How do you get a council property?

Off-topic
21

Its a bit of a false statement to suggest it pays for itself when it needs the input of the tax payer. IMO if a penny of my taxes goes to council housing I’m paying for it because without the taxpayer’s money those houses will be derelict and unfit for human habitation.

In that case I best run off and apply for a council house. I’ve only got a 3 bed house… Always wanted a 5 bed. I’m poor :crying:. Just because I want a 5 bed house and can’t afford it, it doesn’t mean I have a right to it. Its an aspiration and something to work towards.

Council house should not be denied to ANYBODY WHO NEEDS IT. You can argue that its not up to me to decide who needs a council house but what about that footballer you pointed out that still lives in a council house. Sorry but he can fu*k right off. Theres probably a family crammed into a hostel room waiting for that house.

22

The mere fact that there is a waiting list suggests that council housing is oversubscribed.

Perhaps a more stringent application criteria would see to it that only those who actually need affordable housing can have it.

23

The fact is that nothing is simple. For instance, a great amount of wealth was created by the sell off of council homes, but it was not reinvested. Nothing was invested for decades in social housing, which meant that today, a great need is required to repair and maintain the housing that we have.

My point is that you can have a council home according to your needs, if you need a 1 Bed you should be entitled to a 1 Bed property, you might not like the property, or the area, or the amenities which are offered to you by social housing, at which point you can choose to rent privately.

You should not be denied a 1 bedroom simply because you go to work, or you are not poor. That is a stupid system.

Yes we don’t have enough social housing to meet this, but that would simply require the building of more social homes, the renovation and reclamation of derelict housing and derelict sites. Instead of leaving it to the hands of developers to make millions and drive up housing prices by building too few homes then are required, the state should take on the responsibility and build enough homes for the people that live here.

To me that just seems like common sense, you should have enough homes for the people that live here. Is that so odd? So strange? Instead we leave it to property developers that sit on land for years on end waiting for the demand to go up to increase their profits, why build a home when the local house prices are £250,000, when you can sit on the vacant land for 10 years and build homes that are valued at £500,000.

House prices increase FAR beyond inflation, so even taking that into consideration these companies can increase their profits massively by NOT building homes.

It is a stupid system that needs to be addressed.

Being brainwashed into believing that only the poor should receive “affordable” housing is a terrible thing to have happened. Why should only the poor have housing that is affordable? Why must the rest of us, by inference, have housing that is NOT affordable? Doesn’t make a lick of sense, but no one bothers to think about for more than a minute.

24

I like this, this should be part of the official documentation.

25

ok my apologies but thats the way it read to me.

26

No worries Choprocker :slight_smile:

27

Oh here we go again…more wisdom from motoprick

28

I thought it was impossible to get a council house in London, I heard something stupid like it takes 35 years to get a council place in westminster.

29

Holy ****. Go away for 2 days and the thread blows up…

Basically I was asking because despite working two jobs, I dont scrape £7000 per year. It was only last year I got a damn job and was able to afford a bike. (Great priorities!)
I have nothing that would make me a priority, just no cash to rent privately.

30

/www.millets.co.uk/category/Tents.html

:stuck_out_tongue:

31

2 jobs and you can’t even make more than 7grand a year?!? that’s tough dude… At least you don’t have to pay tax… Are you in full time education?

32

Qualifying is one thing. getting to the top of the list is quite another. The chavs claiming they’ve been evicted and need a place to live immediately is what ruins the system.

33

If I could get a council place in London I’d be in there in a shot, most places I’ve lived PRIVATELY in London have been ex-council or just literally across the street from council places.

In the inner-city it doesn’t matter as much, you’re all in the gutter.

34

I finished 6th form on friday just gone, Instantly filled my time with more work.

Now searching for a motorbike mechanics apprenticeship.

35

There are some valid arguments on both sides of the table.

Council housing is allegedly on a priorities basis. So as has been said, as a single male with no dependents you dont rank high up the list. Now, if you are evicted from say, private rented accommodation, then I believe the council are obliged to help you, but you would probably be put up in a B&B or hostel or room somewhere…not a whole house or flat, because you dont have kids, etc, etc. I think in some circumstances if you are evicted from your family home e.g. by your parents because you are an intolerable sod, violent, etc (I’m not saying you are of course!! I’m just coming up with a hypothetical example) then again, the council may assist you. BUT, if you make yourself voluntarily homeless then the council are not obliged to assist.

Its perhaps ‘fair’ that everyone should have the right to a council home, however this is idealistic to say the least as it would probably mean that about 75% of the UK’s residential property would have to be council owned. I do not agree, however, that everyone should have the right to council housing if it is to be subsidised. The OP may well be right that council housing is not subsidised as the rent pays for the housing, maintenance, etc, but that argument falls flat on its face in the (very common) circumstance where the council accommodation is let to people who are in receipt of housing benefit to the full value of the rent. Now you have a council property which is below private market rent but that rent is being paid by housing benefit / local housing allowance and thus is entirely funded by the taxpayer (whether it be income tax or council tax).

Your other option is local housing allowance / housing benefit, but if you’re living at home, not paying rent, etc, you wouldn’t qualify.

I have nothing against council housing - I grew up in a council house and my parents presumably were worthy of getting one (we’re going back 30 years here) as they had kids and were (and are) on low incomes…but they’ve worked all their lives and never claimed a penny in income support / housing benefit…their council rent was just lower than it would be if they rented privately. I personally feel that they are the type of people that the system should support. About 7 years back they exercised the right to buy and are now paying their mortgage. People argue against the right to buy, but again, it was a helping hand where needed. There’s no way my parents could have afforded to buy privately.

I also agree that if you dont actually need it, then you shouldnt take it. I moved out of my parents place 7 years ago and have rented in house shares etc… I could now afford my own place, but I share with 1 flatmate to save on cost. I wouldnt dream of signing up for council housing as I dont need to, and on that basis the properties should be allocated to people with a genuine need.

36

You have conflated two ideas there Drunk Knight. Unless you are making the point that 75% of people living in residential property are receiving Housing Benefit. I doubt you are, so making Social Homes a right for everyone would actually cut the amount of subsidy by your standard, because if it was a right for everyone, and it required 75% (A figure I very very strongly refute) of the residential property, that would be a vast majority of people who actually worked.

Not really sure you can claim social housing as subsidised because people on Housing Benefit are usually in a better position to receive it under the current priority system, with or without social homes those people would be in receipt of housing benefit, so are we to therefore say then that private housing is subsidised?

Why should I subsidise your mortgage? Oh I am not subsidising your mortgage, but according to the logic that people are living in private accommodation and receiving housing benefit and therefore private housing is subsidised…I am subsidising your mortgage.

The logic just doesn’t make sense.

37

This seems like a lot of **** just to get a house?

My parents will kick me out and it feels like sooner rather than later. It goes like “We’re your parents and we’ll always love you but you’re a lazy, intolerable twat”.
I see eviction in my future.

I’m just gonna find a few friends and rent something dirt cheap.

38

You could try being less of a lazy intolrable twat…