ok, so i know im gonna get hounded for this one!!!

[benbon]

but AIBU to think that if you live in a council flat you shouldnt be able to afford a brand new land rover with personalised number plate and full leather interiour

its just so frustrating when we struggle to pay our rent and have a crappy car and a man living in the council flats opposite us can afford brand spanking new car

so aibu????????????????

'I want rent controlled housing with long term secure leases. This can be done on a private basis.'

And pigs might fly! That'll never happen because BTLers want to be able to get rid of their property asap as and when they feel the need. Because they're doing it for money, with the government's full support after the government allowed pensions to be fucked over and raided and people started using the commodity that is housing as a replacement investment vehicle in huge numbers.

I go shopping at LIDL and put it all in a Waitrose bag. Mind you, I shouldn't really have paid for a Waitrose bag. My bad.

lol at misdee and also to BENBON and WILKOS if you can afford £1100 and £1600 rent per month, as an ex mortgage advisor, surely you can both afford mortgages, then you will be paying less and it will be yours and you could use the saving as payment towards your own land rover with personalised plates and leather interior. why would someone who has cheap rent in a council flat give it up because they are making more money than when they moved in, if they are comfortable and like where they live what gives the other person more right than them.

Groan. I tried to upload my pic and it crashed me completely.

Puter says no...its fate I tell you.

A lot of people could afford mortgage payments but can't afford to get a mortgage.

sadly people who live in council homes sometimes actually want to better themselves so they go to work and try hard to work their way up the ladder.

even worse is the fact that just because they have a good job doesn't always mean they feel the need to move away from the area they have lived for a while and made friends.

YABU as what you actually mean is "s'not fair. they have got a house and i nice car and i haven't" boo hoo.

'ok, so i know im gonna get hounded for this one'

Why bother then?

Id love to own my own home again but I cant afford to save. It would be a case of save for the next ten years and maybe i'll afford a mortgage... or spend what I can to make this a nice home for my kids, even though its not really ours.

I think my kids deserve a nice home, even if it is a council property. This is their home now. Would they understand if I never made an effort because I was saving for the future? I dont think they would. They dont want to live in a shithole, which is what it would be had I not spent stupid money on it.

Benbon, the pregnant friend with two children in a bedsit that you were worried about.... if she had a council flat, somebody else (like you) would be bitching about her bringing children into the World when she couldn't afford them, yadda yadda yadda.

But as Smeeinit and shybaby prove there are hardworking people who live in council accommodation. What about nurses and so on? Not everybody earns £70 k a year you know! Not every household has 2 incomes.

And Expat makes a good point too, about people with mortgages having an asset but yet still bitching about people with no long term security in council houses!! Obviously they would't swap!! So clearly they just need a poorer level of society underneath them to feel secure.

perhaps he owns the flat? perhaps he was on his uppers when he took the flat on, but now he is getting back on his feet. Perhaps people who live in council accomodation shouldn't be allowed cars, or only second hand skodas. But perhaps he is a benefit fruad who is taking the piss. Perhaps he was given the car, perhaps he won it. Perhaps he is a secret millionaire and you have blown his cover. Perhaps perhaps perhaps.

I think it is very difficult to comment on the individual. Everyones situation is different. My parents lived in a very nice semi detached council house with a huge, lovely garden. My dad worked all of his life and they probably have paid more in rent than they would have mortgage over the years if they had bought a house all those years back. My Dad drove a nice car, not a prestige car but a nice car - was he not entitled to it then? My mum still lives in the very nice semi detached three bedroom council house. Maybe should give it up for a more "deserving" family? I think not.

Strange that you would prioritise a car over a home, and perfectly fair enough if you choose to that with your own money. Not fair enough if you expect other people to pay for your home, to free up your cash to buy a car.. surely you can see that this scenario if indeed it is the case is not fair and not what Gov Support is meant for.. no one would give a fig if his income wasn't supplemented.

Its a bit like saying ohh rich pple who own their own 5 bed home and 4 cars and private ed, I mean they should be able to leave a decent tip in restaurants and give money to pple less well off etc.

Funny but they don't (or not always).

And pple who live in council houses are allowed to buy nice cars.

I know a couple at the mo who are living off credit cards things are that bad but they will not compromise their daughters expensive private ed. Its all about what you think is a priority.

Yes, if it is your own money you can spend it how you damn well please. But if you are subsidised by hard working people many of whom cannot afford to even put petrol in a car then it is wrong.

rebelmum I'm sorry but you seem to keep ignoring the fact that nobody else is paying for his home. He is a council tenant, he therefore will pay rent and is not necessarily getting government support. You seem to have an equation in your head that says
'council tenant = benefits/ unemployed'. that is what is really pissing me off about this thread.
And CL why do you want rent controlled private rented properties etc ... why not more social housing provision to provide homes for those that need/want them?

I think many have you have been a bit hard on the OP, whose question has probably come from a genuine lack of knowledge on how the council housing 'system' works. Sometimes our American friends ask us seemingly bonkers and non-PC questions about how the NHS works, but that's only due to the fact that they really don't know, and they're coming from an entirely different perspective.

I have certainly learned a lot from this thread - for a start, I didn't know that everyone is entitled to a council house - it does obviously make sense, just as every child is entitled to a free education and every person is entitled to healthcare. I also didn't know that once you get a house, you can stay in it forever, or at least, be guaranteed that you will be provided with a roof over your head forever - again, maybe that's really obvious, but again, it's not something that I knew. I guess I presumed that council houses are for people who are down on their luck/unemployed/not earning enough, and are a stop-gap until you can afford private rent/a mortgage. Basically, I presumed that the entitlement was somehow means-tested.

Which brings me to the point - why is the rental so cheap? Someone said that a 3-bed semi in Leicester is about £47 per week.I get why poorer/unemployed/disabled/OAPs would have a smaller rent, but if it isn't subsidised and isn't a benefit (as some people have said) is the rental always so cheap across the board? Does it always stay the same however long you've paid it?

'he doesnt own this property as the whole block is council owned'

I'm interested in the post that said you could buy a brand new landrover for £500 per month! Where from? Because I'm off to get one if that's the case. My little 207 costs £200 per month and retails at about £10k, doesn't a landrover brand new cost about 40k.

Anyway back to the OP, YABU, he can spend his money on what he wants.

Just because they live in a council flat it doesn't mean they don't work or pay rent. A lot of people prefer to rent council or HA housing because it is more secure than renting privately where you can get thrown out ever 6 or 12 months. Also he could have bought his council flat or have that thing where you pay half rent half mortgage.

Right I'm off to get a council house.

The OP has a good point. Why should they work hard and have less than someone who is subsidised for whatever reason.

The question shouldn't be 'why is the rent so cheap?' but ' why is private rented so expensive?'

and rebelmum, it is not easy to get a council home. It is a long time waiting and limited choice as to where/what you get. So of course people are reluctant to leave them once they are in.
and i do wish you would stop using the word subsidised. are you a complete moron. Why do you not read what other posters are saying. we PAY RENT AND COUNCIL TAX..... a significant percentage of the revenue from council housing in our area goes into central government coffers... we are subsidising you... ffs.!!!! bread the thread.

Isn't a private rental a reflection of the value of the property, ie what you'd pay in mortgage payments is more or less equivalent of what you're paying in rent?

hoppybird....a 3 bed semi council house for £47 a week??!!!!!!
blimey im moving to leeds!
my 3 bed semi certainly does not come anywhere close to that amount each week,its double plus some.

my rent plus warden costs just under £100 a week for a 3 bed bungalow.

that is a council place.