Page 22 | Keeping a 3 bedroom council house when your children have grown up

Iwishitwerewarmer · 2026-04-03T06:41:45+00:00

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.

Kirbert2 · 03/04/2026 12:09

ElizabethReed · 03/04/2026 11:58

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. “

Show quote history

No one is going to willingly put themselves in a position of unsecure housing and increases to rent when they have the option of legally staying in secure housing.

I think some would be willing to move to a smaller social housing property but the issue is that very few are available and/or any available may be unaffordable.

OneDivineHammer · 03/04/2026 12:09

Whatexcellentboiledpotatoes · 03/04/2026 09:47

It's something I've always had very strong opinions on.
I think it's absolutely disgusting that someone can stay in a massive three or four bed house all by themselves and pay cheap, subsidised rent, in a house built by the taxpayer, while families struggle in shitty bedsits. It's disgusting they're allowed to and it's disgusting that they are morally OK with it themselves.
I don't care that your rosebushes are doing well and you have family memories there. You were given it at a heavily subsidised rate for a reason, and you took that help when you needed it. Now you happily block others that need it from getting the same help. It's supremely selfish.
And don't even get me started on the people that buy council houses and then sell them on, taking that house off the SH market forever whilst enjoying a nice profit. It's gross.

And the people that say we should just build more... No. We can't just keep building and building until we have no countryside left.

THIS. SO much this.

BatchCookBabe · 03/04/2026 12:10

JayJayj · 03/04/2026 12:01

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.

Good point. (Particularly your last sentence!)

Blueshoey484 · 03/04/2026 12:11

moofolk · 03/04/2026 12:07

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.

Show quote history

The street I live in is a mix of people who rent from the council. People who have bought their home and people who have bought to let out

A family across the road from me are paying 1000 pounds a month for a two bedroomed flat - it would be just over 400 pounds a month if it were still council stock

1457bloom · 03/04/2026 12:11

YouDriveMeCrazyButICanDoThatMyself · 03/04/2026 07:44

It’s their home. They shouldn’t be forced out into a one bedroom flat anymore than a private home owner should have to sell their 4 bed detached and move into a one bed to free up houses for new families.

You are so naive, council housing should be a temporary measure for people who would otherwise be homeless not multigenerational subsidised housing.

BatchCookBabe · 03/04/2026 12:11

Kirbert2 · 03/04/2026 12:09

No one is going to willingly put themselves in a position of unsecure housing and increases to rent when they have the option of legally staying in secure housing.

I think some would be willing to move to a smaller social housing property but the issue is that very few are available and/or any available may be unaffordable.

Show quote history

Yep this. You'd have to have rocks in your head to willingly give up a lifetime social housing tenancy!

Passaggressfedup · 03/04/2026 12:12

The rent for Social housing is rarely cheap or low, it is merely affordable
Affordable is a privilege nowadays!

wherethewildrosesgrow · 03/04/2026 12:12

x2boys · 03/04/2026 10:39

We also cant magic up one bedroom properties for people to move in too.

Show quote history

No we can’t, there isn’t enough housing full stop.
But there are a lot of single occupants living in three bedroom properties and a lot of families living in properties with less bedrooms than their needs.
Moving things around would probably only alleviate less than 50%, but that’s better than the current situation.

Differentforgirls · 03/04/2026 12:13

Charla69 · 03/04/2026 10:27

Nope, people should be allowed to stay if they wish too. The council need to build more homes, the fault is theirs alone.

The fault is right to buy.

BatchCookBabe · 03/04/2026 12:13

Whosthetabbynow · 03/04/2026 12:01

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

100% this. The vitriol and anger towards people in social housing is borne out of jealousy and bitterness. Getting a social housing tenancy (for life) is an absolute gift. NO-ONE in their right mind would give it up.

1457bloom · 03/04/2026 12:14

Passaggressfedup · 03/04/2026 12:08

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.

Exactly, they are gaming the system. Meanwhile, hard working taxpayers are footing the bill.

BatchCookBabe · 03/04/2026 12:14

Passaggressfedup · 03/04/2026 12:12

The rent for Social housing is rarely cheap or low, it is merely affordable
Affordable is a privilege nowadays!

Of course something being affordable isn't a privilege!

Whosthetabbynow · 03/04/2026 12:15

BatchCookBabe · 03/04/2026 12:13

100% this. The vitriol and anger towards people in social housing is borne out of jealousy and bitterness. Getting a social housing tenancy (for life) is an absolute gift. NO-ONE in their right mind would give it up.

Show quote history

Quite x

BatchCookBabe · 03/04/2026 12:15

1457bloom · 03/04/2026 12:14

Exactly, they are gaming the system. Meanwhile, hard working taxpayers are footing the bill.

Show quote history

No they're not. Taxpayers do NOT subsidise social housing.

HTH.

Graygoose3 · 03/04/2026 12:15

Iwishitwerewarmer · 03/04/2026 07:50

How are the tax payer funding that person? People in council houses and housing association homes pay rent like everyone else and a lot work full time.

Show quote history

Yes ..but very reduced
My friend had the same size house as us ,our mortgage was £1500 a month her council house rent was £320 a month..she had a lot of spare cash per month as we had similar incomes and lived round the corner from each other ..she's still there and her DC have left home .
I can see both sides ,I know of families who's children have grown up in temporary accommodation with one room for the whole family ,while my friend has a 3 bed house to herself..

Blueshoey484 · 03/04/2026 12:16

Passaggressfedup · 03/04/2026 12:08

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.

You think that being a single mum with kids gets people priority on the housing lists and gets them new builds - there are families who wait 15 years for a council house.

When I was homeless a few years ago (the council made me homeless). I was pretty much top of the list. I didn't get a new build nor did I expect one. My flat was built in the 1930s.

They all have new boyfriends with good jobs who all want to move in? With respect I think that's a bit of a stretch

Also - in a lot of cases mortgages tend to be as cheap as council rents - if not cheaper

wherethewildrosesgrow · 03/04/2026 12:17

hazelberry · 03/04/2026 10:40

The council would not house a family with 3 children in a one bedroom flat.

Show quote history

It worth noting that councils often put multiple child families in single rooms, with shared bathrooms, with only one double bed, and no room to to even put mattresses on the floor.
No cooking facilities.
Again this is ‘temporary’,

1457bloom · 03/04/2026 12:17

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

EarlofShrewsbury · 03/04/2026 12:18

I live in a council house and have a secure tenancy.

I don't think I'll ever move.

I could live here for possibly another 30-40 years.

My kitchen is 15 years old and the council are due to put a new one in.

The options they give are atrocious. Very cheap ugly laminate/veneer cabinets.

White square plastic extractor. £3per square meter laminate flooring.

Just because I don't own it, doesn't mean I have to live with a shit ugly kitchen.

I'm putting my own in. I don't plan on moving out during the kitchens lifetime so I don't consider it a waste of money.

Yeah sure, I might lose my house due to some unforeseen issue, but so can homeowners (bankruptcy, fire, divorce etc).

Kirbert2 · 03/04/2026 12:18

BatchCookBabe · 03/04/2026 12:11

Yep this. You'd have to have rocks in your head to willingly give up a lifetime social housing tenancy!

Show quote history

Exactly.

I only moved into SH a year ago and it is mine for as long as I want it. I don't believe anyone in my position would willingly move back to insecure housing years later with a shortage of smaller SH properties, I just don't.

Differentforgirls · 03/04/2026 12:19

ElizabethReed · 03/04/2026 10:42

You were definitely bottom of the pile if you lived in a Council property even in the late 90s
There was an Estate nearby and nobody mixed with those children.

Show quote history

What awful people lived on that estate. Shocking.

Noodles1234 · 03/04/2026 12:19

Council housing is different to buying your own, it is a Socialist movement and rightly so. In keeping with being socialist it would seem better for a new family to utilise the home and nearby schools.

However the human side in me realises you have built a home, friends in your neighbourhood and invested emotions.

I think if there were more pretty 1 bed bungalows with little gardens etc this is the way to entice, not flats.

Blueshoey484 · 03/04/2026 12:19

1457bloom · 03/04/2026 12:14

Exactly, they are gaming the system. Meanwhile, hard working taxpayers are footing the bill.

Show quote history

I don't believe this for a second - being single with kids doesn't automatically give people priority for a council house. I used to work in supported accommodation and some people in supported accommodation, with kids waited anything up to 18 months for a home - and they certainly didn't get a new home.

It's exactly the same narrative as all people on UC have money coming out of their ears and as someone else said -always directed at the working classes

1457bloom · 03/04/2026 12:19

Council housing tenancies should be limited to one year, enough time to get a job and stop sponging off the state.

moofolk · 03/04/2026 12:19

Blueshoey484 · 03/04/2026 12:11

The street I live in is a mix of people who rent from the council. People who have bought their home and people who have bought to let out

A family across the road from me are paying 1000 pounds a month for a two bedroomed flat - it would be just over 400 pounds a month if it were still council stock

Show quote history

Yep. My rent is around £1500. Astronomical but sadly fairly cheap for private rent.

Next door is still council / HA they pay about one third of what I pay.

Next door the other way have bought theirs & done it up really nicely.

The kids left home but since the husband died, an adult daughter & her son have moved back. Other adult children & their kids round a lot. They just wouldn’t be able to if she’d had to move. I don’t agree with selling off council stock but I don’t blame her for doing it as it’s her home. Especially with how council tenants are despised (as this thread attests) & not considered worthy of having a home.

I do resent that my landlady bought this house & various other houses around the city and lives the life of Riley in the profits. And that I don’t have the stability of the secure tenancy thread houses were intended to have.