Getting a council house! is it possible anymore?

kingofclare

lowis wrote: »

*opens can of worms*

council flats are much cheaper than the private sector, my council rent was around £380 for a 1-bed flat in central London. When I bought the flat under the RTB scheme my mortgage was just £3 a month dearer - but I do now pay almost £90 a month in service charges and contribute to block repairs.

*eats popcorn*

Before everyone starts slating this just think.......would you really turn down this chance if it was offered to you ??

To be honest if the council/association gets enough money freed up to build new property then this is a good way to go, after all the property would already have been paid for through many years rent

leyla-aurelia

kingofclare wrote: »

Before everyone starts slating this just think.......would you really turn down this chance if it was offered to you ??

To be honest if the council/association gets enough money freed up to build new property then this is a good way to go, after all the property would already have been paid for through many years rent

Of course, and I don't think anyone has any issues with the OP wanting this, BUT many do have issues with her lying/defrauding to get a council house. The rules are there for a reason--to provide housing for the MOST needy in our society, not to the most deceptive. I would also love to have a council or HA house, but there isn't enough to go round, and many have much greater need (disability, etc.)

Welshwoofs

kingofclare wrote: »

Before everyone starts slating this just think.......would you really turn down this chance if it was offered to you ??

I'd turn down a council house - in fact I'd rather scoop my own eyeballs out with a spoon than have to dwell on any of the council estates in my area. They're full of hatchet-faced, chain-smoking 20s-going-on-50 women with 'croydon facelifts' and their ratty looking spawn who seem to spend most of their time mooching round in shellsuits smashing up anything in reach, threatening anyone who looks sideways at them and trying to wipe themselves out (usually unsuccessfully..more's the pity) by driving unroadworthy bits of tat with large mufflers and garish body kits at massive speed.

ecgirl07

read the first 4 pages of this thread in detail but then lost interest in the morals of the argument.

What was really interesting was the idea that you have to be in need to have council housing. That struck me as being very very wrong and the result of the lack of affordable social housing in the uk. When i grew up (1970's) everybody that i knew who had a council house were "working class" and a council houses were not for emergencies only they were the expected place to live. If the uk hadnt sold off its housing stock and invested in it then folks like the OP would hvae access to a council house. The wider reaching effects would be no buy to let market driving up house prices as landlords would have to compete with council rents which in turn meant that people could save up in councils houses to buy their own place (and dare i say tongue in cheek no credit crunch in the uk).

Of all Thatchers policies the selling off of the social housing stock has had long devastating consequences.

hethmar

I honestly didnt see the OP suggesting lying to any degree - I think she made a bad choice of words but she really meant emphasising/if need be exaggerating her position. Now lets be honest, most people do this and it is expected people will do this. Poor kid was leapt upon for actually being honest.

Anyway, Im bored with the thread now too I just hope she finds some suitable accommodation soon.

SouthCoast

Getting a council house! is it possible anymore?

Yes.

The 97 properties available to the residents of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Hastings, Rother and Wealden can be found here:

http://www.homemove.org.uk/uploads/CHIhomemove.pdf

The 60 properties available to the residents of Brighton & Hove can be found here:

http://www.homemove.org.uk/uploads/BRHhomemove.pdf

Jenn85

Grimbo_Green wrote: »

Ok I just want to address some of the points made here:

We are on the list at the moment and have been on it for just over a year now.
The house we rent currently is extremely damp but our landlord doesnt do anything about it other than to tell us to keep the windows open which we wont do as we have a young baby.
I suffer from asthma and it has gotten worse since living there to the point were I am needing to take my inhaler very frequently during the night!
We have also had to throw a lot of clothes away because they were covered in mould! and everytime we take a plate or cup out of our kitchen cupboards they need to be washed again because they smell really damp and musty!
I have written to our local MP who wrote to the head of the housing department on my behalf because he agreed with my views on the way they prioritse the housing but I got a snotty response back from the housing dept.
After informing them of all of this we are still told we stand no chance!
Council houses should be for hard working people who are struggleing to afford to live.

Hi Grimbo Green

Under the circumstances ie you health you should talk to your Dr and ask him to write a letter as it is not good for your chest and could make your chest worse, speak to your MP again asking him to contact the HA again, it is NOT a crime to want cheaper rent its common sense dont let anyone beat you down about it I wish you all the best of luck in your quest for cheaper housing, your Landlord also needs a kick up the bum!!!!

Good luck and Best wishes!

squinty

leyla-aurelia wrote: »

I've chosen not to apply because:
1) Council houses are subsidised by other taxpayers!

No they are not.
A proportion of Council tenants rent money is pooled and ‘redistributed’. Some councils benefit (especially in London) others lose out. However more money is paid in than is paid out – about £200million this year.
If councils were allowed to keep their rent money, and able to borrow like housing associations, they would be able to build – and there would be more council houses to meet need.
Mrs_deadline has suggested that people should contact their MP’s to complain about the wait for affordable rent and secure accommodation. Whilst you are at it point out to your MP that if councils had a level playing field with Housing Associations you have a solution to this problem.

lowis

Of all Thatchers policies the selling off of the social housing stock has had long devastating consequences.

...if only the Tory Government at the time had allowed the councils to spend the proceeds of the sale of social housing stock on building new homes. an ill-thought out policy, but it got them the votes they needed at the time.

I'd turn down a council house - in fact I'd rather scoop my own eyeballs out with a spoon than have to dwell on any of the council estates in my area. They're full of hatchet-faced, chain-smoking 20s-going-on-50 women with 'croydon facelifts' and their ratty looking spawn who seem to spend most of their time mooching round in shellsuits smashing up anything in reach, threatening anyone who looks sideways at them and trying to wipe themselves out (usually unsuccessfully..more's the pity) by driving unroadworthy bits of tat with large mufflers and garish body kits at massive speed.

crikey...where is this place? sounds like hell. my council estate is quite nice, great mix of tenants and the place is well-managed by an efficient TMO.

two-for-one

Hi Grimbo green, I completely sympathise with you and where you're coming from. I'll add my 2 pennies worth to this already heated discussion and no doubt get slated. but here goes:

I have been fortunate enough to get a council flat in a very desirable part of London (zone 1). Where I live, I seem to be completely surrounded by immigrants, in particular bangladashis. I have yet to meet someone in my block who speaks English with an English accent (indicating they have been brought up in this country). I think the system is so unbelievably unfair. It's all very well being honorable and saying you shouldn't lie in your attempts to getting a council flat, but I can tell you now, a large majority of the immigrants I come across all seem to know how to play the system, and are all very happily enscounced in this great London location. From talking to my neighbours (all immigrants; their friends and family are all also living in council flats in nice parts of London as well).

My opinions have been formed by my personal experiences. Here are a few examples: I live in a large 2 bed flat. There is an east african family living in an identical flat above me. I found out the man got the flat before he'd even had kids (god only knows how he managed that) and his wife was still in Africa at the time. Another one of my neighbours is also from east africa. He lives in a one bed flat, his ex-wife lives in a 3 bed round the corner with their 2 kids.

I have an italian friend who's partner is also italian and they have 2 young kids. She pretened to be a single mum, was living on benefits and so got a lovely council flat in central london as well. I have an American friend who's only connection to this country was the fact her mother had been born here. Anyway, 2 and a half years after arriving in the UK, she got a 1 bed council flat in again a fantastic location in london because she was a single mum to a 4 month baby. The one bed flat next to her's sold for 350k a couple of years ago. My dad had an albanian friend who now lives in a London council flat with his czech wife and baby. He claimed asylum, but once he got his Brit passport, he started making trips back to Albania, family in tow as well. What a joke!!

The list is endless!! The people I talk about all live in the same area as me. I have a malaysian friend with a filipino partner and young child again in a council flat near me. I go to the sure-start drop-in's and again it's full of immigrant mums who have council flats in the local area. It's all very well saying the lack of council housing is due to councils selling off their stock, but where I live, council flats tend to be far to expensive to buy and so are still rented out by the council and are basically occupied by immigrants. I grew up in this area, and the only way I would have any chance of staying here is to get a council property as 2 bed flats on the private market go for about £400 per week at least.

Anyway theres my in put. No doubt I will now get loads of condemnation and abuse, so I'll brace myself!!