Council Housing Lambeth rent increases

[Squgiggle]

Rent rises in Lambeth of approximately 17% 9% 9% 9% over the past four years (not to mention previous increases), mean in real terms my rent has doubled in under 10 years, I am a working single mother on a low income, not low enough to claim housing benefit and no desire to do so, although financially it would seem we would be better off.

When I complained in the past over the 17% rise along with many other tenants, I was told by Lib Peck herself that it was due to all kitchens and bathrooms being replaced.

More and more onus has been placed on the tenant for repairs, Lambeth does no decoration, has scrapped promise to improve kitchens and bathrooms, yet we're extorted with rent increases every year.

With the money taken from us we may have been able to improve council properties for ourselves employing tradesmen who take pride in what they do and treat the tenant like a client, as it is, we are left with no money to improve our surroundings and receive poor customer service from every department.

My kitchen sink unit fell apart whilst waiting to be included in aforementioned scrapped scheme, it took three appointments to get it replaced (including a revisit when my kitchen flooded as a result) and it has been done to a very poor standard.
Who makes these arbitrary decisions? I have been expected to find an extra £60 per month, £40 per month, £40 per month £40 I'm now paying £180 more a month than 5 years ago......When will it end?

Labour bastards.

Well, I am more than happy to swap you my privately rented flat which does not come with any replacement furniture, no security of tenure and a rent that is approximately 3 times more than your council rent (and goes up by approx 10% each year), what do you say?

I'd say that's easy for you to say, I couldn't even if I wanted to and.... replacement furniture? I supply my own, from the street mostly. Also, if you were actually paying 3 times more than me, you'd be able to rent a house in London, although you might have to gather your furniture as I've done .
I sympathise with anyone living with difficulty and feel that petty jealousies and competing for who has the greater hardships is not constructive. I was merely pointing out that the money in local councils doesn't get spent properly and the myth that the people in social housing are all 'Lucky People' is totally ridiculous. No one wants to think that they're working hard for no reward and propping up slackers and cheats, but the finger is being pointed in the wrong direction and it's dangerous to generalise, particularly if you don't have all the facts.

You can always leave if it is so bad. If a 180 increase means your rent has been doubled you are still paying a ludicrously small amount of rent. People pay more than than to rent a single room in a houseshare. You are LUCKY.

That is a facile, petty and inaccurately aimed response. Try looking again at the maths, that increase is for the last four years alone. Read more carefully. It's unwise to put words in other people's mouths or make assumptions when clearly you know so little of the facts.
I will make no further comment to such unconsidered statements.

One of my DC would love a council flat in London she rents a tiny bed sit and pays over £K a month. Still on the plus side her transport costs are cheap and she has no need for a car.

It's not just in London that council tenants have to fund more repairs. I do sympathise but lots of people are struggling. You probably have it easier than your equivalent in a rural area.

I based my figures roughly on what you posted. What is your actual rent and for what?

If she is a person in need , ie, with difficult family circumstances like I had - nursing my mother though cancer at 14, then being left, when she died to live alone caring for my three brothers whilst trying to continue to get an education and very thankful for us not to be separated and put into care. She may get on a list for one... If that's the case, I wish her the very best of luck, but I'm not sure I'd be quick to call people I don't know lucky... I'm fully aware that people are struggling and given my circumstances, I've obviously received sympathies, that was never the point. I was attempting to raise awareness of an injustice and show people in a similar situation to myself and worse that there was support and people trying to do something out there to help.... Clearly they're not the ones looking or commenting here so far, surprises me the ones that have..... Never mind, I'm an optimist, I'll always believe in the better side of human nature. An advancement in imagination and improvements in communication wouldn't hurt.

Ok so you started at 350 approximate and are now at 530? For you own not shared place in London. You are very very lucky.

What bloody injustice? You are paying so little in comparison with everyone in private rental and yet you are still moaning.

The way I look at it, if I calculate the % council rate increases there have been then I would also have something to say. For the huge annual council fees I pay, it hits a raw nerve for people in council properties to be complaining. I get it, you have it tough. Think of places in the world (developed nations) that don't offer council housing, free healthcare, unemployment benefits etc. So whilst I can see why you would be looking at your own situation and thinking of the unfairness, it also impacts those who are actually funding the subsidies etc. Not a dig, just wanting to context.

Oh my! Deary me! Thank you I've been living in a vacuum, with no perspective or ideas of relativity. I had no conception of the suffering of others and now I've seen the light...!

Are you employed to to discourage anyone raising their heads above the parapet or is it just a hobby?
Don't bother responding, I'VE WORKED and fought for others all my life and I'm not about to change.

Londono-one your maths skills are still wanting and so would the council be if I gave them your estimate... I won't be sharing my specifics or anything else with you....I suggest you do something else for the rest of the day....!

Well the only way your sums work is to start at 350 approx and then end up at 530 approx if the increases are as you say. Of course your figures can't be accurate as you cannot have three consecutive increases of 9% that are £40 each time. Honestly go and have a look at what you would have to pay for your flat if it wasn't subsidised, you seem to have no clue.

:)

Do you seriously think abusing people on this forum will help your cause or encourage others to empathise?

You made no mention of your previous circumstance in your OP only your complaint about increased rents. You do appear to have had a rough start but that as nothing to do with your rent now!

Is it one or two bedrooms?

I live near Lambeth and 1 bedroom flats in the private sector are approx £950 to £1,100 pcm.

I'm in a HA house (not in london) and my latest rent increase has come through. i moved in under 4 years ago and the rent has gone up by over 40% in that time.

one thing i think people in private accommodation forget is that the property comes with no carpets and not the kind of floor you could have bare, no curtain rails, plaster falling off the wall and the like and when i moved in here there wasn't space to have a washing machine AND a fridge - only one or the other so i had to pay to have electricity installed to the back passageway in order to get round that.

it cost me about £950 to move into this house because i had to buy carpets and decorate the whole house and install electicity as said. that's not something you have to do in a private rental and if you do it a privately owned home it is an investment. in council housing it's just dead money, you can't take carpets or plastering or decorating with you when you leave but it absolutely had to be spent in order to make the house fit for me and my then 18mo baby to live in.

also when the council decided to do home improvement and change the wiring throughout the whole house dragging up carpets and floorboards, drilling chases everywhere gutting the decoration and flooring etc and rendering us to living on a building site for over a month there was no rent free time or alternative accommodation and no replacement of the carpets they trashed. i think i got a cheque for £36 for redecoration

oh and they don't do fencing so you may move into a house with a garden with no fencing or gates that therefore can't be used by children unless you pay for that to be fitted which is a major outlay nowadays with the price of timber.

i do think people have rosey ideas of what council accommodation is and rarely realise just how much people have to spend on their homes that people in the private rental market would not.

There was no abuse, sarcasm perhaps as a response to an assumption of ignorance on my part, by which I was offended.

It's different if you choose to live in Lambeth,to pay private rent, that is your battle to wage. But this is my home, where I was born and the only security I've known. I'm talking to people about their homes which again is all some people have and how some will face eviction from such as a result of these increases. If you don't fall into this group, it's not you I'm trying to connect with. The clue was in the title when I started this feed. I didn't intend to invite negativity and comparison of heartlessness. I'm new to this particular site and hadn't realised the nature of the beast, I live and I learn.

I hope you all meet with like-minded people when you have something you're passionate about maybe a campaign to reverse the law enabling Tax breaks on second homes, which encourage private landlords to buy up in run down areas like Lambeth and push all the prices of houses and rents up.....? You could start your own feed?

Thank you SwallowedAfly! I was beginning to wonder at the chances of connecting with someone!

there tends to be a lot of jealousy and 'you don't know you're born' stuff thrown at council/HA tenants if they ever dare to complain about anything. much like the private/public sector worker stuff - with the private sectors braying for the public to get less pensions, less holidays, less benefits etc instead of aiming for improvement in the private sector.

tis odd.

my HA property is not subsidised btw. it was built decades ago by the council and the whole housing stock was sold to this HA for the princely sum of £1 at which point they immediately started receiving millions in rent on property they had never even made an outlay on. in return they are expected to keep rents low, maintain the properties and do repairs. a big part of the deal was that they'd do a home improvement project to bring all properties into the 21st century. they didn't start on that project till 5yrs after they were given the properties so they had all of the rent money in the meantime to invest and build up for the improvement project.

there has been no subsidising.

it is a profitable enterprise is my point - not one that subsidises anyone. instead of being jealous and rude to people who have assured tenancies and cheaper rents try campaigning for more social housing to be built and for the laws around renting and tenancies to change.

Council house tenants are not allowed to moan on MN ,true fact

Hi Squgiggle, I work for a local paper in Lambeth and I'm planning a feature on housing, want to email me at [email protected]? Would be good to include some of your views..

As far as I am aware Lambeth council tennants have had a very bad deal in recent years, with steep rent rises, and many specific problems, sewage bubbling into walkways for weeks on end, bad repairs etc.

I was observing a Cabinet meeting a few weeks ago, and there did seem to be a new very practical will to liaise with tennants and set up a better system, though.

Was your estate or housing one which could have been taken over by L&Q a few years ago? They were going to immediately replace all the kitchens and bathrooms...and tennants voted against L&Q taking over management. I'm not sure why that was?

As for all the griping and sniping - rather than have everyone on sky-high rents and reliant on low-security rentals which use housing benefit to pay someone's buy-to-let mortgage I'd rather see more people in social housing. On fair rents.