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.

Do those in private rentals have a choice when the landlord decides to sell? Do owners have a choice when a divorce or death forces a sale? Or loss of job because of disability?

I don’t know why it’s council tenants that get all the sympathy when private tenants are paying through the nose for something that isn’t secure and often is pretty horrible (not that some council housing isn’t as well).

I know I’m pages behind but had to comment on this!

@ChiefWiggumsBoy

I live in a council house. Prior to my tenancy I private rented for years. Personally I do believe private renters need more rights and security. Unfortunately poking the finger at council tenants isn’t the solution here. I don’t see much sympathy either for council tenants from
mumsnet either by the way….. which is fine I don’t expect any.

Council tenants AND private renters deserve choices. Private renting is the Pitt’s yes but blaming council tenants is a bit ridiculous.

It’s very simple- they have the legal right to given to them under the terms of the tenancy agreement. If you keep paying your rent, etc you can keep living there. Do you think it’s unfair that someone has a better interest rate on their mortgage than you? Or do you just think because they are social tenants that they should have the worst terms of occupation of any one in the housing market? Bizarre.

Spot on.

I'll say it again. Just because private renters have it shit... Does that mean everyone should? Oooor do you think private renters should be more rights too?

I've been a private renter, a HA tenant and now I have a mortgage. And yeah I know you've said you've not rtft but catch up

I agree but the process is so daunting and long winded. We're (DP DSS (13) and myself) are doing a house swap with a family of 5. We're moving into a 2 bed flat there having our 3 bed house.

It's not unreasonable to think that. My friend is in the same position but although she'd like to downsize, it's far too big for her to manage it alone, the council haven't offered anything suitable. Last time she was offered a flat in Devon, but that's the other side of the country. She's lived in the same London borough all her. To move an older person away from their entire support network is not fair. She'd move to another city if it was near one of her kids, but they're all north or Midlands. So if she's refusing places within her support network that's unreasonable. But if they're not offering a nearby place then I get her reluctance. Does she work?

I have one more bedroom than I need now my eldest has moved out. However if I asked to downsize, I could be relocated out of my village….. I would have to rip up and dispose of all the carpets. I would have to pay moving costs. And I would also then have to pay to carpet and decorate wherever I was moved to as that will also have had all the flooring ripped up and bare plaster in the walls - and could end up paying more rent for a smaller property. The sheer cost of it all does put me off big time. However when my last child moves out I will obviously not expect to stay here - and honestly wouldn’t expect to be allowed to either.

Problem is that one has to balance the problem of someone's 'wrench' if they have to leave versus the 'wrench' of a family living in a bed and breakfast with no proper home at all.

I always found it shocking that there are no checks and potential rehousing once people obtain social housing

So many people out there not able to afford private rents and never will, because in many areas low wages just won't cover the cost of living

Yes it's shocking that not more social housing is built and that so much is even sold, however poor use of the social housing stock is shocking as well

I grew up on a social housing estate and there were the people like my family, struggling, and they were the people who felt entitled to keep a cheap rent, they had obtained it when they were young and with children on low or average wages, then had a decent career, ending up with very good pays by the time of their retirement and with a big 4 bedrooms for just one or two adults
Some would make extra money renting out one bedroom
Worse, where I lived, their children could keep the lease when their parents passed away, with no check for their finances

That's how you find some social housing rented privately illegally to mostly immigrants

Why should she leave her HOME, maybe local government shouldn’t sell off good housing stock or with the money they receive build new houses, bungalows etc so people we then happy to downsize not be offered a top floor flat

But the reason you've been able to spend thousands on the place to turn it into your perfect home is because you've been subsidised by the tax payer for a cheap property for years.

I agree, but then again why should a whole family have no proper home when others have much more home than they need?

The idea that someone can just move is quite naive.

Most elderly council house tenants don’t have enough to buy a house outright. Most landlords want a working person not someone on a state pension. One beds are over subscribed (both retirees in rented housing and single low income people desperate) and you can’t apply for a two bedroom if you don’t have enough points.

In some parts of the U.K. moving or swapping means downgrading to a much worse tenancy deal.

Communities need a balance as well- estates with all young families struggle, housing planners know that, my dad grew up on a new estate where everyone was a young family and it wasn’t a good idea- if you tell the story to housing bids they gasp in horror: communities need a mixed age range to thrive.

They need to build more social housing.

No, yabu. It's not your auntie's fault that the housing system in the country is broken. I wonder where she'd go? Prob somewhere dire if anywhere is even available.

I think she should be encouraged/enticed to move but also it’s her home and she shouldn’t be forced to move. Council housing was not designed to be for the desperate and needy, it’s for anyone. Blame the tories for the fact that there isn’t enough for all of us not your aunt.

I agree. My mother in law is in a 3 bed with garden etc & I think it’s morally wrong.

Fucking hell. So you enjoy jumping in just before the end of a thread and making yourself look the fool?

This is such a capitalist response. Has it even occurred to you that 25 years of paying £100 a week amounts to £130,000? So although you don’t own the house you’ve as good as paid for it. But because you’re paying rent you are a second class citizen who deserves to be kicked out. The council’s should build more social housing, everyone should be entitled to a suitable home. I think private rentals should be regulated more and tenancies should be longer and more secure.

So your solution is make a pensioner - who has contributed to the tax system all her life, has a valid tenancy and paid rent for maybe 50 years - homeless for something that has nothing to do with her? Why aren’t you demanding landlords reduce your rent to affordable levels and allow more than 12 month tenancies? That’s the easiest thing to solve the problem

Can she move in with you then? That would free you the house

From my, admittedly purely anecdotal, observations of the estate I live on the edge of, it's now mostly old people. So not particularly balanced. Most of the families I know round me own like we do...

where in my post is this 'solution' of which you speak?

I dont have a landlord, I dont pay rent, what are you talking about?

This comes across as if you think renters are lesser than homeowners. I'm confused by the fact that you think it's ok for a house to be bought, thereby making it unavailable to others permanently, but object to somebody that has paid thousands of pounds in rent over the years remaining in their family home. Is it the fact that social housing rents are lower than private that you don't like? That's the fault of private landlords, not social housing tenants.

I can't believe that some people on here think that a house is only a home if you own it.