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????????????????

yabu..but you know that. i never judge anyone by where they live or what car they drive, i judge people by how they talk to their children, how they treat animals.....that kinda thing.

adults that wear t.shirts with swear words on them .....i wouldn't talk to them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not moaning about sleeping in the front room. I certainly don't expect a bigger house because of it and would refuse one even if offered because we live in such a nice area near all the kids schools

It's that whole middle-class mentality that if you don't 'work as hard' you should never, ever have a standard of living that approaches theirs, and that if they have to lose their job then by Jove the working poor should have to suffer, too!

What gives?

This house belongs to someone else. He can pass this to his daughter when she dies and she can deal with the damp and the single glazing and the dodgy plumbing and the boiler that the heating inspector says is only about 65% efficient - although it will keep going for donks.

If you think it's a picnic to privately rent then I will most gladly do a Life Swap with you.

If you think council or social housing is free then here's a raspberry for your ignorance.

"It's that whole middle-class mentality that if you don't 'work as hard' you should never, ever have a standard of living that approaches theirs, and that if they have to lose their job then by Jove the working poor should have to suffer, too!" I totally agree with that one expat, here here.

You wouoldn't think that attitude exists would you - but it does. My DP and i see it all the time, he is a builder and i a SAHM. What gets me, is that he often works much harder than these middle class snobs who think that because they have "professional careers" that they work harder than us and deserve a better lifestyle.

Who, in their infinate wisdom, decided that a city banker works harder than a teacher, nurse, bin man, builder, shop worker? Don't they all do a days work?? Oh hang on though, but their jobs are so much more stressfull - sorry, not really relevant but expat gave me a place to air my little mini rant about peoples "you are defined by what you do/where you live/what you own" mentality

not everyone can be paid £100,000 a year. and while i agree that teachers/nurses should be paid more, you cant really expect someone that empties bins to be paid the same as a brain surgeon?

no, but nor is it reasonable to come to the belief that because they're 'only a bin man' they don't deserve to live in a decent place.

I don't think anyone disputes that bin men deserve a decent place to live, but if they are in employment and making a living, why should their housing be subsidised?

well, because otherwise many can't afford to rent a place to live at all, much less a decent place.

and again, it's not subsidised. i thought that point was already gone over, or perhaps i'm confusing it with another thread.

expat, you can explain, argue, give facts as much as you like, some people will just hang on to their ignorant beliefs even when they have been disproved, out of sheer prejudice.

It's cheaper than renting on the open market. That makes it subsidised.

I don't own my own home on millionaire's row, btw Edam, I rent. So I'm not fucking ignorant or prejudiced just because I don't agree with you.

so georgimama, what would you say then about subsidies (sp) for teachers and nurses, who do, what some might argue (not me) a more "worthwhile" job, than the bin man. You go out and pick up other peoples shit every morning for minimum wage and tell me you wouldnt need a helping hand from the state. If there wasn't this great divide between the rich and poor in this country there would be less need for subsidy!

That is an interesting point re the brain surgeon. Who is more "valuable" to society - the person who saves lives by virtue of his education and dexterity,working under extreme pressure etc etc, brain surgeon, or the bin man, who if you want to get pedantic about value, affects more lives than the brain surgeon doing lucrative private work one day, nhs the next and golf the next, with his often seven day, poorly paid job ensuring that we don't have to wallow in our own shite and the disease that would surely follow - i guess it depends what you mean by deserving. Me, i imagine you have a lot more job satisfaction as a brain surgeon, but im not sure the job is any more "important" than the bin man - both of these jobs, in my niave opinion are a million times more valuable than the "fat cats" who piss around running corporations into the ground all day.

It means a lot as far as 2010 is concerned, there are going to be big penalties. I understand your feelings because I know some of our Residents feel the same, but they have no choice anymore it has to be brought up to standard. It won't just finish at 2010 either, they have to maintain that standard from then on.

Lusi, do you know how much the rent is in HA accommodation? Well, actually there isn't rent in HA because HA's aren't profit making, we pay towards all the work that gets done and currently the work that is getting done, as I've been explaining to Shy, is all part of a government programme that affects all rental accommodation and most Landlords will be taking advantage of a series of grants available to get it done. It would have included anywhere that you have lived before too.

I do get cross about attitudes to HA Residents. Most of them are working and we have many that work really hard within the Association (because legally they have to have Residents working for them) on every level from Resident's Associations to Board. I'm working on the local RA, Asset Management, the newspaper editorial team (that makes two newspapers I write for them), The Forum (level below Board), the local HAs umbrella group, I've been asked to get involved with the 2010 group and there's probably more I can't think of right now AND I'm frustrated I'm not doing more because I have a toddler! I'm actually not one of the busiest Resident's, I know some on more groups than me, including the board and external groups. The HA has a responsibility to it's Residents to provide assistance to go into training or employment if they're unemployed.

I know my use of the word responsibility has been laughed at, but I use it in the legal sense and we're getting to a point where landlords can't afford to laugh about it anymore, it's going to cost them a lot of money if they continue to fail in their responsibilities.

I didn't swear. Merely pointing out that people who repeat the same tired old lies despite those lies being exposed several times during the thread are, presumably, prejudiced or being deliberately ignorant. How else would you explain it?

I'll explain again. Council housing is NOT subsidised, it merely reflects the cost of the actual bricks and mortar. The 'market rent' for private housing is affected by several factors, including property prices and the landlord's profit that simply do not apply to social housing.

In other words, council tenants are paying the true cost, private tenants are paying what the landlord can get away with charging.

Got that?

I live at Boden on Sea, and have just returned from a holiday in say chavsville on sea. Boden on sea is full of people trying their best to appear to be having a wholesome time at the beach, whilst looking down on the reins holders, hooped earing wearing lesser mortals who are actually born here. In chavsville on sea, everyone was busy actually having a good time and not giving a flying fart what anyone else thinks. Sorry, completely irrelevant, mini rant number two.

justaflyingvisit;

come back and say that to me if you, or anyone close to you needs that surgeon...i hope you never do...but i can empty my own bins if i have to!

For the judgy amongst you... this'll make you feel better...

The government is forcing social landlords (ie councils and housing associations) to bring rents into line with the private sector.

The idea being that the very needy will receive Housing Benefit so it won't matter to them.

The higher wage earners will find that they are no longer financially better off living in social rented accommodation, so will be less tempted to stay there if they can afford to buy.

At the moment where I live and work a 3-bed council terraced house is about £95 per week to rent. Privately it would be around £200. It would cost around £200K to buy. So even if you're earning £50K or so then remaining a council tenant is an attractive option.

We have 4000 people on our waiting list and only 10,600 properties altogether.

Something has to change - and it's going to!

Forgot to say... Council and HA rents will be in line with the private sector by 2016.

Bloody hell I am only in my 30's (vv young) - but I remember when council housing was not about housing the poor and unfortunate but just housing working people. It is so recent that owning a house has become the desired norm.

I was brought up in a mix of private rented and council housing - my Dad would have probably been able to get a mortgage but it was not a priority and we watched our neighbours buy up their council properties at vastly reduced prices - am I unreasonable in thinking that this was unfair and deprived far more people (in the future) of affordable housing than one flash git in a Landrover?

Why did Marx drink herb tea?

Cause proper tea is theft!

I don't understand where you're coming from at all. Tbh, I think yabvu. To start with, you have no idea how he acquired the car, and most importantly it really isn't any of your business.

daftpunk, do you know how much bin men get? I thought after the news recently it was common knowledge! My first (and only house I've bought) cost less (in 2001 so not that long ago) than a bin man's annual wage!

georgimama do you know how much rent is? It certainly isn't subsidised. I've already stated several times in this thread that we have an estate that is employed 18+ professionals only. We have a lot of key worker properties. It's simply a case of some people don't want to plough all their money into a house in the current climate. I'm not sure who you think is subsidising people's housing when they live in HA. The only reason it's any cheaper is because HAs are not profit making so they can only charge for their services. If you rent privately the landlord can set their rent at whatever level they choose. There's no subsidy.

The 'subsidy' came from the fact that most council housing was originally built with public money. Nowadays there are 'pooling arrangements' so councils in the soft south have millions of ££ taken away and redistributed to poorer areas. Where I work around 45p in every £ that our tenants pay in rent is taken, so they are the ones doing the subsidising!

40+, I hadn't heard that one, we've been told we need to lower rents.