Leaving a council tenancy to move back in with mum need some reassurance

[prestatynprlck]

For context I am 28 and single. I was given a council tenancy on a one bedroomed flat three years ago. Since then my circumstances have changed and I now earn 38k a year and I am in a position where I could buy a 2/3 bedroomed house soon. I have a 5% deposit saved but I need 10% really otherwise I am going to get stung my interest rates. I could save this in a year moving back in with my mum. I need to bite the bullet and do it however I know I would never get given another council tenancy again and I feel a bit scared of letting it go. Am I mad to consider giving up a secure tenancy to move back in with my mum?

There are many who would dispute that a single person with a good income staying in a council home.

It was a 2 bed new build house and I'm not in London I live in West Midlands

For those hard of reading; council housing is not paid for by the taxpayer, it is not for the poor and needy. Plenty of professionals live in SA

She doesn't have to need it.

Anyone can apply for a council home. Various factors then come into play in allocating this home. At the time the home was allocated to the OP, she was the one who was at the top of the list. End of.

Council housing isn’t just for the poor and needy- but to get one you kind of need to be poor and/or needy. The OP says herself, if she gives this tenancy up she won’t get another council one, even though her circumstances won’t have changed.

Council housing isn’t for everyone, there’s not enough of it. But once you’ve got it, it doesn’t matter what happens to your life, you don’t have to give it up. This does make it unfair, because other people in the same circumstances as the OP is in now could not get a flat.

But none of that is the OPs fault. She has to work with the system as it is. Not how it should be.

But I do think she’d be better off trying to buy a house now and taking on a lodger not waiting another year to save more.

but to get one you kind of need to be poor and/or needy

No, you don't. There just has to be no needy or poor people also on the bidding list for the home. In this instance, there obviously wasn't.

@FancyBiscuitsLevel
No you don't need to be poor and needy.
As I mentioned previously , there are teachers, nurses etc live in SH, it's not just unemployed addicts

Exactly this most people think the rents are very reasonable but their not really I rented private prior to this and actually paid £645 a month which I had stayed their tbh nicer area to

@JimHalpertsWife okay, but she wouldn't be top of the list anymore would she?

She's used it as a step up, which is brilliant and is very much how it should be used, and now she can afford to move on and let someone else have that opportunity.

I think it's immoral to block a council house when you don't need it. There should be checks on affordability throughout your time there and once you start earning more, you should be given notice to move on and let someone else have a chance IMHO

You're very lucky if that's the discount where you live. In Oxford, where I live, it's £16,000. Great if you live in an area that's less expensive, not so great when you live in an area where a private flat n the same block sold for £300,000 recently.

@Iwanttoliveonamountain oh well, they can dispute it all they like. OP is just as entitled to her home as any other council tenant.

Sorry OP, £38k really doesn't go that far today. It's not the "good" wage that it was even a few years ago.

Also, jobs are never that secure, and aren't guaranteed to pay more down the line, whatever the company says. Hopefully it will be the case for you, but you really can't take it as a certainty. Personal circumstances can also change, for example if you had a baby or God forbid got ill.

@berksandbeyond
What do you deem as earning more? not everyone is in the position to save a deposit or be approved for a mortgage. Buying a house isn't what everyone wants, nobody in their right mind would give up SH to go into private lets.
SH is available for all, I am fed up saying it; it's not for the needy and poor.
Mid market rent (here in Scotland) is not cheap and you have to be employed to qualify.
Seems there are very skewed and ill informed opinions on SH, mainly by English posters.
To add, where I live the SH areas are very nice.

@SnoopysHoose I'm Scottish so I don't know where the anti English thing is coming from but ok!

Turnip, my job is public sector and there is a shortage of us and demand for jobs is high. There is also a clear progression route if you are good. I should be on 45k/50k within the next 2 years. I could move local authority to tomorrow and increase my wage by 7k but I like where I am currently working. I am not worried about losing my job as it is very unlikely unless I got ill.

I have probably just outed what I do now but oh well.

It’s really hard to advise without knowing a little of why you got the council tenancy in the first place. If living with your mum would be ok, I’d do that and save more quickly- but would it be?

If I had a baby then I would also likely gain a second income so surely I would be in a better position than before paying everything on my own. God, on this app unless you earn six figures you are basically in poverty and shouldn't even bother doing anything.

Noone suggests "if you can afford to send your kids to private or afford private healthcare you should and leave the NHS/state schools for those who can't afford it" but this always is an argument for council housing. Yes money gives you these options but doesn't mean you have to take it.

Council tenancies are for life. Personally i believe if there was more of a social mix in council accommodation there wouldn't be such a snobbery about them.

It's all a moot point anyhow, the OP is using the opportunity to save to buy, which I did myself at her age, and is perfectly fine.

@fingertraps
Why she got her tenancy is irrelevant to her question.
@berksandbeyond my comment about English posters is the majority of ill informed seem to be mentioning info relevant to England.
My comment to you stands, your attitude is ill informed and naive.

erm… 900£ for social housing sounds right -
I think you need to come up to date - in South Oxfordshire where we live new flats here are £1100 a month for two bed, £860 one bed.

I’m just echoing everyone saying stay where you are and keep your independence!

I pay £540 a month for a 2 bed 1950s flat in London near a zone 1 tube. It's a council flat and HA flats tend to be higher especially in new build blocks with concierge, or for affordable rent (not social rent) and you can get 4 bed flats, so £900 would be about right. Still far cheaper than private though.

Why is everyone so fixated on how OP got a council flat at 25.
I got one at 21? It's not really that rare....
I'm 31 now so not like it was that long ago

It’s incredibly rare. We all know families with children who have been on waiting lists for years.