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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be shocked that council housing is still being sold off?

126 replies

bibbitybobbityyhat · 15/02/2019 19:25

I imagined this terrible legacy from Thatcher ceased years ago. How can it possibly still be defended as a good thing?

OP posts:
Myusernameismud · 15/02/2019 20:17

Sorry LIZS just noticed you said HA can remove the requirement, not can't.

That'll teach me to speed read....

BanginChoons · 15/02/2019 20:21

"When the vast majority of people can see that it is damaging to the worst off in society and the strata just above them."

Well I am formerly the worst off in society. I will buy mine and live in it for the rest of my life. So I suppose it depends whose perspective you are viewing it from.

Travisandthemonkey · 15/02/2019 20:24

@BanginChoons
The point is, when you die, it should go to someone who desperately needs it. Not your children if you have them. Or the donkey sanctuary if you decide to leave it to them.
If you have children who desperately need to be homed, then hopefully they would be helped just as much as the next person, not just because you can leave them a house that you bought cheaply from low housing stock.

Intohellbutstayingstrong · 15/02/2019 20:25

@bibbity Are you a private sector tenant?

BanginChoons · 15/02/2019 20:28

@travisandthemonkey, if the council were to reinvest the money in more housing then we wouldn't have an issue would we.

Now, where did I put that donkey sanctuary literature...?

TortoiseLettuce · 15/02/2019 20:30

My council is currently building an estate of new bungalows. They’ve already said they’ll be for sale under RTB after a five year tenancy. What’s the point of building them if they aren’t going to be available for rent in the long term?

MyDcAreMarvel · 15/02/2019 20:31

Right to Acquire is different, and is only available on new builds that were paid for with certain govt funding.
That is incorrect , my house was built in 1939.

MyDcAreMarvel · 15/02/2019 20:31

Sorry 1938.

Original poster
bibbitybobbityyhat · 15/02/2019 20:36

@intohellbutstayingstrong - no, I am not a private sector tenant, why?

OP posts:
Travisandthemonkey · 15/02/2019 20:39

@BanginChoons
But they aren’t
And you know they aren’t

That’s like saying, well I bought that dress made by 6yr olds in Pakistan, but it’s not my problem they aren’t employing adults.

You’re just making it not your problem.
Which I understand, but at least admit it’s shit! And not good for the rest of society

HelenaDove · 15/02/2019 20:42

Housing associatons are selling off theirs too.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3304710-Dispatches-Getting-Rich-from-the-Housing-Crisis?pg=1

Intohellbutstayingstrong · 15/02/2019 20:43

@bibbity So you own your own house?

Original poster
bibbitybobbityyhat · 15/02/2019 20:47

I have a mortgage, I don't own my own house. How long is this going to go on? Can you just say what's on your mind?

OP posts:
Myusernameismud · 15/02/2019 20:48

MyDC It's slightly incorrect, they have to have been built after 1997 or bought by a HA after that point. But the funding must have come from a LA or Housing corporation social housing grant.

BanginChoons · 15/02/2019 20:49

@travisthemonkey I didn't deny it's shit. I think the money should be ingfenced to buy more.

However, in my situation it makes financial sense for me to buy the house. It means I can give my children somewhere secure to live.

BlueJag · 15/02/2019 20:50

You most be on drugs or dropped as a baby if you think buying your own home is a bad thing and that Mrs Thatcher did the wrong thing.
People could become home owners at a reasonable price.
Maybe you are on a waiting list for a council house? Wouldn't you buy if you could?
Think before you write stupidity.

Intohellbutstayingstrong · 15/02/2019 20:51

I have a mortgage, I don't own my own house

Confused Not sure what you mean here.

Curious really......Why does it bother you so much that people on low incomes have the chance to be a home owner?

Original poster
bibbitybobbityyhat · 15/02/2019 20:53

Well that's nice for you Bagin. Just screw everyone else (other than your own kids) in the generation below you? Why couldn't you just carry on paying your comparatively low rent?

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 15/02/2019 20:55

The money from RTB goes to central government and doesn’t go to local council or get used to build further council housing...

Housing Association have taken over this role somehow

Intohellbutstayingstrong · 15/02/2019 20:57

Just screw everyone else (other than your own kids) in the generation below you?

So, you are stating that if you were a council tenant and had the opportunity to buy your home, you only real chance of security, that you had possibly lived in for years you would turn it down? Of course you would Hmm

Original poster
bibbitybobbityyhat · 15/02/2019 20:57

It bothers me that council housing is being sold off! And that there are no replacements for people who need it! Isn't it obvious?

OP posts:
Santaclarita · 15/02/2019 20:57

People could become home owners at a reasonable price.

Not everyone though. I don't. I will never own a house unless I win the lottery. Really, my odds of getting a house are better by popping out a few kids and getting the council to give me a home and eventually buy it. I would get a house quicker that way than I would trying to win the lottery. That's just sad.

SerenDippitty · 15/02/2019 20:58

Right to Buy has just been abolished in Wales.

Racecardriver · 15/02/2019 21:02

But it’s great for the gentrification process dahling!

ivykaty44 · 15/02/2019 21:02

My council is currently building an estate of new bungalows. They’ve already said they’ll be for sale under RTB after a five year tenancy. What’s the point of building them if they aren’t going to be available for rent in the long term?

Just because after 5 years tenancy they are available for RTB doesn’t mean that each property will have tenants living that meet the requirements for RTB or obtain a mortgage