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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Council house or housing benefit

67 replies

ambereeree · 08/08/2020 15:56

Am I right in thinking that council houses don't exist (where the council own the house and you just pay bills and council tax)?
You now have to claim housing benefit if you can't afford to pay private rent?

OP posts:

majesticallyawkward · 08/08/2020 18:33

I work for a HA, this wouldn't get them anywhere and you as the LL would be in a difficult position at best.

It sounds like the tenants have been given bad info, or haven't looked into their plan properly. If the council or a HA are willing to put them on a higher enough band for it to be worth bidding it could be years before anything comes up. The town I live in has 10,000 people waiting for social housing properties and the HA I work for (different area) has upwards of a 4/5 year wait for a house. The stock just isn't there to meet demand and often a temporary home that is unsuitable but the person accepts it because it's 'just a few weeks' then becomes long term because they have a home so don't get priority.

I'm shocked anyone would ask a LL to get involved in their fraud and are naive enough to believe they will be handed a free house!

HeIenaDove · 08/08/2020 18:38

naive enough to believe they will be handed a free house

Perhaps they have been reading the misconceptions of some of the social housing haters on this site!

BerryPieandCustard · 08/08/2020 18:39

I have just seen you are in Greater London area. They will wait YEARS for a house, they can potentially be moved out of their borough for temporary accommodation and in extreme circumstances can need to be placed out of London.

BerryPieandCustard · 08/08/2020 18:46

Also if they have kids and are intentionally homeless (rent arrears of any kind- doesn’t matter about the reasons) they can still be housed however social services would be informed about children at risk of being homeless possibly triggering the requirement to make the children a ‘child in need’ the council and as work together to find accommodation (this may not be council, could be a private LL with council providing deposit).
Rent arrears will potentially force the family down a band so a band B (as they are homeless) becomes a band C which would make them extremely unlikely to ever be successful in obtaining housing seeing as you are talking about London

gobbynorthernbird · 08/08/2020 18:46

HOWEVER if there are ANY rent arrears the tenant is classed as intentionally homeless and will not be offered housing via the council

This isn't true. It depends on how the arrears came about.

chockybicky · 08/08/2020 18:57

The rent where I live for a housing association is about the same as private let.
I know this because I live in a housing association and work for letting agency.

The only benefit to a housing association or council owned property is that it used to guarantee you a life long tenancy but that's no longer the case as stock is low demand and people were living in houses long after their children had grown up and they had since got a good career so now they give out fixed term tenancies and asses the tenants needs to decide if they still need the property before renewing the tenancy for another fixed term.

But it's not free and the rent is not always cheap.

ILoveAllRainbowsx · 08/08/2020 19:08

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

SciFiScream · 08/08/2020 19:15

It sounds like you might have enough of a relationship with your tenants to have a conversation with them about this?

Signpost them to accurate information.

Work out a payment plan for the arrears

You don't want to be caught up in fraud, you don't want to be out of pocket.

Original poster

ambereeree · 08/08/2020 19:23

@scifiscream that's just it. We have worked out a payment plan...that's why I'm so surprised I was asked to write a letter.
They are a little naive so I have a feeling somebody suggested the "plan".

OP posts:

Lougle · 08/08/2020 19:26

We pay just under half the cost of private for our 3 bed council house. We don't get any housing benefit/allowance. However, if we did rent privately, the allowance we would get would cover the amount of the private rent. So we would be no worse off, we'd just lack the security of council rent.

rosiejaune · 08/08/2020 20:42

@BerryPieandCustard

My husband is a housing officer for the council. Having a section 21 notice to quit and providing proof to the council will place you in band C (A being the highest E the lowest) as it is risk of homelessness. When the notice reaches the last date you still don’t have to leave the property. This is when the landlord can lodge court papers to evict the tenant. At this point the tenant still doesn’t HAVE to leave, also at this point it will trigger moving up a band to band B. The landlord then must return to court and a bailiff is given a date to visit the property and evict the tenant. Only at this point will the tenant be moved into temporary accommodation, this could be a bed and breakfast depending on housing stock in the area.

The tenant will remain in temporary accommodation and bid for properties on a weekly cycle, the highest band bidder who has been entered on the list for the longest gets first refusal Continuing in date order. People in our are can bid on 2 properties per cycle and refuse 2 properties if they refuse the 3rd they are removed from the register.

HOWEVER if there are ANY rent arrears the tenant is classed as intentionally homeless and will not be offered housing via the council. Writing this letter will do them zero favours plus it’s fraud

This depends on the council. They all have different banding systems and rules.

BilboBercow · 08/08/2020 20:51

Jeezo, do people actually think council housing is just free? Where I live it's cheaper than private rent but not massively and unfortunately most of the "good" housing stock was sold off long ago.
Free housing ffs.

Emeraldshamrock · 08/08/2020 21:08

It's so odd how the difference between private/social housing costs varies so dramatically
It isn't really social housing is to support those in need, private rent is a business with a mortgage and charges attached there's nothing odd about it.
A huge percentage of housing benefit is spent through private rents anyway.
It is cheaper for the council long term to supply their own housing.

Jeschara · 08/08/2020 21:10

Your tenants must be very nieve and gullable.
I am glad you are not writing the letter.

crowsfeet57 · 08/08/2020 21:32

In most areas priority is now given to working applicants

Totally wrong. If you know of anywhere this is happening, I suggest you got to the police as it is illegal and council staff found preferring one applicant over another unfairly can go to jail.

The only legal way to allocate social housing is prioritise applicants based on need. Local authorities may not do so in exactly the same way and may seek to exclude applicants from outside the area. They are not allowed to prefer working applicants over non-working applicants.

AmberAndAlexsMum · 08/08/2020 21:38

I used to work as s benefits officer. For council tenants who claim HB it will be paid directly to their rent account. This does not usually happen with private rents.

Marble2302 · 08/08/2020 22:41

I was evicted as my landlord was selling the property. I couldn't find an affordable private rent so I was allocated social housing. I don't claim any benefits as a single parent only CB. My rent is half what it was privately.

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