Family wants me to give up my social house and I'm not - wwyd?

[spicy2001]

I currently rent a three bedroom social housing property and I live on my own. Most of the rent is paid for by universal credit and I have to pay 25% bedroom tax which is very affordable to me which is for two rooms and a shortfall of £30.55p.

I did speak to a housing officer and they said I am legally allowed to occupy it, and as long as I pay the rent on time, tax and shortfall, then everything is fine. I don't feel guilty for occupying this three bedroom house, it's been my home since I was born.

Recently, I noticed that my family were talking a lot about me downsizing. I asked why are they talking about me downsizing? They said because I don't need this property and have to downsize.

I explained I'm legally allowed to stay here, this is my property and not yours. I get that I don't need this property but I'm staying here because I'm allowed too. I found out that they actually joined a site called "home swapper" and a site called "glass bob" my sibling set up an account using her email address to advertise my property. If I'm correct, I've never joined these so I don't know 100% but they're platforms where you can do mutual exchange and advertise your property.

I phoned my housing association and explained the situation, they've started an investigation and they are speaking to various departments to see if they can do it from the end to see if they can do anything as they approved it but they don't know if they can disapprove it.

The other day a tenant from another part of my cul-de-sac came round and told me she knows I'm downsizing and she has a friend whose currently living in a one bedroom flat with his wife and they've got a one year old daughter and another baby on the way. I explained to this person my family have been trying to get me to downsize to a one bedroom flat and I'm not actually looking to downsize so I won't swap with them but told her I do sympathize with their situation.

She told all my neighbours about her friend and now all the neighbours are peed off at me because I'm not downsizing. My family are also peed of that I'm not downsizing. As far as I'm concerned I don't care as I have the legal right to stay here for as long as I like or want.

I just wanted to know though what would you do if you was in my situation?

@5128gap

Many social housing tenants have a great deal more security than owner occupiers. If you lose your job and can't pay your rent there's benefits to help.

Arrears are usually dealt with sympathetically, sometimes even written off because it's cheaper than going through an eviction process. If you can't pay your mortgage you very quickly learn who's house it really is.

Unless you own your home outright and have enough funds to maintain it, then for all practical purposes, the SH tenancy is more of a secure home for life than any other housing status.

Which is precisely why it would be such a huge sacrifice to give it up, and one I maintain few people on here would do in her place.

100% this. There are so many mean and spiteful comments aimed at Social Housing Tenants on here, by some really incredibly bitter and angry - and JEALOUS people. Not a good look at all.

And as for the ones trying to portray themselves as 'better' somehow, and more 'successful,' and more 'hard-working,' because they have a mortgage; I am actually embarrassed for them. They seriously believe they are more worthy human beings than people who rent their home, because they have a mortgage/are buying a home.

This attitude makes me sick to my stomach. SO many people who are renters do not have the ability to buy as they can't afford to raise the deposit .. Some people simply can't buy. This 'I am considerably better than YOU coz I have a mortgage' attitude stinks to high Heaven, and people spouting this shit should be ashamed of themselves!

You stay in your home @spicy2001 You don't owe anyone ANYthing. You certainly do not owe them your home, because they made the choice to have not one, but TWO children, whilst in a one-bedroom flat!

No, it shows the amount of space the government thinks we "need".

Hah Except during Covid when they were all moaning at us for not having enough room to self isolate and telling us to use our second bathroom. Like a lot on this thread they want it both ways

Why does the system allow this??

But given it does, it's not really OP's problem

MN calls landlords evil (despite them paying huge mortgages, expenses, tax & providing rent for those who otherwise couldn't afford it), but this ridiculous social housing policy has a far worse impact on the vulnerable

@EbonyRaven a very odd comment. It's not jealousy. It really isn't. I'm much happier to be a homeowner. I would absolutely hate to be at the mercy of a council or a landlord. Paying rent forever until I die, nothing to leave my children, no equity. I don't look down on anyone that doesn't take the piss. The OP has posted some very childish inflammatory posts with the whole boo hoo thing. Now THAT is not a good look.

Well said and assuming the OP is genuine of course

How very Interesting that you assume my post (at 19.51,) was aimed at you @AlwaysGinPlease

@EbonyRaven oh bore off, you think you're the first and only person to accuse posters of jealousy on this post, on this subject. It's boring , it really is. Jealous of being controlled by others and having no peace of mind. Yeah right.

The OPs father has died. but then it wasnt from Covid so no one cares

If it was someone who had lost a child and now had to pay bedroom tax i bet the replies would be very different

Speaking of Covid i do remember wryly thinking that the reason some didnt have room to self isolate was because they had downsized to avoid the bedroom tax. Be careful what you wish for because it could come back to bite you on the arse.

Yes, it's more ethical to pay rent for social housing (tenants in effect pay extra tax as their rent goes into the public purse) than it is to take on enormous debts to banks (usually banks dealing in arms trading, environmental destruction and other evils).

It's beyond bizarre that anyone could think otherwise, disingenuous perhaps,? A way of projecting their guilty consciences onto social housing tenants, who are clearly doing the more ethical thing.

Well personally I wouldn't shop at Tesco, no, unless I had no ethical alternatives. Tesco is one if the causes of food poverty in this country, so by shopping there you are part of the problem and a cause of others needing food banks.

It isn't at taxpayers' expense. Tenants pay rent. If they need to claim housing benefit, the money goes to a good cause and is far less than they sould need if renting from a private landlord. Private landlords are taking huge amounts in benefits.

I’m not going to read 23 pages OP but you should stay there and bring up any family you might have in the future there if you want to.

I’m a massive believer in social housing. Did you know 80% of people in Vienna are in social housing? It works. You are there legally, don’t feel obliged to join the ranks of the private renters at the mercy of landlords.

Just feel lucky that you’re in this position and don’t feel you have to justify it, especially not to a bunch of moralising people on MN, many of whom have never been insecurely housed in their lives.

This is topsy turvy thinking. Yes of course, everybody wants to pay the government a pittance rent for social housing and be ethical because everyone can get social housing NOT. You must be dreaming.

You do realise the market forces dictate that the supply of housing is limited but demand is near infinite. People take out a huge mortgage not because they want to benefit the big bad banks (do you not open a bank account? How do you live with yourself) but because they have no choice but to do so due to property prices and because not everyone is as fortunate to be subsidised by the state like the OP.

This is a false argument and clutching at straws to find some merit in OP's situation.

Exactly. Any benefit money that a tenant in social housing receives is just moving money from one part of the public purse to another. When a private sector tenant receives it, it's always more for a comparable property and it's a transfer from public funds to the private landlord. It's just gone.

And yy to the point about rents collected. Every penny in rent that a social housing tenant pays goes back to the public housing purse. They are significant contributors to publicly owned amenities. Even someone on a low wage like OP, she's probably bringing home around £1500 a month net, and when she pays her rent she'll be putting at least 33% of that net income towards upkeep and provision of public housing. That is a whopping rate of contribution, and that's not even counting council tax, income tax, national insurance, VAT.

It is ludicrous to suggest that social housing tenants are a drain on the public purse. How many homeowners hand over 33% of their take-home pay to public funds?

There are various accounting flaws in this logic!

But the most obvious is that there is a substantial cost to the public purse in owning capital. It's the opportunity cost. That capital could be put to all sorts of uses - see for example Woking Council! By choosing not to build schools, fix the roads or gamble it on bitcoin the council is incurring an opportunity cost.

@blueshoes said You do realise the market forces dictate that the supply of housing is limited but demand is near infinite.

We’ve got a near infinite population? Really?

Market forces didn’t dictate that social housing was to be sold off to private concerns and the supply of such home’s subsequently allowed to dwindle. Thatcher’s government made that choice.

See my comment above about 80% of the people of Vienna living in social housing. It’s a political choice.

Yes, if we had no publicly owned housing we'd have had the opportunity to spend even more than the £280bn that we've all given away to private landlords over the past 10 years.

Good point. Imagine telling someone "well, your kid died, so you're immoral if you don't downsize to a bedsit."

She has the right to stay
If her parents had died and left 3 children, would it be right that they should move out and take 3 one bed flats or all stay under one roof?? You'd all be moaning they were taking 3 properties and they should live together. She cannot win

Erm, no. Everything you say here is wrong. Social housing and council housing are not subsidised, but make a profit, some of which goes to maintaining and building housing, some to the treasury. Not everyone wants affordable public housing rather than paying mortgages or high rents to for -personal-profit landlords, but many, many do and in other countries it's the norm. And yes I do have bank accounts, but I look at where those banks invest my money and choose not to allow my earnings to fund arms deals or environmental destruction.

This. I think it's very selfish of you to occupy a house that is more than you need, especially as you've been there since birth! There is something definitely wrong with a system that allows this

You do live in cloud cuckoo land. Perhaps the same place that other people's money tree lives.

Please name your ethical bank since you have done so much research on where it invests. I would love to know the name. Lots of ethical mntters on this thread would be rushing to use it. Please also explain how I can get myself some social housing like OP instead of paying vast sums on a mortgage (apparently because I want to and because I support unethical banks).

OP good luck with your uni degree! Definitely save up for a house deposit and don’t give up your assured tenancy until you have exchanged on a house you own! avoid private renting at all costs.

Please make sure you contact these websites over email to say that you don’t authorise your house to be listed on the house swap website. You don’t have to go into any detail about your decision or number of bedrooms etc - don’t give anyone these details just stick to the facts of your assured tenancy and the fact that you are not looking to swap and your house was fraudulently listed without your consent.

I’m sorry that your neighbours are harassing you, that’s absolutely not on. In future don’t explain things to them, the less said the better.

I hope that they get over it soon and move on to something else. Just smile politely and say nothing more about it at this time. If anyone presses the issue just say that “swapping unfortunately won’t be possible for me at this time”. Good luck.

In an ideal world the young poster would still have both her parents living with her in the family home.

But you know what we don't live in an ideal world.

The girl has lost her parents, leave her with her memories in the family house.

If it had been a private house, nobody would be suggesting she sold to move into a one bed flat. Knowing if she came out the housing market she might never be able to purchase the same size property again. If she downsizes she might never get another 3 bed. And actually we don't know how long her Dad waited to get the house in the first place

I bet their are plenty in social housing with 3 beds that when the time is right the parents move into a smaller property leaving the 3 bed for the adult kid and partners. By juggling the names on the tenancy agreements.