Wealthy Council Tenants could lose homes

[Pessimistic]

I agree about some council tenants not looking after the homes. Should really think about what they have, you can decorate and do what you like to the place aswell.
On the bidding cycle over here for HA, there are loads of the same properties every week that come up and are empty but people are not bidding as they are usually top floor flats.

Not allways, you are supposed to get permision if you want to decorate, with ours there is a list of specified colours that you are only allowed to use.
When we went to go get the paint though the guy looked at us realy shocked apparently hes never met anyone that actualy stuck to the colour rules before, everyone else just painted how they wanted


Did anyone see a programe not long back about people that had council flats and then went on to buy there own place elsewhere and rent out the owned home while still living in the rented one, under the seccured tennancy agreement thats also allowed but should be stoped.
Another one they are claming down on is people illegaly renting out their council place somtimes having more then one council place under different names.

I actualy shoped my old landlord when I found out he was renting me his co owned place under his gf name, renting out his council place under his name and owned a third place.
I was moving (being forced) out and he was trying to screw me other for my deposit and claiming I owed rent that I didnt so I thought screw him, he ended up lossing the council place and his co owned place.
Turned out I had gone to school with him and he stole my cd player in school so I felt even more smug

Looks like it depends what HA/Council you are with. Here the houses come bare, no carpets/wallpaper is peeled and no tiles in bathroom or kitchen things like that etc, basically the foundation of the house is all you get. We were told you have to carpet yourself and decorate yourself it is all your responsibility to do what you want with it and however you want, they give you vouchers for b&q or homebase to get stuff.
Also if/when someone moves out of a council house here for whatever reason, whatever they have in there is ripped out, a woman I spoke to who we viewed somewhere with said they have to take up all the carpets n that before anyone else moves in.
We couldn't believe the state of some places!

 

[emsiee]

My nan is in a 3 bed bigger than mine on her own. I do understand that maybe she has to much space but at the same time, the council gave her that house, homeless people with no housing is not my nans problem, if you get me? Why should she have to move so others can get housed? I think that makes sense. Plus my grandads ashes are sprinkled in the garden, she would never move by choice.

I do kind of sit on the fence, I can see WHY but at the same time, its not her problem kind of thing?

Totally agree with you.

My nan is too and I dont see why she should be moved out for a family to move in at all. Shes lived there years and at nearly 80, the last thing she wants is to be forced out of her home.

 

[Pessimistic]

I think older people shouldn't be forced out, but younger people who are perhaps earning more and can now afford to move out the council house should be asked to really..but then there is uplifting of families and children in schools in the area etc so I don't know really, it's a tricky one!

 

[Tegans Mama]

Don't get me started on councils

We need a council property so we can have adaptations done to help Tegan. They gave us a ridiculous amount of points and up to a two year wait - but an old man over the street who just had a knee replacement got moved right away. How is that fair? Now we are having to ask permission from our private landlord to have a stair lift fitter which we will have to pay for out of our own money. It's ridiculous

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Don't get me started on councils

We need a council property so we can have adaptations done to help Tegan. They gave us a ridiculous amount of points and up to a two year wait - but an old man over the street who just had a knee replacement got moved right away. How is that fair? Now we are having to ask permission from our private landlord to have a stair lift fitter which we will have to pay for out of our own money. It's ridiculous

That must suck, yet another reason to move here lol It is done by date here which I think is far, means you are not waiting years only to be pushed out by someone because they had another baby etc.
That sucks where you are

 

[Tegans Mama]

That must suck, yet another reason to move here lol It is done by date here which I think is far, means you are not waiting years only to be pushed out by someone because they had another baby etc.
That sucks where you are

It does suck! It puts me in a total rage lol! The house we are in now is unsuitable in every sense of the word - we have stairs (tegan can't get up stairs) a step to the kitchen which Tegan can't get up or down, step from the upstairs landing to the bathroom which she can't get up or down, steps in and out of the house. Makes you wonder what actually has to be wrong with a person (who is not over 60 to actually be classed as disabled.

 

[purpledaisy2]

We've registered but was basically told you both work full time so do one, you'll be waiting forever in a day.

Absolutely crap !

 

[smokey]

I agree about some council tenants not looking after the homes. Should really think about what they have, you can decorate and do what you like to the place aswell.
On the bidding cycle over here for HA, there are loads of the same properties every week that come up and are empty but people are not bidding as they are usually top floor flats.

Not allways, you are supposed to get permision if you want to decorate, with ours there is a list of specified colours that you are only allowed to use.
When we went to go get the paint though the guy looked at us realy shocked apparently hes never met anyone that actualy stuck to the colour rules before, everyone else just painted how they wanted


Did anyone see a programe not long back about people that had council flats and then went on to buy there own place elsewhere and rent out the owned home while still living in the rented one, under the seccured tennancy agreement thats also allowed but should be stoped.
Another one they are claming down on is people illegaly renting out their council place somtimes having more then one council place under different names.

I actualy shoped my old landlord when I found out he was renting me his co owned place under his gf name, renting out his council place under his name and owned a third place.
I was moving (being forced) out and he was trying to screw me other for my deposit and claiming I owed rent that I didnt so I thought screw him, he ended up lossing the council place and his co owned place.
Turned out I had gone to school with him and he stole my cd player in school so I felt even more smug

Looks like it depends what HA/Council you are with. Here the houses come bare, no carpets/wallpaper is peeled and no tiles in bathroom or kitchen things like that etc, basically the foundation of the house is all you get. We were told you have to carpet yourself and decorate yourself it is all your responsibility to do what you want with it and however you want, they give you vouchers for b&q or homebase to get stuff.
Also if/when someone moves out of a council house here for whatever reason, whatever they have in there is ripped out, a woman I spoke to who we viewed somewhere with said they have to take up all the carpets n that before anyone else moves in.
We couldn't believe the state of some places!

Its the same here, we just moved into this place 2 months ago and it was gutted out and in a right state.
They gave us vouchers and told us we had to decorate ourselves but also gave us a pantone referance with the only 7 colours we where allowed to paint with which was basicly a blue a pink and 5 shades of pastal cream colour

 

[moomoo]

I know someone that split up with their partner and sold their house. She had around £50,000 in the bank but because she was "homeless" she was given council housing... To me that is wrong. Along with people on huge incomes and single people living in 3/4 bedroom houses. I don't agree with elderly being forced from their homes though.

We live in a small 2 bed terrace (rent privately) and we are stuck because we can't afford to rent a 3 bed and council houses are impossible to come by.

We can't get a mortgage and even if we could, the wealthy buy up the smaller homes to rent out!!

 

[indy and lara]

We don't have any friends who live in council housing here. It is so hard to be 'eligible' that it just doesn't happen. Many years ago when DH and I wanted to move in together we had either the option of buying or privately renting as council houses were non-existent. Close to my Dad though (10 mins away) they are buillding a lot of new council homes. It will be interesting to see who actually moves in there.

As someone said before, the main problem comes from the fact that in the 80s/90s so many council houses were sold off but new ones were not built to replace them. There was a really interesting program on last year about how almost half a million homes are currently unoccupied in the UK- that is awful when so many people are looking for a home to live in.

 

[polo_princess]

We live in a small 2 bed terrace (rent privately) and we are stuck because we can't afford to rent a 3 bed and council houses are impossible to come by.

I think this highlights perhaps why some of these people on higher incomes havent given up their house ... security. If they give their council house up they'll NEVER get another.

 

[odd_socks]

i think its a good idea

 

[smokey]

Right to buy wasnt completly a bad thing, it gave millions the chance to own their own home that would never of been able to have otherwise.
The down fall was the drastic increase in the population in the 80's-90's id kill for a chance to have what they tried to do.

 

[indy and lara]

Right to buy wasnt completly a bad thing, it gave millions the chance to own their own home that would never of been able to have otherwise.
The down fall was the drastic increase in the population in the 80's-90's id kill for a chance to have what they tried to do.

It is all about attitude though isn't it? In many other countries homeownership is not such a big deal as it is here. People are happy to rent.

 

[Linzi]

Good.

My mam is in a 3 bed semi council house. She told the council after her & my dad divorced she would need a council house in that area with more than one bedroom because she would get custody of me (when she actually had no intention & tried to get me put into care) and she's still there 20 odd years later.

Those houses are there for people who NEED them & shouldn't be taken by lazy people who want an easier life. I just think about the poor mummys & babys in hostels who have long waits for somewhere to live because some people are un necessarily taking up the resources

xx

 

[taperjeangirl]

Right to buy wasnt completly a bad thing, it gave millions the chance to own their own home that would never of been able to have otherwise.
The down fall was the drastic increase in the population in the 80's-90's id kill for a chance to have what they tried to do.

It is all about attitude though isn't it? In many other countries homeownership is not such a big deal as it is here. People are happy to rent.

I still don't get the fuss about owning a house, unless you buy it outright you never really own it anyway till you are about go pop your clogs.

A whole lot of the people who bought council houses, then went on to sell them to landlords who would rent them out for ridiculous prices then the previous lot who sold the house ended up with bigger mortgages they couldn't afford during recession and ended up homeless.

Right to buy was engineered by the Tories to entrap people into not striking from work places etc for better conditions of working, ie- they could freeze wages (like they are doing now) and nobody will do anything about it because if you strike you don't get paid- you would always have too much to lose if you spoke up.
So you get a mortgage, buy a council house even though you are on a lower income, and pretty much have to take everything lying down because you can't afford not to.

It's all about engineered control.

This turned into a big V for Vendetta Tory rant , sorry!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Its a bit of a postcode lottery too. I only waited 18mths for a 3 bed but if I was 4miles over Southampton water on a different council it would be about 11 years x

 

[lesleyann]

That right to buy was good and bad, so many people brought them with co-signers with family members so they ended up buying more than they was ment to since you was only ment to be able to buy the house you lived in, but i know of familys who had 1 member who was a non council tenent basicly buy these house by being a co-signer and now owns quite a few brought at a very cheap price.

We have baby #2 on the way but cannot move to a bigger house unless we want to live in bad areas really which i dont want my children growing up in areas like that it totaly sucks!

 

[smokey]

Right to buy wasnt completly a bad thing, it gave millions the chance to own their own home that would never of been able to have otherwise.
The down fall was the drastic increase in the population in the 80's-90's id kill for a chance to have what they tried to do.

It is all about attitude though isn't it? In many other countries homeownership is not such a big deal as it is here. People are happy to rent.

I still don't get the fuss about owning a house, unless you buy it outright you never really own it anyway till you are about go pop your clogs.

A whole lot of the people who bought council houses, then went on to sell them to landlords who would rent them out for ridiculous prices then the previous lot who sold the house ended up with bigger mortgages they couldn't afford during recession and ended up homeless.

Right to buy was engineered by the Tories to entrap people into not striking from work places etc for better conditions of working, ie- they could freeze wages (like they are doing now) and nobody will do anything about it because if you strike you don't get paid- you would always have too much to lose if you spoke up.
So you get a mortgage, buy a council house even though you are on a lower income, and pretty much have to take everything lying down because you can't afford not to.

It's all about engineered control.

This turned into a big V for Vendetta Tory rant , sorry!

But then you get the other side of the coin of a government that lets every man, woman and their dog thats just come into the country have a home and still screw the mothers and babys that need them.

 

[special_kala]

It's definitely the right decision but I think it should be people earning like 40/50k who should give them up.

I also think they should only offer 5/10 year tenancys and after that time if your circumstances have changed dramaticly then they need move out. I know people who earn 10k nore then us but their rent is half ours.