To be jealous of my friend’s social housing house?

[Crankitcrew]

I have a house with a mortgage. I can barely afford to pay for repairs to the house. It’s falling apart.
My friend has recently moved into social housing and has a much more spacious house than mine, but the biggest reason I’m jealous is if anything goes wrong with the house it’s fixed by the housing association within days. No cost. She only pays a small contribution towards her rent. The rest is paid. She doesn’t work and claims PIP because she has PTSD and depression.

She and her partner are talking about getting some decking done in the garden and paying £600 for it. There’s no way on earth we could afford that, we can’t even afford to have the re plastering done that is falling off, not to mention the damp problem.

People say to me “well, at least you own your home” and “you can leave it to your children” but what if we never pay the mortgage off? What if we end up needing care and the money from the house goes to pay that instead? Which is what happened to my grandparents.

I saw getting on the property ladder a right of passage or something, but I now realise it’s not all it’s made out to be.

Did she, aye?

You have to show evidence to get PIP, as in actual letters and reports from professionals. You also have to show how your condition impacts your day to day life. Then you have an assessment appointment where you have to demonstrate it all for a professional who writes a report for the decision maker. Out of all benefits, disability benefits have one of the lowest rates of fraud precisely because its so difficult to be awarded them in the first place.

You don't get "given" a mobility car. To qualify for Motability you need to be getting high rate mobility component of PIP. To get high rate mobility you have to prove that your mobility or ability to be safely mobile is significantly impaired, I know people with literally one fucking leg who have been refused high rate mobility despite the absence of a leg as their proof that their mobility is impaired so I doubt your mate got it by lying. If you do get high rate mobility and qualify for the Motability scheme you still don't get "given" a car. You forfeit the mobility component of your PIP and you pay for the car just like anyone else who is buying a car.

You don't get "given" house either because there is no one standing around handing out houses. What happened was that your friend filled in an application form, her needs were assessed and she qualified for housing allocatio due to those needs.

I do understand... I have a Friend who makes awful life choices, she was given a lovely brand hew two bed ground floor flat for her and her child then she upped and left it to go live in with a new guy in his owned house. She fell pregnant with twins within 9 weeks and they broke up. She then applied again for social housing as she was homeless... she was given a new build 3 bed on a very good postcode estate in the region of 220k worth.
I openly said I was a bit annoyed if course I was pleased for my friend but it does grate when you try and sort your own life out

I have never read such bullshit in my life. A friend of a friend of a friend was it 🤣

Not sure why there's such a backlash, but I don't blame you for feeling this way! We're only human.

You do realise that people in HA or council don't get free houses don't you?

I paid full rent for the 10 years I lived in mine.

It's actually my sister in law. There's absolutely zero bullshit in the story. I know the ins and outs of her situation very very well. She even lied and told them that our other sister in law and I were basically her carers.

Personally I’d rather have my mental health and the ability to work and build my career, than some decking. Each to their own though.

I don't care if you say it's your daughter and she lives with you. It's still complete bullshit. There is no way you can lie about mental health and get a fucking car

Then explain how she did 🤣

She didn't

Believe what you like the story isn't made up. She has a very good paper trail from the lies she told her doctors and medications that go in the bin every month

How did she get a car? You need higher rate mobility element for that? It is bullshit. It's either you that's lying or she is to you.

She got higher rate mobility for it because of the lies she told her doctors.

But imagine being dependent on the state, that enough would depress me. I'd rather work for what I have, be in control of my own destiny and be able to make my own choices and have options

You can't just lie to drs to get higher mobility rate. Ffs. You need medical proof. Like I said pure and utter shit.

What kind of medical proof? What medical tests are there for things like her telling the doctors she has severe panic attacks and pisses herself on public transport

That will not get her the mobility element.

And, if this is true (which it isn't) you're as bad as her for not reporting it.

Haha. I don't know what I'm talking about? 😂😂 I am disabled, on higher rate mobility. So yes, I do know what I am talking about. It's you that obviously doesn't.

We own our own house too (mortgage) and hear where you're coming from having to pay for everything that goes wrong, we've far too many jobs need doing like plaster and boiler repairs and bit enough spare money to do it all!
After saying that though, I genuinely don't get the feeling jealous of people for what they have.
I mean, you say your friend has PTSD and depression.
All the so called "free money"in the world I wouldn't want that.
The grass isn't always greener and I'd rather be happy with what I do have, which is my own house, even if it does feel like a falling to pieces crap hole some days 😭😁
So, yes YABU

You’re jealous of someone who suffers with PTSD and depression? Wow what an empathetic friend you are! Also, unless it’s deemed an emergency eg hot water/heating related Housing Association’s do not come out to fix issues in a matter of days at all…… I wish.

I had a bill for £397 for six months' water.

Why? Because it took them nine months and my eventual somewhat hysterical account of how much it was costing, for them to accept that a tiny leak in the back of the toilet where I couldn't fix it myself, what with it being under concrete flooring and involving digging stuff out, disconnecting and then reconnecting it, might possibly cause more than a patch of damp.

No cost repairs are all very well when they get done, but when they don't and you're not allowed to sort them yourself because it's a breach of your tenancy agreement, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Ooh, it's been [checks watch] a good half an hour since the last social housing thread. You kids are flagging [sad face].

People in this county are obsessed with owning property and leaving money to their kids.

First thing when you buy a home you need to take in two points

interest rates can you afford if they go up considering most mortgages are 25yrs the chance of a rise is very likely

do you have the means to keep up the property

unless you answer YES to both dont even think about owning