Council houses owning brand new cars?

[TheCluelessMum]

I’m writing this post with the hopes of being educated, not slandered

however I completely appreciate I may be just completely shot down for asking this.

i live on a new build estate, 12 houses at the start of the estate are council houses. I don’t know this because I’m a snob, I know this because it’s clearly marked on plans when you buy those houses.

i see so much stuff online about how the UK benefits system is failing people, the higher rise of food banks. It’s absolutely abhorrent people are in this situation.

however, when entering my estate today I noticed that each and every single council house had a car newer that a 20 plate. Mercedes, Audi’s, BMW’s even range rovers.. there was not a single house out of the 12 which had an older than 20 plate car.

I am now confused as to why this is the case? Everyone I know (including those receiving benefits) continually speaks about how hard the cost of living is.

so could someone please answer how/why those in what we would presume lower income families, are able to afford such lavish cars.

No incentive to try and earn more if you are at risk of losing your home.

I know a couple who's kids have flown the nest and still live in theirs.

Don't get drawn in folks - this is clearly a wind-up post - the username gives the hint.

Speaking of subsidised.

Across the river in Nine Elms, Janine Streuli is one of many NHG shared ownership tenants in a block called Viridian Apartments. But far from delivering Kenrick’s utopian vision of good quality housing for everybody, regardless of wealth, Streuli and her neighbours have ended up paying for the concierge and garden landscaping of the wealthy residents of the adjacent luxury block. They’re facilities that she and the fellow affordable housing residents haven’t been given access to; their block has a separate “poor door” and their entrance to the communal gardens are sealed shut.
The charge was only announced five years after Streuli moved in, when the affordable housing residents got a bill for thousands of pounds. While their initial leases made clear they wouldn’t have to pay these fees, NHG’s own lease with the building’s management company — which actually runs the development and its facilities — said the opposite. When the discrepancy was eventually identified the tenants were asked to take on the cost. They were now going to be paying to maintain the luxury gardens and concierge that they weren’t even allowed to use. Now she and most of the other residents spend upwards of £6,000 or £7,000 a year in service fees, almost 500% the rate promised when she moved in. While subsidising the facilities of their neighbours, many of their own flats and corridors have dealt with flooding, penetrating damp and mould — problems that have never been adequately fixed. Eventually the residents cobbled together enough money to take NHG to a property tribunal, and next month their fate will be decided by a judge

https://www.the-londoner.co.uk/notting-hill-genesis-london-biggest-landlord/?ref=the-londoner-newsletter

Getting the higher rate of PIP to be eligible for a car is not easy to get.
Maybe you should give it a go, and report back here.

Where are the people on benefits getting cash to buy brand new flash cars?

It has got fuck all to do with you.

This - some of the best houses in London are council. Peabody in Covent Garden, Datchet House in Euston, and lots of really old brick Georgian houses in Bolsover Street. They also just built a new development, private+council where Middlesex Hospital was, close to Nassau Street, WC1

Either cars on the Motability scheme (which means they are disabled... lets not get jealous of that, yes?), or the cars are hire purchase/lease.

OP, if you didn't actually know: council houses are owned by the local council itself (and rent is generally a bit cheaper), housing associations are separate organisations with their own properties where the rents tend to be affordable but not as cheap as council rents. A lot of social housing now is HA rather than council - lots of council housing got sold off to HAs in the late 80s/early 90s (theoretically to improve social housing stock), and lots of council houses got sold via Right to Buy. HAs have different funding sources and aren't quite as restrained by budget as councils tend to be.

@Bryonyberries Good explanation but its not that councils spent the money on other things, they weren't allowed to spend the revenue on replacement housing. It was part of the concerted move to bring market forces and privatisation into the public sector, and look how well that's gone.

There was a thread on this recently...
Affordable rent = disposable income. It's not rocket science.

Came on to say this. I don’t like debt, so I buy cars outright with my savings, but if my only choice was to pay monthly then I may as well lease a nice car rather than buy an old car with a loan.

But surely the new council houses are for new tenants (because unless I'm mistaken, you don't get to upgrade from your existing home to a better council home)? In which case, they must have been in need to be able to get to the top of the list?

So why live in a house that’s needed for people without such a high income?

Social housing is for incomes of upto £60k in our authority so could be a teacher firefighter police officer loads of professions tbh,

Why not? That's their home. Who knows what her situation was when she first moved in, why should she now have to leave her home cos she's earning more money?

We have a motability car too as my daughter has epilepsy. I'd rather she didn't have epilepsy. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/24/motability-disability-scheme-uk-taxpayers-government

I think council housing should be for those in need of it. I also don’t believe in right to buy.

There is hardly any social housing left in my town, as many people have bought their council houses and sold them on or rent them out privately at extortionate prices.

No new build estates near you?

Because she doesn’t need it anymore. Make space for someone who does need it.

They’re fiddling it. Many pretend to be single mothers but have a partner living with them earning cash in hand. See it happen all the time around here.

Literally this

Wow. Madness. Country is screwed.

only people doing well at the moment are the people creaming benefits (DLA, PIP etc etc) or the very top.

middle earners might as well not bother.

Firstly you have to have points and bid. If it’s a full time, working couple or single person you’d have zero chance around here. Zero.
You need lots of children, medical conditions to get points to bid. If you are single under 35, you’ll be lucky to get a hostel. Over 55 you might get a flat if you’re sick enough.

Doesn’t matter if it’s council or Housing Association, you need points, lots of them. Full time workers would get told to private rent.

Are there white vans on the driveway too?
Not everyone on benefit struggles, some do, some don’t. Could be on credit. Could be PIP. There are generally newer cars on the road these days compared to years ago.

When I was a little girl, the council houses in our village were for ordinary working people. People who worked in shops, on the bins, drove buses, delivered letters, porters, etc. They were brick built and well kept. They should never have been sold off.

Occasionally, I cut through a council estate when I visit some friends (I know the back route and avoid the lights). I don't see very many cars newer than five or seven years old there. The people I see on that road do not look like they spend much on themselves.