Limited council tenancies

[Biscuitscoco]

Council housing only for two years Guardian report

Surely this is wrong?

'It's so depressing that instead of trying to make things better for people in a bad situation, we'd rather just make things worse for people in a marginally better situation.'

We're not even talking about people in bad situations necessarily, either. We're talking about people, in full-time work, but at low pay that means they cannot afford to buy or pay over-inflated private rents.

People like care home workers, admin assistants, nurses, bin men, street sweepers, cleaners, phlebotomists/lab techs, shop workers.

Some of these jobs are vital, especially as non-EU/EEA immigration is being capped even futher for both highly-skilled and non immigrants.

Yet these people are being shown, over and over again, that they are utterly valueless and deserve to be moved along to wherever they can find a roof because they are not well-off enough.

Stupid and short-sighted, mean-spirited, out-of-touch, utterly deplorable policy.

I'll be waiting to see what criteria they set for 'improved circumstances'. I'm hoping they'll take into account special circumstances like disabilities and local wage levels - in London the threshold needs to be set high for tenants to realistically be able to move into private rentals.

I think there will be a short-term inertia once these changes come in, where people with secure tenancies will be refusing to move even if they're offered bigger or otherwise more suitable places, as it will mean taking on a new-style tenancy and much less security. I certainly intend to hold on to my council flat and I know I'm not the only one.

I've been quite fortunate in the council tenancies I've held, as the decor was always quite reasonable, with wallpaper or painted walls and floor coverings. I've always repainted when I moved in, but more out of choice than necessity. I remember DD's first nursery was already decorated for a baby when I moved in so I was happy to keep it that way. Our council are always prompt with repairs and they've recently expanded the type of repairs that they will do. My kitchen and bathroom are fairly modern but will become updated as part of Decent Homes next year.

I got a community care grant to help pay for furniture, flooring and curtains and that's still available for those in dire need. I live on an estate with a real sense of community and a strong tenant's association which does a regular walkabout and puts pressure on the council to maintain standards. IME, the best council/HA homes tend to be where there are residents who care enough to go to meetings and lobby rather than just moan about conditions but not actually do anything to change things.

Exactly MoonUnitAlpha. I would be MUCH happier for the Government to insist upon 1-2 year (or longer) tenancies in private rented properties than to do 2-yearly ones in social housing. I don't much give a crap that the LL's are trying to run a business, it is so much more than that if you are providing someone with a home. If they don't like it, then they have the option of selling up, and someone that doesn't mind doing longer PR tenancies could buy the place!

It's the BTL LL's that have exacerbated the housing situation that was originally caused by the 'right to buy' on council properties anyway. Maybe if these LL's who wouldn't be happy with longer term tenancies could sell up to housing associations....

It is impossible to make a 'true' settled home when you are in private rented, although I have been lucky enough to be in my current property for 2 years. However if I was given 2 months notice tomorrow, it would be awful for us, as I would literally have to move house at 9 months pregnant - with no guarantee that I would find anywhere suitable, in the area we need to be, that allows partial HB, and children. And if I couldn't find abywhere, then the only way to get social housing would be to stay even after the end of my notice period, and have the LL take me to court. And even then, once we got evicted by the courts for squatting, we would end up in a B&B 40 miles away for up to 4 yrs while we waited for what the council would class as a suitable sized property.

That's another point - the size of house that a council deems as suitable for a particular family. In my situation, while we are private renting a 2-bed plus study (which we use a 3rd bed), with the intention of pr a full-size 3-bed when baby is about 18-24 months, the council would refuse to house us in anything less than a 4 bedroom house, which there is a minimum of a 4 year wait for. Yet I feel that a 3-bed is perfectly adequate for 2 adults and (soon to be) 4 children. Three of them (the three youngest) will be boys. But purely because ds2 will be 7 yrs old when DS3 is born, my council deems that they cannot share a room!

ShesJustNotThatIntoYou - You say about HA tenants getting involved - in my last HA property, it was a London-based HA, I lived in the NE of Essex. ALL the residents meetings were held in Central London. And from my old neighbours (I moved just down the road to a PR property that was a bit larger), it's still the same! Bit hard to 'get involved' when your residents meetings are held over an hours TRAIN JOURNEY away.

''Having lived in so many private lets myself, I never paid hte last months' rent because they were going to keep my deposit anyhow.

I was very good at disappearing, too''

That is absolutely disgusting. Even more so when you come across as so proud of it.

And then you have the cheek to wonder why private landlords are so choosy about their tennants

Most private ll's would prefer long term tennancies as well, it saves them having to find someone new, checkout refrences etc. Plenty of tennants don't want to be tied in to long term contracts.

As disgusting as the equivalent of £5000 I was duped out of in lost deposits over the years, curly?

You see, that works both ways.

There's a reason why laws in England changed so the deposits had to be held securely, because so many tenants were being ripped off.

I actually got that strategy off the English students in my work who were sick of being ripped off.

I live in Scotland. I've never lived in England.

So none of this applies to me, as I'm already a social landlord tenant, anyhow, in Scotland.

And this applies to new tenants in England.

But instead of 'I'm alright, Jack, so sod you', I find it a deplorable policy.

Right, so someone steals my handbag in the street one night, and that makes it ok for me to do it to someone else next week does it?

Of course it's not right for ll'd to withold deposits that they don't have a legal right to, but that doesn't make it right for you to screw over a perfectly honest ll that would have given you your deposit back. The deposit protection thing was a good idea, of course.

Sounds like you are coming across as very 'I'm alright Jack' to me. It's people like you that make ll's so choosy, make them not want to take HB claimants or children, and make them charge such high deposits that price some people out.

And it sounds like you are making it all about you and personal, curly.

And I am not.

LeninGrad, did you get that block poster function in?

'but that doesn't make it right for you to screw over a perfectly honest ll that would have given you your deposit back. The deposit protection thing was a good idea, of course. '

Haahahahaa. I never lived under a 'perfectly honest ll' in my life here!

The one, we had no boiler for 2 months. He told us to go ahead and sue him.

The other, there were mushrooms growing in the carpet around the toilet, the place was so damp.

'It's people like you that make ll's so choosy, make them not want to take HB claimants or children, and make them charge such high deposits that price some people out.'

Yes, student hovels always full of HB and children.

Keep going. I'm no longer listening.

I don't see how I'm making it 'all about me' at all! And I'm certainly not trying to get into an arguement with you. You are a tennant, I'm now a ll, so we are obviously coming into this from very different perspectives.

But you seem intent on saying that all ll's are bad based on your own personal experience.

Just because you have been unlucky and experinced shitty ll's, that does not make it ok for you to illegally dissapear and not pay your rent.

I have expereinced a shitty ll, and now that I am one, I do everything possible to keep my tennants happy. It makes them more likely to stay, to not damage my property. The hope is that if I make their life easier, they will do the same in return.

I have had tennants fault on more than a months rent, and it's cost me a fortune. Yes, I got to keep their deposit, but that didn't cover the three months rent and the damage they did. Like I've been trying to say to you, it would not be ok for me to treat my current tennants badle just because of whet the last scuzzy bastard did.

'But you seem intent on saying that all ll's are bad based on your own personal experience.'

Never said that. That was your conclusion.

Now no longer in private lets. Won't ever be, either.

None of this applies to me.

Still think it's wrong.

Still work towards revision of law.

Again, in Scotland, as I am not in England nor ever shall be.

Keep going. I'm no longer listening.

Wow. Are you actually expat, ordid your children hijack your account.

As it goes, I let to singles, because my fat wouln't house more than one person comfortably. They are surrounded by other singles, mainly pensioners.

'But you seem intent on saying that all ll's are bad based on your own personal experience.'

Never said that. That was your conclusion

Err, yes. That would be why I used the word 'seem'.

Actually Curly, I understand expats post about doing a runner. I'm having to consider it right now, which taken on it's own makes me a bad person. But when taken with the rest of the facts is totally understandable, and I imagine expat is the same. I would love a reasonable landlord, unfortunately they seem to be in short supply :(

Kaloki, if you leave somewhere without paying because this particular ll has treated you unreasonably, broken terms of the contract, or left you without doing maintenance, then fair enough. As long as you leave the property without having done any damage.

It's leaving without paying for no other reason than you think you might not get your deposit back that is disgusting behaviour.

What facts do you think make it understandable? I might end up agreeing with you.

Well, Kaloki, in one instance, our landlord did leave us with no boiler for 2 months in Scottish winter. So that meant no heat, no hot water.

The other did nowt about the damp and mushrooms growing in the bathroom and the windows nearly falling out from wet and dry rot. In fact, after we left, he was landed with his share of a collective bill, because now, Edinburgh council was able to pass legislation. If there is a huge fault with the tenement, and the collective owners can't come to an agreement about vital repairs within 120 days (because if someone dies again from falling masonry, that's the council's neck in the dock), then the council does the repairs and bills the owners. Don't pay up, they seize or put a lein on the property.

So I see where you are coming from, too.

I've no heat or hot water just now and our LL wont even answer the phone to us. This has been ongoing for 8 weeks now so he knows why we're phoning just cant be arsed dealing with it.

He has had a plumber in a couple of times but its his mate and if he cant attend then he wont phone anyone else because he has to pay the going rate.

I can completely understand not paying your final months rent. My last house was a hovel and we spent a small fortune ourselves making it more presentable but the LL took £1000 from our deposit.

It sadly seems that honest LL's are in extremely short supply.

sb6699 - you should be able to get advice from Shelter's website.

I suspect that, at this point, you would be within your rights to get it fixed and deduct from your rent.

Of course, if you dare to insist on heating your home, your LL will possibly want you out ASAP.

yes contact shelter or the CAB. Please contact your local housing office for advice and or your local environmental health officer.

now my guess is that you have to write to your landlord registered post with a couple of quotes to get the work done. you can get the work done and deduct from rent/ send him the bill.

or the environmental health officer will ensure that he unertakes the work within a short timesclae.

the problem you have at the moment is that you have no proof how long the heating or hot water has been off, so i would send the registered letter pronto

I hasten to add that it's not just private LL's that can shirk their repair duties. In my last (HA) property, I had raw SEWAGE leaking from a broken pipe under my kitchen, coming up through the floor, ruining my flooring (that I'd had to pay for). Despite me calling the HA's repairs team every day - it took 9 months for them to agree to fix it. And the only reason they agreed then was because I ended up contacting environmental health, who basically condemned the kitchen until the repairs were done, as it was a H&S risk to be preparing food in a kitchen with RAW SEWAGE leaking through the floor. I can reassure you it fucking stunk the whole house out as well.

Was the house old at that point? No. It had only been built 3 years previous to that, but the HA were saying it was the builders responsibility to fix, which would have been all well and good had the builders not gone out of business. Builders wouldn't honour the builder's guarantee to the HA, HA wouldn't fork out for the (substantial) costs of repair.

In the end they had to dig up 4 people's kitchen floors, replace the inadequate pipework and relay the concrete. Would they pay the costs of my flooring that had been ruined? NO. I had only paid to have the flooring laid 2 yrs previously, yet I had to pay to relay the floor, or put up with bare concrete in the kitchen. Which isn't such a good thing when you have seizures - ever fractured your skull by bashing your head off concrete? I have, and wouldn't want to do so again! So I had no choice!

Oh and did you hear that Tory twatbag on BBC news this morning??? Wish I was able to link to it, he was going on about how more houses with affordable rents are needed - how is kicking people out going to shorten the waiting lists like he claims, surely these people will just end up in temporary accommodation whilst waiting on the waiting list for a more suitable property?? Seriously, you need to check out the interview, if only for a laugh!

curlymama
the facts here are,

• hole in wall
• multiple growing damp patches
• loose wiring in the bathroom
• turning up without notice and threatening my husband for calling environmental health

As Gorden Ramsay would say.

Destruction of Social Housing.DONE! (fuck).

That is the point is it not? The Thatcher dream of the end of social housing finally released by her apprentice, average wait on the list 7 years, time in property 2 years = a nation saying whats the point and not bothering, but instead looking for the cheapest private rental shit holes.

Jobs a good-en.