Keeping a 3 bedroom council house when your children have grown up

[Iwishitwerewarmer]

Just pondering - what are everyone’s opinions on a single parent raising their children in a council house/housing association house and staying there once their children have moved out? Should they downsize into a one bed flat/smaller property or is it their right to remain in their home/neighbourhood?

Added extra - they have looked after the property well, have landscaped the garden, installed a new kitchen and generally added value to the property.

But that is rather the point isn’t it?
60% of them are not in poverty due to not having to move every 12 to 18 months which private renters face along with disproportionate increases to rent versus wages

“Approximately 40% of people in social rented housing (council and housing associations) live in relative poverty after housing costs, Poverty in the UK: Statistics. With over 4 million social homes in the UK, this indicates a very high concentration of low-income households, with 830,000 people in social housing in London alone experiencing poverty as of 2023/24 Trust for London. “

They should be allowed to stay, but at market rent (bedroom tax often does not even come close to bridging the gap between social rent & market).

Social rent is a form of subsidy and it should not be provided to people who don't need it.

The housing crisis is a lot more than council tenants living in properties that are too big for them. Right to buy has stopped in Scotland - there are still 14000 people on waiting lists in my town -in a town that has just over 30000 people. Stock being sold off and not replaced is the issue

Where I live people take excellent care of their council homes & really do see them as their own as they have secured tenancies. Replacing the cheap ugly kitchens the council provide is because they want a nicer home & plan on being there for many years. It’s not about increasing the value of the house but creating a nicer home for their family.

My mum has lived in her home for 24 years, it’s 3 bedrooms. There is now just her. I don’t see why she should give her home up that she has maintained and decorated and lived in for so many years. It isn’t my mums fault that there isn’t enough social housing or that people keep having kids that they can’t house.

Threads like these always descend into spiteful jealousy usually by those who are struggling to pay a mortgage they can’t afford.

It’s not subsidised. Private rents are the ones that are subsidised. There are literally private landlords having their mortgages paid by the taxpayer
Here we go again with the ignorance that sprouted on MN on a regular basis! Do you k ow that the very vast majority of landlords own only one rented property? That the majority still paying for a mortgage also work and pay tax. That rental income is now taxed as income tax, which means most pay at least 20%, the majority at 40%. That landlords make it perfect for the government. On one hand, they get easy tax money, on the other, landlords now can't even ask their tenanys to leave, even if they are shitty tenants. Win win, money coming in, reduced reliance on social housing.

This means that for many landlords, there is no more incentive to be a landlord. Hardly any profit after all cost and tax are considered, yet a lot of added trouble. So what happens? Landlords sell... and there is more need for SH after all.

Make social housing for everyone... no incentive to rent and even no incentive to buy if SH means reduced monthly rent (and less than mortgage payments) yet it is your property for life!

Only issue... Less landlords, less tax coming in, fewer buyers... Less tax coming in... Oh wait, not enough to build SH properties yet more desperate demand....

The naivity of people is staggering! They just want it easy for them. Don't we all want the perfect spacious modern home, low monthly payment, security for life. Sadly, it doesn't come for free!

Full rent would be 400£ for a 2 bed room newish build- so very much subsidised.

Exactly

I think they should move. My grandma wouldn’t move after my dad and his two brothers had long moved out and then she was widowed. She was taking up a three bed house when there were families crammed into a one bed flat. Even as a child I could see how selfish it was.

As for the sense of entitlement... Well, that's society nowadays. Everyone is due whatever makes their lives easier and fulfilling!

No one is entitled to a council house.

I guess the other question is whether if the 3 adult children had not moved out...

Should they all be entitled to the house when they alone would not qualify.

And should they be allowed to inherit thr tenancy.

It's the council who should be making these improvements. I live in council housing - my kitchen isn't cheap and ugly. Some people don't have 3k spare cash to pay someone to fit a kitchen or have the skills to do it themselves. I certainly didn't when I lived in my last flat when my kitchen badly needed replaced

Yes, exactly this.

The rent for Social housing is rarely cheap or low, it is merely affordable.

The fact that private let is so breathtakingly expensive makes people think social housing is cheap. It's NOT.

I didn't say it wasn't subsidised

@LadyVioletBridgertonI would say it’s more selfish to continue to have children when you’re in overcrowded accommodation

Yes, I agree. My great-aunt would have moved. But couldn't because she couldn't facilitate it herself.

You have missed my point entirely.

Why should a woman have to move when her kids have left home but someone can buy up social housing and rent it out at extortionate rates? Or why should anyone take a home out of circulation entirely by having a second home?

The blame is always on the working class, never pointed upwards.

It's not. Private let is so expensive that £400 a month LOOKS cheap. It's not.

My rent also goes up annually. It's gone up quite considerably this year compared to previous years.

DM lives alone in a 3 bed council house. DF died suddenly last month, and she had an inspection shortly after. She was terrified she would be asked to move (has been in the house for about 40 years). This is despite them under occupying for 20 years anyway.
She was assured that they would help to find a smaller place if she wanted, but there would be no pressure at all and it would be something she has to instigate. She was also told she could do a private swap with someone, and there are websites for that. She can leave the house to live somewhere smaller, or leave in a box (their words 😅).
She pays the rent herself as she still works (is a pensioner though) but it will be tight as the death of my dad has seen the household income drop by £900pm.

They do, often, temporarily, which can be often 2 years.

What seems to be a common occurrence where I live is mums on very low or no income becoming single with 2 or more children. They wait but do get SH, usually the ones newly built. They remain single for a few months and then new boyfriend moves in. New boyfriend earns an okay salary. They would never have got the SH property if they'd applied together, but they now have a nice spacious house forever. They pay half what their neighbours pay in rent or mortgage for the same property because they are not eligible for SH. It's a joke! Meanwhile, families who are really struggling wait years and years for a SH and seriously struggle financially in the meantime.

What are this single parent in the 3 bed house thoughts on this question?:- How would they have felt if they’d been stuck with their children in a B&B for months and months, having to go out of the B&B between 10am and 4pm each day and trail round shopping centres and the like, trying to keep warm, find affordable food, and entertain the children? How would they feel if they knew there were 3 bed. houses out there that would be ideal for them but were occupied by single people who didn’t need them?

The new kitchen is irrelevant. More fool them to put a new kitchen in a property they rent. So, they’ve looked after the house and garden? That’s admirable, but plenty of private renters take good care of their rentals too and don’t expect to never have to move for that reason.

More than that, plenty of home-owners have to move out of their houses, eg after divorce.

The bottom line is it’s social housing to serve a need, and if there’s only one of you and barring extenuating reasons, you don’t need a 3 bed house.