To keep our council property when we can technically buy?

[HungaryForLove]

Hi all,

My partner and I are TTC and thinking about our future. Ideally, after I have a baby I only want to work maximum 2 days weekly so I can be around for our kids, and also save on childcare costs. Partner earns about £35k/year before tax/pension, and we have around £16k in savings. We wouldn’t be claiming UC, just child benefit.

We currently live in a council house that my partner grew up in — he inherited it when his mum moved abroad. It’s a 3-bedroom house. Rent is £480/month. The estate is fine, some people are bit rough around the edges but they never give us any trouble and there’s actually a nice community. I regularly walk to the local shop at night and never feel unsafe. It’s full of young families.

The alternative is buying a 3-bedroom house (we need 3 bed as want 2 DC and I often WFH), which seems to start around £160,000 here and with the 10% deposit of £16,000 our savings would go back down to £0 with no buffer for house maintenance, car issues, maternity leave etc. Also with a 30-year mortgage (we’d need 30 years to be able to afford the monthly payments) at 4.35% interest, I’d realistically need to work 4–5 days a week just to cover costs. I am currently only earning £26,000 full-time. Working so many days would mean barely seeing our kids and only taking home less than £1000 anyway after childcare, and that’s with taking into account the 30 free hours as you still end up paying hundreds a month anyway (I know this from my sister who uses our local nursery 4 days a week for her son who is soon changing to 2 days as she will pay nothing then).

If we stay in the council house, we could comfortably manage on one full-time income and one very part-time income and retain over £10,000 in savings (that would otherwise go on house deposit) to get us through maternity leaves etc, and the a portion of the money we’d otherwise spend on mortgage interest we would invest. Even considering rent going up a few percent per year, we’d still be much more comfortable.

So, AIBU for wanting to stay put in our inherited council house for now, even though we could technically afford to buy? I’m not saying we would stay forever but at least until the expensive childcare years are over, and maybe by then mortgage rates will have become more reasonable and I could go back to working full-time and we’d only be paying wrap-around care.

I do appreciate we are in a fortunate position to be even able to make this choice. Me and DP did grow up in severe poverty, I had alcoholic gambling addict parents and DP is originally from a very deprived country which his DM has moved back to and neither of us will inherit anything. Just to add context.

I can’t believe OP even had the audacity to ask this question. Social housing ought to be for those who truly need it. It shouldn’t be inherited either. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who don’t have £16k in the bank who could do with somewhere to live. Meanwhile, the rest of us working population have to pay proper rent and mortgage. You pay subsidised rent, it’s not the same.

Yes, plus the rent that is paid is ploughed back into the council budget so they can improve housing stock. Half of the people on this thread seem to want social housing to be occupied entirely by people on benefits. I wonder if they're aware of how much social security fraud goes on when people are claiming HB etc - concealing the fact you live with a partner, subletting? Maybe they should get angry about that? OP and her partner are honest rent-paying tenants!

Not tonight satan

This is true for lots and lots of people

Stay put for now. If you go down the purchase route you might be putting yourself into poverty, especially if you plan to have children and take into account how much it costs to raise kids.

You do know buying a house isn't compulsory?

Your best future will be to aspire to own your own home, yes it may take a lifetime to get there BUT being at the mercy of a government or council who can change the rules (& eligibility) year to year is a difficult future to contemplate. Wait until interest rates are a bit better, continue to save but don’t loose sight of a home ownership dream, owning your own home will empower you and free you. It will provide you and your family security, but timing is everything. ….. move at your own pace BUT move.

Something being cheaper than what a private landlord charges does not make it subsidised FFS! It just means that they are not having to service mortgages on the properties AND trying to make a profit on top as the BTL lot do. They are charging what they can charge and still keep the properties maintained etc. They are non profit making, so as a result can afford to charge lower rent.

That people pay more in the private rental market is not the fault of the OP and you and other tax payers are not paying a penny towards her rent!

This attitude of "I can't have that, so you shouldnt have it either" is so depressing.

Its envy plain and simple.

I don’t care - it shouldn’t be a choice. It should be for those who need it.

Can you not exercise your right to buy ? Buy the property that you are in with the discount and then sell in 5 years and move to a better area ?

😡

Do you not realise how many people in desperate situations are on years long waiting lists for council housing? And to make things worse there are two of you in a bloody 3 bed.

It’s up to you guys, I think you’d be sensible to stay and save if you can. I know a couple in a similar position, the house was his mother’s which he bought from the council v cheaply and whereas he knows he is onto a good thing and is keen to stay, she hates raising their dc on a council estate and people assuming they rent when they’ve bought and is desperate to get out of there.

She does need it. They cant afford to buy on the figures she has quoted and would (again based on those figures and the fact that for a similar sized house in rent it would probably cost more than a mortgage) struggle to privately rent. They would lose the secure home that they pay full rent for, thus increasing money going into the pot for the LA to plough into more homes. Housing Benefit is taking money from one pot and putting into another, nothing more is going in.

Working tenants like @HungaryForLove and her DP who pay full rent are actually subsidising everyone else!

He didn’t inherit it’s called succession of tenancy. And yes. Of course you should move out

I don't blame you for staying but you absolutely shouldn't be allowed to.

Council houses should be for people that need one. There's a housing crisis and families in temporary bedsits (have you ever been in one of those places? the ones near us are full of drug users and they leave their needles in the communal toilets, imagine having to check for needles every time your child needs a wee).

People who earn too much, or are under-occupied should be kicked out ASAP.

My MIL was earning £85k a year and lived alone in a beautiful three bed council home with a large garden and conservatory she got when her kids were small which she paid about a quarter of what we paid privately for our poking two-bed flat. It makes me sick, frankly.

But as I said, can't really blame you (it's selfish, but people often do selfish things for their families), but I do blame the rules. I think the choice should be taken off you.

Your incomes aren't huge compared to your savings and rent.
If you could afford to pay for a deposit + have some savings (5-10k), + keep your mortgage to about the same as your current rent, then it would be unreasonable to stay but right now I don't think you're really in a position to buy.

You might be technically able to, but it doesn't mean it's the reasonable and responsible thing to do.

Oh how embarrassing for her, being assumed to rent when she owns 🙄

Does she think she's better than renters because her husband got sold a cheap house?

Literally anyone could have an accident on benefits. If we housed everyone who 'might' have an accident the entire working population would be in council housing. And yes, there are many people who could buy but instead choose to sponge off the tax payers. Do you want sink to their level? You're making excuses. Just do the right thing.

This!

We need a system that reviews the need for a council house on an annual basis. They should be a temporary solution to bail people out when they need it not a life choice.

I agree. I think councils ought to be vetting their tenants a bit more frequently and throughly. You are taking away a property for those in need.

Why do people think council house rent is subsidised? Is it because it’s lower than private rental? If so, it SHOULD be lower.

As an example, my cousin moved recently into a council house, and my sister into a private rental, about £200 per month difference in rent. The council house was a total shell, no appliances, no carpets or flooring, filthy bare walls, radiators with pain peeling off, garden a disgusting mess…. The private rental is lovely, fully carpeted, walls freshly painted in neutral colours (and will be refreshed every 3 years), some kitchen appliances built in, garden neat and tidy and easily maintained. Over a 3 year period, it will cost my cousin a lot more in her council house with everything taken into account

I don't necessarily think they should be temporary.

I just think they should be there for people that need them. If you need one your whole life then fine.
But the second you don't you should be given your notice.

You wouldn't be allowed to stay on benefits and earn £85k, so why was my MIL allowed to rent a home from a council at £50% below market rate when she didn't need it, and struggling families that could have had her huge house were left paying twice what she did for 1 or 2 bed flats?

I think it’s more that they can afford not to live where they do but he is quite money savvy and doesn’t see any reason to leave just for appearances.