The good old Mumsnet Council housing debate

[QuandaleDingle]

You know all you people who demand that council tenants have their long tenancies taken off them and have their rents increase ??

Why don't you INSTEAD demand that the government makes shitty insecure private renting better ? And becomes more affordable and secure.
Or even better than that, build more council homes so anyone who wants or needs one can have one.

Rather stick the boot in on council tenants out of some sort of spite and ...jealousy ? I also think snobbery comes into it

It's a race to the bottom for some peeps🤦‍♀️ I'm not a council tenant btw but I have been.

@MrsSkylerWhite hahah you said where is the money going for SH?? Lots of houses have been up 30 plus years. They don't do their repairs BUT they still get the rent and the SERVICE charges. Yet a lot of repairs are not done, cheaply done or not done at all and the houses are a run down shit hole. Why is is this!

As others have pointed out: it isn't subsidised. Tenants pay rents. These rents are lower than private rentals because private landlords make higher profits. The rents from council tenants used to be used by the council, but we're later redirected to central government. Social housing tenants' rents are used for the greater good of society rather than to subsidise private landlords' lifestyles.

And, even were it not so, why wouldn't you want to subsidise/ support your fellow creatures?

This is normal in London. Plenty of academics, teachers, NHS staff, politicians, artists, you name it in social housing, as was the original aim.

It isn't subsidised. It's rented.

And do the snobbery begins

Goes up? I've been in my HA new build for 3 years and my rent has only ever gone down! It was £550 until 3 months ago when it went down to £470. It really shouldn't be going up

When I was private renting when I was single before I had my child, private renting was literally a casino bet. There were sooooooo many people for every single property that the letting agent would collect up all the application forms and the Landlord would pick the best applicant. So despite the fact that I had more than sufficient income, that I had proof that I'd never missed a rent payment in 21 years of private renting, that I had pristine references and a guarantor if required - I NEVER got chosen as the Landlord always^^ chose the couple who were the wealthiest. At one point I was viewing 1-4 properties per day(!) and got refused for every single one.
This is what is wrong with the private renting market. Unless you're the Doctor & Dentist who are minted but not planning to buy for whatever reason, then they'll you've no chance! Private landlords who don't use agents always have a pre-existing list of people wanting somewhere so they never need to advertise. The only way I eventually found somewhere (after 19 months of quite literally daily viewings), it was only because 2 months prior I'd resorted to offering a year's rent in advance!!! (Even then some landlords still didn't choose me as others did the same! It's absolute pure madness

I've said for a long time that there needs to be a cap on how many properties a landlord can own and a cap on rent charges. I can't see it happening but I wish it would happen.
I'm saying that as a person on disability benefits that has hugely struggled in the past finding affordable housing.

Yes!! This. And no air b&bs in pressured areas

I can just imagine the doctors (on their drs salaries) jostling for position in the queue to live in a council house slap bang next to their surgeries.

It's a long time ago now but my granny's doctor lived across the road from her (his surgery was in his large house). On a council estate. He didn't own the house, it came with the job.

And this is the problem with private landlords/ businesses charging absolutely what they want and people having g no other options but to pay. Fair rent law needs to be implemented at local levels to stop all this nonsense. There was a previous post that asked how landlords are supposed to pay for repairs if there is rent caps which would reduce their profits, easy answer there is to sell. Absolutely no sympathy from me for private landlords

This is a global problem now. So many new big houses being built in rural areas without infrastructure.

So much property being bought to rent for big profits by big money interests (pension funds etc) pricing ordinary people out of the market.

It will take a big paradigm shift to solve this problem and currently neither political party has a plan
We do need council property to be built but no one wants to live in a high rise which would be the most efficient way of houses lots of people. It works in Singapore though.

Maybe we should look at the HDB model in Singapore.

In mu Dad's school in the 70s and 80s several teachers lived on the quite rough council estate.

Realityloom · Yesterday 17:29
@MrsSkylerWhite hahah you said where is the money going for SH?? Lots of houses have been up 30 plus years. They don't do their repairs BUT they still get the rent and the SERVICE charges. Yet a lot of repairs are not done, cheaply done or not done at all and the houses are a run down shit hole. Why is is this!“

I think you’re confusing me with someone else?
I agree with you.

What would happen if buy to lets were only given if rent chargable was no more than the local housing allowance?

Probably still an awful lot of mortgages paid for by the public purse through housing benefit, which sits really uncomfortably with me (I don't blame others for doing it, it's legal and we're all just trying to survive at the end of the day!).

And no, we shouldn’t have enough council houses for everyone. How is that a good idea and how logistically and economically would that work
Social housing should be available for anyone that wants it, the people that want it are those on lower incomes and those living in insecure shitty private housing. People that can afford to buy their own properties do not want to live in social housing.
That's why when given the option to buy their council houses many people did.
The idea that if you were to create more social homes, suddenly every 'shit hot' lawyer and doctor in town will be selling up to move in one and therefore unsustainable is laughable.