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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think if you're sacked from your job, you don't get to keep the accommodation provided with the job?

189 replies

user1490607838 · 14/02/2020 14:49

Just that really! A man who worked in a school (as caretaker) for 17 years, has been sacked, and he and his wife are now 'sobbing' because they have nowhere to go!

Whilst it can't be easy to have to move out of the property you have raised your family in, surely they must have known that if he ever lost his job, the accommodation would have gone with it?!

They are trying to make out he was 'unfairly sacked' as he was finished from his job whilst on sick leave. But they have been asked to leave the home several times, and in the end had to be forced out

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-sobs-we-nothing-family-21489077

AIBU to think they shouldn't expect to keep the home provided with the job, when the job finishes?

OP posts:
GrumpyHoonMain · 14/02/2020 15:49

It’s a bit unreasonable to fire them and expect them to get a new job / accomodation immediately. But they have had 3 years now to sort themselves out.

BrieAndChilli · 14/02/2020 15:49

i imagine they have done it this way in order to gain a council house. unfortunately these days its not that easy and many people have to live in substandard emergency accomodation for years before gaining a home. menawhile the rest of us just have to private rent for extortionate amounts in order to have the 'whole family' together.

Fredastaireatemyjamsandwich · 14/02/2020 15:50

Sensation reporting. If it’s in the Mirror you know they have cherry picked all the details they think will make the story more juicy, and entice more people to click on the link....

karencantobe · 14/02/2020 15:52

In jobs like this, the rent is usually cheap because the pay is lower.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 14/02/2020 15:53

"Mrs Davies claims the family had no idea they were being evicted until enforcement officers knocked on her door on February 3"

They're not very credible are they? Hmm

And it's a bit much for them to accuse the council of greed when they've hung onto a £90pm house which they're not even entitled to

MrsTerryPratchett · 14/02/2020 15:56

In jobs like this, the rent is usually cheap because the pay is lower.

Except he and his wife could have got other jobs. She's a SAHM and he's what, unemployed? Plus adult children who could have been working. That's 4 incomes into a house with 90 quid a month rent.

OllyBJolly · 14/02/2020 15:58

In jobs like this, the rent is usually cheap because the pay is lower

This. I have a friend who was in a similar situation. Pay was very low because of tied accommodation. No way to build up a deposit or get a mortgage. Council decided to sell the properties and they had a notice to quit - but no pay rise to compensate for losing the house. The unions are involved and it is still wrangling on now. I think it's been about 5 years.

Some people are being very harsh. There are some jobs where workers simply do not earn enough to make provision for the future.

karencantobe · 14/02/2020 16:00

I was talking about when he was the caretaker.
It does not matter if his wife or kids could have got a job. Your pay for a job is not calculated on how many other people in your house could or are working.

Frenchw1fe · 14/02/2020 16:00

When my husband's grandad died his dm was 14 and the family had to move out of their tied accommodation.

The employer needs the house for a new worker surely.

karencantobe · 14/02/2020 16:01

And it is an easy way for employers to pay a low wage. Especially in areas where the accommodation is difficult to let.

JudyCoolibar · 14/02/2020 16:01

The article says that the husband now has another job.

85notout · 14/02/2020 16:02

So would that mean the person who took the job on had no accommodation because he refused out. That's selfish

I don't think that's the case because the school is now an academy and the council still own the house- from what I've seen in other academies there often isn't a tied house any more. It doesn't diminish the CFery though. I feel sorry for him for his mental health difficulties but the council don't owe him anything and there is no reason why the two adults should be housed with their parents.

Xenia · 14/02/2020 16:03

They certainly seem to have exploited the system and stayed on after their appeals and the council says they can collect their possessions on an agreed date so if I were they I would be concentrating on getting the stuff back. The father has a new pest control job so they just need the mother back in work shortly (and the 2 older girls if they don't have jobs yet).

JudyCoolibar · 14/02/2020 16:03

There are some jobs where workers simply do not earn enough to make provision for the future.

Nothing stopping the wife working? Plus the husband was free to look for higher paying work once the caretaker job came to an end.

WorraLiberty · 14/02/2020 16:05

Some people are being very harsh. There are some jobs where workers simply do not earn enough to make provision for the future.

She's a SAHM and their youngest child is 12.

I'm sure she could have chipped in if things were that bad.

Ronnie27 · 14/02/2020 16:06

There are no words. 2015 he was sacked! They’ve stuck their heads well and truly in the sand and refused to prepare themselves or take any action at all to the point they’ve ended up in temporary accommodation at huge cost to the council when they’ve had an extra five years of rent at £90 pcm and still not managed to stand on their own feet. And the sad face pictures may have had more impact with a brood of under 5s, the kids are all adults themselves except for the youngest. They’ve made themselves look ridiculous, I’d be mortified if they were my parents.

00100001 · 14/02/2020 16:07

I know someone with tied accommodation, and they refused to move out after retire. Now employer has to go through formal eviction process! Still going in a year on.

karencantobe · 14/02/2020 16:09

He was sacked because he was ill.
Of course they were going to have to leave. But I don't blame them for fighting to stay as long as they can.

Jaxhog · 14/02/2020 16:09

Wow! You'd think they'd at least make an effort to find somewhere else to live. It's been nearly 5 years. Can't either of the parents or some of the grown-up kids get a job?

Kirkman · 14/02/2020 16:16

Some people are being very harsh. There are some jobs where workers simply do not earn enough to make provision for the future.

Rubbish. Her youngest son was 7 when this happened. She could have gone and found before or since then.

x2boys · 14/02/2020 16:16

Could they pay less than NMW if the rent is so low?

PineappleDanish · 14/02/2020 16:19

What a pair of entitled arses.

Kirkman · 14/02/2020 16:21

If his wage has always been so low (as some are suggesting), they cant save for the future (knowing they only stay in the house while he works there).

How come they could afford 2 more kids since they moved in? And afford for the other to not work?

karencantobe · 14/02/2020 16:24

Yes of course you can pay less than NMW if you have in kind benefits such as cheap accommodation. I don't know if that is the case here though.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 14/02/2020 16:25

Why did they sack him?