Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
pregnantat50 · 28/10/2016 12:25

which of these towns is it...these are the ones in the UK with approximately 8000 inhabitants or less

           Hawkinge8,002	Town
Aveley	7,986	Town

Coppull 7,959 Town
Cromer 7,949 Town
Bircotes 7,948 Town
Ammanford 7,945 Town
Littleport 7,935 Town
Hook (Hart) 7,934 Town
Denny 7,933 Town
Thurso 7,933 Town
Wallingford 7,918 Town
Holbeach 7,914 Town
Silsden 7,912 Town
Partington 7,912 Town
Highworth 7,886 Town
Histon 7,866

alltouchedout · 28/10/2016 12:29

I don't blame people who take advantage of the right to buy for doing it, but I think it's a terrible, terrible scheme that should end immediately. (And before anyone starts, I don't own, I private rent and I doubt I'll ever be able to do anything else.)

And I am not convinced by this OP at all.

TheFairyCaravan · 28/10/2016 12:30

Won't be Hook. You can't buy a house for £130k there.

Lweji · 28/10/2016 12:30

pregnantat50

Next thing you'll be at the Land Register and find the house.

GahBuggerit · 28/10/2016 12:35

yanbu

obviously though if someone were to already have a house they are letting out then they would be a twat

DeleteOrDecay · 28/10/2016 12:35

You shouldn't feel guilty as you did nothing wrong, I'm sure many including myself would have done the same thing.

I think they need to abolish right to buy at this point though. Waiting lists in many parts of the country are ridiculous and it seems unfair.

ComputerDog · 28/10/2016 12:37

Kind of weird that at the beginning of the thread everyone was saying "you are not doing anything wrong it's the system, it's legal to take advantage" or words to that effect. Even though the OP did say she had a high income.

I mean, it's still legal and the fault of the system not the individual even if the OP really does have megabucks as she claims.

pregnantat50 · 28/10/2016 12:39

Hawking, Folkestone in Kent has 2 bedroom homes for £126,000 so could be there I guess

rabbit12345 · 28/10/2016 12:40

The problem is not with you though. The purpose of right to buy was so that the council could pass off 'old' houses to private owners who would take the expense of maintaining them and use the money to build new houses.

No new council houses have been built around my part for 15 years. Starter flats yes but no houses.

poorbuthappy · 28/10/2016 12:40

I think it must be something to do with her buying the house for less than her annual wage. I would hope my moral compass would kick in (you know like it does when you can buy paracetomal for your kids over the counter instead of getting a free script for it) but to be honest I don't know what I'd do if someone offered me a house for 2/3 of my annual income.

pregnantat50 · 28/10/2016 12:45

Its not what she has done with the Right to Buy. Its the gloating about it and the £8000 a week spare income, I find talking about money in that way really distasteful. My sister said to me once when she knew I was not coping will financial, "you wouldnt beleive how much savings we have" It was an odd thing to share with someone and I kind of think stating this is hard on those who are struggling to have anything left over each month. I am pleased she has made a good life for herself and her son, but its kind of weird she would publish it to everyone. There are many have nots in this world and one thing this forum does is help people feel there are others in the same shoes so understand their outlook on life....but then there are threads like this one and the other disposable income one...its going to hit a nerve with some who have the opposite end of the scale, and yes I am a little envious of the Op on behalf of my children (BTW the waiting list in my town is 7 - 12 years!)

QuizteamBleakley · 28/10/2016 12:53

Are you coming back., OP? I think there a LOT of questions that you've raised here.

pregnantat50 · 28/10/2016 12:56

Hawking was incorrect it was a reduced price for the over 60s...so not there :)

SpaceUnicorn · 28/10/2016 12:58

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

Schools go back next week, thankfully Grin

SpaceUnicorn · 28/10/2016 13:02

Is that £8,000k disposable income inclusive of the excess from the £2,000 rental income the OP apparently gets from the other house she owns?

("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.")

Total load of shite Hmm

SharkBastard · 28/10/2016 13:04

We didn't buy our council flat, which is in a VERY desirable area, and would have benefitted us immensely as an investment in our future. I was homeless when I gave birth to my daughter 8 years ago, and was housed in a 2 bed flat. I went on to read for a degree, on in my final year, met my husband who earns a very good wage.

However, we're against the scheme, so we saved up, got a deposit thankfully due to low rents in council accommodation, and bought our own house in a different area.

I don't regret giving back my council flat, and I hope the person who got it is happier now than they were before being housed.

DixieNormas · 28/10/2016 13:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Katedotness1963 · 28/10/2016 13:33

My home town is on that list. Last time I moved home I tried to get on the council waiting list and was told at least 11 months waiting list. We went to a private landlord and it was so bad I left the area rather than keep renting from them.

damibasiamille · 28/10/2016 13:46

I've been shocked by the number of people who have been saying, in effect, "Take the money and run, and sod everyone else".

I think the argument of "Well, it's legal so there's no problem" ranks with "I was only obeying orders", - which is not accepted as an excuse under international law, since people are expected to have their own moral standards independent of any ruling regime.

Legal and moral are not the same thing!

chilipepper20 · 28/10/2016 13:46

Right to buy is totally shit, but it's the government crappy policies that's shit, and a small number of people benefit.

We should pressure the government to change the policy, but I absolutely think that anyone that can cash in should. You should do what's best for you and your family.

chilipepper20 · 28/10/2016 13:48

Legal and moral are not the same thing!

no, of course it's not.

But I'd say the party in the wrong is the government for selling public assets at below cost and screwing up the housing system. If someone finds a good deal on a house, whether the seller is public or private, they should take it.

damibasiamille · 28/10/2016 13:52

PS Well said, SharkBastard! Smile

chilipepper20 · 28/10/2016 14:40

PS Well said, SharkBastard!

Just to respond to SharkBastard, by her own admission, she benefited financially through lower or subsidised rent, enough to save up a deposit. So, living in a council home wasn't the difference between eating and not, it was the difference between buying a home and not. Buying a council house doesn't remove the dwelling from the market. What it does is disproportionately benefit the buyer, a buyer that may not need state help to make ends meet. But that's true for the reduced rent paid by council tenants.

DevonshireCream · 28/10/2016 14:45

I don't agree with the right to buy so yes I think YABU.
Someone needed that house more than you. But with that said I understand it from your point of you also.

ilovesooty · 28/10/2016 14:52

This is as goady as fuck.

I hope her son learns how to use capital letters at his private school.

Swipe left for the next trending thread