To think you should downsize your council house if it’s just you?

[OuchOuchOuchh]

Oh my goodness I have created war at work and everyone is gunning for me.

My auntie has a huge 4 bedroom council house she has lived there since the 90s with her one son. That has now moved out.

All i said was I think it’s unfair that she’s living in such a big family home perfect for a family to bring their kids up in. Large garden backs on to the woods plenty of visits from deers and fox’s it’s beautiful! Anyway all I said is that if you haven’t purchased the property in a certain amount of time you should have to downsize if it’s just you living there.

Theres families overcrowded and can’t get anywhere then you have my auntie paying £100 a week in rent for a massive house for just herself.

please tell me if I am being an asshole! I appreciate it’s her family home but it just doesn’t seem fair to me.

They haven't had rights to "inherit" a tenancy for a good few years here.

When the mother of a friend died, he had to move out. Because he had a serious health condition, they had a duty to house him and he got a one-bed bungalow. I'm pretty sure he grew up in her previous house, so I reckon she'd been there at least 30 years when she died.

I've done it. I've lived in HA properties from the ages of 18 to 29.

I could have stayed living in my HA. We had a 2 bed with 2 kids. The HA sent all the relevant docs out to me when I had been there long enough to purchase if I so required. But the property needed too much work and the area was not as nice as it was when we moved in 8 years earlier.

Me and DP got made redundant from our jobs at the same time and with that money we were able to put a deposit on a house of our own. We didn't need to do that. We could have stopped where we were and treated ourselves. But, even though people think it's all hunky dory in a HA it normally isn't the case. We were so excited to be able to buy our own home.

You're not being unreasonable however councils and HAs are also to blame. My parents and youngest sister are still in their 4 bed Housing Association home and my parents would love to downsize ideally to a bungalow or ground floor flat at my stepdad has trouble with stairs now. However they cannot afford to double their rent which they would now have to do to move as they are still paying a similar rent to 20 years ago therefore they're staying put.

And it is mainly those entitled to big discounts who have a lifetime tenancy. My parents could have bought their council house for £7k. They did not and now another family has a council house.
If they had been forced to leave, I would have just bought the house for them.

@AllThingsServeTheBeam

Yep most people would buy if they could for sure. I’ve known a few put down a deposit on a house after parents died and they got inheritance.

im mid 30s (family of 5). We were repossessed on our home during the crash of 2008. Then a long story…..now lucky to have a 3 bed HA house. I would absolutely have to KILL my self to be able to afford a deposit now. It would be a 7 day working week for years and for what really? Another 3 bed (that yes was my own but with a poorer quality of life). So I’ve gave up. Not going to kill myself over the ownership dream. I’m done. But no, I will not be giving my house up that’s for sure.

Sorry, this post is so annoying.

I lived in a tiny flat for years - with two small children. Nightmare neighbours, no outside space, no inside space really. Terrible for our mental health. Difference is we BOUGHT the flat because it was the only thing we could scrimp to afford anywhere vaguely near family/where we grew up. We could not afford to privately rent a two bed flat (rent much higher than mortgage).

Every family in our block was council tenants, big families crammed into two bed flats. I bed their mental health was all bad too! And “not a peaceful existence”. They all could have done with someone swapping a bigger property with them. Imagine the difference it would make for the young children. But as long as you never have to return to it, eh?

I agree with this. Some of the replies on here seem to be blaming those who have been unable to buy their own houses like it is their own fault. The fault lies squarely with the Government who haven't replaced housing stock or built enough to keep up with demand

The Nan you are referring to already lived in her house, it’s my understanding the family bought property near to her. So that example is ludicrous. It does make sense to keep vulnerable people in close proximity to the services and family support they need though. By doing so the government is potentially saving a huge amount of money in improved health outcomes and less demand for home assistance from elderly people isolated and living alone. But as you know that’s not the case here anyway.

‘There is a big difference in life between the services you privately pay for and those funded by the taxpayer and I dont see why council houses should be different to that. Its funded by those who pay tax (which does include ofcourse working council house tenants) so it needs to be used as efficiently as possible.’ But most council tenants are privately paying: they pay their own rent. Most of them also pay taxes: they are the tax payer. You just don’t think people are entitled to a decent standard of living and to enjoy security in their home, which is shameful. Council housing pays for itself. It’s been repeated again and again on this thread that it is not subsided - private rents are inflated.

‘If I paid for a private hospital, I would be expecting a room to myself.’ but in the nhs example you referred to having a ward to yourself. A room in a private hospital isn’t a private ward. There are private rooms on nhs wards, they are just usually given to the illest or the most anti social. And you can often pay for a private room in an nhs hospital when receiving nhs care, for example when receiving maternity care. Doesn’t really all stack up.

YANBU

When I was made homeless me and my teenage DD were in a studio flat sharing 1 bedroom for years.

I couldn’t go private as no one would accept me as a single parent or my FT wage wasn’t enough to cover the rent.

I am now very fortunate that I have a home but I am surrounded my 3/4 bed homes with just 1 elderly person living in them.

On the opposite side of the road there are 1/2 bed bungalows with families squashed in.
One of them has an 8 and a 9 year old girl and boy sharing and another one the boy has to sleep on the sofa in the front room.

I think having an extra bedroom is ok if you pay the bedroom tax and you have children who are living away temporarily eg in uni, the army etc.
But I think it’s very unfair to have 2 or more bedrooms that are empty when we have a massive housing crisis.

I also think people should be given at least a year until they move out or given some extra incentive. As I can imagine how horrendous it would be if my DD died and I had to deal with all of that and then I was being kicked out of my home because I didn’t need the extra room anymore.

We attempted saving a number of times and never got very far. We'd never be able to save the substantial deposit required. It was only because I had worked at my place of work for so long and they had a brilliant redundancy package that we managed it. I had accepted I was staying in my HA house.

They only care about EMPTY stock going to the right capacity family. I could swap with a single person in a 1 bedroom flat. Even though I have a 5 bedroom house and a daughter. They council would approve it.

That's interesting. The council here only permits exchanges where both parties end up in the right size property for their needs.

How much has he paid in rent over the course of the tenancy?

My FIL has no interest in buying his flat. His is a 2 bed and has never had an empty bedroom. If he did have an empty bedroom I would have no issue with him being expected to move to a 1 bed.

You won't no. But he might. Fuck him though ay

I could swap with a single person in a 1 bedroom flat. Even though I have a 5 bedroom house and a daughter. They council would approve it.

My council wouldn’t approve that.

I would not be allowed to exchange or be given a council property if it was 1 bedroom too big or too small.

There are some HA that let you swap to a place with an extra bedroom but you have to pay the bedroom tax and you can’t swap to one with less rooms than you need either.

@Goldd

Does it occur to you, at all, that maybe their past employment didn't pay them enough to save up to buy said house? Especially since we are more than likely talking about working class people here and especially working class women it seems, on this thread so far.
Have you bothered to factor in that a WC woman who is now of pensionable age was not encouraged to work in salaried professions, not encouraged like now certainly to attend uni and so only has a pittance of state pension to keep themselves going, or do you think they're all living the life of Riley on a champagne income?

" but people who have lived a life working hard and struggling, living in shitty gross privately rented houseshares when they’re young (or into their thirties), spending huge % of their income on privately rented houses, "

Shame you don't seem to think that same attitude applies to people who have maybe worked for 50+ years, possibly employed doing hard manual labour for a living and retired to spend their last few years in peace.

" As for people pouring money into decorating/renovating their council houses - jut bonkers. Save that money and put it on a downpayment to buy a flat. "

Are you aware that tenants are required to keep their homes decorated and in good order? Where do you think a pensioner will get the money from?

@Goldd

I bought my first flat and then I was repossessed (long story but I certainly wasn’t living the high life). I then private rented for extortionate amounts. I had 3 kids in a 1 bedroom, so you can be annoyed all you like. I lived like that for years. Skint, druggy neighbours, aggressive neighbours, poor MH, lack of sleep due to noise. So no, I’m happy where I am thanks. You were lucky that you bought and it worked out well. You might thing my posts are annoying but yours are very smug.

Also what about people that no longer need council accommodation? I know a couple that presumably needed it when they moved in, however now they are both in full time jobs, driving round in huge new cars etc. Surely council housing should only be for those most in need then once on your feet you sort yourself out?

Lol lol lol!

Wouldn't need to pay bedroom tax if you weren't in receipt of benefits

Some food for thought.

Statistics published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) put the number of empty homes in England in October 2019 at 648,114. This represents a 2.2% increase on the previous year’s total. Of the 648,114, 225,845 were classed as long-term empty properties (empty for longer than six months).

The thing is....let's say she moved in in 1992 for arguments sake.

30 years x 52 weeks x £100 a week.

In this example, that person up to now has spent £156,000 in rent since moving in, with no end date and no owned property to show for it.....I'm on the fence about kicking people out of their homes for this reason.

I dont rent by the way, I have my own house. Its just an observation.

I'd rather he moves house than a child be housed unsuitably. Because that's all that's being suggested. Moving house.
In his case it would be moving from one shit flat in a shit tower block to a different shit flat in a different shit tower block, so I imagine he wouldn't care too much tbh. It's a bit less emotive than nana and her nice bungalow isn't it?

Precisely a point i made earlier - people will have paid more for the house in a lifetime of paying rent, than had they been in a position to get a mortgage in the first place, effectively buying the same house twice, if they later take a mortgage to buy once retired.

No, you are a tenant like any other. The tenancy you agree to sets the term of the duration of the right to occupy the property. Not whether or not you get a better job. Why do so many people want to treat council tenants different to any other kind of tenant?