Council houses for fixed terms only!

ILW

FOURCANDLES wrote: »

Well here is my view on this whole sorry situation.
I live on the outskirts of a village where Once we had four council houses 3 bedroom, eah had gardens of 150ft to the rear and private drive each were built in 1909.
80'S Along comes maggie 3 of them were bought by there tenants they I believe paid between 19k and 28 k each All 3 have since been bought and sold 3 times latest one going for £189k.
The council house on the end remained in the council hands until a housing association took over the stock in our council this was a god send they updated all properties to a suitable standard.
Now the one house left in the 4 was occupied by a family of 4 parents died at a young age the daughter moved out and the son was offered a flat in order to give up the home he took up the offer.
The property was now available for rent via the H Association. Many people asked for it in the village including myself who is married with 2 young boys and have been married for 21 years both myself and my husband have worked full time since leaving school however the pay has always been poor especially
as we live in a low pay county mainly agricultural.We had been living in a farmers cottage which would have been classed as under par but it was what we could afford and we had lived in in it for 17 years 4 with our eldest son.
Now we were allocated this association house after being on the list for 17 years rent £399 pm, private in the same village or nearest town £650.
During our time here we landscaped the garden , block paved the driveway , planted trees,paid our rent on time and saved 5%and have been decent tenants in fact it was said in the village at a meeting " we have no affordable homes in or near the village " they do 1 and it is ours but clearly it has now blended in with the private sector.
Now 7 years later things have changed and they did around 3 years ago when we decided to go self employed and start our own business TWO in fact which have taken off rather well with NO help from the Banks granted if we had been paying a private rent No money would have been saved from our low wages at all and we would have probably had to claim for help with the rent and stuck in that rut for ever.
Our income now before tax is 59 k in the last two years we asked if we could buy it NO but we could transfer to a 1/2 buy 1/2 rent what we would have got would have been a 2 bed home and a postage stamp garden plus as we were now self employed the chances of getting a mortgage were impossible.
So we decided stay and make our home a home we want so we with permission from the H association fitted a new kitchen, bathroom, and had a carport built.We now save 10% of our money every month and will buy when ??? we are self employed who is going to give us a mortgage and as the cheapest homes around here are £190 k plus we have some sort of saving to go.
Am I going to give it up NO I am a secure tenant , I have improved it both inside and out and spent a lot of time and money on it, as have many people who rent of councils or associations.
I have spoken with my tory MP who has said kicking you out is never going to be the case paper claptrap , He said we have to look at many issues and they could actually look at paying a tenant to give up the home ie 12% value of your home which would help towards a deposit to buy ? will it not around here even if I added all our savings and as I have said self employed and a mortage.The swap scheme has been around for years so as far as I am concerned this is a lot of cameron waffle.
Other factors
A family member dies could be a child, husband,wife the house then becomes under occupied do you kick them out in to a smaller home? none in the area so you offer them one in another area OH hold on you disrupt the other children's education do you?
You move some cples in to a smaller property after years, so they go private instead and are entitled to rent assistants through benefits? what's the point.
You tell people there home is temp , ah so we will not improve it or look after it little like the people in the private sector, or we want exactly as the private sector.
Banish ambition as they will lose their home.
WE COULD GO ON.
What this condem party needs to do is educate people that most council/association tenants work and work bloody hard and to stop believing what they read in the papers.
The vast problem council estates in inner city areas are where most problems occur and these blots on the landscape need to be dealt with and better home built but not in large estates as it is indeed no longer done now .
I would also point out the many who are so angry toward council or association tenants do complain a little to much perhaps to hide their child hood spent in council accomodation ? as one village member in my are does . Many on your private estates now are the children of parents who bought their council houses under maggie and benefited through the family wealth passed on.
Lets make it clear recent statistics say 40% council /association tenants pay their rent and are not in reciept of benefits , 70 % pay there rent but are in reciept of some form of benefits such as housing benfit, council tax benefit , tax credits,income support etc etc etc .NOT MUCH DIFFERENT TO PRIVATE TENNANTS AND SOME UNEMPLOYED MORTGAGE PAYERS.
What some of these rude people need to realise is everything changes one day you can be a mortgage payer married with 2 children next day you lose your job along with your home if you do not get work quickly and it will happen to many over the next few years , where will you be? I will tell you renting , claiming benefits etc etc
You may divorce as many do again your house goes you cant raise enough to buy oh dear rental market here I come oh dear, cant afford private rents oh dear council/association who I moaned about here I come.
So people get of your high horse , treat people properly and do not belive the paper hype that is what this is .
AS FOR US WE WILL STAY HERE, AND SAVE AND WORK HARD AND LIVE HERE UNTIL WE ARE PAID TO GIVE UP OUR SECURE TENURE , THAT IS WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO DO WHEN THEY WANT TO ALTER A CONTRACT , I FOUND THAT OUT IN THE WORLD OF SELF EMPLOYMENT. OUR MAIN AIM IS TO BUY A PROPERTY IN FRANCE AND MOVE THERE IN YEARS TO COME . OR THE ASSOCIATION CAN SELL US THIS HOUSE.

So you are earning close on £60kpa and getting a taxpayer funder discount of £3000 per year on your rent. Seems wrong to me.

FOURCANDLES_2

wherediditallgothen wrote: »

With a household income of £59K I think you could afford to go. Just a hunch.

Before tax no in my opinion I cant afford to go and it would not be a sensible financial option ,. This is why the country is in such a mess people not doing the maths and living above their station .

ninky_2

ILW wrote: »

So you are earning close on £60kpa and getting a taxpayer funder discount of £3000 per year on your rent. Seems wrong to me.

apparently being on a long waiting list and being good neighbours means they've earned it......?

Isis_Black

maybe the councils should also buy back any ex council houses that get sold! i am in an ex council house and am very surprised that when we sell they will not be interested in it! surly it would be a hell of a lot cheaper to begin by buying back all those that were sold (if they are being sold) than to build new ones, leaving those building sites either clear or more for those to buy.
I would quite happily sell mine back to the council

Wee_Willy_Harris

ninky wrote: »

fourcandles - you were on a waiting list for 17 years for social housing. clearly the list is very long.

Not necessarily. They were clearly waiting for very specific and rarely available properties. Another myth surrounding long waiting lists. If you want to buy a house in, say, Oxfordshire, you could easily find one within a few hours. If, however, you want to buy a house in one very small area of Oxfordshire, you could be waiting years for one to become available (depending on the area). It doesn't mean that there is a huge waiting list to buy properties in Oxfordshire. It's just a reflection of personal choice.

wherediditallgothen

ninky wrote: »

i don't think social housing tenants should be paying to update kitchens etc. given that the property doesn't actually belong to them.

I agree 100%. Although from my experience of a council tenancy, some have to resort to this, as the kitchens you are expected to use are vile, and I'm not precious about such things at all.

Wee_Willy_Harris

ILW wrote: »

So you are earning close on £60kpa and getting a taxpayer funder discount of £3000 per year on your rent. Seems wrong to me.

How is the taxpayer funding their housing association tenancy?

FOURCANDLES_2

ILW wrote: »

So you are earning close on £60kpa and getting a taxpayer funder discount of £3000 per year on your rent. Seems wrong to me.

I am a tax payer also , as said the farmers have had 40-50k subsidies for decades also my old boss when I was an employee was getting tax credits a benefit, as he earned triple my wage didn't see him hand it back even he said he didn't need it. if it is good for them it is good for me . Granted if it was on some sink estate I would have gone this year but it is not so I stay put.

Wee_Willy_Harris

Isis_Black wrote: »

maybe the councils should also buy back any ex council houses that get sold! i am in an ex council house and am very surprised that when we sell they will not be interested in it! surly it would be a hell of a lot cheaper to begin by buying back all those that were sold (if they are being sold) than to build new ones, leaving those building sites either clear or more for those to buy.
I would quite happily sell mine back to the council

Cheaper to build from new and it encourages mixed tenure.

wherediditallgothen

FOURCANDLES wrote: »

Before tax no in my opinion I cant afford to go and it would not be a sensible financial option ,. This is why the country is in such a mess people not doing the maths and living above their station .

Currently in private rented with a household income of £30K. You can afford to go. Not so much 'can't' as 'don't want to'.

The problem is you may have to lower your standards.