Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

1 single person in a 3 bed council house

313 replies

Fyptk · 17/05/2021 11:19

20ish years ago this person exchanged from a 1 bed flat to a 3 bed council house because relatives were moving in with her, so all the bedrooms were needed.

Fastforward a few years and those relatives all moved on and the single person remained in the 3 bed house.

To get out of paying bedroom tax they claim the other bedrooms are used for something to do with their work which they are not. The rooms are unused apart from storing excess clutter.

Meanwhile here in London (where this person lives) families are stuck in hostels and overcrowded rooms whilst the local burroughs housing register has in excess of 10,000 people on it waiting to be housed. The minimum wait for a 3 bed house here is 10 years.

AIBU to think they are selfish?

OP posts:
Happycat1212 · 19/05/2021 16:50

Yes councils advertise weekly which properties are available to move in to.

ALongHardWinter · 19/05/2021 16:54

I'm sure the only exemption to the 'bedroom tax' (apart from it actually being used by someone) is on medical grounds,e.g. for a carer,or used to store large medical equipment. Being used for work purposes is not an exemption.
By the way,the bedroom tax only applies if you are claiming benefits,e.g. housing benefit.

Totallycluelessoverhere · 19/05/2021 16:56

But available is one thing...how many people are waiting to bid on it. If 200 people need one property then shortage is a problem. There could be 200 people in the top band waiting to bid on that property and that is the size they are eligible to bid on so it isn’t really available to somebody from a lower priority band and is probably needed more by the band A applicant than the overcrowder.

Totallycluelessoverhere · 19/05/2021 17:04

I’m not explaining myself well but the problem is shortage of housing. If everybody who is under occupied downsized then the people who are eating for housing and only eligible for one beds suddenly have no chance of getting housing. It’s just shifting the problem. We need to lobby for much more social housing and an immediate end to right to buy.

LexMitior · 19/05/2021 17:10

@Whattodo34

Its quite telling that some of these people care more about their 'right' to remain in a hugely under occupied council home, than they care about children suffering in poor conditions.

Its a very sad example of the "I'm alright Jack" mentality.

I bet most of those people disingenuously sigh "oh, how awful" when they see adverts or television programs about children living in poverty.

What good is it having a system in place to support the most needy and disadvantaged people in our society when they can't access it because of people like that.

You have to change the law to deal with it! It is no good all the councils trying to shuffle people around and house swaps. This just rewards people who grift the system.

Put them on a serious review and change the priority list. There is no way that a 4 bed house should be occupied by a single person when public housing is based on need. They don’t need it! An annual review of circumstances, with a clause that reserved the right to terminate the tenancy otherwise would be lawful. I think it would be a popular policy, particularly if right to buy was only granted to those who had housing at capacity. So single people cannot buy a four bed. They can have one and that is their right.

This would keep subletters and piss takers out of social housing, based on true need.

Rubyupbeat · 19/05/2021 17:28

My friend lives in a 3 bedroom maisonette in London, her last child moved out 4 years ago, she desperately wants to move into a 1 bedroom place, But, nothing is available, apparently there is a shortage of 1 and 2 bedroom places, compared to larger properties.
Her maisonette is huge and has a large garden, so would suit a family, like it did for hers for many years, but where is she going to be housed to make it available? She lives in hope.

Happycat1212 · 19/05/2021 17:30

Rubyupbeat

She could do a Mutual exchange, loads of people in London in one beds trying to get a bigger property

osbertthesyrianhamster · 19/05/2021 17:35

Put them on a serious review and change the priority list.

All the more reason those people will buy their council house then.

Whattodo34 · 19/05/2021 17:39

My DM didn't struggle to get a 1 bed flat when she moved to London from up north.

After 3-4 months of lodging with her sister she was given a lovely 1 bed flat within a complex for the over 50's.

18 months later she decided she'd like to exchange and had no problem being moved to another similar property.

The issue for many is, as PP pointed out, the ones who are prepared to downsize are too fussy about it. IE "I don't want to be in a highrise" or "I don't like the area"

LexMitior · 19/05/2021 17:41

Yes! But you change the policy.

Right to buy is suspended while it is reviewed, then limit said right to buy to occupancy. Change the discount system and you could actually get some money back to invest in new housing for those in need.

The whole thing is always considered to insoluble. But really we need to decide who social housing is for instead of this mess.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 19/05/2021 17:43

@LexMitior

Yes! But you change the policy.

Right to buy is suspended while it is reviewed, then limit said right to buy to occupancy. Change the discount system and you could actually get some money back to invest in new housing for those in need.

The whole thing is always considered to insoluble. But really we need to decide who social housing is for instead of this mess.

It's not going to happen. If I were one of these people I'd have long bought the place to keep this kind of thing off my back.
osbertthesyrianhamster · 19/05/2021 17:47

@Rubyupbeat

My friend lives in a 3 bedroom maisonette in London, her last child moved out 4 years ago, she desperately wants to move into a 1 bedroom place, But, nothing is available, apparently there is a shortage of 1 and 2 bedroom places, compared to larger properties. Her maisonette is huge and has a large garden, so would suit a family, like it did for hers for many years, but where is she going to be housed to make it available? She lives in hope.
She can buy it, sell it on the open market and then buy something suitable for her. It's not her problem to solve this problem of housing other peoples' children.
Whattodo34 · 19/05/2021 17:51

She can buy it, sell it on the open market and then buy something suitable for her. It's not her problem to solve this problem of housing other peoples' children.

What a lovely attitude to have.

Imagine if everybody took the stance.

LexMitior · 19/05/2021 18:02

@osbertthesyrianhamster

Are you sure? Gov consulted on it.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 19/05/2021 18:06

[quote LexMitior]@osbertthesyrianhamster

Are you sure? Gov consulted on it.[/quote]
The Tory government? Yeah, that's so going to change. IIRC a lot of those people are on old tenancy agreements after have RTB as part of that. I'd advise anyone get hassle to downsize to exercise their RTB. They can also let the place out. It's not their fault it's gone the way it has, why should they be penalised?

Totallycluelessoverhere · 19/05/2021 18:09

All the more reason those people will buy their council house then.

Absolutely, especially if they have been a tenant for a significant number of years and get a sizeable discount.
My friend bought hers before they lowered the discount levels so she got a 70% discount.
The council had been talking about her moving somewhere smaller now all but one of her 7 children had flown the nest. Everything they showed her was a dump. She had spent a lot of money making the house she lived in nice over a couple of decades so she decided to exercise her right to buy. Her monthly mortgage was cheaper than the rent she had been paying. But she has taken a 5 bed council house out of social housing because the council are too blinkered to realise that if you want people to move from a decent big house at least offer them a well maintained smaller house and not a dump.
Right to buy needs to stop but I don’t blame
the individuals taking advantage of it, I blame the govt.

Totallycluelessoverhere · 19/05/2021 18:17

The whole thing is always considered to insoluble. But really we need to decide who social housing is for instead of this mess.

I’m not sure how this would work in principle. How do you define ‘in need’. If we do it on income then it offers no incentive for people to work hard and better themselves. Nobody is going to chase a pay rise if it means they get turfed out of their home and have to find triple the money to private rent.
So we do it based on number of children? If we shifted all under occupiers to smaller properties we soon wouldn’t have enough smaller properties. I’m just not sure it is entirely practical. They already did a study which showed removing tenancies for under occupiers and rehousing them in smaller homes wouldn’t solve the overall problem.

We really risk divide and rule politics with means testing for a council house.

MontysRoseGarden · 19/05/2021 19:02

@Whattodo34 assume you house homeless people in your spare room to 'help out'? your holier than thou attitude suggests so

Whattodo34 · 19/05/2021 19:18

[quote MontysRoseGarden]@Whattodo34 assume you house homeless people in your spare room to 'help out'? your holier than thou attitude suggests so[/quote]
Spare room? Ha Ha good one.

If I had spare rooms and happened to live in a council house, you can bet I would be downsizing so those more in need could have it.

RavingAnnie · 19/05/2021 19:52

No they don't. That's not an exception.

nosafeguardingadults · 19/05/2021 19:54

@Rubyupbeat

My friend lives in a 3 bedroom maisonette in London, her last child moved out 4 years ago, she desperately wants to move into a 1 bedroom place, But, nothing is available, apparently there is a shortage of 1 and 2 bedroom places, compared to larger properties. Her maisonette is huge and has a large garden, so would suit a family, like it did for hers for many years, but where is she going to be housed to make it available? She lives in hope.
I'm really sorry to be selfish but I really hope she doesn't get priority for a 1 bedroom place because I wish the priority was first for people like me who are in domestic violence relationships who need somewhere safe to go after refuges.
GirlCrush · 19/05/2021 20:04

Isn’t it the case that if you are in a refuge you have to be housed within the year?

nosafeguardingadults · 19/05/2021 20:17

I don't know maybe some areas but my council told me to find private. I'm on disability and private don't want people like me. The citizens advice told me there's no housing. I was in a different borough before and their allocations policy had downsizers as top priority so they've taken all the 1 beds from anyone else who needs it. Maybe some areas have more 1 beds but if downsizing thing keeps happening same problem will happen there too. There's some older people 1 beds but nothing much for younger.

Happycat1212 · 19/05/2021 20:22

In my borough people downsizing do get priority over those experiencing dv, people downsizing get band A those experiencing dv band b.

GirlCrush · 19/05/2021 20:24

so theres more demand for 1 and 2 bed places than there is 3/4/5 bed houses....so by not downsizing more single and disabled people get housed. makes sense