Lottery winner keeping her council house.

[NickyNora]

A lady i know recently won over a million pounds on the lottery. She has purchased 2 properties & put them in family members names.

She intends to keep her council house.
She didn't buy it as even with the discount, it woukd use up a large proportion of her win.

Is this even legal?

AIBU to think she's being greedy & should terminate her council tenancy & give back the council house?

YY Whirly Now here is some irony. Here is the chief exec of L and Q (the HA that was featured in the Guardian/Observer yesterday , details on pages 5 and 6 of this thread) complaining that the Dispatches documentary was not balanced.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/dispatches-episode-was-not-a-balanced-documentary-57241

He must have had some idea what was going on in his own organization before writing that load of old tripe so the only thing i can surmise from it is that he knew he could get away with it. Until housing associations become subject to the FOI they will continue to get away with it. There needs to be a proper public enquiry into social housing ASAP

HelenaDove, she’s not helping it though is she?

Bwatch yes she is helping by staying local with her money.
The local shops will benefit maybe even some community stuff.

Bwatch So you would rather blame one tenant rather than HAs who sell places off as holiday homes. I think its pretty clear where your agenda lies.

It’s her home she has no doubt lived in for years and paid a lot in rent for over that time. Maybe she has also spent a lot of money and put a lot of effort into decorating it and she loves it. She possibly also loves the area and local community so doesn’t want to leave.

Susan Boyle kept hers after winning BGT.

I haven't read all the thread but I'm baffled by those who think council houses are just for the poor. People I know in council housing are teachers, a uni professor, engineers, a childminder, a nurse and a train driver.

You don't have to be poor to apply for one or in need. In some areas you can get a house quite easily.

I would rather someone rich get the council house than removed it from stock by buying it.

'kept'

I also knew professional people in council homes. The West Endnis full of them. However rules are changing and new tenancies are no longer for life, nor are they transferable. If one person moves on then a joint tenancy becomes void.

Which are shit rules which continue to blame/punish tenants for the failings of governments.

It's likely that she won't actually stay in the home for very long. If neighbours are aware of the win and her purchases of other homes, she might find it uncomfortable as people are people and when someone's financial circumstances change to that extent, you can often find old friends and neighbours become quite frosty.

I really dislike lottery big wins; they ruin people's lives. We should have gone for the Spanish style lotto where wins tend to be around £200,000-ish and actually reinvigorate local communities to some extent. Instead, these big wins just alienate people from their lives, friends and family and plunge them into a world where people with the same wealth tend to have their own communities based on business or professional careers or inherited privilege.

Social housing is not charity, it's a system of providing secure tenancies at fair rents. It used to be (and is intended to be) available to everyone who wants it. The only reason it isn't is due to Thatcher's discounted right-to-buy gutting the council housing stock and the money not being reinvested to replace it.

Many posters seem to think it would be somehow better if she'd bought the house. I really don't see how!

I agree it is shit that someone can lose their joint tenancy because their partner doesn’t want to be on the tenancy or moves on. It is all designed to have people living in fear. It is also wrong when parents who live with a family member who has never married, pass away leaving that person with no tenancy. My friend moved in for 5 years to care for her elderly mum and dad, the mum was bedridden, and she was evicted when they passed away.

Social housing is not charity, it's a system of providing secure tenancies at fair rents

This sentence makes no sense. If the rents are 'fair' rather than market rate, it is not profit-maximising, ergo it is at least a quasi-charitable or 'socially conscious' enterprise.

The distinction has only come into focus because of the enormous price distortions in the SE/London.

I presume in other parts of the country this statement is close enough to true.

I totally agree, FormerlyPickingOakum, the lottery is perverse, it seems to make victims of everyone involved (outside of the operator, naturally), including the winners.

I'm baffled that some people don't seem to realise that social housing (especially in central London) whilst in theory is for all, is prioritised for those who fall into the 'need' category most.

Road only on MN have I seen every poster who lives in SH saying that in their town/city how easy it is to get a SH property. Our situation is nowhere like London but the families at the top of the list will be living well below the poverty line in damp, overcrowded temporary accomodation. It really isn't only a SE/London issue.

Funnily enough social housing is a charity, technically at least as you will find the vast majority of registers providers of social housing are registered charities. Housing associations were generally set up by the wealthy to benefit the poor- look into the history of most housing associations and you’ll find a rich benefactor with a social conscience.

There are many parts of the country were social rent and market rent and very similar, the same, or even market rents are lower. This obviously leads to fairly low demand of all rented stock compared to places where demand is higher.

However in places were social rents are lower than market rent, they aren’t obviously in much higher demand and they are allocated on need. It’s not that complex really.

I hate moving house she probably does too.

And if she is in London sadly a million quid wouldn't buy her another house.

Of course it would. Are you saying you can’t buy a house in London for less than a million quid?

I don't know why anyone would want to carry on paying rent with a million pounds in the bank. It makes no sense to me.

Not in London @glintandglide unless you're one of those people who think on a 20 min train journey from London is London.

No, I grew up in SW1 and you can certainly buy an ex council flat there for under £1m and if you specifically need a house it’s a quick hop and jump over to Lambeth where houses can be found for under £1m (there aren’t really any council houses in SW1, only flats so unlikely a council tenant would ever live in a house)

This one is nice!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55641585.html

Well i would lose my faith in charities if they all behaved as L and Q have as featured upthread.

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/this-social-cleansing-poor-anger-14843366