South Lanarkshire Council Charges Rent Before Tenants have Their Keys

DRP

it is irrelevant that the OP's son is 'lucky' or not.

the council's practice here is duplicitous at best and in the OP's shoes I would certainly be in the mood to complain or seek recompense.

Fire_Fox

Agentm
You are challenging this because it is your son, not simply because it is unfair or you'd spend your entire life campaigning. Jobseekers Allowance is not paid for the first three days, council tax benefit not until the Monday after the application is received, adult rate JSA is massively below the poverty line teenage even worse, singletons are at the back of the queue for social housing in most expensive or deprived cities and so on.

He is an adult member of your community he should challenge this policy himself, by all means with your background support. I have been writing my own formal letters including those of complaint and submissions to public bodies since my teens, initially with my father heavily editing. They haven't complained bitterly on my behalf or stood up for me since I was legally a child, they have acknowledged and supported me as an adult.

You tried to draw sympathy by intimating your son is out of work in post 3, so don't get all righteous about social housing tenants being employed now. If your son gets wages for those four days, he is not actually out of pocket. And don't play the 'haven't deprived a family' card, that is you muddying the water because nobody said nor intimated that. We used relevant arguments not political spin.

You challenge policies like these and win and the council does not lose out. It's a few pounds to your son, a few pounds he will more than make up for over years of being a secure social council tenant, a system that is heavily subsidised. Multiply that by all the affected council tenants and you could end up with bills of millions ... which will be charged to taxpayers who never get the change of a council house, many of whom are on a very low income and struggling with private rent or mortgage.

I spent years working in healthcare and say exactly the the same when people whinge about minor failing in the NHS, we are incredibly lucky compared to most of the rest of the world. I don't encourage people to try to screw a few extra quid or a little extra something because that is charged to the taxpayer too. People don't get to cherry pick their appointments there either. Glass half full or glass half empty?