Offer of £5,000 to swap council flat

maryjane01

I am not sure what section to post this in so please feel free to move it if it is not the right place.

In a shop window where there are local notices there is an ad from somebody in a 1 bedroom flat wo wants a larger 1 bed or 2 bed flat 'genuine reasons' apparently and they are offering £5,000 if somebody will swap. This seems completely wrong to me.

Do other people feel this is wrong, and if so how would you go about reporting it? All there is on the ad is a mobile phone number. I have never lived in council housing and don't know the ins and outs of the regulations, maybe this is not contravening any regulations, I don't know.

henpecked1

trying to jump the queue. call up and ask what the address is and call the council, tho i suspect anyone with 5k should be privately renting and leaving council housing for those without two pennies.

Wee_Willy_Harris

I'm not aware of any regulation contravention here, but it isn't exactly in the spirit of a social housing transfer. If you are concerned, pass the details on to the local provider and let them decide the best action to take.

PasturesNew

I suspect they're on a hiding to nothing ... I bet anybody who might swap might get a better offer from the council. My mate's been offered £26k to move out of her council house entirely, they said so it could go to "somebody more needy".... but she's got 4 kids and a private rent in an identical house across the street would be about £1200, compared to her council rent of £360.... so she's going nowhere.

Running_Horse

Must be desperate. I'd want to know who my new neighbours were before agreeing.

chocsessential

I thought tenants were allowed to do mutual exchanges. I swapped my flat for a larger one becaues I had two children. The LA approved the swap before we went ahead but were happy for me to find my own "swappee". They checked everything to make sure it was genuine and there were no problems at all. Maybe the advertiser has been told by the LA that he can find someone to swap with but the final decision will be down to them. I don't know about the £5,000 though. No money is supposed to change hands.

greendollar

Whats your problem ? That they want to swap or the money ?

Social housing LL's allow tenants to mutually exchange their properties as long as they meet a certain criteria , mainly that they do not have more bedrooms than they require .
In our area cash incentives are not allowed but of course it happens , if people are desperate to move ( for many reasons ) why not ?

robpw2

PasturesNew wrote: »

I suspect they're on a hiding to nothing ... I bet anybody who might swap might get a better offer from the council. My mate's been offered £26k to move out of her council house entirely, they said so it could go to "somebody more needy".... but she's got 4 kids and a private rent in an identical house across the street would be about £1200, compared to her council rent of £360.... so she's going nowhere.

but she would have 26k that would pay her rent for 12 months

chocsessential

If that was me I'd be putting that £26k down as a deposit to buy something, even if it meant moving to a cheaper area. It would be a shame to waste all that money on rent when there's the chance to create a permanent home for the family. Actually I'd keep £6k back for rent in the short term and put £20k into a savings account while job hunting. £1200 is an awful lot of money for rent so I would rent a cheaper home to minimise my outgoings while going all out to secure a permanent job.

cheap_charlie

I would suspect if rent is £1200 a month in the private sector then you might need significantly more than £26K for a deposit on a similar sized property in the area.

chocsessential

cheap_charlie wrote: »

I would suspect if rent is £1200 a month in the private sector then you might need significantly more than £26K for a deposit on a similar sized property in the area.

I agree. I would relocate to a cheaper area for that reason.