To not understand how social housing is subsidised?

[Lighthouseturquoise]

I live in a housing association rented house.

My rent is £420 pcm, the house is valued at around £120,000. The house was built 15 years ago and was worth nowhere near £120,000 at that time and I doubt it cost near that to build.

I've lived here for 10 years so I've paid around £50,000 in rent. If I lived here for 25 years I'd have more than paid for the value of the house. Over 50 years the rent will have doubled the cost of the house.

In what way are these properties subsidised?

You don't have the right to withhold rent in private lets either, you could, if you want to run the risk of being kicked out.

Generally speakinga ha/council homes do cost less in rent vs private lets.

I have worked in social housing/councils and specifically repairs for a long time- the notion that they simply don't get done is silly.

Yes sometimes the ball is massively dropped but not always in some cases repairs take time and aren't quick fixes exactly the same as a private rental - I actually moved into a privately rented house in the winter and we had no hot water for 6 weeks because the boiler was old and a part had to be shipped in. It was horrible and inconvenient but it does happen.

There are also more channels to go down in social/council housing to complain than you would with a private landlord.

The bottom line is renting of anyone isn't ideal if you know the mortgage would be cheaper but if you are unable to get a mortgage then you have to live somewhere and generally social housing offers better security and a lower rent than private renting but like with everything there are pros and cons to both of them...

Someone who rents from an HA beginning with an H has been without for 3 months.

its getting way way beyond a joke now.

"There are also more channels to go down in social/council housing to complain than you would with a private landlord."

Which takes time. You have to go through the HAs complaints process first and then through the housing ombudsman. It takes too long. Elderly couples and ppl with children have been left without for months on end. An elderly couple were left without heating for 9 months and the woman ended up in hospital. NHS dealing with the outcome.!!!

A vulnerable tenant could easily die of hypothermia in the time it takes to go through the complaints process.

Uterus don't worry you won't lose your secure tenancies. It is very likely less and less new tenants will be give life tenancies in the future.

It's not.
Some people are ignorant and think that because rents are lower than in the private sector, that means social housing is subsidised, but they are wrong.

Today 19:34 AndNowItsSeven It's not subsidised, private rents are inflated.

^this

I'm sorry but I find it very hard to believe anyone let alone a vulnerable person has been left in serious state of disrepair e.g total lack of heating/hotwater etc without another underlying reason for anywhere near 9 months.

You are right. Sorry it was seven months.

www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/willesden_pensioner_forced_to_live_with_no_hot_water_and_heating_for_seven_months_contracts_pneumonia_1_1389701

I can quite believe it. MOD housing is just as bad for repairs.

Social housing isn't subsidised. Private landlords are greedy and charge more.

Disco i have seen it on twitter The company with the initials CA

All I'm saying is having seen these stories from the other side as with all media you cant believe everything you read. There well may have been mitigating factors that make it less of a 'story' but of Corse these wont get reported.

Anyway I'm not here to defend all councils/HA .. I'm just saying they provide a much needed service and a lot of people would be in horrific situations without them, they aren't all bad and they get a bad rep.

i know they arent longtime

NAHAALT

Yes Helena. Are we allowed to say Carillion Amey are shite? As were Modern Housing Solutions, aka Carillion Enterprise who came before them. Only one common denominator there. I follow on fb.

"Refit the bathroom and kitchen every 20 years. Replace the boiler every 7 years. Rewire every 25 years, redecorate inside every 10 years, outside every 5 years. Replace the carpets every x years. Replace any fixtures and fittings as needed."

Councils don't decorate or carpet properties. At all. They also don't routinely re-wire. Our kitchen is 25 years old, and we still have the original bathroom suite that was put in when our block was built in the 60s. I can't tell you how often boilers or heating systems are replaced because we don't have one. Just a single gas fire to heat the entire flat.

It's not that your figures are wrong, more that you don't have a clue what social housing providers are actually legally obliged to do (or not do).

YY Saucy Jack we carpeted ours. You dont get free carpets Ive seen PPs in the past say that social housing tenants get use of free white goods as well.

they could easily do some research while living in the digital age instead of believing right wing press.

I'm sure it varies a lot by council, but I've just looked at the budget for mine, and it costs them more to run and provide council housing than they receive in rent. So the taxpayer makes up the difference thus it is considered subsidised.

If they ran it at cost price and adjusted their rent every year to keep it level with costs, there is still the cap ex funding to have built the houses that came from public funds in the first place.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it, but it does fall within the basic definition of subsidised

Its basically mental gymnastics so they can convince themselves and hopefully others that social housing tenants are getting "subsidised" rents AND "freebies" like carpets and white goods.

But you dont see it in reverse..........ive never seen a social housing tenant moan that private tenants get places that are furnished with carpets and white goods etc.

I'm in private right now waiting for November when I will be evicted as my landlord wants to sell.
It is a shithole full of damp and at one point I had to wait two months for my boiler to get fixed the landlord did not get fined.
I couldn't decorate. I had to live with broken cupboards.
Every year not knowing if my contract was going to get renewed gave me great anxiety.
I'm never going private again.
I would've paid extra for a social housing property because that would've been an investment.
If the standard of kitchen or bathroom is poor you can redecorate whereas I wasn't allowed and even if I was it wouldn't be for me but for the landlord.
You can also go into greater rent arrears before eviction with social housing.

felisha that is fucking appalling.

Disco the way they treat forces families is disgusting.

Someone (either the landlord or the council) had to buy the house in the first place. They are taking on the risk of a bad tenant damaging the property or not paying rent.

A mortgaged property is also subsidised by the bank to a certain extent. They run the risk that the owner will default on their mortgage which will cost them money.

Most properties, unless fully paid off, are being subsidised by someone, somewhere.

How about when you end up paying more for your HA house than for a private rental? Which is exactly what happened to us as rents in the area have stagnated/ decreased but our rent goes up every year automatically.
So we pay more for a house that has no flooring and isn't decorated. And yes, we are trying to put together some money to move.