To wonder what would happen if every council tenant had their tenancy reviewed

[BumpowderSneezeonAndSnot]

Life time tenant or not. Everyone was reviewed and income taken into account when calculating rents. Would this free up housing stock for those in need?

"Absolutely the pensioners should leave. councils have specific 55+ accommodation which is bungalows etc reserved especially for the elderly"

Read my link because THIS is what the pensioners were forced out of. Some of them were in their 80s and 90s and had the pressure and stress of moving.

I think it depends. Zone 1 - yeah probably. Where there's money to be made, people will take advantage of it.

Other parts of the country where rents are cheaper anyway? No, it would cost a fortune and stress people out unnecessarily.

If you're just talking about X paying more than they currently do because they earn over a certain amount I don't see how it will free up housing because they will just pay more and stay. If you're talking about getting people to leave and find alternative private accommodation then you will end up with a lot of people (myself included) being forced to leave the area altogether. In places like London where I am it will push the divide further. You'd have ghettos and millionaires, nothing else. NHS, police, council, teaching, charity, retail staff will simply be unable to live anywhere near work. Everyone in my immediate family falls into those categories, as do DH and I.

YANBU. The British have this social housing thing the wrong way round. It should be there first and foremost for people who would be homeless without it. This notion that somehow people shouldn't be moving our if social housing that they need just because they've spent the better part of their lives there is absurd.

Runmummyrun I completely agree. My sister moved from her council house to a private rent. Her wages used to cover her council rent now she costs the council £600/month every month in HB to be able to afford her private rent. Private renting costs local councils millions of pounds that could be better spent elsewhere.

*they don't need

That’s a one off that’s always happened though Helena- not a conserved effort to get pensioners out of certain types of housing

Yes, why WOULDN'T they want to upset often vulnerable, elderly people by making them pack up their entire life's belongings and move somewhere they don't want to.

Disgraceful

No onevwouldtake the tenancy on for the house we now live in because of the state it was in we have spent a considerable amount of our own money over the years doing the house up why should we leave ....our children although grown upcoming back to what is there family home on a regular basis to stop tor a week or so meanwhile almost half of the estate has been sold off by the council but nothing has been spent on New housing stock .a neighbouring estate has had at least 40 houses and flats demolished on the promise of new builds instead they have sold the land off privately x

Elderly people shouldn’t necessarily be forced to move, but they should not be exempted from bedroom tax

councils have specific 55+ accommodation which is bungalows etc reserved especially for the elderly.

That's correct but there isn't enough of it to go round for the people that actually want/need to be in that type of accommodation. There definitely isn't enough to chuck all people over the age of 55 into. It's also a rare 55 year old that feels elderly.

@samewitches but why should you be living in London if you can't afford it? There arr these things called trains that miraculously enable you to live somewhere affordable but work in London.

One off is it? You wish!

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tearful-pensioners-forced-leave-decades-9375103

Over 55 accommodation is actually pretty hard to let in many areas. People don’t particularly want to live in them.
But as a over 55 new to the social housing register it’s probbaly all you’ll be offered so in 20 years the problem of pensioners blocking large properties will be resolved, no need to evict any one.

I would certainly support measures to force empty nesters to downsize to one or two bed flats once their own children leave home.

The current system of placing families in two bed flats and then waiting until the kids are in their teens to rehouse them in a 3 bed house is fucked.

Why not give the two-bed to a single 50-something who's youngest has just left home, and then put the family in the house that has now been vacated?

@passionflower good point re tannants investing in properties-I assume you were insentivused to make improvements by having a secure tenancy.

Sorry, one off was probbaly the wrong word. I didn’t mean it had literally only ever happened once but property is repurposed all the time, it’s not unusual but it’s also not a targeted effort against older people

No I'm a firm believer in everyone having a house for life. Councils should be buying more stock.

Currently private landlords are recieving millions in housing benefits.thats a fucked up system right there

Our council sent us a letter to tell us that everyone with over 30k household income (I think) would pay a market rent instead of affordable rent. This would have affected us and it seemed fair enough. It would have been on a sliding scale.

Then we got a letter to say it had been scrapped.

We don't earn enough to get a mortgage for the size property we need. Our 3 bed home is worth around £400k. Our council rent is £600 a month when a private rental of the same size is £1800.

If we moved into private we would be eligible to claim £135 a week in housing benefit. As it is we only claim child benefit.

We need more social housing. And I do think that those who are able to pay more, should. There is a huge gap between affordable rents and private rents and it is so unfair. Of course, those in private do get help if they can't afford it. That money goes to private landlords which I think is shocking but unavoidable unless we have more social housing.

dairyisclosed maybe because if they can’t afford to live in London paying private rents then you probably can’t afford to commute back there either . Do you think all the low payed workers in London working in shops and hospitals can all afford not just a hike in rental costs by renting privately outside the area but also an extra £300+ per month to get the train in.

Plenty of tower blocks housing over 40's specifically too.
Lots don't want to live in areas full of younger (arguably problematic) tenants.

I know a retired couple in a 3 bedroom house!

A couple with no children in a 2 bedroom house passed down from parent!

A couple who both work, no children at home in a 3 bed house passed down from parent.

A very unfair system!

I'm on a waiting list. Can't afford to move to gain the extra bedroom we need, the private rents are astronomical so our only option is a council house - unless the rents decrease... Only our landlord just increased our rent by £100, so now this house is also unaffordable. Things are getting pretty desperate and it's frustrating.

But the solution isn't turfing people out, it's building more houses.

Not pathetic excuses for 'affordable housing' that is anything the Conservatives define as affordable (hint; it's not), actual council houses that are actually affordable, with secure tenancies.

I think they need to review circumstances. I knew a few sets of people, some couples, some singles, who had social housing as much younger adults because they had children. Fast forward and their children have grown up and left home. The parents are earning significantly more money, spending it on expensive holidays etc because “if we keep it and save we will be forced out later”, and still paying very little rent. Whereas their colleagues on similar wages are forced to rent privately, have little ability to save for their own houses (to buy), don’t have the ext a disposable income etc.

I think the system is pretty crap tbh.