Right to Buy - why wasn't I informed?

horsewithnoname

Rainy68 said:

 Jude57 said:

Rainy68 said:

Baldytyke88 said:

A rather similar to the WASPI women issue, should people receive a person communication when there are changes.

It was in the national media. Try contacting your local council or MP.

Thank you for your message, but as I stated, I do not read the papers nor watch the news (purely based upon negative news and stories) therefore I was not aware of changes and to my knowledge not many others did too. I always receive letters from Leeds council about rent increases, changes to bin dates etc but have not received anything about a change to Right to Buy policy. as a long term tenant I think that this should have happened.

I'm sorry for your loss. It's a very difficult time, I know. You could ask your local Councillor to look into this for you, their contact information will be on the Council's website, but frankly, I don't think it will help. What I'm about to say may sound harsh but I speak from experience of working in Local Government for many years so I can see it from the Council perspective. I'm a Council tenant, too.

Leeds City Council manages 55,000 properties and it would cost a minimum of £47,850 in second class postage alone to send such letters to every first-named (i.e. ONLY to the person named first on the tenancy agreement) tenant - add in the cost of paper, envelopes, printing, folding and stuffing (physically putting the letters in the envelopes) and you'd be looking at a minimum of £50,000. Then there's the cost of dealing with the phone calls, emails, letters and visitors to Council offices that such a mailshot would create. The vast majority of tenants have no interest in buying their homes and would want to know why such letters had been sent. The local Council Tax payers would, rightly, be asking why so much of their money had been spent to advise uninterested tenants of something so widely publicised elsewhere. There's a legal concept, often quoted here, which applies to anyone buying any property under any circumstances; caveat emptor. Literally translated it means ' let the buyer beware' but in reality it means that if you're going to buy property, it's up to YOU to make sure you have all the relevant information beforehand. Put bluntly, it's your choice not to read or watch the news, and I do understand your choice, but it's not up to the Council to do what you decided not to do - make sure you had all the relevant information. Put another way, how would you, as a Council Tax payer, feel if the Council sent a letter to every resident of their area advising of a change of location of dog poo bins? It wouldn't apply to people who don't have dogs and it would be more cost effective to put notices on existing bins so regular users would see them - but if those people didn't bother reading the notices, whose fault would that be? You say you receive letters about rent increases but it's not the same thing. Homeowners don't receive those, it would be a waste of resources because it wouldn't apply to them. 

Finally, I'd ask WHY you want to buy your Council house now? You have a secure tenancy and all maintenance is taken care of so, for example, if a new roof or windows or central heating are required, it's the Council who will have to pay. I've spent significant sums on my home, too, but it's made it more pleasant for me to live in and I'd have done the same if I'd bought it. I'm a secure tenant, too, but I know that if I need supported housing as I age, the Council will help me find a new home where again, I'll have no worries about maintenance costs. It's one less thing to worry about.

I admit I should have done an Angela Raynor...

Become an MP then. Maybe you can change things

chanz4

It was all over even on this site, as a tax payer Im glad it has changed as stock remains within the council same as private renting

sheramber

chanz4 said:

It was all over even on this site, as a tax payer Im glad it has changed as stock remains within the council same as private renting

But where you read is not relevant to the OP who does not follow the news. 

Where did she learn about it?  Did the council send her a letter telling her about it as she thinks she should have got a letter telling her the rules has changed. 

our_des

sheramber said:

chanz4 said:

It was all over even on this site, as a tax payer Im glad it has changed as stock remains within the council same as private renting

But where you read is not relevant to the OP who does not follow the news. 

Where did she learn about it?  Did the council send her a letter telling her about it as she thinks she should have got a letter telling her the rules has changed. 

There has been a section about the changes on the Right to Buy page on the Leeds City Council website for a while (way before November 2024) and the governments. It's unfortunate the OP's partner passed away and they missed the deadline but the information about it was out there when they began their application.  

Bookworm105

Rainy68 said:

Bookworm105 said:

Rainy68 said:

 as a long term tenant I think that this should have happened.

why?
There comes a point where people have to take responsibility for their own actions.
You have chosen not to follow the news, fine, your prerogative, but  why should you expect to be hand held on anything that might potentially impact you

Obviously sympathy for your circumstances, and they do possibility give you grounds for a compassionate appeal, but not keeping yourself informed is not a good approach to life.

Thank you for your response. I am without fail notified almost every week of some new development in the council, whether it be new bin days, rent increases, road closures ,etc So why not about my own actual tenancy?

so you think that a good use of taxpayer money is to send notifications to every tenant about something which only a handful of them may even be thinking about, let alone actually affected by. Thankfully councils are a bit less wasteful these days. 

bottom line is you think you are entitled to be spoonfed apparently because you are a tenant and furthermore one who actively chooses not to find things out for yourself.