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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To have bought my Council House on Right to Buy when I have a good income

108 replies

fuzzye · 28/10/2016 10:43

I was given my Council House when I was 20. I was a Single Mum studying at University and on benefits. Since getting my house my situation has improved and now, aged 30, I have a very good income.

I made an application last year to buy my Council House on the right to buy. I paid £60,000. My house is currently worth £130,000 as I've spent £10,000 Renovating it. At the time of my Application the Council valued my house considerably below £130,000.

Noe there are now rules around buying your Council House when you have a high income, only that it must be your main home which this is for now. It was legal for me to buy it, and there is a lot of social housing in my area. The waiting list for a Council House is two weeks! There are many properties they have to advertise online as 'hard to let' as they have no tenants for them. So I've certainly not taken a house from anyone who needs it. On my estate also there are 4 houses currently standing empty.

It's a semi rural area and you have to have a local collection to live here. Very few people do and the population is only 8,000. Thousands of Social Housing was built around the factories here until they closed and the population diminished massively. It's not a rough area, just very sparsely populated.

Under my circumstances is it unreasonable that I feel no guilt at all in buying my Council House? There's a large number of bought Council houses in my area, and it's improved the area massively.

OP posts:

TheNaze73 · 28/10/2016 11:32

Go for it OP. Fantastic opportunity

harderandharder2breathe · 28/10/2016 11:32

I think right to buy is awful but I judge the policy makers not the people who do it, most people would do the same as you if it was possible

Yanbu even though I disageee with the policy, you've done nothing wrong

PotteringAlong · 28/10/2016 11:34

Morally reprehensible in many ways but in doing the right thing for your family then it was the best for you. Be thankful more people didn't do it two decades ago so social housing was available when you really needed it.

Discobabe · 28/10/2016 11:35

I think the right to buy is a bad idea, purely because in a lot of areas there is a shortage of homes and new housing isn't getting built. That said, you'd be mad not to take advantage of the fact you can buy and you shouldn't feel guilty about it. The issues around it are for the Government to resolve appropriately not you.

Mrscog · 28/10/2016 11:35

The only thing that was ever wrong with the policy is that the homes weren't replaced. It should be pitched so that every house that gets sold off, a new one is built with the money.

If that had been the case it would have been a fantastic way of helping people improve their lives whilst also protecting the more vulnerable.

JellyBelli · 28/10/2016 11:36

Right to Buy isnt the problem with social housing.
The fact that councils cant use the money to build another house is the problem.

MistressMolecules · 28/10/2016 11:45

Apparently OP is on a salary of £95k and has a disposable income of £8000 a month. She pays the mortgage on a £400k house which she receives £2000 a month rent for.

Her son goes to a private school that she pays £20k a year for.

Damn right she was wrong to buy her council house if this is true.

You failed to tell us a lot there OP!! Right to buy is to help people get on the property ladder who may not have the opportunity otherwise (that is my understanding anyway?! Happy to be corrected if wrong!) If that all that is true then actually I am going to back-track and say you shouldn't have bought it.

iluvshoes · 28/10/2016 11:47

Personally I really disagree with the whole right to buy scheme. The waiting list for social housing is now years in some areas and there are no new houses being built to cover the ones being sold. What also makes my blood boil is people selling off ex council houses and making huge profits.

JoJoSM2 · 28/10/2016 11:48

*Apparently OP is on a salary of £95k and has a disposable income of £8000 a month. She pays the mortgage on a £400k house which she receives £2000 a month rent for.

Her son goes to a private school that she pays £20k a year for.

Damn right she was wrong to buy her council house if this is true.*

None of these numbers add up :) Otherwise, the OP worked with the system so can't see a problem.

TheFairyCaravan · 28/10/2016 11:52

I know the numbers don't add up, however that's what OP posted on another thread 6 minutes after this one.

I've reported this thread btw because it doesn't ring true.

Lweji · 28/10/2016 11:55

She could have inherited the other house, or got it in a divorce?

Odd, though.

Me2017 · 28/10/2016 11:55

It can improve a road if you have someone like you on it who is doing up the property. Mixed housing tends to be better than social housing ghettos so you have done the neighbours a favour really.

ghostyslovesheep · 28/10/2016 11:58

Welcome to mn op 😄

thisisafakename · 28/10/2016 12:02

I wouldn't say I'm minted. I gained a professional qualification,m started on 30k a year and became the service lead 8 year after qualifying. I'm on 95k now. It's just me Son and I so we don't have too much living costs. I bought my house outright so no Mortgage but I pay a mortgage on another property, which is worth 400k. It's rented out at £2000 a month which more than covers the cost of mortgage. My Son goes to private school which costs £20,000 a year but is the one luxury I would never not pay for. Having gone to private school myself I think it's very important. Overall we have a disposable income of £8,000 a month

The OP's post on 'If you are minted' thread. If everyone is happy for someone like that to be handed £70,000 from the government when there are children going to school without breakfast in the morning and whose parents have to make a choice between paying the rent and paying the heating, then good luck to you all.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 28/10/2016 12:03

Well OP aren't you a gem.....

Fewerofwhomithinkwell · 28/10/2016 12:05

What a load of tosh.

CremeBrulee · 28/10/2016 12:09

What a nasty, mean spirited thread. Even if it's true, which I strongly doubt, its only possible purpose is to envoke bitterness and envy from those less fortunate than the allegedly 'minted' OP.

CozyAutumn · 28/10/2016 12:10

Yanbu. There will always be someone who has a problem with you doing so though. Sod em

Thornrose · 28/10/2016 12:10

Can you buy or indeed live in a council house if you own another property?

MiracletoCome · 28/10/2016 12:11

If it's true or not, OP has done nothing illegal and is in the same category as all the celebs that avoid paying full tax and stuff like that, it's the governments fault for not closing the loopholes

Lweji · 28/10/2016 12:12

I think what matters are the initial circumstances.
Then, if you win Euromillions, they don't care, they just stop giving you council tax benefit and rent reduction.

pregnantat50 · 28/10/2016 12:13

and to openly boast about it too.
Overall we have a disposable income of £8,000 a month

You were once a council tenant and now as a landlord you charge £2000 a month for your 400k property! I am pleased your life has improved but cant help feeling the Right to Buy Scheme wasnt meant to be used in this way.

As a mother of 3 grown up hardworking children, all struggling to save to buy/rent their first place I am shocked to be honest. My children live with me in a small flat while they save to leave home, none would be eligible for a council house and the minimum rent for a 1 bed flat is £900 a month in my area, they earn under 25k each so moving out isnt an option.

This thread appears to be a form of gloating

DeathpunchDoris · 28/10/2016 12:15

A two week waiting list? Where is this?

TheFairyCaravan · 28/10/2016 12:22

A two week waiting list? Where is this?

Cloud cuckoo land!

dinosaursarebisexual · 28/10/2016 12:25

I'd feel guilty, but I'd pretend I didn't.

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