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Council Housing?

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  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,557 Forumite
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    wullie wrote: »
    People who have lived in their council houses for 20/30 years shouldn't be thrown out now just because they got off their bottoms and worked.

    There's no reason why they can't keep their council tenancy but have their ability to pay a market rent assessed.

    I know people who got a council house when they were young couples with young children with only one full wage coming into the house. Now there are three or four adults working full-time in the same house but they are still paying the lower council rent.
  • wullie
    wullie Posts: 118 Forumite
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    Cakeguts wrote: »
    Which buy to let landlords? I am a landlord and I don't own any ex council houses.



    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/right-to-buy-housing-shame-third-ex-council-1743338

    a third apparently. You are (whisper) not the only landlord in the UK
  • wullie
    wullie Posts: 118 Forumite
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    Mojisola wrote: »
    There's no reason why they can't keep their council tenancy but have their ability to pay a market rent assessed.

    I know people who got a council house when they were young couples with young children with only one full wage coming into the house. Now there are three or four adults working full-time in the same house but they are still paying the lower council rent.

    Well if this is the case, they can afford to buy the property. So what then? Another council house gone.
  • sevenhills
    sevenhills Posts: 5,886 Forumite
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    wullie wrote: »
    Well if this is the case, they can afford to buy the property. So what then? Another council house gone.

    They need to lower the discount on a council house, until they are building more than they are selling.
  • wullie
    wullie Posts: 118 Forumite
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    Right to buy was/is a disaster. But I bought my house when the Government threatened pay to stay. Who in their right mind would pay more rent than a mortgage? The Tories thought it would buy them votes, and the public thanked them by voting for Blair in their millions.
  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,557 Forumite
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    wullie wrote: »
    Well if this is the case, they can afford to buy the property. So what then? Another council house gone.

    They don't want to. They have an secure tenancy and someone else is responsible for all the maintenance and repairs.

    If their circumstances change, they can claim help to pay the rent.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,323 Forumite
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    edited 9 October 2017 at 12:50AM
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    I live in Kent and yes I am on benefits with two children. I live in a maisonette. Its a bit larger than the smaller terraced houses that abound here. The rent is £400 a month. Private rents are disproportionately high as only 12 miles from London with quick transport links - private rental on a 3 bed terrace house now is around £1,100 . I couldn't begin to pay that as LHA when I last looked is around £750 pm.

    Where I am now, every person/family who has social housing is either of pensionable age or has special needs. Its really tough to get social housing now, I think the profile of those in social housing in some areas is changing because of the stringent requirements to be considered in 'housing need'..
  • pogofish
    pogofish Posts: 10,852 Forumite
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    edited 9 October 2017 at 12:56AM
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    fapfapfapfapfap wrote: »
    I don't understand council housing.

    Why is it you can get council housing when you earn enough to afford something off the private rental market? Yes, there's a wait and you can have your reasons. But shouldn't council housing only be available to the needy, not those who 'meet' the criteria but could reasonably afford private rented accommodation. I don't get why they don't mean test this aspect of the applicant?

    On the offchance this isn't a troll.

    Council housing provision has never been entirely about income/earnings - Although certainly its been twisted/repurposed (eg slum clearance, Homes fit for heroes) over the years and mainly aimed at the working classes, the original concept as laid out by the various Housing Acts, of providing housing that serves the needs of the wider society/community still clings-on to some degree.

    To quote Nye Bevan - "Where the working man, the doctor and the clergyman will live in close proximity to each other"
  • sevenhills
    sevenhills Posts: 5,886 Forumite
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    deannatrois wrote: »
    I live in Kent

    Where I am now, every person/family who has social housing is either of pensionable age or has special needs. Its really tough to get social housing now,..

    As a single parent, I got a council house, I was on the waiting list for 4/5 years, I live in Leeds.
    Most things seem worse in the London area, not sure why people would choose to live there.
  • seven-day-weekend
    seven-day-weekend Posts: 36,755 Forumite
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    Why should not someone on a decent income benefit from security of tenure?
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
    Member #10 of £2 savers club
    Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton
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