To ask if you are under-occupying social housing that you consider downsizing?

[IckyBex]

If you are in a property with space you no longer need for whatever reason please consider asking to transfer to a smaller property. There are so many families waiting for three or four bedroom housing and hardly any available.
Staying in your four bedroom house after all of your children have left home is depriving another family of the opportunity that you were given.

Tenants even*

I would be interested to know how many people on these threads wanting social housing reassessing for circumstances, people made to leave if they aren't on the bones of their arse anymore etc are actually living in social housing or private rented. I don't for a second believe any of you who rent privately would give up social housing if you managed to get some.

It's the equivalent of people who comment on other people's finances re benefits in a negative way but then, if they qualify for any, they're straight in there making sure they get every last penny.

These kinds of threads are never really about making sure social housing goes to those who need it most. It's about being jealous when someone is stuck in private renting and wants everyone else to be in the same difficult position.

No, I won't consider that.
Why would I?
Would you ask a homeowner to sell their home so someone else could have it? Even in eg the south east of England where demand far outweighs supply?
Or a private rented?
Is it just because I'm a council tenant that I'm expected to give up my home?

@Firesuit option C is pretty much what we have in the private sector. It makes the lives of people living in private rental sector miserable and those who own the properties rich.

So, a big fat no to option C.

Option D - build more social housing, deal with the issue rather than fannying about and blaming those who live in social housing for problems that are not of their making.

I wonder how charitable people would be if a policy was suggested that meant people lost say, 5% or 10% of their equity to give someone "more deserving" a second deposit.
Or if people who own third homes were expected to hand them over (paid or otherwise) to house someone "more deserving"....

House deposit, not second deposit*

So, a big fat no to option C.

There is (almost) no alternative to option C, the alternatives people think exist essentially consist of systematically lying to ourselves about the value of things, resulting in misallocation of resources.

I say "almost" because your option D of building more houses is valid, and I agree with it, but it isn't incompatible with C. The new houses should be sold/rented at market prices. I would be totally OK (as someone with a paid for home) with enough new houses being built that the price of housing (for sale and rent) comes down.

D and C aren't incompatible, but C should happen on its own merits regardless of what progress is or isn't made with D.

granny24

There are no smaller places for people to downsize to.
this is a outright lie I did a house swap and their are more people with smaller houses who want up upscale than down size if your actually suggesting that if you have a 5 ed you wouldn’t possibly find anyone who had a 2 bed who would swap I call horse shit
Also most councils give 2k a room for you to downsize plus moving costs
Having actually lived in council homes the issues is people see the houses as theirs
And let’s face it unless your having mobility issues who wants a smaller house

When DH and I bought our first house in 2007 we paid £170k for a 3 bed ex council house. A proper post war one on an estate with big front and back gardens etc. She bought it from the person who had purchased it from the council back as one of the first right to buy schemes for £2k! The owner was at the time letting it back to the council who had tenants in there!!! Who had trashed the place.

So the close neighbours were all council tenants. Lovely people. But..
. 1) an elderly lady in a 4 bed all by herself and the council were mowing her lawn and cutting back her hedges for her for free because she could t manage it.
2) a man, wife and 3 adult children and a girlfriend of one of the children in a 4 bed. All working. The gross income of that house had to be over £200k per annum.
3) an elderly couple in a 3 bed, kids all moved out
4) single parent in a 3 bed with no kids left at home.

The council then came and fitted a new roof, Replaced double glazing and they had new kitchen. Whilst DH and I paid £1000 per month mortgage and had to save for years to put the damage right from previous tennents!
Bitter? Just a bit!

It seems to me that the massive discounts given in right to buy are unfair. It's like some people receive a large financial gift, but not others. Surely right to buy should be there, but at market value. That wouldn't interfere with the tenant's tenancy either. Obviously less people are going to buy then, but that's the real world. People not living in SH have to scrimp and save to afford a house.

Just to say, the bedroom tax is legislation made by the government. There is very little that local authorities can do about it. It is possible to apply for discretionary housing payments but these are only for a limited period. I got fed up, when I was working, having to explain that legislation is made by governments and not thought up on the hoof by the local authority. I often didn't agree but had to stick to the rules so to speak. We took lots of flack from people who didn't understand that and thought that because I was`the council', I could do anything, no matter what it was. At which point I gave up.

caithuait I agree with you I think. And also I think going forward we as a society do need to look at being a bit more selfless & not pulling up the ladder. We have younger generations with a lot less opportunities then previous ones & we can’t keep expecting the tax burden to fall to them.

I just think that buying a house for 40000 that would ordinarily cost 100000, for example, is like being given 60000 pounds no strings attached. Why should some people be given this and not others? It's unfair.

Why should some people be given this and not others? It's unfair.

Why are some people born into money? Why are some people in poverty their entire lives? Life is unfair.

People seem to be so desperate to prevent other people from making the most of situations when in the same situation themselves, they'd be snapping it up.

(Disclaimer: I am not a person buying a council property.)

Are the discounts that big?

As far as I was aware, RTB was replaced with right to acquire unless you were a council/HA tenant from before the change in which case you have preserved right to buy. New tenants only have access to right to acquire. IDK about other HAs/areas but I would only get a discount of up to £9k on my property and access to a help to buy equity loan.

Who wants to end up in a flat if you have a home with a garden?

cath I agree too. But I don't blame the individuals who buy.

peanut because they 'paid their way' 'don't get subsidised housing' 'that's different' 'worked hard to pay the mortgage'. Take your pick.

Not what I think at all, I agree with you, but thought I'd get in there before someone else starts banging on about free housing and the usual rot.

'this is a outright lie I did a house swap and their are more people with smaller houses who want up upscale than down size if your actually suggesting that if you have a 5 ed you wouldn’t possibly find anyone who had a 2 bed who would swap I call horse shit
Also most councils give 2k a room for you to downsize plus moving costs'

No, it isn't. It is entirely dependent on the council. Plenty do not have enough smaller properties to downsize to, do not offer money to downsize or for moving costs.

The other issue is upsizers who want only a house or a ground floor flat with a garden and/or own front/back door. They don't want to swap for a larger property in a tower block or maisonette with no garden. If you're in that larger property in a block, especially if you're outside of a densely populated area, it can be nigh on impossible to swap it because most of the upsizers want a house or ground floor flat with garden and own access.

lots of things are unfair though but its not the fault of the people that buy their council houses with a discount, if somebody said to most people in that position are not going to say thanks for offering me the house at 60% if its worth but actually i would rather buy at full price.

Where do all these carpets and floors mysteriously vanish to, meaning everyone needs to buy a new one when they move in??

They are binned, Yorkie. Every single bit of it is binned.

Sometimes they let you gift them to the next tenant if they are new and the tenant agrees that they are a gift from the previous tenant (i.e. Not HA responsibility) but it's a lot of faff and time wasted if the new tenant says no. So it's just easier to make the leaving tenant get rid.

The right to buy scheme seems to have removed a lot of social housing, causing more to be built. The newer build ones seem to be higher density. Maybe the councils should stop selling them off?

Regarding downsizing I know an older lady struggling in a 4 bed that was refused a mutual exchange to a 2 bed. The older lady is exempt from bedroom tax and can't manage the garden. The family in the two bed have opposite sex teens, don't get hb and have a postage stamp yard. So you'd think the Ha could see the result was happier tenants and a saving on hb and upkeep. But no, as they'd both be under occupying it wasn't allowed. Given the very low availability of one bed ground floor accommodation, she isn't going anywhere soon so it's not as though someone else who needs 4 beds will get it.

The council rip them out and charge you for the privilege because how dare you leave them.