Council housing

thorsoak

My parents bought their council house from Reading Corporation in 1963 - they had been council tenants since 1947, when my father was demobbed after the war. When they were allocated their new council house, the neighbours included two teachers, a policeman, two people who worked for the post office as well as an engineer, someone who worked on the railway etc etc. With the sale of their (and other) council houses, Reading was able to finance the building of more council houses, which kept the housing list down in that area.

Margaret Thatcher extended the Right to Buy in the 1980s - but at the same time she took away the finance from the local councils and the revenue from the sale of council houses went to government and was not available to the councils as Thatcher did not agree with local authorities having anything to do with housing.

In the 1950s and 60s, the ethos was that housing families should be the responsibility of government, to build a better society.

00ec25

bla bla bla, green eyed envy monster

patman99

Not all home owners are Tory voters, just as not all social housing tenants are Labour voters.

I would like to see a clause inserted into any sale of Council properties giving them the right of first refusal to re-purchase the property at the same discount as it was sold at in the first place.

konark

Judi wrote: »

My house is an ex council house. It was bought from the council by my parents in 1972/1973.

Its been very well maintained but being an ex council house, it wouldnt be worth as much as a similar non council house if i was to sell it.

It's a little known fact that a small number were sold in the 20 years before the 1985 Housing Act.

System

konark wrote: »

It's a little known fact that a small number were sold in the 20 years before the 1985 Housing Act.

The house cost my parents a little over £3,000. I saw the paperwork for it about 20 years ago.

sevenhills

konark wrote: »

It's a little known fact that a small number were sold in the 20 years before the 1985 Housing Act.

The Labour Party initially proposed the idea of the right of tenants to own the house they live in, in their manifesto for the 1959 general election; which they subsequently lost. Very interesting, I didn't know that.

SnooksNJ

theartfullodger wrote: »

Thatcher's bribe to encourage them to vote Tory....

Labour tried to get my vote by making me study for a Life in the UK exam where more than half the questions were about what social handouts are available.

NineDeuce

McKneff wrote: »

Probably because they have paid rent for many years.

You probly wouldnt think that way if you were in the position to buy yours.

Fairly daft comment. What do you think a private tenant pays for many years then?

NineDeuce

Selling social housing on the cheap does not benefit society. It is actually fairly fraudulent to the taxpayer.

Firstly the taxpayer misses out on the rent that could be charged if at private market rate and selling price. Secondly, it just allows the buyer to make a massive profit on the property once they are allowed to sell it. It most likely goes to a BTL landlord and we leave ourselves again with the problem that social housing was supposed to leverage.

It just doesnt work. Benefits should be provided to support people in times of need. They should not be used to permanently advantage a select few.

Still... the biggest culprits for expense avoidance are the tax avoiding rich, and as a nation we get disproportionately angry about the single mother with an 8 bedroom council house and immigrants who 'get put first ahead of British people' than we do about the wealthy who dont have to get out of bed to earn millions....

sevenhills

NineDeuce wrote: »

Selling social housing on the cheap does not benefit society. It is actually fairly fraudulent to the taxpayer.

Councils don't make a profit on any other service that they provide, why should it happen when selling council houses?