To thiink more needs to be done to stop people accessing council housing who already have overseas homes?

[livinginatravellodge]

I know a person who is a dual national but not has British Nationality. They still have really strong links to their country of origin.
In their home country they have a fully furnished 3 bed apartment that they visit with their children when going home. They also one an apartment which they rent out and the income is kept in a bank account overseas. They also own a prime piece of building land. However, in the UK they live in a council property.

I believe that in most councils you are not allowed council housing if you all ready own property; some councils are more explicit and say in detail that this includes overseas property.

If a person attempted to gain a council property while already owning UK property they could very quickly be found out and be taken to court for housing fraud.

I know of another couple, both from different countries who live in council property in the UK. I am friends with them both on Facebook and every year they go on holiday to their alternate country of origin. Again, they have a property to stay in when they visit their home country. I would think that this situation is more common than we all realise.

I own my own property and have been fortunate enough to never need to live in council property but I find this really unfair.The first person mentioned is not a very nice person in many ways (but that is another matter). I reported him to the council and have provided my name for further information.

I am intrigued to see what the council do but I am anticipating nothing as they may find it too hard to prove.

AIBU to think that more needs to be done to ensure that council housing is not allocated to those that already have an overseas home?

Excellent point.

Council housing isn't "social help" at all. It's housing at a fair rent with decent tenancy rights.

Of course it's ok for tenants to be given a small property abroad as a holiday home. That's not the same as already owning a home you can live in and getting a council home on top.

My H.A. tenancy agreement is very clear that I'm allowed to own other properties, just not to live in them. (As it happens, I don't, as I can't afford to, but if I were to inherit a cottage in the Hebrides or a flat in Bulgaria of course I should be allowed to keep it.)

I am a social housing tenant. Currently in temp accommodation because there are absolutely no homes to bid on weekly because I have a child and I’m not over 55

Seeing kids such as my own growing up in hostels and B&Bs upsets me more than single adults with 2-3 spare bedrooms who refuse to even consider downsizing.

You are directing your ire to the wrong place.

The Elephant and Castle neighbourhood is being physically, socially and ethnically transformed. This started with the demolition of the Heygate estate, a classic for stigmatised perceptions of council housing and the people who live in it. As the local 35% Campaign has meticulously documented, a succession of promises to Heygate residents were broken to arrive at a situation where 1,214 council homes were demolished, to be replaced with 2,704 new homes, of which only 82 (3%) are for social rent. The HA partner was London and Quadrant. To be eligible for the cheapest one-bedroom home built by them on the Heygate site, people needed a minimum household income of £57,500. The average household income in that part of Southwark is £24,324

Thats right! 1,214 council homes were demolished, to be replaced with 2,704 new homes, of which only 82 (3%) are for social rent

The above is just one example but its happening all over the country. Social housing being demolished and replaced with more expensive alternatives.

But yeah its the pensioner with an extra bedroom thats causing the problem 🙄

@RoyallyEFFEDOFF

I'm really sorry for your situation and hope you get somewhere soon.

Absolutely there's a desperate need for the government to prioritise more social housing asap, and of course children shouldn't be in awful temp accommodation.

Equally though nor should vulnerable single people, which includes the disabled and DV victims.

Downsizing has caused a massive shortage of 1 and 2 bedroom homes in some areas. This doesn't only affect vulnerable childless/child free people (and those who've kids are adults). It also affects only-child families.

One day when they're older your child might need safe housing. There's no knowing if they'll want kids or be able to have them (eg. fertility issues). Also no knowing if they'll become disabled or suffer DV - and needs a safe home.

The new government needs to prioritise providing more social housing (for all who need it) and end right to buy.

This.

Lots of new builds being put up but they're expensive (even when officially described as "affordable") and mostly sales, not social rentals.

It’s the same here. I’m in Greater Manchester
New “affordable homes” built however were given on nominations through the council. So they never even made the bidding list

Maybe if private landlords had been regulated properly and weren’t allowed to turn normal family homes into HMO’s and sky rocket rents we would have some leverage.

It isn’t just one problem. It’s thousands.

Great! Do you have a link for this?

@Windchimesandsong On the opposite side of town to where i am there was a road of bungalows. All they needed was new kitchens and bathrooms but instead they were pulled down and replaced with flats. They could fit more flats than bungalows into the same plot

@DadJoke no idea what your comment 'do you have a link for this?' means. I reported it to Derby council on their online portal two weeks ago and have received an email response from a named person investigating. So no idea what link you are talking about.

If he owns a business he will be paying tax.

I know of three people - two own flats - Cyprus and Spain & one a larger home in India (it’s part of a family plot it could be seen as shared). None of them rent them out or earn money from them . I don’t know the ins and out - I think they may intended to retire at some point to them.

The only time I’ve judged on someone living i think unfairly in a council home - he was subletting the rooms of a 4 bedroom property (he wasn’t even living there). He only got caught when one of the tenants hit hard times and went to claim benefits and then it triggered a review - he quickly lost his single person council tax discount! It seems unfair as there are so many families waiting for a home this size :(

No but you could sell it and buy one here.

so many entitled people no wonder the country is broke.

Assuming the individual can secure a mortgage, and the house sale covers the deposit.

I'll be honest and say I've never heard of anyone living in council housing while owning homes abroad.

I have a relative living in a council property in a sought after area. 4 bedroom as well which are like gold dust. Now when she initially got this house she was a single mom of five dc. As the years have gone by the dc are now independent adults and my relative remarried, has progressed wonderfully in her career. They are now quite well off including an inheritance. Think a combined income of in excess of 200.000. And yet she still lives in the council house just the two of them.

This is the kind of thing that needs addressing.

So this is a single person you have dobbed in, not evidence that this is widespread.

Once in London, an uber driver asked me where I am from, after i told him I am from India, he started saying he does not like UK, weather. etc. And that he only comes to collect his benefits ( assuming he stays a few months in the UK, I am not sure how benefit system works) and during that time works as a driver. I think they need to show they are working or trying to work.

Maybe he thought being an Indian, I would have contempt for UK like him or perhaps interested in how to take advantage of loopholes in the system.

Given this man talked so openly about it to a stranger, just because the person happens to be another immigrant, I think there are more people like him, who think this is ok.

Problem is with the system too. I don't think you can get away with such frauds in many other countries.

Having said that I am myself an immigrant and know plenty of others who are good people, respect the country they call home now and would run miles away from such frauds.

Very low quality post.

1- You have no idea how usual or unusual it is.
2- Holding property overseas does not make one brown or an immigrant.
3- Enforcing a standard of not giving council housing to overseas property owners is not racist, nor is it anti-foreigner, nor does it stir anti-foreigner sentiment.
4- Not every foreigner is a different colour to you.

This exactly

.My husband is an immigrant and has lived here for 25 years and has always abided by the rules and respected the country he lives in.

He feels outraged that people cheat the system who arrived here as guests. Why shouldn't he? He's always paid his taxes and abided by the law. I find it laughable when people assume that I am racist/xenophobic for starting this thread. When actually the fact is, by husband arrived here as an immigrant and the people that he knows/knows off means exposure to things like this, where as others might not have been. I am not suggesting it is rife, I've no idea. But I have come across this within our extended circle of people who have moved here from other countries so it has got me thinking - how common is it? Why is it allowed?

I have no obligation to provide evidence for this, but I definitely didn't find any - evidence it is not a wide-spread problem.

I wasn't the one who came up with this scenario which was, literally, and immigrant cheating the system.

Three and four are utterly irrelevant to my point as you are clearly unable to understand an analogy, or you are being deliberately obtuse.

You also need to understand that your posting history is publicly available, and I don't think it's a coincidence that you've been an apologist for far-right activists in the blasphemy thread and you seem to believe reverse racism is true, so your faux naive nonsense here can be safely ignored.

In fact, your defence of this proves my point.

As I showed, your "point" was arguing against a voice inside your head rather than anything the OP said.

At any point have you wondered to yourself why, in response to me pointing out your flawed logic, you felt the need to go through other posts on other topics in order to determine my virtue?
Maybe you should, because that's what cultists do.

I addressed your points, then I wanted to see if you completely misapprehension of my position was genuine naiveity or duplicity, and I I got my answer by going through your posts.

I'm not engaging again with a bad-faith poster who defends far-right violent thugs and suggests anti-white racism is a real thing.

Yes I just read, it is illegal to have a second property, but also from reading here money in the bank. I think over 6000k disqualifies you for support, reserved for the poor. After all if you had a property and over £6000 would you feel you needed it. If it’s abroad, you could rent it, and use the money to rent in the UK.
what upsets me is, we pay so much nowadays that I wish the current PM, would ask this to be reported and acted on. You hear stories of people filtering money, not to get caught, what crap is that? If you come here as a migrant or any description, you need to sell the family home, to pay for your benefits here. Is that not fair and just?