homes got there because at some point they were in a very bad place in their lives. It can be very scary thinking about giving up something that was so hard to get".

Very true statement, Im in a much better position than I was when I first got my council house- homeless- three kids, just split with ExH, he stayed marital home with negative equaty so I got money either-I also worked throughout as a single mum to 3 DC, paying full rent and all bills even though I was worse off than claiming benefits- - but this led to a good full time job and promotion with same company and meeting DP- so I was fortunate to be able to buy mine.

I can understand why people buy to profit of course, but we bought ours and improved it to live in a much better standard and same/lower cost- no brainer I think OP and Happy should go for it!!

MrsTawdry · 20/02/2015 11:41

Feckless that's what I thought. OP it doesn't even sound like a good investment. Why buy it if you don't want your DC to grow up there?

FloatIsRechargedNow · 20/02/2015 11:45

What about exploring possible 'shared-ownership' options to see if there are any in an area that you could live in. Priority is given to LA tenants. Then you could buy a share that you could afford to buy now and more in the future if you can - and then your current house would still be an LA property, so no ethical dilemma.

TedAndLola · 20/02/2015 11:45

I am dead against the selling off off council homes and would feel I am adding to the problem

Don't buy it. Be part of the solution, not the problem.

Fatstacks · 20/02/2015 11:48

The area and decision is yours to make but IMO

Don't feel bad about the RTB it may have ended up being a factor in the decline of social housing but it's not the entire cause.

If councils had used the cash generated by RTB to build new houses and maintain existing ones then the shortage could be avoided but it's my understanding that these generated funds were swallowed up in the general budget.

I can't speak for everywhere but where I live the local council still make a profit for their housing stock.

I was told by my councilor that the maximum profit they can make is 10% (similar to other PS like MoD) this is the reason they have fairer rents, not some magical subsidy people believe in.

JustMarriedBecca · 20/02/2015 11:51

Another factor which no one has considered is interest rates. They are GOING to rise within a few years. Even a fixed rate mortgage is not going to last forever. If you would struggle to pay off a mortgage now think what it would be like if interest rates went up to 10%.

Could you afford it? If not, you might be repossessed and, as you say, would be left with no security.

In your position, I would say no.

titchy · 20/02/2015 11:54

happy2be - you've already said you want to stay till you die - you won;t be able to unless you buy it.

I think one of the big problems with RTB, and bedroom 'tax' etc is that they are not conducive to building communities. If you buy and plan to sell in 5 years, you and others in a similar position have no incentive to make the area nice, to form a community. Likewise when you kids leave home and your rent goes up cos you have a spare room, so you have to leave. Communities are about people who have lived there years, can remember what it was like back in the day etc. It's very cliched and I'm not explaining very well, but if you plan to stay once you've bought that's good thing, for everyone who lives in that area.

brandy321 · 20/02/2015 11:57

I wouldnt even think twice about it. I am HA and hoping the Tories bring RTB for HA tenants as rumoured. I will be snapping their hand off. Look after number one. Most other people do.

Way I see it is that if you have ended up in social housing for any reason you deserve a bit of a leg up in life. Remember most people on Mumsnet are the "haves". Easy to look down and judge the poor from your ivory tower.

I have been a social housing tenant for almost 20 years and want some security for my old age and something to pass on when I am gone.

My friend bought her council house, lost it due to divorce and being unable to pay the mortgage, but she has just been re-housed again by the HA.

happy2bhomely · 20/02/2015 12:09

We will be able to stay here as long as we pay our rent. The bedroom 'tax' as I understand it, only applies to people who claim housing benefit. So our rent will not go up when our children leave home. Our costs will go down. We have savings, and these would enable us to pay our rent if we can't work. It is because we pay an affordable rent that we are able to save money every month.

MrsTawdry · 20/02/2015 12:22

You will be lucky if your DC can afford to move out the way things are at the moment. Many of my friends have DC cracking on for thirty still at home. Unable to buy and unable to rent alone...unwilling to live in studenty house shares.

BreakOutTheKaraoke · 20/02/2015 12:23

I don't think I've ever admitted it on Mumsnet before, as there is such vitriol about it, but I bought my house as a right to buy. As a lone parent, it's the only way I would be able to afford one. I have absolutely no regret about it, at all. Yes, it's a pain when the boiler breaks, but it was also a pain having to wait for coucil to come and fix things. I've done a lot of pratting around in the house to make it one I'm proud of, and I would be gutted to have to hand it over to someone else.

As to whether you should buy- realistically, will you be able to sell in the future? If the area is that bad, who would you be selling to?

peppaworld · 20/02/2015 12:42

I've got quite a few family members who have bought council flats. It has worked out well for all of them. Some of them are still living in those flats, some have eventually moved out to buy houses. A few of them have struggled a bit with the costs of ownership but not disastrously so. They have all been in employment the whole time, but not on a high wage. The areas they lived in were OK, not lovely areas but not as bad as the OP and it's quite easy to sell.

I am in a council flat and I wouldn't consider buying, as I have to claim benefits due to disability so I wouldn't be able to get a mortgage. If I was able to work, and it was a secure employment situation, then I'd consider it. As it is, it's better for me to know that my rent will be covered by HB, all housing repairs are covered, and I can stay here for as long as I like. Bedroom tax is unlikely to be an issue as I have my DS living here who is also disabled so he is likely to live here at least until I'm old enough to be exempt.

ilovechristmas1 · 20/02/2015 13:18

great another house possibly being taken out of the already small social housing stock

never agreed with RTB,if you want to be a home owner save up for a deposit like everybody else

worksallhours · 20/02/2015 13:29

happy Wanting more seems so greedy.

On the scale of greediness from 0 to 100, where 100 equals someone like Roman Abramovich, you probably come in at around .... oooooh .... 0.12?

So I wouldn't say that it was a sin particularly applicable to you, op.

worksallhours · 20/02/2015 13:38

Sorry, my comment was directly to happy, not the op.

5Foot5 · 20/02/2015 13:40

Sorry to go a bit off-topic but would someone tell me what "jezza" means in the context of the OP. The only way I have heard it used is as an abbreviation for Jeremy.

Feminine · 20/02/2015 13:58

The bedroom 'tax' is redundant when one of you reach 60.
If you become unemployed, you can claim housing benefit.
The same as if you are retired. Not recommending this, but that is the way it goes.
So you are very secure as a council tenant.
Will they ever offer you this chance again?

brandy321 · 20/02/2015 14:26

never agreed with RTB,if you want to be a home owner save up for a deposit like everybody else

I am in social housing because I am POOR, as are the vast majority of us. There is nothing left to save! I honestly wonder what planet some of you live on.

ilovesooty · 20/02/2015 14:29

There are also plenty of poor people who won't ever access social housing, and many more who won't while people are allowed to buy their council houses.

SirChenjin · 20/02/2015 14:30

Selling off council houses is wrong on so many levels imo - especially when the money is not going into rebuilding the stock. I wouldn't buy it, and wish this policy would stop.

PtolemysNeedle · 20/02/2015 14:55

I don't think it's wrong to buy homes from the council, as long as someone is living in it then it's doing its job. Everyone equally needs somewhere to live, so if the property isn't sat empty then I can't see why it has to be a bad thing.

CuttedUpPear · 20/02/2015 15:08

Do you know if your landlords are building new houses to replace those they sell?
My HA is on a big drive to build new and better homes. With this in mind, I don't think it would be ethically wrong to buy.

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