FTB: stay in social housing and rent out a small property?

[CorStrewth]

I know this may be contentious but I believe completely legal.l and appreciate I'd have to check Ts and Cs of my rental.

Currently have a great social house, I've been a social tenant for 17 years and through being a good tenant was able to get a better and bigger house when I needed it 8 years ago.

Now DH and I have built our careers and looking to be FTB. We would go from £500 in rent to 1k-1.5k per month. I'm toying with the idea of buying a small property I.e. 1 bed flat and renting out, not necessarily for profit but to have that asset and essentially not costing me anything, kind of like a business venture, staying in our SH until we have a good deposit for a house to live in.

Are there any reasons financially why that may not be a good option? I have two children settled in school etx so downsizing and living somewhere smaller for a little while isn't as feasible as it would have been if we'd bought before having kids.

Thanks again, great advice yesterday re: FTB in current times

Doesn't matter if you pay full rent, there's still a limit to savings as you can see here! You are committing fraud!!

@shattered25 That's not what OP is suggesting. They are suggesting buying another property and renting that out to other people. All whilst remaining in social housing, intended for those unable to gain housing by any other means!

Of course it's legal to buy your council home from the council. That's always been legal but that's not what OP is talking about

@NewNovember That's nonsense you can have a million pounds and live in social housing.

This is so incorrect it's actually funny! As I shared below, the current limit to savings whilst in social housing if you don't claim benefits, is £30k.

OP: you'll be an absolute prick if you did that. As has been said: there are families in B&Bs and hostels and all sorts waiting on the council list.... I know plenty of people because of my social circle.
You would be incredibly selfish to do that.

If you purchase a property which you don’t intend to live in I think that it will be subject to 3% Stamp Duty. Buy to let mortgages don’t often cover more than 75% of the purchase price, and even then a high loan to value won’t attract a favourable interest rate.
One bedroom flats aren’t necessarily very profitable to let out. They often cost up to 80% of a 2 bedroom flat, but the likely rent will be much less.

@CorStrewth

Regarding the legal side different councils have different rules.

In our area it doesn't matter what savings you have if paying full rent. They don't check what savings you have when getting a council house nor after you are in one in my local authority.

I know other local authorities do have thresholds but it's not the case for all.

@SchoolTripDrama Do you have the actual link for where that info is from?

We live in social housing with a secured tenancy, pay full rent and I don't think we have ever been screened to check eligibility, apart from when we first applied.

There are limits to savings to receive certain benefits/universal credit and reductions taken accordingly. But certainly nothing in our area for social housing.

Don't know what kind of tenancy you have but with a secure tenancy with my HA, that's it. It's yours other than in some very specific circumstances. I have no idea where you're getting the £6k savings figure from either - this is (or was?) the level at which certain means tested benefits started to be gradually reduced, until they're stopped completely at £16k.

The whole point of social housing is it's meant to be a home for life. Savings are irrelevant. My friend has nearly £150k in savings with the intention of buying. This is not an issue.

Owning an actual other house though is not allowed (at least with my HA) and would I think lead to eviction.

This is quite clearly for APPLICANTS. Of course you can't APPLY with £1m or whatever. But once you're in, you're in.

And how do you think they'll be able to buy their council house if they're only allowed £6k in savings 😆

Sorry but you're spouting so much rubbish on this thread. Literally the only accurate thing you've said is that you cannot buy another house when in social housing. As for the rest...

But why? This way OP gets a much nicer house paid for by the taxpayer AND has a nice little money earning asset on the side. More fool us for working hard, paying taxes and going without to subsidise people like her.

Does your HA do right to acquire so you could buy your house?
There are special mortgages you can get for thi.
I know my tenancy says that the house has to be my main home?

I agree

Your situation has now changed - you should give another family this opportunity.

Even if it is legal it's not a nice thing to do.

Oh dear you do realise you are reading the criteria for your very specific property yes? Ever heard of Susan Boyle?

@SchoolTripDrama alao the criteria you quoted is for new applicants to apply for housing in your area only.

Nearly every social housing tenancy I have seen has a clause which prevents the tenant from retaining the tenancy in these, circumstances, so you can all stop getting upset now.

Not in my area you can't. If you own a home you can't rent from the council. The only exception (discretionary) is following seperation/divorce when the marital home is yet to be sold.

This

Is Right To Buy an option? Not everyone's cup of tea but surely it would make sense if it's a viable option

Disgraceful. This shouldn’t be allowed. So many people genuinely need social housing. This system is a joke.