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.

If there are decent two bedoomed bungalows or small houses in a safe area available then yes. If it involves moving into a block of flats with lots of social issues and not in an area that feels safe, then no. Both social and private housing stock lacks suitable accommodation for single older people.

So only young people should have to live in undesirable housing? Why?

Not subsidised. Runs at profit/surplus. So on and so forth.....🥱

Have attached an example upthread

I have a 3 bed housing association house, my kids are still young but when they do eventually move out I won't be downsizing. It's my home, I'm the one paying for it/decorating it/making it look better than it was. The only way I'd move is through mutual exchange to another property equal size to the one I have now.

Oh god no. They're not allowed to be 2 bed. I've been told on this thread how disgusting my nan is because she's in a 2 bed bungalow.

I have a grandparent who was alone in a council house for a long time. 3 bed, decent size, very close to a very good state high school. There would have been so many families who could have made good use of the house, but should she had been uprooted from a house where she'd lived for decades? Where she was, she was also very close to several family members, which reduced the need for care, so saving the state money that way.

Yeah that’s what she is saying…🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

She’s been there since the 90s and had a family when she moved into it . If you’re over 60 they won’t force you to move but they will offer you a more suitable home

I'm sorry but I agree it's an untenable situation. It's sad that people will have to move but most people downsize eventually. I know so many families who live in overcrowded and frankly unsafe situations, most who privately rent one bed flats with multiple small children. You can spend decades on the housing list. When your children have friends over it's not fair that they can only play in their mum and dads bedroom and not have their own room. I would find it very hard to live with myself if I lived in a three bed house alone knowing there were others so in need.
We're downsizing now as a family of four because our house is too big and I don't feel we make enough of it. And we own it! I tried to sell it back to the council but they wouldn't buy it, as they don't buy housing stock back.

I think ouch ouch ouch you are just jealous of your aunt if it was you in the big four bed council property paying £100 a week rent then all would be fine!! If you aunt gets housing benefit and doesn’t pay the rent herself then maybe she should consider down sizing but she shouldn’t be forced to.

my friend lives alone in a three bed council house paid for by council .. she is 72 and sadly it’s pretty much a hoarder house . It’s very sad really I just hope she can get the energy to move to a smaller house before she ends up hurting herself

I agree she doesn't need a four bedroomed house, but councils and housing associations are too quick to push such tenants into one bedroomed flats.
I am on the waiting list for a housing association property, having two underlying chronic conditions which already limit my mobility somewhat at 63 and will only deteriorate as I get older.
I'm having to fight for a two bed property so that AC are able to visit when I have flare ups and to cover the fact that periodic live in care is going to become more and more frequent as I age.
No wonder the scourge of old age is loneliness!

Kind of is though.

No. It isn't. Not everyone is a twat

So true that nobody would question a person living alone in a large house that they owned or rented privately. @Thesonglastslonger You sound bitter! She didn’t ‘borrow’ it. She paid the correct rent all the years that she lived there. The ‘pittance’ that she paid is a ‘not for profit’ calculation by the council that she rents from. But now that her children have grown up, she has to leave the home that she cared for and rent for someone’s else profit??

Sorry I couldn't answer sooner but I work full time so don't spent all day on these message boards.

I don't spend all day on them either. But when I do post I don't post incorrect bs

So you would deny another family in need just because you want to keep hold of something you don't need any more?

I was referring to your subsided comment... I'm not repeating myself anymore

Can't possibly move old people to blocks of flats with social issues. What about the people who already live there? Some of them might be old. All of them eventually will be old. You can't pick and choose who needs "nice" housing...

Yes. The amount of people who think council houses were built for people in poverty/unemployed is ridiculous. They were built to provide well built, secure homes with decent landlords who would maintain them and charge a fair rent.
When council houses were introduced, private rents were not 2 or 3 times as much, but the standard of private rentals was often poor.
Now, private rents are inflated, because greedy landlords want to make money out of people who are not in a position to buy, for whatever reason. Social landlords are not trying to make a profit. Private landlords have pushed up the cost of houses, thus making it increasingly difficult for people who would like to buy to move from rentals.
What we need is the cost of housing to fall, both for buyers and private renters, but funnily enough those who have seen the value of their house rise a huge amount without them having to do anything, don't want that.

What the heck are you talking about?

Should be made easier for owners and renters to downsize so families with children have more space

But that’s the point, it’s not “your” home. It’s just like any other rental property, it just so happens you’ve rented it for however many years. I too think that you should downsize if you don’t need the space. There are people who cannot have their own children live with them because there are no houses big enough. People living in overcrowded conditions because others are taking the space they really don’t need. People who own their own homes downsize all the time, and the houses they sell are actually their homes.

Please reread the original comment I was responding to. Explain how it can interpreted otherwise.