Council Properties - people taking the pi$$

[contentedsoul]

I'm sure this has come up before.

Colleague I work with rents out a former 1 bedroom council flat, The owner has only owned it 7mths. It was her mothers and she bought it prior to her passing (£14k). Charges colleague £400pm. The other flats in the block are still owned by the council, they pay £360. Colleague has to pay cash and is not allowed to use the address for mail (so all mail is diverted to his parents) also has to pay full council tax and all utilities. The owner/landlady has just told him she's had her own house valued £650K!
Colleague then tells me of a mate of his, he managed to get a 3 bedroom council flat 8yrs ago. He has never slept in it once, still lives with parents and rents out the flat, his aim is to qualify for maximum discount and use the money he's made from renting to buy the flat outright!! Will then sell !!
Brothers girlfriend - never worked in her life, met brother, brother used his savings to buy her council house at maximum discount, moved out the same month and rents out, she claims single parent, and as still living in the house and keeps all the rent herself!!

Sorry, but this is ridiculous, that's three separate scenarios that I know of, multiply it by all the other people on here and those not on here that all know of similar stories...

When is it going to stop, I'm sick to the back teeth of seemingly everybody taking the proverbial.
Why dont the council all offer a anonymous means of reporting this and WHY doesn't the council be then be forced to investigate each and every report. If fraud is discovered the owner should be automatically be stripped of possession and face criminal charges of fraud.

No doubt most of the bloody councillors and MPs are already in on this scam themselves.

I'm pig sick of following the rules and getting nowhere whilst every other devious fuck is blatantly screwing the system.

Enough is ENOUGH

YABU to fanny about saying pi$$ instead of piss. We are allowed to say anything here like fuck, shit, cunt, all of it, it's great

Totally agree

It’s stopped in Scotland now my neice bought her council flat just before the deadline. Never should have happened, councils saw a way of making money sold off houses in nice areas for a pittance (10K for example) pushed house prices through the roof, housing stock was never replenished. Only council houses are in areas no one wants to live.

This has gone on for years.

My mum used to do supported living (( taking in older teens and young adults who were vulnerable )) care leavers here are luckier than some in other parts of the country (( well as lucky as a person can be in that situation )) and are generally housed in the nicer, council blocks. They'd also be given a furnishing grant.

Moving out to live with a partner and subletting their flat to one of his mates (( popular with contractors in particular )) was very much the norm.

I'm not sure how this abuse of the system can be tackled tbh. I think it's very hard to prove .......I know plenty who have done it but don't know any who have been caught !!

I'm curious OP

Are there no idle Scots/Welsh/NI "who are too fucking lazy and clearly self entitled to get of their fat arses - yet then moan about "bloody Foreigners"?

i agree FatThor.

stop fannying about

I know of a couple who both work full-time and holiday abroad every year because they are ‘entitled’ to social housing.

But they are entitled otherwise they wouldn't have it.

Generally speaking, any British citizen or UK resident with no restrictions on how long they can stay can apply for social housing and the council must accept the application. You will then be given a priority banding or housing points based on your circumstances. If someone has gotten a social housing property then they were the most suitable tenants when that property was available to be let.

Not everywhere in the country has a shortage. We were only Band 2 which is the third lowest banding behind Urgent (e.g., homeless) and Band 1, we still only waited six months for a property. Our council operates a bidding system where you register your interest against available properties and you get allocated a place in line for it based on your banding, if two or more people in the same banding bid for a property then their place in the line is determined by the date they joined the housing register. This is the only property we bid on in those six months, we came out first in line for it, we had the keys two weeks later. This is fairly typical for this region.

And almost everyone I know who lives in council housing, works.

also circumstances chnge, govt policy changes and the benefits system changes.

so where one might have been in such circumstances to make then eligible for council housing, their circs could change the very next day, week, month or year

People can't even get on the housing list round here, it is almost impossible to even qualify, the criteria are so stringent. There are so few properties left in council / HA hands now - it makes it pretty tough for local youngsters especially.

same here contactlight, i have two adult kids living with me and another who lives in a dire situation so much so it's heart breaking.

that ther eis a lack of social housing cannot be argued but policy is made by the governments we vote for unfortunatley

Since 2010, and more so since the return of single-party Conservative government in 2015, we’ve seen something further: welfarisation – ‘a conception of social housing as a very small, highly residualised sector catering only for the very poorest, and those with additional social “vulnerabilities”, on a short-term “ambulance” basis

John Boughton describes this really well. Its these policies that is turning estates into ghettos. There is a drug problem on our estate now and there never used to be. Police raids and there never used to be.

I know of a couple who both work full-time and holiday abroad every year because they are ‘entitled’ to social housing.

Do you realise that some housing associations carry out affordability checks to make sure tenants are working/ earning enough to pay the rent before they will let to them? Or do you think that social housing is only for unemployed people?

Are you going to report it? If not stop whinging

Your first example: a private landlord (because this person owns the former council property they are renting out to your colleague) only charging £40 a month more than the council rate? That's not an evil grasping capitalist, is it? That's someone charging a little bit extra for their time and responsibility. The rest of your whining sounds a bit spurios and. as PP have said, the housing crisis is not the fault of individuals - it has a lot more to do with the ideological choice to get rid of social housing, force everyone who possibly could to take on mortgages that they couldn't afford and restrict 'council' housing to the utterly desperate.

contented soul: "Colleague then tells me of a mate of his, he managed to get a 3 bedroom council flat 8yrs ago. He has never slept in it once, still lives with parents and rents out the flat, his aim is to qualify for maximum discount and use the money he's made from renting to buy the flat outright!!"
--
That is fraud, he doesn't own the flat and would not be allowed to sub let.

You said this about brother's girlfriend:
"..she claims single parent, and as still living in the house and keeps all the rent herself!!"

That is fraud too.

The first person you spoke about who bought the council place her mother lived in, is not doing anything illegal as far as I can tell. Anyone can let a property that they own. However, the fact that the tenant cannot use the address for mail is dodgy.

If you feel you have to report the two landlords who do not own the properties, even if you have to give your name they will never know it was you who dobbed them in, it would be confidential information.

It's up to you what you do, I wouldn't report them but there would have to be a crime of violence or burglary for me to do that. I can understand your feelings about it though.

NC for this post.
After working for a council and a housing association for the past eleven years I can tell you that you are totally incorrect to say that anonymous tip off's are not accepted. In fact this is what the website of my local council says:

If you don't know the answers to some of the questions don't worry. All the information you provide will be strictly confidential and although you do not have to give us your name and address you can voluntarily do so.

Furthermore you say know people who are committing housing fraud but instead of reporting them you make slanderous comments about local councillors and MP's with no proof at all.

Grow a pair and report the people you know are breaking the law and stop libelling people you don't know at all.

Colleague 1 (or someone else) needs to report the landlady. I'm not sure of the exact rules but I know landlords need to be registered and licensed somewhere. Is his name on the council tax bill? The whole scenario doesn't make sense since if she owns the house after inheriting it she should be able to let legally.

I would take colleagues mate's tale with a pinch of salt. Why would a single man be allocated a 3 bedroom house anywhere?

I know a couple of people who bought council houses for elderly relatives at knockdown prices to inherit. Luckily buy to let is now stopped in Scotland.

Moaning about others and being resentful about them having a council property will not help you in the long run.

Reporting people is a vindictive action based not on the morality of the situation but rather on your sence of jealousy in this particular case.

They are certainly wrong to do those things, but I sense that you are renting privately, paying high rent, and envy those who are lucky enough to get a council property.

Jealousy will not help your situation. But I know how you feel, I've felt the same until I got my own council flat, now I don't care what anyone else does... You know why? Cos as Pink Flloyd said... 'I'm alright Jack' lol.

One poster has incorrectly said that council's saw a chance to make money and therefore sold desirable homes. The sale of homes was a central government policy which also dictated the amount of discount to be applied. Councils were not able to use capital receipts to build new homes.

I agree with others that you should report those who rent from council and are illegally sub-letting

Right to buy was ended. Tenancies still often have a right to acquire but the discount is capped. I believe around £9k.
Anyone wishing to buy must be on the tenancy so your example of boyfriend buying doesn't add up unless they bought as a couple and then artificially split to look like a single person or he gifted her the money to buy in which case it's still technically hers.
When I looked at buying my housing association there were also rules on selling within a certain time and needing to repay some discount if you did.
Whenever money is involved people will look for loopholes - you can get angry which achieves little or report when you know and distance yourself.

I know of a couple who both work full-time and holiday abroad every year because they are ‘entitled’ to social housing.

Huh?

So they should stop work because they are entitled to a HA property? Or should they move to a privately owned property?

OP

You know of crimes being committed and you are not reporting it, why?

I can stand benefit bashing threads. I've a friend who has lived in a council house since she became pg 17 yrs ago. It is a shitty house with cheap fittings that constantly break. Her living room radiator blew up 10 years ago, flooding the house (kids had to wear wellies) which ruined the carpet. It took 3 days for someone to even come out. The carpet has never been replaced, no dehumidifier was supplied and the back door has been warped ever since. The whole house stinks of damp, the carpet is mouldy and should be chucked but she can't afford a replacement so has literally cut out the worst chunks...why would anyone consider that lifestyle to be something to be envied?!

Your brother thing. He must have bought the house in her name to qualify for the discount. How is she living there and claiming housing benefit?
Sounds like a load of goady shit to me.

YANBU. But I was a bit concerned about this:
Colleague has to pay cash and is not allowed to use the address for mail (so all mail is diverted to his parents)

This suggests there is something not right going on. Perhaps she is not declaring the rent to the tax man?

I now three women who became single mums, gave up their job or significantly reduced their working hours, got council houses (in the case of two of them, brand new 3 bed houses), then met their well off partner, who moved in, bought the place together with the discount, and the sold it making a huge profit that allowed them to buy a very nice house they wouldn't have been able to get otherwise. None committed fraud.

What does annoy me is that although one keeps quiet about it, the other two openly brag about it, repeating over and over that they broke no rules so in their eyes, it was totally acceptable to use a system that was there to help in time of need rather than to give them what others could never get, but that the sense of entitlement that many seems to live by.