Right to Buy.

226 replies

Differentforgirls · 03/04/2026 18:35

Was “Right to Buy” a policy that has created the current housing crisis? I think it was.

OP posts:

Blueshoey484 · 06/04/2026 10:58

CostOfLoving · 06/04/2026 09:48

You initially said that you made a profit by buying your council house at a discount, then selling later. It would seem obvious that if it was sold for the market value of the area you should be able to buy something else in the same area. Or at least put down a very large deposit on somewhere new (and get a very small mortgage even on benefits - a relative has done this after inheriting). It seems an utterly peculiar situation that the council only gave you 26k if that wasn't the price, or close to it, of nearby equivalent properties.

You also said you couldn't buy in your 20s, as if that was the end of it. I was simply pointing out there's not a time limit like that for buying somewhere. Especially as it sounds like property prices were very cheap in your area, and you were previously working. You mention wages but no dates - presumably you were not working for less than minimum wage? So your full time job of 12k, whilst that sounds low today, would have been enough to live on reasonably.

You SHOULD be grateful to have a council house (and a house not flat!) and you have said you are, so no problem there. You recognise how helpful a thing it is.

I don't know why you're so upset about it being pointed out you're not the poorest of the poor. You say that's because of disability benefits, yet you were working before that so surely either better off then or at least not desperately poor (ie. on basic UC). You certainly wouldn't have been scraping together rent not covered by UC, as social rents are always covered in full.

I was on disability benefits before, for a long time and for hellish reasons. My capacity to work is still affected (and always will be) and I'm currently on a significantly lower income than your Mum's pension and paying half of it in (private) rent, so yes it is a bit galling that someone who's had more opportunities to work in the past and the opportunity of council property talks as if they are so hard done by.

And the teacher thing - if your Mum was working full time as a teacher when you were small, she MUST have been better off than people in lower paid jobs, or out of work for whatever reason. She was not the poorest of the poor either, working in a professional job!

I will add that about 10 years ago I was on the equivalent of 20k a year, like you mention your Mum was just before retirement. Frankly, it felt like a fortune to me. (I say "equivalent" as it was less than that but was disability benefits, so I worked out I'd need to be earning 20k to be on the same amount. I worked it out because I was trying so hard to better my situation and come off benefits against the odds).

Not sure how you can be so sure your benefits will stop - if you are still disabled you MUST appeal.

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I was not in a council house. I lived in a flat. Other posters used the word house on that thread

I was forced to sell as my flat was being demolished. How could I buy something in the same area when the entire housing scheme was being flattened? That's the only reason I moved in the first place - I was forced to.

Flats only go that cheap in a couple of areas. 26k is not the norm - it is very much an outlier. It was in an estate that had a poor reputation -for anti social behaviour - the official reason for the flats being sold off cheap was because there was a factory half a mile away that had contaminated land on it. That didn't affect house prices of new builds in the same area. I have no idea why.

I was on basic UC when my flat was being demolished. Im only on disability benefits due to having a triple leg fracture two years ago and I get some because I have ptsd

I have already said this in previous posts. I moved during lock down. I had to. I had an asset - so the dwp wouldn't pay rent on the flat that I was moving into until the sale went through. I actually had zero money the day of my house move. I had to borrow from my mum - because the money from the flat sale didn't go in my bank until the week after - including a small sum to help with moving costs

26k is not the going rate for flats in my home town. It is not also the going rate for new build properties a five minute walk away from my old flat - they go for over 100k plus

I only got the market value because I was being made homeless - otherwise I would have got what I paid for it

I have been on disability benefits for 18 months. I moved out of my old flat five years ago. My mum has never said she was hard done by - I said that she struggled and she did - even though she was in work full time.

My benefits will stop because I was given them for a limited time while my leg recovers - and I have never been able to get lcwra for my mental health. Despite trying three times - and I'm not putting myself through the process again

My mum is 77. She started teaching at the age of 21 - as I said - she qualified for free school dinners for me because her wages were low. I never said she was the poorest of the poor - I said she struggled partly because my dad paid the minimum he could in child support and my brothers dad paid zero

She bought her council house to save her money - if she had had a partner and two wages coming in - she might not have done that

If I had lived elsewhere in my home town my flat would have been worth 80 or 90k - and that's what stopped me from buying somewhere else - lack of money.

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