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?

Don't blame OP for the housing situation, blame Thatcher

Op your family sound nuts, do they think they still have some kind of claim over the house?

If that’s what you take from her post, and that’s the response you feel appropriate to make to her, i really don’t know what to say to you.

We could start by just redistributing existing social housing based on actual need rather than "entitlement".

@Emotionalsupportviper you don't need to quote the OP...

I agree OP with other posters - legally fine, but morally...not so fine. Up to you though.

Yes I’m sure Housing Associations have loads of little 2 bed cottages available

How do you work full time, go to uni and still get UC with no children? Do you go to uni part time or full?

@spicy2001 do not move out of social housing the private sector is a mess of high rents rising continually and landlords selling up. Either scenarios could find you homeless.

In Wales this month succession rights were written into private sector properties with the new contract. England is looking at it but gawd knows when they'll actually get around to it.

It sounds like you have a decent home in a nice area. Hang onto it. Even when your degree brings in a better job and pay.

We're in a housing crisis... don't you have any sense of social responsibility? It's not 'your' house.

And bonsai trees aren't small. All the others are too big!

Totally this!

It is common for young adults to live with their parents for years so they can save up for a deposit. The OP can't do that as her father has died. This is the equivalent for her.

OP isn't going to be saving up a deposit to buy until she's in a better paying job. On minimum wage with rent paid by UC, if she saves over £6k her UC will reduce and if she saves over £16k UC would stop altogether. Leaving a person on min wage struggling to survive, so she'd have none left over for saving after bills. I doubt £16k is enough these days for a house/flat deposit so whether OP ever moves out of social housing is going to depend on whether she can get out of a minimum wage job into something better paying.

OP don't move into private rental. None of us knows what's round the corner. If university doesn't go as planned, if you fail the course or have health problems or develop disability etc and end up not doing your chosen career for whatever reason, you'll be stuck struggling in private rental forever, with the negative impacts that would have on your life. If you can commute to university from your current home, do that, it's what's safest for you.

She pays the rent, sticks to the rules and has a legal tenancy. It's her house.

This!!!

That's literally my point exactly! I don't have any sympathy for them, since I told them I'm not downsizing they were begging me to reconsider, it's a no. I found out from someone who knows them that originally the man was living there, he then met someone got married, they now have a 2yo and 1 on the way. If I was living in a one bedroom flat I wouldn't have kids till I could get a bigger property.

Please do
Sick of finding apple cores and banana skins in the trollies

😄😄😄

I think there should be better options for you to
move to. I can see why OP doesn’t want to move from a 3 bed house with a garden to a flat.

It’s why they should be building more social housing to suit all sorts of people.I had a friend who bought a 1 bed house with a garden because she didn’t want to be in a flat with no outside space and noise from other flats. I can see why OP wouldn’t want that either.

You sound delightful OP.

OP I'd follow up with the HA in writing if you haven't already. Confirm to them a)you didn't post the house swapping sites and b)you have no intention of downsizing.

Your family are bullying you. The neighbours will calm down hopefully, they know the size of the house, and you've been there all your life so this isn't news to them. They're just having a gossipy fit at the moment which will pass.

The single young person in a 3 bed social house can't see why the other family have struggled to find a bigger place? Lol.

The OP has recently lost her only parent, and is applying to Uni. She sounds very young and I think she will benefit from remaining in the only home she has ever known while she transitions to adulthood. If she was middle class she'd have inherited a large lump sum when her father died. All her father could give her was this tenancy and now her siblings have committed fraud and turned her neighbours against her.

She shouldn't have to give up her home at this stage in her life. In another three years she'll have graduated and will be able to make her way in life. Then she can think about what she wants to do.

It always bemuses me that the aim is collective misery. Instead of seeing how inflated private rents are, people want to change fair rents to inflated. It's really weird. SH isn't for profit. Never has been.

I get that private rentals are a step down from SH like. I feel sorry for anyone in one. Must suck a lot.

There are some awful attitudes to social housing and UC on this thread. Tax payers aren't subsidising the OP, the government is subsidising the OP's empolyer. She is working full time and living in the house she grew up in after the death of her parent.

All this MY MONEY IS PAYING FOR YOUR HOUSE stuff is really distasteful.

But then anyone who buys a house with more bedrooms than they ‘need’ are in the same situation?

My aim would be to reduce market rents (and the housing crisis) by providing more housing.

Not read the full thread, just the first page, but carry on, op, you're not in the wrong legally or ethically. Don't be pressured to downsize and tell your grabbing family to do one.

Good luck with your studies!

Fuck me, the irony of this post!