State of council house stock

[Lm1981]

I was talking to someone recently about council houses and who used to apply for one back in the 80/90s when from what I remember were solid homes. I also remember working with people who had council houses and they would tell me how little they paid to live there etc. Fast forward to 2024 , how does the council house process work ? Would people whom work ever get one or are they kept for people in most need? Also what sort of state are they in quality wise?

We don’t have one so I can’t tell you what they are like inside but we are on the waiting list which on average about a 5 year wait..

The ones around where I live aren’t in a great way. 20 year old boilers, kitchens and bathrooms. When things break it can take over a month for someone to do the repair. My friend has been awaiting a new back gate for 10 years….

Recently the council decided to paint the metal gates on all the properties. They just slapped new paint on top, no sanding down of the old rusty stuff, drips of paint everywhere….

Council houses tend be pretty terrible tbh. I've got a 3 storey,5 bed townhouse and it was built mid sixties. It's got a flat roof garden/terrace and water pisses in through it into the bedroom Belle every time it rains. I've been trying for 4 years to get it fixed, but it's a huge job and so they aren't doing anything. My windows are blown/misty, the front door you can see sunlight through the the sides when it's locked, the woodwork is covered in 1367 layers of paint/dog hair, carpet fluff and the walls are so dented and bashed that it almost looks like it's intentional plaster design. Repairs are terribly shoddy, I had a v leak through my kitchen ceiling from the bathroom above and it took SEVENTEEN visits from 5 work men and two surveyors and they were stumped. My dad came around discovered it and fixed it but at that point the ceiling in the kitchen had collapsed while looking for the leak they broke a tile in the toilet and instead of replacing it, they just covered it in white silicone and it's an eyesore .

But. It's £101 a week and I've got loads of space.

Most people who apply as homeless now will end up in temporary housing for years. Only a lucky few end up in social housing .

also depends on the council, but when they are awarded, they have often been stripped back to bare plaster and floorboards.

I can't get on my list, I earn too much however I have no savings and all my wages go on private rent and bills so should I lose my job or more likely be unable to do it for health reasons I'm stuck

It probably goes against the grain but you can actually buy 2nd hand gates for peanuts yourself

Of course working people have council houses 🙄

I think it depends on area, exdp was working when we got ours 7 years ago, it's old, pre war but solid. Yeah the kitchen is in crap condition but so we're most of the ones I had in private rented

Ds1s dad just spent 6 months in temp accommodation before being rehoused in a new build so we obviously aren't in an area where people are waiting years

@Lm1981 Regarding the houses it depends on your landlord as my council outsourced the building of new housing to housing associations. In general housing association homes are usually new builds, so therefore have a much better build quality but can be smaller. Older council built houses are bigger but the upkeep of these properties has not been kept up with so they have numerous problems, which you can wait ages for a fix and the fix may not be to a standard you find acceptable but you have no say.

There is a criteria to get onto the housing waiting list and a lot of working people/families are on the list as rental/house prices have increased beyond average families income. Wait times are horrendous, 1-2 beds up to 4 years, 3 bed up to 10 years and anything bigger, no chance.

There is not enough temporary housing in my borough and you could be placed anywhere they find a bed for you. This can be out of borough and very far away from support networks, jobs, schools. Very little Council can do but if you refuse to go, the council will declare that you have made yourself intentionally homeless and will remove you from the list.

In the 80s/90s you had 7 refusals and housing transfers went through relatively quickly. Now you get one offer and highly unlikely that you can swap your properly.

Despite all this it is still worthwhile waiting to see if you can get a social housing tenancy. The security of a long term affordable rent, when you can only be evicted for non payment of rent or ASB is something many people are prepared to deal with the hell of temporary houses for. I believe there are just over 7000 households on the waiting list.

Gosh , thank you for the replies, certainly an eye opener. That’s given me a good inside scoop on the what it’s like inside and how the process works.

sounds like many are now pushed towards private rental. I was discussing my rental days recently with someone and I remember being in an old 60s flat which was mould ridden , cold (storage heaters), old bathroom and kitchen etc. we moved from that to a 2 bed semi in 2006 which cost £495 a month (new build), it was so clean and warm vs the 60s flat.

@greasypolemonkeyman if I were renting a 5 bedroomed house out for £101 a week, I'd probably be too skint to fix it up too!! I own a 5 bedroomed housed and the mortgage is £2k a month! It's lucky for you that it is so cheap, but no wonder they don't want to fix anything.

Round here council and HA rents are pretty much near market value for private, unless you have lived in them for years. There is also a 15 year wait for a council property, but the older council houses are large with lovely gardens. People don't tend to move out of them.

I work for a HA - a very large proportion of my tenants work. We have a range of stock from old council houses to new builds with utility rooms and occasionally even en-suites.
The new builds are affordable rent rather than social rent but is still cheaper than private.

@IIdentifyAsInnocent

I live in the nw in a very poor town. But you can get a council property in very short time, flats are available very frequently. Houses take longer but it's typically 2-12 months if you aren't fussy. A friend of mine Split up with her partner a few weeks ago and he went into emergency accommodation which was a 1 bed furnished flat. He signed a tenancy for the same flat a week later so didn't even have to relocate his stuff. Beefier I met my husband he was in a 2 bed ground floor flat with a garden and his rent was £18 a week MORE than mine. Crazy how it works. I'm currently doing an exchange with my adult daughter as I need to downsize and her 2 bed house is more than this one I'm currently in so it's a bit 🤷🏼‍♀️

You can buy a 2 bed flat in this town for £60k . A 3 bed house for about £80k

What does how much your mortgage cost have to do with that posters mid 60s Council house? The council aren't going to have a mortgage on it , theyve likely owed it for bloody years and there's never any excuse to leave someone with rain pouring into their bedroom , doesn't matter how cheap it is 🙄

I have a council flat in London zone 1. I was allocated a flat 25 years ago after social services involvement- it was never easy to get priority for council flats even back then, although it's harder now. I know several people who have been allocated housing over the past few years here, so it's not impossible, but more of a matter of having enough documented needs rather than enough time on the waiting list (the people I knew had disabilities and/or DV). I don't work as I'm a carer, but plenty of the other tenants do.

The flat is in great condition. New kitchen, bathroom, boilers and radiators 6 years ago. Double glazing 13 years ago. Security doors fitted since I moved in and lift is working 98% of the time. Communal areas have a gardener, and cleaner 5 days a week. Rent is £580pcm for a 2 bed flat, which is much cheaper than a private rental around here (6 min walk to a zone 1 tube). It would cost about £400k to buy (on the open market, it would be much cheaper under rtb).

@TheTimeIsNowMaybeNow Because mortgage costs and rents generally naturally align, given that most landlords have a mortgage and then have the maintenance costs on top. Even HA or councils have costs and also will have loans on the properties, so yes, actually it has a lot to do with it.

My point is that for just over £5k a year, even if you don't have a mortgage, the HA will barely be covering their costs. They have to pay staff to administer the accounts, business rates, they have to undertake annual checks on gas etc, they have to pay for refurbishments. A gas safety check, plus fixing a boiler or getting a new one means that £5k soon becomes a lot less, without even paying staff. A new roof will wipe out any profit they see for a couple of years.

@IIdentifyAsInnocent Housing associations are not for profit organisations. Every penny they make they invest in keeping up their housing stock and building new housing. They charge affordable rents and they are not part of the right to buy scheme, so they lose less of their stock.

I am currently selling my ex-council house and in this road it's about 50/50 housing association and owners. These are 3-bed houses, really attractive design, built in the 1920s. It's a good location in town and actually a conservation area. As far as I can see the HA looks after them well - better than many of the owner-occupiers. I do know they do a pretty brutal strip out when they change hands though, so although the bones of the house are good, you don't get nice things like carpets when you move in. Typical people getting one of these on HA are working families with young kids. Although the HA do the major maintenance, people living here tend to do a lot of tweaking of their own homes and gardens, just the same as owners. I assume they are on nice, solid lifetime tenancies. No idea how long the list is to get a council place, but I assume from the age of the kids that people arrive with they haven't been waiting an insane amount of years. To buy one of these as an FTB you'd be paying the best part of 2k a month on your mortgage. If you're eligible for council housing I think you'd have to be crazy not to get on the list.

I'm in a new build 3 bed and my neighbours all work.

Im currently in an overcrowded council studio flat w/ 3 small kids in a really desirable area... looking to be moved, I realise I have no other option but to stay or move area potentially and my child has to go to a crappy school 🏫 she's currently in a very good primary. The whole bidding system is a farce, it really is, saves the council housing team from getting off their asses and actually doing their jobs.

The government does a full report on social housing op, inc a break down of the demographics and finances, employment, benefits, condition of property etc

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-social-rented-sector/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-social-rented-sector

My ex is a history teacher at a secondary school and he got a council house. I have one too. Just did a home swap 4 weeks ago. Lovely big house, new kitchen. Big garden. Lovely neighbours. Most are bought round here. Will probably buy this one eventually.

As pp said, councils no longer build homes (or very rarely!) and most social housing is owned and managed by housing associations. I rent from a housing association, I had to apply to the council and each fortnight could bid on available properties that were suitable. Eventually I came top of the list and got a brand new, 3 bed end of terrace in a very nice new estate. Managed to move in before the rules changed so have lifetime secure tenancy, and I pay about 40% of the market rental rate. I'm also a secondary school teacher and would love to buy a house but a similar property to buy would be 10x my annual salary and as a single parent, that's just not possible.
I'm so grateful for my home and feel there should be far more available to families, especially in areas where house prices far outstrip incomes. There should be far more legislation around private rentals as everybody should have the right to a secure home