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

Completely agree. The absolute worst of Thatcher’s fuck ups.

I'm not a great fan of Margaret Thatcher myself but she's been dead a long time now and not been in power for nearly 30 years Subsequent governments ,did fuck all about the housing crisis either .

I think anyone who has bought a council house and then wants to rent it out should only be allowed to either charge what the council would charge, or have to let it to people on the housing register instead. The council could have agreements with the actual owners for using their services (such as repairs, assistance with tenant issues etc) at a fee.
That would reinject at least some of the sold properties back into social housing, the council would save money on maintaining/managing these properties to the full extent and the landlord would still be responsible for the general landlord stuff.

Report them end of, there are genuine people in shitty conditions that need these places. Honestly if you have the time to tell mn then have the time to report.

For those who bought it they can do what they like, subject to the terms of the deeds, so can rent it out.

There are people who do abuse council housing who should get caught though as they use up a council house that someone else in need could have. That is by no means the majority.

For example there was a person taken to court by the council down here last year or the year before because he had moved out and was using his council house as an air bnb. He lost the council house and had to pay to the council as the money he made from the illegal subletting.

And if the properties are sold instead, they should be sold with the same caveat re renting to the new owners- only to be rented out through the council

I thought the problem with not being able to identify exact loss of life and identifications of deceased was due to the amount of flats which were found to be sublet? It does happen a hell of a lot there is even tv series about it where they investigate and catch people out.

My nana always kicks herself for not buying hers for £500 back in the early 80s it's now worth £400K

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

Of course they don't realise, because they don't have a fucking clue how these things work because they find their information third hand, by hearsay and rumour, and then spout it as gospel.
I mean imagine if people like the OP of this thread and the other recent ones slating council/social housing tenants had to face the reality that people in social housing work, and need to work to afford the rent (because there's a lot of 'its free' banded around too) and have checks done to ensure that they can afford the rent and bills without putting them into debt and arrears. How mind blowing would that be? That we might be gasp just like them, human and everything!
It'd totally throw the balance of the hardworking, poor hard done by tax payers and the low life, lazy, scrounging ha tenants. It'd make the 'its all free!' rhetoric look as stupid and small minded as it actually is, because guess what? Those lazy, scrounging ha tenants suddenly also become tax payers...... How on earth could we be deemed less worthy and to be looked down upon when we're also paying into things like education, the NHS, the police and they use those services?
Therefore steadfastly ignoring the facts of the matter in favour of Chinese whispers and rumours keeps the poor in their place and the people can consult themselves virtuous that they aren't like that

@Crustytoenail

Absolutely correct. It's just pure jealously on their part... They can't handle the fact we have the cheapest rent and when we work full time , can afford to live very well because we're not burdened by the whims of greedy landlords overcharging us for private property.

@MrCouncilFlat

Unfortunately I don't live very well, combination of low wage and single mum, though I do work more than full time hours most weeks now. I have enough to pay all the bills - things like council tax (imagine that - a ha tenant paying council tax from their wages!) But only with a tax credits top up, which reduces year on year as I gradually earn more.
In comparison to when I private rented though, it's heaven. I moved 8 times in 15 years - uprooting DD each time, fighting for deposits back in all but one, and paying way over the odds. One it turned out was illegally letting, hadn't declared it and so when the leaking flat roof finally fell in and ruined a load of my stuff, the insurance didn't pay out. I don't have any of those worries now, that tomorrow a text could arrive that will see me packing up yet again and trying to find another grand or so for a deposit and probably fighting for the current one back despite sticking to the rules.
I don't resent anyone who does manage to do better than me though, I'm not someone who thinks only poor people should have a social conscience.

Right to buy was one of Thatcher’s flagship policies. Regardless of no subsequent government reversing it, it’s absolutely her fault. Just one of the reasons I cheered when I heard she was dead.

I don't actually disagree with rtb. The chance of owning the property encourages tenants to look after it, do it up, make it home. Owner occupiers dilute the number of non working families on estates, not that there is anything wrong with non working families. I know of a few council estates locally where probably 90% of the council stock is privately owned and the property is now very desirable, well built, good sizes with large gardens etc. Being able to get a foot on the property ladder inspires people to improve their lives, work for promotion, save up. Rtb was actually a good idea.

Until they took the money from the sales and diverted it to things other than replacing and renewing the social housing stock. As I understand it, rent from council housing goes back to the local authority to be used in their budgets. Monies from the sales of council housing goes back into central funds, but new housing stock is built from local funds, or the local council has to apply for more funds from central government to build new homes.

If the money had been invested into new, more modern property it would have been a brilliant scheme. Sell off bit by bit the old, expensive to maintain and modernise and replace it with more modern, more eco friendly, more suitable properties. Instead of the old sink estates, the odd new build on modern estates. It would have helped with a lot of the stigma of the old council estates and helped the next generation onto the housing ladder or given secure tenancies to those who need it and helped curtail the growth of the private rented sector.

The RTB scheme is possibly going to be enforced onto HAs. I presume that the HAs will be able to reinvest the proceeds of the sales back into housing stock, it will be interesting to see how that pans out in the future. I know of one local HA who has already started selling the older properties it has (it started about 12 years ago) and is only interested in buying newer properties or building them. That's the way it should be done.

The money from RTB purchases wasn’t permitted to be used to replace the housing stock. Hence the shortage of social housing for the last 30 years. It was social engineering. And bribery to buy Tory votes.

@DullPortraits Is that a reference to Grenfell. Do you have a link? Because i can tell you that the Grenfell residents are getting sick of the Hillsborough tactics.

Id need several hands to count the number of posts on here AND Twitter saying there was subletting going on but with no link to back up the claims provided.

Unlike 1989 though the claims of subletting that are on Twitter along with the racist tweets are being screenshot and kept.

Its not 1989 any more so it will be harder to rewrite history this time although there have been a couple of poor attempts at doing so.

But unlike Kelvin McKenzie who bleated "i was a victim too" 27 years down the line the people saying inaccurate things about the Grenfell residents for spurious reasons wont be able to say the same..............not in the digital age.

The government get 70% from right to buy only 30% is put back thatcher was a dick.

@HelenaDove quote me back a line from my post which means i am posting Racist things in the digital age.. thanks.

Also absolutely no mention of grenfell in my post.. thats on you my love!

Wobble your head wont you.

The first person is letting the property illegally, pretending she lives there so she does not have to pay any of the discount back. Second is committing benefit fraud. But third is doing nothing wrong at all. They work and can holiday where they want

I don't actually disagree with rtb
I don't either when the people have lived there for some time, paid rent and intend to make it there forever home.
Then it's a very fair policy to Hep those in work on lower paid income.

There should be many close though and that is that if sold, they can only get X% of equity on a gradual scale based on years of acquisition. Why is this so hard to put into practice?

Completely agree with all Frouby said
sales from rtb should be ringfenced to invest into building new social housing.

Subletting should not be allowed so report.

I thought the problem with not being able to identify exact loss of life and identifications of deceased was due to the amount of flats which were found to be sublet?

Can I ask what this is a reference to @DullPortraits?

@DullPortraits Where did i say YOU had posted racist comments i clearly said they were on Twitter Is this Twitter?

Id need several hands to count the number of posts on here AND Twitter saying there was subletting going on but with no link to back up the claims provided

Unlike 1989 though the claims of subletting that are on Twitter along with the racist tweets are being screenshot and kept.

There are claims of subletting on here with no links to back up posters claims Clear enough?

And i clearly stated that the subletting and racism was on TWITTER.

Nice try at gaslighting though.

And id also quite like an answer to @NoBaggyPants question.

*And i clearly stated that the subletting CLAIMS and racism was on TWITTER.