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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

In Charging rent

199 replies

Hooseproblems34 · 17/02/2020 09:05

Hi I'm looking for opinions on what others would do in my shoes. I live in a 2 bed council house and in 3 years time I could own it outright I would need about 12,000 to do this. But I would not be able to save that amount .

I have 3 children and one of them has said they would have the savings to do this as have been saving for a deposit. This would be used as a family home for them as they have DC .

Would I be unreasonable in then charging them rent to live here? The property would still be in my name. But obviously I wouldn't be in the position of owning it if it wasn't for them.

I would like it to go to family. But also have two other children to think about. As one said they would of liked to buy it the other isn't bothered. The two other DC don't have children of their own.

So what would you do? I plan on moving in with my partner so don't plan on living in my house in the next 3 years .

OP posts:
Mamato2gorgeousboys · 17/02/2020 13:20

People like you Op are exactly who give people on benefits a bad name. The system is broken in that you’ve spent 26 years in a council house when it should be a temporary solution. You’ve probably used housing benefit to pay the rent and now you get to buy a properly for 12k.

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 17/02/2020 13:23

I remember working with people who were boasting about buying their council houses dirt cheap and then how much profit they would make selling them on😕 just wrong.

My first flat was ex-LA, bought by the tenants.
They paid £52,000 for it, waited exactly 36 months, then sold it to me for £107,000. They were laughing all the way to the bank.

gamerchick · 17/02/2020 13:27

People like you Op are exactly who give people on benefits a bad name. The system is broken in that you’ve spent 26 years in a council house when it should be a temporary solution. You’ve probably used housing benefit to pay the rent and now you get to buy a properly for 12k

Council houses are fuck all to do with benefits and why are you assuming it was paid with HB?

Alsohuman · 17/02/2020 13:30

you’ve spent 26 years in a council house when it should be a temporary solution

Council housing wasn’t built as a temporary solution. They were built to be homes. Lambast Thatcher for introducing right to buy all you want, but someone availing themselves of a perfectly legal discount doesn’t deserve all the censure OP’s getting on this thread.

Mamato2gorgeousboys · 17/02/2020 13:33

@gamerchick Are council houses not given to people in need who are in a difficult situation and unable to support themselves on the private market, be it renting or by purchasing a property? The only people I have ever known to get a council house were on benefits due to either not working or having a low income. I don’t know where you live, but they certainly don’t hand them out to anybody who asks for one around here.

Mamato2gorgeousboys · 17/02/2020 13:37

@Alsohuman Just because it is legal, it doesn’t make it right. Op wants her dd to buy a council house on her behalf (when she doesn’t need it) and then charge her rent to live in it when there are thousands of families waiting for social houses who are in desperate need.

Okbutno · 17/02/2020 13:42

A family member used to do right to buy for a council. This isn't legal. They do specific checks to see if its actually your money and you live there/will live there. It's alps ethically appalling.

It's really common for less well off parents to have a council house then wealthier children buy it on their beha9but actually live in it, rent it out, or sell ASAP. As a way of benefiting from the low cost.

cabbageking · 17/02/2020 13:42

If your children have lived there with you look into their right to purchase the house directly at the reduced price. My brother purchased my father's house as he lived there and got the max reduction. Council houses were not just for those in benefits. I grew up in a council estate built by the MD and everyone was in work. You would need to declare and pay tax on the rent so probably cheaper if your children purchase it directly. Check it out..

gamerchick · 17/02/2020 13:44

@gamerchick Are council houses not given to people in need who are in a difficult situation and unable to support themselves on the private market, be it renting or by purchasing a property? The only people I have ever known to get a council house were on benefits due to either not working or having a low income. I don’t know where you live, but they certainly don’t hand them out to anybody who asks for one around here

Don't assume it's the same everywhere. They still give them to working families and single men here. People would like them to be connected to benefits as it suits their agenda.

TheReef · 17/02/2020 13:45

I think you are being v v v unreasonable

You can't get someone to buy you a house, have it in your name and then charge them rent, it sounds bonkers! Why would your dc agree to this.

Plus, what will you do for your other dc? When you die so they all get a third of the house that you didn't pay for? Come on op, that's wrong on so many levels

Alsohuman · 17/02/2020 13:48

No, council properties are awarded to people who have enough points by virtue of length of time on the list, number of children, etc. They’re not means tested and never were. I imagine it was a lot easier to get one 26 years ago because there were more of them.

goodwinter · 17/02/2020 13:52

Sorry I completely disagree with the concept of RTB as it stands. Give it back to the council if you no longer need it.

TheSoapyFrog · 17/02/2020 14:01

Well you're borrowing £12k from your child to pay the for the house outright, so you can't really ask for the money and to pay you rent as well. I agree with PP that they should live rent free until your debt is paid off.
If they're paying you rent and the property is in your name, I think that would make you their landlord, so you would be responsible for maintaining the property, gas and electricity checks etc... Have you factored in the extra costs of doing this?

midwestspring · 17/02/2020 14:05

It is very hard to support the idea of social housing when this is how it is being used (and my grandparents lived in council housing all their lives)

inwood · 17/02/2020 14:12

This is why there is a social housing crisis.

Purpleartichoke · 17/02/2020 14:22

I’m not going to criticize someone for utilizing a legal option to acquire a home. That battle should be with the law, not the person.

I’m also not opposed to charging adult children rent depending on the circumstances.

What you can’t do is take your child’s savings to buy a home for yourself and then charge them to live there.

Ginnyrellas · 17/02/2020 14:25

Oh I'm going to get torn a new one for this but I actually kind of see where the OP is coming from...
@Mamato2gorgeousboys Many years ago myself and my family were given a A council property, Both working full time and taking home 35K a year, so yes it can happen where the local authority will give social housing to a working family.

My parents took advantage of the right to buy scheme in 1992 and it was the making of them. I thought the council reinvested the money from the purchase in newer more sustainable buildings?

ShadowOnTheSun · 17/02/2020 14:27

English is not my first language, so I'm sure I misunderstood something. If that's so, I do apologize.

From what I've read, though... So for 26 years you sponged off the state/society. Now you want to rob the said society once again, by privatizing (already scarce) social housing. Except you don't have a cent, so you want your own child spend their 12k, to buy it for you, put in your name AND then you want to charge them rent to live in THEIR own house? Is that so? Fucking hell..

If I was your child, I'd buy the house myself and kick you out of it, the greedy cow.

Wishforsnow · 17/02/2020 14:28

YABU and you are proof of why the system is so wrong. Guess you are just used to having your life subsidised which is why in your head it's right your dc buy the house and you think it's normal you would still get rent

Puzzledandpissedoff · 17/02/2020 14:36

26 years in a council house does not entitle you to buy it at a reduced rate

Unfortunately it does exactly that, but I honestly didn't think they reduced the price to something as ridiculous as £12k

Somebody tell me this is a joke ... please??

TaniaArse · 17/02/2020 14:47

Just because it is legal, it doesn’t make it right.

I don't agree with this. When it comes to benefits, tax, etc, pay what you legally have to and claim what you're legally entitled to. I don't see many tax payers deciding that they really get quite an easy ride from the tax system, and adding a few quid on because they want to do what is right. If the OP is legally entitled to do what she's proposing then good luck to her.

TaniaArse · 17/02/2020 14:50

PS I'd say that selling public assets at an undervalue is an outrageously stupid policy that should be stopped, but that needs to be a collective decision, not one implemented on a case-by-case basis by individuals foregoing their legal entitlement.

SamBee1 · 17/02/2020 15:05

If you've been in the house 26 years, then by my reckoning the house is worth about £27,000 at full value if you are getting a discount in the region of 56%. Is that roughly correct?

Right to buy is one of the most detrimental policies this country has ever seen, but I could not bring myself to criticise anyone who took advantage (like, for example, my dad).

Okbutno · 17/02/2020 15:27

@ShadowOnTheSun
I don't agree with right to buy but massively agree with social housing. It's grossly unfair to say op has been sponging by merely having a council house.

Also her dc can't buy it as they have no right! Also it makes no sense that you would acll a council house tenant a scrounger yet it would be ok for their child to buy said home at a reduced rate. Futyjer costing the tax payer!

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 17/02/2020 15:30

wow you and your children all sound very entitled OP!!!
Vile that not only do you want to take social housing you no longer require out of the system (ironically I'm guessing you're one of those people that moan about the shortage of housing association properties)- but you want to charge the person (your own child) who has bought it for you, rent!!!!!!!!!!!!