To think council housing is really unfair??

[Helpmechooseausername]

I totally get that some people need to be housed by the council, but AIBU to think that the system is abused - but it seems to be his the system works?

I know of two families who have lived in their council houses for years and raised their children there. They needed help when they first moved in, and so were quite fairly given council houses. But, now the kids have grown up and moved on. The parents both have got jobs, nice cars, holidays, go out for meals, etc., etc.. They can continue living in their council houses for the rest of their lives.

It seems massively unfair. Is it really not means tested?? Surely the houses should be given to other people who need them? How can it be right that they aren't told to move back into the private property market?

I feel a bit like when I stand in a queue in a shop, waiting to pay, while people come in and just take what they want without paying or queuing!!

And yes, I'll admit that I'm jealous! I can't afford to do any nice things for my kids and I, despite working hard, and it seems to be because I chose to own my own home and get a mortgage instead of getting a council house!

Yes, in my DH's flat they specifically 'gifted' him the wooden floors and the oven. He thought it was them being generous at the time 🤣 thankfully I have friends who can fix ovens and floors otherwise we'd be walking on concrete and eating microwave meals every day!

What irks me about these threads though (as a council tenant) is how people assume they are these amazing free houses with great living standards. Try living in a house that rats are coming in behind your washing machine because there’s a pipe broken underneath your grass that the council spray a yellow cross on and then fix the wrong pipe and say that’s not on their jobs list! My last house I had rats coming in every few months, terrified to even use my kitchen and no one gave a damn.

My newest council house, the boiler is going off constantly with F1 and L1 error codes but they’ve been out constantly and say they can’t find a problem. I’m grateful for a lifetime tenancy and cheaper than market rent but the living standards are truly not great. And before anyone calls me a bum, I work as a nurse, pay taxes but my mum died young last year so I now care for my sister too who has learning disabilities so got a bigger house as needed adaptions for her and unlike posters who call us lucky, being eligible for council housing through first escaping domestic violence and secondly to accommodate caring for my sister as well as my son isn’t quite so lucky

God, do some people ever give up on the boomer bashing? It’s been benefiting people for 40 years, do you seriously think Gen X and millennials haven’t also benefited? Quite a few Silent generation too.

Only if the person would be able to afford the full amount. You'd have more people still needing to live in social housing forever without that discount - not forgetting that many can't get mortgages for even the discounted value.

Forcing them to leave because they've got a job (for example) creates a huge disincentive to work. It also makes it more likely they can't continue in that same job because they've been told they must leave their home and find somewhere else.

Reverse Politics of Envy really does seem to apply, as people able to get mortgages, move home, have assets, become private landlords themselves...seem to hate that some people are eligible to be housed safely and securely without being forced to become homeless every couple of years/months.

Lets not forget the tenants who bought! My manager at the time, very well paid, one child, wife was a SAHM, bought his, on a lovely estate. DH and I had moved to the area, 1970s, and as outsiders couldn’t get on the list, so were both working to support our mortgage, in a less lovely area.

Now, in our late 70s, with some health issues, DH and I could really do to move into retirement housing. There are some local rented properties, both Housing association and council which would be perfect for us. If we were tenants we’d easily get a move, but we’re homeowners so it’s unlikely we’ll get one. However, our house wouldn’t raise enough for the private retirement flats here, and our income wouldn’t support the service charges. There are lots of older people in similar situations, who can’t downsize. Nothing will ever be 100% fair for everyone.

Exactly i had an infestation of rats it took months to get rid of them
We had a new kitchen put in just before the pandemic and by new kitchen I mean basic cupboards ,sink and flooring all the white goods are mine its the cheapest crappiest, materials and is now falling to bits.

If it's not eaten up in care home fees. 1 of my grandma's lived in a large council house for 40 years on her own and then had all her care home fees paid by social care. All her maintenance costs covered by council.
My other grandma bought her own home and then had to sell it to pay her care home fees. She also had to pay for a few boiler, roof repairs which she struggled yo afford - my Dad paid for most of them but she would have been living in an unheated house with a hole in the roof if he hadn't, as her savings had already gone on carers to support her.

My grandma who lived in a council house actually had more money left to her children in her will than my grandma who owned (and then had to sell) her home.
So it's not true that those who have bought always end up with more to leave their children.

You could get a mortgage with your Manager signing a piece of letterhead paper Stating your salaryfrom 1998 until at least 2008.

So no, it’s not correct to say that millennial’s onwards have benefited from the same system of discounts because there other people have pointed out, Mortgages became harder to obtain.
This is yet another scheme that only a certain generation benefited from. And most of them are pissing it up the wall rather than passing it on

Enough with the « it’s their home » argument!

When someone privately renting or with a mortgage can’t pay anymore we don’t spend public money to let them stay in « their home », even if they are not at fault.

Why does living in social housing means people can’t be expected to move?

Ridiculous to subsidise rent (by asking them to pay less than market price) for people who are not in need, and to spend fortune on temporary accommodation for others who are in genuine need.

They only pay bedroom tax if receiving housing benefit. My grandma lived in a 4 bed house on her own for 40 years after her 5 children had all moved out. She definitely didn't pay a bedroom tax, as my mum managed her money for her so she saw what came in and out. She was also offered a 1 bed retirement bungalow but was too stubborn/selfish to move. She was helped when she was a single mum with 5 children, but refused to acknowledge that someone else now needed the house more than her.

You could get a mortgage with your Manager signing a piece of letterhead paper Stating your salaryfrom 1998 until at least 2008.

That’s odd because when I got my first mortgage in 1991, the second in 1996 and the last one in 2000 three months payslips were required. All different lenders too.

Oh, the self declaration mortgage thing to get around what the bank said was unaffordable.

If somebody's manager was prepared to do that and lie about the amount earned (because on 9 grand a year, a council flat marked up at £268,000 after discount and knowing the roof leaked & the entire block was 20 years past the due due for refurbishment wasn't going to be afforadable) - how exactly would that person then be able to pay that mortgage?

Define ‘in need’

in need of a secure home…. It’s not about the size of a property it’s the security

thats ’the need’…. Not worrying about landlords chucking you out with a months notice

andcyes, it is their ‘home’ actually.

I had to move out of my council flat last year. I had been complaining about mould since 2020. They finally decided last year it would cost too much to sort and we all needed to move.

I was informed in 2017 that the person above me (there was 2 flats above me) moved out because of the mould.

Part of the issue was being unable to open the windows. I mentioned that I couldn't open them and some numpty came around and painted them shut

I'm now elsewhere, can open my windows and don't have issues with mould

That's exactly what is done. Private landlords get the benefit of the LHA, though it is vastly more expensive for the State overall than operating social housing.

As the poster said just after you posted this, some social housing is not on 'council estates.' Some are in very nice areas/new build areas/private cul de sacs/parts of estates that were bought by the council for their housing stock when the housebuilders went tits up - part way or most of the way through the build.

I know some people in social housing who are in much nicer areas than some who have bought. The 'buyers' can't afford to live in the same area that the 'renters' live in! Part of the reason why some of the 'buyers' are so angry, jealous, and salty when it comes to people in social housing!

Yeah. Different issues but our HA are pretty crap. They have no interest in fixing our communal washing machines (our flat is too small for a washing machine and we have communal laundry rooms which are just broken and have been for weeks).

Also living with junkies and alcoholics and sex workers in the same block, having to step over passed out people on the floor and ignore people propositioning me daily. And avoiding my neighbour who's a paedophile (I've verified this, he kidnapped an 11 year old to rape).

It's cheap but it's not exactly luxury or what I'd choose!

They have now stopped the Right to buy with the huge discount. Previously it was up or £120,000 off property price depending on how many years the tenant was a social housing tenant. Now it’s between £19,000-£38,000 off. Usually around 19k now. This in itself will deter people buying as it’s a drastic drop. They’ve also introduced in most new tenancy a fixed term tenancy. So they review the tenants financial circumstances every 5 years if they are still in need. So they can potentially terminate their contract every 5 years. As far as I know they’ve pretty much stopped offering secure lifetime tenancies. Not sure if the bedroom tax is still going but it was pushing people that had empty bedrooms to look for smaller properties and downsize. It ended up with lots of people in rent arrears as they couldn’t afford it. Not sure if that’s still going..

Absolutely, right to buy was an absolute disaster, but there is no point discussing the past as we can't change it. We can only work with the housing situation as it us, rather than what we wish it to be.

Yes, more housing needs to be built ideally, but the country doesn't have a magic money pot to pay for this. With an aging population, a SEN crisis,failing NHS and schools there isn't enough money to go round.

So we have to allocate what is available by need, not by preference. I know many would prefer to keep the council home and would prefer a lifetime tenancy, but not all of the need these. If someone can afford private then they should pay market rent on their council property, to raise funds for building new properties for those in high need.

We were allocated this house when our private landlord wanted to sell the house we were living in.
we had a teenager at the time,they’ve now moved into their own home.We have asked about downsizing to a bungalow due to my ill health but I am not old enough to get one,we are told we can get a one bedroomed 2nd floor flat which is no good due to my disability but the one flat is £64 a week more. Why would anyone downsize and pay a lot more it doesn’t make sense,
we currently pay £101 per week,the house next door is £175 a week as it’s a new tenancy.

sister in law pays £220 per week for her private rented house,this is the 4th place she has lived in since we got our house as her landlords have either wanted to increase her rent or sell her,yet I am not worthy to many on here as mine is social housing ?

I was thinking same, I got my first mortgage in 2002 straight out of uni, and had to wait until I had worked 3 months and had payslips to be able to get a mortgage. My only credit history was my mobile phone contract, and my salary was only 17k, but somehow I still got a mortgage

But this is the problem isnt it? Is your sister in-law not also ‘worthy’ of stable fairly priced housing? The question is, if the benefit can’t be provided for everyone, shouldn’t it be provided based on need?

Completely agree with you.
I think once your kids have moved out, you should be made to downsize at least.

I was made homeless with my 9 children a couple of years ago, our delightful ex landlord decided he wanted more money and could do so by kicking us out and turning it into a student property.
Our council couldn’t house us as they had no properties big enough, so we EVENTUALLY found another private landlord willing to take us on (and he had to be heavily bribed by the council to do so, even though we had always been perfect and respectful tenants that always paid our rent) with all our kids.

I’m now sat in yet another overpriced private rental property (four bed, I sleep in the living room) paying £1400 a month and have no sense of security that we won’t get another section 21 at a moment’s notice, because there was simply no social housing for us.

What really pisses me off is one of my older friends is sat in a five bed social property with just her almost adult son at home and had the audacity to judge the fact I had lots of children when I complained that we couldn’t find anywhere, she had 7 herself and was more than happy to take the council houses that were offered to her when they were all growing up!

It’s a stupid system and I think it’s the epitome of selfishness to be knowingly sat in a council property large enough to house a family desperately in need when you yourself at one point were likely in their position.

”I’m alright, Jack!” Right?

Oh, are there? This is everywhere, is it? I wonder why i've been waiting over 2 years for a one bed then! I'll let the HAs know that there are plenty of flats available.

People online look down on people in council houses yet private rent tenants aren’t looked down on.
why would I give up my tenancy to move to a private rented one to potentially have to move like my sister in law. Yet that’s what people here think we should do.
one of her landlords wanted to raise her rent by £50 a week, all tenants should be able to live somewhere they feel secure and not at risk of rent increases like my sil.

id have loved to be able to by a property but ill health didn’t allow that sadly.

last week I had a new window fitted which I know I am lucky to get done but I’ve lived the last 3 winters with the wind blowing through them.