Concerned about Government plans for social housing

spadoosh

Deleted User wrote: »

You're lucky to get social housing: where I live social housing is rarer than a David Cameron honesty box. Been on the council 20 plus years and still got no chance. Lining the pocket of our Landlord.

Guessing youve been able to afford private rent then for the last 20 years? Or have you been homeless?

Why would you be given a chance of social housing when its apparent you dont really need it?

[Deleted User]

Spadosh, I can't afford it without housing benefit! The council help pay my rent rather than give me a council house. The comment about being homeless was unwarranted, but is the kind of comment I have come to expect from this forum.

fusionx212

It's seems so easy to cast aspersions and assumptions from a far spadoosh, everyone's situation is different.

I think you should take a thought on how your remarks make you look silly.

The passive aggressive tone you've taken the whole way through this topic.

It just does not assist anyone seeking information or help.

Dalemar

I'm a 'higher earning council tenant' according to the Government's 'Pay to Stay' policy earning just over £41,000 in London.

Like many people, I have been worried about having my rent jacked up to market rates. However, I've been following the twist and turns of the policy and consider myself incredibly well informed about how it will be implemented from April 2017. So I hope some people will find the following information useful.

1) Pay to Stay will be compulsory for all (not just new) council tenants earning above the £31K threshold (40K in London).

2) The policy will be voluntary for Housing Associations to implement, but it is likely many will introduce the policy on the same or a slightly different basis as the statutory (local authority) scheme.

3) Taxable earnings of the tenant and/or partner will only be taken into account as income. Tenants who receive Universal Credit or Housing Benefit will be exempt from the policy. Additionally tax credits, child benefit and disability benefits etc will be disregarded as income. The income of any dependents will also be disregarded.

4) For tenants with earnings above the threshold, there will be a 15% taper. So for every pound above the threshold, you will pay an extra 15p in rent. So in the example of the OP who earns £37,000 PA and assuming he is not living in London - he will pay an extra £900 of rent per year, or just over £17 per week (15% of £6000).

5) The Government has promised to uprate the thresholds by CPI inflation annually. Thus ensuring that people whose wages only rise with inflation are not fiscally dragged into the 'Pay to Stay' rules, or that those already affected have to pay ever increasing amounts of rent per year.

So the policy has been substantially watered down from the original intention, which was that a market rent would be charged even if you were just £1 over the threshold. The question now is that the amount of extra rent that will be produced by this policy might be significantly less than the costs of collecting it. But I expect the Government knows what it is doing ;-)

BTW the Housing and Planning Bill which includes the Pay to Stay proposals became law today - so it will happen.

Starry1981

Thank you Dalemar that was very helpful and has slightly eased my mind a little, we had this Idea that one week we would pay our usual council rent and the next week it would have risen considerably to the point we would really struggle to pay we will show my partner your post and hopefully ease his mind a little too

Sorry what's the statutory local authority scheme ? Do the councils have to implement this law then unlike the HAs who u say is voluntary ? We've not heard anything from our council,I've even sat for ours going through the their website and there's nothing in there at all unlike other councils and Ha's

Thank you

Dalemar

Hi Starry

Yes councils will have to legally implement the scheme. However, Housing Associations don't have to implement it, but probably will in lots of cases.

The exact regulations of the scheme have yet to be determined, but what I posted has been agreed by both houses of parliament and will form the legal basis of the 'Pay to Stay' policy - which is due to start in April 2017.

Hope this helps.

Starry1981

Hi Dalemar,

Thank you once again looks like we will be affected one day when I go out to work then as our landlord is our local council, hey ho another thing we have to grin and bare lol