why are some people entitled to a council house but others are not?

pingufan

I don't have a problem with working people taking council housing - it comes down to a matter of choice - you either take a mortgage or rent from the council.

What I do have a problem with is people ( and I know a few of them around me) who have council houses, lovely large, traditionally built houses with large back gardens - they pay £75 a week, get 2 rent free weeks a year then get insulation, new windows, new kitchens, a choice of new fireplaces, new central heating systems, rewires. Then COMPLAIN at length about the inconvenience of the work that's being carried out for free!!

Winds me up - I'd love all these home improvements for nothing!

time2deal

paulineb wrote: »

According to you it is, my argument is that people living on the breadline already shouldnt be paying anything between £7 and £30 a week in this housing benefit reduction.

Its causing hardship and real misery and as I said before, the Govt spends millions and billions on other things, theres no need for it and whats a lazy argument is that the one being repeated by the Govt that all will be solved if all the people in the big houses swap with people in the small ones.

Oops, but there arent enough smaller ones to go round, didnt really do their homework on that one, did they?

To be fair though - that wasn't your argument. Your argument was

paulineb wrote: »

Well perhaps the Govt should also tax the super rich just to even things up.

I agree there are problems in both the theory and the practice of welfare distribution, but the reality is that the 'rich' are contributing significantly to the available pot of cash. And they are not withdrawing from it.

Examples of non-doms and some people avoiding tax are far from the norm (although the daily mail loves them). Most people I know earning high 5 and low 6 figure salaries don't engage in any kind of tax avoidance, and pour money into the tax system - removing very little in cash or services. And the stats back it up.

But - that isn't really the topic. Apologies OP for the diversion!

dktreesea

KnightSmile wrote: »

I agree somewhat with the principle of council houses. I do, however, find it currently an unfair concept in the modern age due to a lack of housing.

A small minority of people refuse to move from council houses even if they can afford to rent privately because they don't see why they should have to. At the end of the day getting cheaper/subsidised housing should be seen as helping hand not a permanent perk. There has to be a 'cost' to not owning your own property and that cost means that you should have no choice but to downsize when you no longer NEED a certain amount of bedrooms for example.

I don't see why people can't keep their council homes but go onto a market rent, if they can afford it. What's wrong with paying private rental rates for a council house? If those who could afford it had to do this, then there would be more money coming in to invest in building more suitable housing.

If all council housing was priced at the market rent, and then you only got a subsidy depending on your income, so treating council housing like private rentals, this would go a long way to ensuring those who could afford to pay their own rent, or a significant contribution to wards that rent, did so.

Scorpio33

To be fair, the OP's question was:

mummyoftwomonkeys wrote: »

...how does it work? ..Please don't have a go I am just genuinely interested in how it works.

So does anyone know?

I think it depends on each council, but it is usually a points based system. You get more points for being incertain situations, (ie: x points for having young family etc). The more points you have, the more houses you are able to "bid" on to live in.

There are also some minimum criteria to be able to have a chance of getting a council house.

Can anyone elaborate? Does anyone know about the criteria / points based system?



Oh - and for the person who stated a take home of £2,700 pcm for a couple is a "low" income, is clearly deluded.

Mr_Toad

Council housing has become social housing over the years. There was a time when people opted to live in a council house either because they couldn't, or didn't want a mortgage rather than being unemployed and homeless.

When I was at Uni one of my lecturers, a well paid professor, lived in a council house because he was politically very left wing and didn't believe in property ownership including private landlords.

These days with council housing so short he wouldn't stand a chance of getting a council house no matter how strong his socialist beliefs! I'm sure he'd be put on the waiting list but I doubt he'd ever get anywhere near the top.

There has to be some sort of system for allocation and no system is ever perfect. I'm sure any Govt. would love people in council housing who have been fortunate enough to better their position to move out and buy their own house but I don't believe they should be forced to do so.

FatVonD

dktreesea wrote: »

I don't see why people can't keep their council homes but go onto a market rent, if they can afford it. What's wrong with paying private rental rates for a council house? If those who could afford it had to do this, then there would be more money coming in to invest in building more suitable housing.

If all council housing was priced at the market rent, and then you only got a subsidy depending on your income, so treating council housing like private rentals, this would go a long way to ensuring those who could afford to pay their own rent, or a significant contribution to wards that rent, did so.

Totally agree with this, and put a stop to council tenants buying heavily discounted council houses. There aren't enough to go around already so stop selling the !!!!!!s off cheap!

paulineb_2

pingufan wrote: »

I don't have a problem with working people taking council housing - it comes down to a matter of choice - you either take a mortgage or rent from the council.

What I do have a problem with is people ( and I know a few of them around me) who have council houses, lovely large, traditionally built houses with large back gardens - they pay £75 a week, get 2 rent free weeks a year then get insulation, new windows, new kitchens, a choice of new fireplaces, new central heating systems, rewires. Then COMPLAIN at length about the inconvenience of the work that's being carried out for free!!

Winds me up - I'd love all these home improvements for nothing!

The 2 rent free weeks a year in my area is just the annual rent cost spread over 50 weeks and not 52, its not actually free.

Ive had new heating put in my home, because the previous heating system was obsolete, but Ive had nothing else in the time Ive been here, no rewires, no fireplaces as I dont have that kind of heating

I am getting a new kitchen soon but Im grateful for it, the kitchen I have in the home Im in just now was there when the previous tenant moved in as is very likely to be from when the flats were refurbished, over 25 years ago.

I need new windows put in as well, not because I want as much as I can for free but because some of the windows dont shut properly and my flat is draughty.

And yes, I appreciate that if I didnt rent my house I would have to pay for all of that. My mum paid to put in a new kitchen and her heating packed in a couple of years ago and it wasnt cheap.

However, that home is hers, this tenancy isnt technically mine, so if and when I move on another tenant will get the benefit of the repairs the council have done in the flat.

Whereas if you buy a home and add in a new kitchen, bathroom etc, they tend to add to the value of your home when you come to sell it.

And dare I say it sometimes home repairs do cause a bit of problem, because my local council arent that flexible, when I got my heating put in I didnt get that much notice, my work also werent flexible in the respect that to take a week off work they expected a months notice, I dont have a partner or anyone who could be in my home if Im not around (at that time I was working full time)

So if you are single, live alone and work and you are getting repairs done, the council dont always get that, its the same when you get the annual gas safety check, Ive had letters giving me 48 hours notice of a visit when there was no way I could have got time off work at that short notice. My local council seems to think everyone either has a partner or doesnt work, because they want every repair done at a ridiculously short timescale.

Any upheaval over the repairs being done, well you expect that, you dont get a new kitchen without a week or so of a bit of a mess going on but thats life.

Tbh, people will always find something to moan about, thats life isnt it.

paulineb_2

FatVonD wrote: »

Totally agree with this, and put a stop to council tenants buying heavily discounted council houses. There aren't enough to go around already so stop selling the !!!!!!s off cheap!

It is stopping, in Scotland anyway, in 3 years time people wont be able to buy council housing

But if there arent enough to go around, there should be more built.

jacques_chirac

paulineb wrote: »

It is stopping, in Scotland anyway, in 3 years time people wont be able to buy council housing

But if there arent enough to go around, there should be more built.

Who do you suggest pays for these new builds?

paulineb_2

Scorpio33 wrote: »

To be fair, the OP's question was:




So does anyone know?

I think it depends on each council, but it is usually a points based system. You get more points for being incertain situations, (ie: x points for having young family etc). The more points you have, the more houses you are able to "bid" on to live in.

There are also some minimum criteria to be able to have a chance of getting a council house.

Can anyone elaborate? Does anyone know about the criteria / points based system?



Oh - and for the person who stated a take home of £2,700 pcm for a couple is a "low" income, is clearly deluded.

I dont know too much but I used to work with young people in supported accommodation, who were on housing lists, you'll get more points if you are deemed vulnerable. You need a local connection to go on most housing lists, ie living in the area you want to be on the list of, but it is possible to put your name on other lists, some councils can nominate you to go on housing association lists elsewhere, or council lists elsewhere. You can also get medical points as well. Generally a housing application form will tell you how many points you need to get to be on the list. My council accepts a form from anyone with a local connection, but some housing associations wont let you put a form in if you dont have a minimum amount of points so its not guaranteed that if you want on a HA list, you'll be accepted.

Its widely thought that being pregnant gives you more points, that certainly wasnt the case in the hostels I worked in, any girls who were pregnant didnt get more points for being pregnant and in some places, even being in temp accommodation such as a hostel or supported accommodation, people could still wait anything from 12 months to 2 years for an offer

Some councils also have a one offer and one offer only policy, so if you get offered a house and you dont take it without very good reason, back you go to the bottom of the list

As I said before, I took a flat in a hard to let area as when I was on the council housing list I wasnt vulnerable, I dont have kids and Id have been waiting a very long time, so I got an offer of housing in an area that was very hard to fill.

People can also knock you off the top of the housing list so someone who has kids and who is overcrowded can still wait a year or two, one of my neighbours who had two kids waited about 2 years for an offer of a flat in another area.

A housing officer might be able to explain how the points system works