AIBU to try to in-still a work ethic in my kids?

[Putneydad7]

I own an ex council house in London which I rent out and on the estate are a mix of private and council properties. I’ve spent the last few months renovating it. The last two weeks I’ve had my kids (one home from uni, one post exams) work on the renovations.
Next door is a council house and no one works, the kids and the mum sit around all day while their massive state funded garden grows weeds.
I struggle to make any money due to the taxes and regulations heaped on landlords with more to come from Burnham, anything I do make is subject to ever higher tax.
How can one family sit around and do bugger all and another have everyone working in the dirt in 35c heat just to keep next door in swimming pools. (Aside, next door bought an inflatable pool in the first heatwave and then because they never emptied it or treated it, the water became green. So they just bought a second one for this heatwave and put it right next to the green one!!!! )
I know socialism is spending other people’s money, but it is hard to in-still a work ethic in my kids when they’d rather be in the pool (but not the green one).

We actually need more homes being rented out not fewer. So I think the OP is being harshly treated here.

And it is odd that Labour policies with respect to rented property have actually led to a reduced supply of rental houses and flats!

But that is the case. They seem to want to look good superficially by saying they are on the side of renters regardless that their policies actually indirectly work against them.

I brought my DS up to have a work ethic. He had part time jobs as a teenager, worked the holidays when he was at Uni and got minimum wage retail jobs whilst trying to find his career job. He has a full time job and a part time job on the side because he's managed to save up and buy a house on his own. I did all this without ever having to refer to the work ethic of our social housing neighbours, who, although I know some of them to say 'hello' to, I have no idea which of them are claiming benefits.
It's really not that difficult to bring your kids up with your own values.
I can remember my DS, when he was small asking me why X & Y children were still outside playing at 8pm at night when he had to go to bed. My answer was always, if they were my children they wouldn't be out there now.

Why do they need to be rented out? People can buy them to live in them

It always amazes me the level of jealousy heaped at people on benefits. Forgetting money, because actually life is about so much more, you have no idea how they got where they are or in fact what where they are looks like.

My dh and I work from home, flexi time. Our neighbours may well think we’re unemployed while in reality we work hard and earn well. Comparison is the thief of joy and all that.

So your teenage / adult children have no work ethic and you think it's the fault of the neighbours of your second home who are to blame?

I think it's a bit more nuanced than that. The new legislation aims to equalise the landlord/tenant relationship by providing greater security of tenure, higher property standards and so on. If landlords choose to quit the rental market based on that, it's a pretty clear indication of what they were hoping to gain from the enterprise.

@ClarkeandNewman I would agree with you that no reputable landlord should complain about a requirement that basic property standards be maintained. Indeed this has been the law since 1985.

But the more recent laws go further than this. For instance mandating expensive minimum energy performance levels higher than are required in owned property. Councils also increasingly require costly licences (around £1k) for landlords the cost of which get passed on in rent. Increased security of tenure is double edged because while it's good for the sitting tenant landlords worry that they cannot easily realise the value of their property if they need to and many have sold recently.

The net effect has been to push up rents and decrease the volume of rental stock. I think the nuance is in this direction!

I think landlords are one of the few categories of people that are hated more than people on benefits.

You need to stop concerning yourself with your neighbours, you seem to think you know a lot about them. How much is presumption and how much is fact.

I hold my hands up, shouldn’t have said anything. Can’t be arsed with the vitriol but can’t take the post down either.
So guess I have to wear it.

no one works, the kids and the mum sit around all day while their massive state funded garden grows weeds

How can one family sit around and do bugger all and another have everyone working in the dirt in 35c heat just to keep next door in swimming pools

next door bought an inflatable pool in the first heatwave and then because they never emptied it or treated it, the water became green. So they just bought a second one for this heatwave

I hold my hands up, shouldn’t have said anything. Can’t be arsed with the vitriol but can’t take the post down either

I think the vitriol came from you though?

Yabu to post about wanting to instil a work ethic into your kids when clearly what you actually wanted to do was comment on the neighbours that live nextdoor to your 2nd home.

I personally wouldn’t make my children do hard labour in thirty five degree heat, but that’s just me

Bit late to instil anything now surely.

The last couple of decades were the time
to instil work ethic. If it’s been derailed by one day of you showing contempt for strangers it can’t have been very strong!

What your neighbors do or don’t do has nothing to do with you. Save your scrutiny and energy for your own property.

@Putneydad7 If your original post is accurate, it seems this house you own and rent out is bringing you neither profit nor joy. It sounds a bit unhinged to make your children work on renovations in a heat wave on a house on which you struggle to make any money. You could let them get holiday jobs to earn and enjoy their own money. Perhaps they could find seasonal work in London somewhere which has air conditioning.

If it's the case that you've done your cost benefit analysis and determined it's still sufficiently profitable for you to be worth any negative effects from making your children work in the dirt in 35 degree heat, then crack on. I don't really know why you thought you might find a deluge of validating responses here.

Make your decisions in accordance with your own circumstances. You should not need to refer to what other people do or don't do in this regard as part of the justification of your choices.

A couple of hours helping out in the garden on a hot day isn’t sending them down the mines is it. It’s important to teach your children that they aren’t always going to be comfortable. Honestly I have no idea whether this is a worthy investment or not, you will know that but yeah the principle of rolling your sleeves up and getting stuff done is not a bad thing to teach your kids.

YANBU.
Welcome to Britain!

There was a post on here recently where someone brazenly said ‘I’m not going to work because it’s not worth my while financially and I’d sooner just be at home with my kids.’

The majority agreed with her and said it wasn’t her fault how the system was set up!

Mental 🫨

Tbf, I don’t think the OP was

I know, right? There is literally no other country in the world where people make that kind of informed decision. The UK is a total outlier when it comes to people wanting to spend time with their kids.

Whoa. People. I owned an ex council house. I didn’t buy it from the council, it had been in private hands a couple owners before me. I wasn’t the person who bought it reduced rate from the council then sold at a larger profit! It was a council tenant that did that.
The fact Thatcher sold these houses off has nothing to do with the renting out of the house now. And people NEED to rent. I have three properties I rent out. I make no apologies for that. I’m not a ‘greedy landlord’. I lived in my ex council house until I sold it when I got married. But what if I had decided to rent it? Some family would have moved in and… what, paid? Well yes, that’s what happens when you have something someone else needs. And it doesn’t follow at all that the people renting are struggling. People rent from every demographic. I’m sure the couple paying £2900/month for my small flat in Fulham can afford it. Just as the people paying £2900/week can afford whatever they are renting.
The OP is providing a home. She’s making it nicer and better. Why is that wrong?
As for the question of instilling a work ethic, you do that by example, as is demonstrated by her comparison to her neighbours.

Glad I don’t live next door to you.

Owning three surplus properties is a valid definition of greed.

I'm a landlord - of one property - which was my previous house as I couldn't sell it at the time. So I became a landlord by default - and moved in with my partner (now husband). I've struggled with chronic fatigue and depression over many years so have struggled to work full time. I worked full time until my children were born - that I was a SAHM for many years and have worked part time ever since. I've never claimed benefit. As a result I've got a piddly pension to look forward to. My rental income (which isn't huge as the house is still mortgaged) is essential to top up what will be my small pension. So as you can see not all landlords are greedy or rolling in it!

Ironically she will be happy to pocket the housing or UC payments funded by tax payers from a poor workshy /low income family but she won't want to talk about that .