Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Original poster

To ask a really stupid question about council houses

224 replies

cleofatra · 20/12/2017 17:25

To be honest, this is the best way to ask so I don't embarrass myself too much.

Do people actually pay any "rent" for council houses? (Or does it come out of some kind of payment?) I have no idea.

Sorry, I honestly am asking to find out as I don't know.

OP posts:

Gwenhwyfar · 28/12/2017 23:18

birdseye - I don't want continental rental protections, at least I don't want to be stuck in a contract I can't get out of like when I lived abroad. The 'insecurity' of private renting doesn't bother me at all, it's the price compared to the quality that's a problem for me.

mscherry · 29/12/2017 00:13

I suppose it depends what area you live in then. I had to wait 7 years so it’s obviously not instant unless a more desperate need but there are properties out there.

BanginChoons · 29/12/2017 00:47

I rent from the council. For me the benefit is the security. I don't have to move if the landlord puts the rent up or sells the property. I can decorate as I please. Keep pets (in limited numbers). I am not subject to regular inspections of my property. As long as I pay my rent I am free to live as I please.
My friends in private rentals pay more for less secure housing with many conditions upon them from the landlord.

There is stigma these days for living in council housing. There are a lot of people who assume council tenants live solely on benefits, and also underlying jealousy for the good conditions of a council tenancy. If there were enough council houses for everyone who wanted one, life would be easier for a lot of people . As council housing is self sufficient its not too unrealistic an idea, but it will never happen, especially not under a Tory government.

Gwenhwyfar · 29/12/2017 00:54

It's a bit of a myth that you can't decorate in private rentals. You usually can with permission and as long as you don't paint in very dark colours. In all my life of renting, I've had a couple of inspections only and they don't bother me.

birdseye2010 · 31/12/2017 10:22

I don't want continental rental protections, at least I don't want to be stuck in a contract I can't get out of like when I lived abroad. The 'insecurity' of private renting doesn't bother me at all, it's the price compared to the quality that's a problem for me.

Security for tenants doesn't have to come at the cost of inflexibility for tenants. There are a ton of different models out there. Also, not worrying about security would put you in the minority.

mumpoints · 31/12/2017 10:55

Did it used to be different in the 70s? My ILs rented a council house in what was a very bad area actually and I was puzzled that they didn't want to buy their own home (both working fulltime jobs). When DH and I bought, we were sat working out the mortgage repayments and FIL was shocked that they were cheaper than the rent they were paying. Within a year they bought their own home.

All I could think of was when they first started out and got a council house , it was cheaper and they assume that that would still be the case??

mumpoints · 31/12/2017 11:28

^ If my post above doesn't make sense, what I mean is they would have started off as a young couple in a council house in the 70s (maybe with some benefits, MIL was pregnant and unskilled from school) and perhaps never realised that owning your own home because a cheaper alternative when their children were grown and they were both working?

Gwenhwyfar · 31/12/2017 11:47

"Security for tenants doesn't have to come at the cost of inflexibility for tenants. There are a ton of different models out there. "

They do TEND to come together. Landlords will ask why they should be curtailed when the tenant isn't.

"not worrying about security would put you in the minority."

Have you done a survey?

MrsDoyleFallingOutTheWindow · 01/01/2018 23:30

They don't always come together. You appear to be finding obstacles for the sake of it now.

And lack of security is a problem for most tenants according to surveys conducted with them.

It sounds as though your only personal issue is cost - this is not the case for many other tenants although it is of course a pressing concern for most.

Gwenhwyfar · 02/01/2018 01:11

I'm not finding obstacles for the sake of it! When you've been living somewhere and not able to move for 3 years, it does have an effect on you.

makingmiracles · 02/01/2018 01:21

Social housing is not what it once was...

I’m on “the list” for a bigger property, very near the top and so far haven’t been able to bid on many at all, purely because they are advertised as 80% market rent...they are usually new builds but not always but it’s shocking that social housing properties are being advertised to bid for that are charging £800 pm in rent(and this is not south east)

there are also massive inequalities within the system, I live in a fairly cramped 1st ff, with garden, just 1000yrds down the rd are big 3 beds(with seperate dining rooms) for £3 a week more than I’m paying for my 1st ff!! Mind boggling!

IJustLostIt · 02/01/2018 12:10

We have a HA flat, we pay full rent though it is much cheaper than private rent in this area. DP works full time and I'm a student with a bursary rather than loan and not entitled to housing benefit.
It's needed because so many people are on low income.
When I qualify we'll either rent privately or buy if we can save enough for a deposit. Then our flat can go to someone else who needs it.

Rebeccaslicker · 02/01/2018 12:52

Council houses may become self sufficient but it takes many years to recoup the cost of the land and the building. Councils are often cash strapped anyway, so the prospect of spending millions that won't be realised for many years isn't appealing to them.

One of my friend's cousins lives on a council estate very near Grenfell. He and his wife have one DC and neither of them have worked for years. If I could post it without possibly exposing who they are, I would - you should see the pic of their Christmas tree. Seriously about 50/60 presents plus one of those big £200 electric mini cars, all apparently for the 9 year old child, according to the description.

Now of course it's totally up to the individuals how they spend their own money, and I have no idea whether each parcel cost £1 or £100, but it is things like that which make people think (sometimes incorrectly, sometimes correctly IMHO) that council tenants are subsidised at the expense of everyone else.

ghostyslovesheets · 02/01/2018 12:58

do they have a big telly

TitaniasCloset · 02/01/2018 15:05

Rottweiler: "Most foreigners think that British (especially English) council houses are 'free'..

And for them, they usually are."

😂** pissing myself laughing at this!

Rebeccaslicker · 02/01/2018 15:24

Yep - and sky tv and iPhones and designer trainers and they smoke too - all the cliches ticked.... but you've missed my point.

I wasn't having a go at the individuals. I was saying, it's pictures like that - or stories when they make it into the DM! - which make people cynical about social housing or believe that the tenants are being subsidised. Sure in some cases, they are. In many others, they aren't. But there's a general misunderstanding about the system and i can see why someone would look at an extreme picture like that and think, "aha, so that's where my taxes go - I couldn't afford presents like that after paying my rent/mortgage."

A bit of education on how it actually works would be a good thing, I think. You can see from this thread that few people agree on that!

x2boys · 02/01/2018 15:28

Yes but that's London and its been said time and time again in other parts of the country there is little differences in rent between private and social housing

MrsDoyleFallingOutTheWindow · 02/01/2018 18:55

Your so called friends with the massive telly etc aren't getting all of that stuff because they're in council housing though - if they're on benefits they'll be getting the same amount of income (spending money) as private sector tenants. In fact if their rent is lower than private sector tenants then the portion of benefits for housing will be lower.

Gwenhwyfar · 02/01/2018 18:56

" its been said time and time again in other parts of the country there is little differences in rent between private and social housing"

From what I know, rent is MUCH cheaper in social housing in Cardiff. Do you have a link showing the rents in different places because I'm not convinced.

Gwenhwyfar · 02/01/2018 18:59

" tenants are being subsidised. Sure in some cases, they are. In many others, they aren't. "

All social housing tenants paying rent at cost rather than for a profit are being subsidised.

myrtleWilson · 02/01/2018 19:09

in parts of the North, private rent is similar or even less than social rents - the reasons are due to the nature of rent policy (if LA or HA) and how rent setting was done many years ago (a formula based approach including some assessment of earnings)..

viques · 02/01/2018 19:09

In the olden days many social housing places were funded by private organisations or charitable trusts, eg in London there were the Guiness and Sutton estates (and many more) . Some local authorities also built small numbers of houses to be rented to tenants.

gradually many councils took over the charitable trusts,often improving the stock considerably, and in many instances built more houses to provide accommodation, especially after WW2 when housing was in a desperate state of shortage ( my aunt and uncle lived in an old bus for a while) .

this state of affairs lasted until Margaret Thatcher gave council tenants the right to buy, which meant that the best housing stock was bought up , and eventually sold on at huge profit. If councils had been allowed to reinvest this income in new housing stock things might have been ok, but they weren't, so we are now faced again with insufficient low rent housing for those on the lowest incomes,

in addition we have the irony that vast amounts of public money in the form of housing benefit is being paid to fund the pension plans of private landlords. It's a mess, and unless a government is prepared to introduce rent control and make investment in new social housing a priority, eg by ensuring developers include social housing in new developments it will continue to be a mess for the foreseeable future.

birdseye2010 · 04/01/2018 15:47

I'm not finding obstacles for the sake of it! When you've been living somewhere and not able to move for 3 years, it does have an effect on you.

I haven't lived in any such jurisdiction. The ones I have lived in, the risk goes one way.

Carbohol78 · 04/01/2018 15:54

OP - I assumed that Council Houses were rent free till I was in my 20’s! You aren’t the only one and I was born in this country. So I have no excuse!!

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9