Woman with 1 child being evicted from her 6 bedroom council house ....

[Disenchanted]

Im really torn over this.

It was in my local paper.

Obviously as someone who waited 3 years with 2 children for a 3 bedroomed council house, who had to sleep in a single bed with DH, DS1 and have DS2 in a cot next to us in my mums box room I think its right that this woman should be asked to leave her home in order to house a family that needs it.

There are currently 507 'large' families In South Manchester waiting for a 6 bedroomed home. All who actully need 6 bedrooms unlike this woman who on;ly has 1 child.

However that is her family home. It was her mothers home who had many children and was justified living there, the tenancy was passed onto this lady when her mother died and now there are only her and her son years later.

The reason Im divided is that my granny lives alone in a 3 bedroomed house, she has lived there for over 40 years and by ratios if a 2 bedroomed house is too big for two then on the same principle they could move my Gran out of her 3 bedroomed house.

But I dont think they should IYKWIM. Shes lived there years.

When I needed a house I complained constantly (to myself not the council obviously) about all the old widows/ widowers living in 'family homes' but they have every right to be there.

Or do they?

Should 1 person be allowed to stay in a 3 bed house?

Should this woman and son be allowed to stay in a 6 bedroomed house?

She has been offered a 3 bedroomed house BTW, but not in her 'area'.

To me it seems obvious the woman should be moved but then where does it end IYKWIM.

she has lived there for over 40 years and by ratios if a 2 bedroomed ...

sorry that should read '6 bedroomed'

ITs very difficult, nobody likes the thought of a mum or an old lady being turfed out, but I do think families should be in suitably sized homes

why do you have to have council housing?

can you/your granny rent privately? you normally end up with more decent accomodation, in a lot nicer areas.

But i do believe the six bedroom house may've been a little too large for the mum of one!

thre was a thread about this very type of predicament quite recently
will try to find it

but she's not being turfed out - she's been offered alternative housing.

it's a house, bricks and morter, and at the end of the day it's not the house you live in that makes it a home but what you make of it iyswim?

I have council housing because we are on a very low income, I couldn't afford to rent privatly. I have my house now and love it and don't think I will ever move.

My granny wouldn't want to move, or be able to afford to she lives on a state pension and nothing more.

Hmm...I see a difference between an old lady who would suffer for moving out of the home she's had for 40 years, and a woman who has a child and is probably young enough to make a life for herself in another house.

I think anyone who has too much space in council properties should be moved to more suitable accomodation - I understand and appreciate the emotional aspects of moving but council properties need to be for those most in need.

It's more wrong to have some poor family in a one-bed flat (more people affected emotionally - puts strain on partnerships)

Of course the real answer is they should build more social housing.

Ideally the council would find her somewhere nearby. Seems very hard for her to be turfed out but can see that someone else's need for six bedrooms is probably more pressing.

Of course the real answer is they should build more social housing.

Exactly!

The amount of development going on in Manchester right now is unbelievable! Even area of space is being built upon, but all privatly.

it is not your home until you hold the title deeds. until then, it is your landlord's or teh banks.

that is the bottom line.

if you want to stay in your council home then exercise your right to buy.

it should be a condition of all new tenancies of social housing that homes are allocated on the space you need, so if those circumstances change, the council, as a landlord is within its right to rehome you.

three bedrooms with one child?

WTF?! DD1 goes to school with a woman who has 4 children in a two-bed. how's it fair that one person's 'rights' are greater than another's just because they've been there a while.

they're all tenants.

There should be adequate council housing - more social housing should be built instead of people being forced to fight over the scarce number left

but there won't be more built.

because there's no money to be gained from it.

so we have to work within the system.

i don't know where people get this sense of entitlement, that just because they pay rent they have some 'right' to the abode they are renting.

it's NOT yours to claim. it's the landlord's.

don't like it, well, that's rough.

and yes, i'm a private renter who can never, ever afford to buy any home whatsoever, especially because i am too close to forty to even get a mortgage.

that's life!

I didn't know 6 bed council houses even existed!

Can't you get a mortgage once you're 40???!

Tell me that isn't true!

What about a mortgage to buy the council house you are in??

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=1375&threadid=487250#9831635

recent thread

I suppose for elderly people that end up living in a council house that's too big for them, turfing them out is a good way to reduce healthcare costs for that age group.............

i am not in a council home. wait lists are extreme here.

have never owned a home in the UK, so have no equity.

too low income to save for a deposit.

we will have to go the homeless route to get rehoused when our landlords return, as they are selling this place.

such is life.

today, i have bitten the bullet and enquired at the council about moving to a different home. the main reason, apaprt from dc#4 on the way, is because we live in only 3 bedroom bungalow owned by the council. we had to fight tooth and nail for this place, and i know that we now no longer need a disabled property. I think its the right thing to do, to move out and allow another family in need have this place.

i will be sad to see it go, admittingly, but its not our house, its is our home.

would that that were true, hatrick.

they get out of it around here.

that law is shot FULL of holes.

The thing about council housing is that it should be allocated according to need. This woman does not need all that space. Other families do.

I also think it's sad but i do think it's fair, it is ridiculous having 2 people in a 6 bedroom house when there are big families who have no home.

My friends dad lived in a 4 bedroom council house it used to be 4 kids & 2 adults but the family split & there ended up being 1 kid 1 adult.

Then about 2 years ago the son's father died by now the son was in his late twenties & obviously did not need a 4 bed council house.

the council actually let him pick a 1 bedroom in same sort of location & also paid him a lump sum of money to leave.