Council vs Private Rent Unfair

[UnfairSociety]

Hello

I have a few friends I met in London living in a council/housing association in zone 1/2 and paying lower than the market rate. They had the apartment many years ago but now earning way above average workers' salaries, yet the rent doesn't increase at a similar rate to the private sector.

For example, there is one bedroom apartment that only pays £600 a month. Another 2-bed rooms apartment only pays roughly £700 a month. Do taxpayers have to subsidise the remaining cost of their rent? One of the couples earns a combined salary of £90k per annum and pays this much rent? Note quality of the apartments is pretty good. I hear you they would put the home as a single tenant to earn extra income from their partner and also pay council tax at a 25% discount.

I feel sorry for those in the private sector living in s*tty quality homes and dealing with rogue landlords. Housing crises are a mess in London, and those rich council tenants should pay in line with the private sector or move elsewhere to allow those in need to live there.

Also, they get a massive discount if they buy their council house.

Completely agree. Social housing should be means tested and tenants should move out once they earn above the threshold.

No-one subsidizes the rent. They are charged the actual, market rate and not the inflated rate private LL charges so there is nothing to subsidize.

These threads are getting right on my tits. I'm thinking Tory stooges getting the feelers out wondering how to raise some extra cash they can't means test SH as it's nowt to do with benefits and never has been.

never mind the sheer amount of thick buggers who think SH is subsidised.

The setup isn't fair. But the way the tories did over social housing over the last few decades for their own personal profit means the system is buggered and skewed. Private landlords profit from housing benefit / housing element of benefits. Fuck the tories!

I don't think council tenants should have to move out if their earnings increase, but maybe they should pay more rent up to a limit. Or a better option would be some form of rent control to stop greedy landlords charging so much.
I do think the government should never have sold off housing stock, that has forced people into private lets who would otherwise have been allocated a council property, which increases demand in the private sector and pushes up rental prices

Do you discuss your views with your friends by any chance? And as you know, seeing as it is your username, we live in an unfair society.

Yes it’s so so unfair to private tenants. With any luck Truss will remove the subsidy from council set rents to bring them in line with the market to raise extra cash for local authorities.

don’t even get my started on right to buy!

Why have you posted this again

Yeah the only logical thing to do is to charge council tenants extortionate rents too. Everyone should be ripped off equally.

Council vs Private Rent Unfair http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/costoff_living/4653154-council-vs-private-rent-unfair

If the Tories hadn't sold off millions of council-owned houses and flats to their sitting tenants, then we wouldn't be in this situation. There would be plenty of affordable property for everyone who doesn't earn enough to pay huge sums in mortage repayments (or inflated rent to private landlords so they can pay the landlord's mortgage for them).

My late DM was offered the chance to buy her 3-bed council house for £9,000 but she was terminally ill and didn't take them up on the offer. That house is now worth nearly half a million. It is utterly crazy.

Oh yipee another council/HA tenant bashing thread. It's been days since the last one. What do you hope to gain from this other than a shed load of posters nodding their heads and agreeing with you?

Taxpayers do not subside social housing unless the tenant is receiving housing benefit, the same as the private sector. Those of us who are not on HB pay our own rent. As for the council tax reduction, single people regardless of whether they rent or have their own home are entitled to the 25% off, and many private renters and homeowners also move people in without declaring it.

HTH

Yes it’s so so unfair to private tenants. With any luck Truss will remove the subsidy from council set rents to bring them in line with the market to raise extra cash for local authorities.

There. Is. No. Subsidy.

If you're gonna benefit bash at least educate yourself on the topic you are bashing otherwise you end up looking like a moron.

Yes, it would make those private renting feeling at lot less ripped off that’s for sure!

there is an opportunity cost of reduced rent, the council is missing out on potential revenue, therefore it is a subsidy.

Why should I have to move out of my HOME? Write to your mp if you want more council houses and ffs DONT vote tory. But yes let's kick existing tenants out so they have to start over in private renting. 🙄
My council house is 100 years old so has been paid for many times over.

So if these council tenants are forced to leave their properties when their income is deemed too high to be deserving of a council property, will they be automatically be offered a council property if their income drops again? What happens to these people who, for whatever reason, are unable to continue to pay to privately rent but are unable to find another council property? What will the income threshold be to qualify for a council property and will individual circumstances be taken into account?

It’s not a race to the bottom.. the tories have deliberately orchestrated this situation so your private landlords can scoop up the cash. The arguement shouldn’t be that the council tenants have it easy compared to everyone else, it’s actually that everyone else has been f*ed over. If there was more social housing the private rents wouldn’t be so high as you’d actually have a choice where to live.

Well said.

I read a different version of this a couple of days ago

It wasn't even that different if I recall rightly. Almost word for word even down to the figures quoted...

Actually I think council housing should be available to everyone. The only change I'd make is big incentives to downsize.

The private sector has completely and utterly failed when it comes to providing housing for the population. All it have done is make a tiny percentage of the population rich by pushing a much larger group into poverty because of extortionate rents. So, a Tory wetdream. Hopefully if we get a Labour government they will try to rectify this. The state needs to step in and build emergency, prefabricated council homes like they did after ww2.

FFS It is subsided, there is an opportunity cost to the council in terms of undervalued rent that could be collected as revenue, therefore it is a subsidy!

Council housing stick tends to be multiple decades old & has a real, proportionately scaled rent based on the cost of the housing when commissioned & increased accordingly by inflation on a year by year basis.

Private rents are much higher as their monthly costs are based on a ‘current landlord mortgage per month cost plus 50% - as a stipulation on some btl mortgages - based on the purchase price of a property, and then uplifted by local housing market forces.

If a btl landlord buys an ex council property that was built for £5000 in 1970 but they bought as the 5th owners in 2022 for £500000, you can see where the wild private rental costs come from.

The issue in the UK is property is not seen as a home but as a financial & pensionable asset.

Houses should be homes, not cash cows.

🤣🤣 that is one of the most hilarious things I've read on one of these council house bashing threads, and I've seen a lot of people tying themselves in knots to try and justify their stupid opinions.

They could charge more if they wanted so therefore they are being subsidised 🤣🤣

Maybe best ask Santa for a dictionary for Christmas.

1. Council housing has been paid for time and time again since being built.
2. It isn't subsided, but if you think it is - what advantage to anyone is it to raise rents which the lower income groups cannot afford, thus forcing them to claim benefits to cover it.
3. Don't you think it would be better to have a broad range of tenants occupying social housing to improve surroundings, or would you prefer ghettos of run down estates where no one has incentive or the money to take care of their surroundings?