Being evicted due to demolition

wannabedamned · 11 May 2010 at 00:08

[TW]Fox;16532149 said:
I think its generally accepted that council housing is a form of benefit, yes.

How? I live in a council house. I work, pay full council tax, pay my rent, my electricity, gas, water, phone, cut my own grass, put out my own bins and do my own shopping.

How am I getting benefits exactly? Only difference between me and someone private renting is the fact I pay the council as my landlord. And go to them for repairs, rather than a landlord.

[TW]Fox · 11 May 2010 at 00:10

Because the rent is subsidised. I dont really want to get into a full blown debate about it because I'm not sure it matters but council housing is a form of benefit, its part of the welfare state.

I don't personally have any issue with the provision of council housing in this country, infact I think its one of the better uses of the welfare state. But it's still 'benefits'.

Greenlizard0 · 11 May 2010 at 00:10

Rroff said:
If your paying £10000 in tax a year you must be earning quite a bit... its no ones fault but your own if you can't manage your money properly...

How is managing money got to do with anything? The only way he doesn't pay is if he does a bit of tax avoidance lol?

PhillyDee · 11 May 2010 at 00:12

wannabedamned said:
How? I live in a council house. I work, pay full council tax, pay my rent, my electricity, gas, water, phone, cut my own grass, put out my own bins and do my own shopping.

How am I getting benefits exactly? Only difference between me and someone private renting is the fact I pay the council as my landlord. And go to them for repairs, rather than a landlord.

Pretty much, I use to live in a council house. They upgraded it when needed etc. I now rent from a private landlord.

Rroff · 11 May 2010 at 00:15

Greenlizard0 said:
How is managing money got to do with anything? The only way he doesn't pay is if he does a bit of tax avoidance lol?

He was moaning about being in debt.

ethan · 11 May 2010 at 00:15

[TW]Fox;16532159 said:
Because the rent is subsidised. I dont really want to get into a full blown debate about it because I'm not sure it matters but council housing is a form of benefit, its part of the welfare state.

I don't personally have any issue with the provision of council housing in this country, infact I think its one of the better uses of the welfare state. But it's still 'benefits'.

Why! Can't you get housing benefit for living in rented accomodation that doesn't belong to the council :rolleyes:

[TW]Fox · 11 May 2010 at 00:16

ethan said:
Why!

Because it's taxpayer subsidised rent, thats why? I don't quite get the confusion here. It's simply a statement of fact. It's not an anti council house thing!

Can't you get housing benefit for living in rented accomodation that doesn't belong to the council

Yes, and thats a form of benefit as well :confused:

mavers · 11 May 2010 at 00:18

wannabedamned said:
How? I live in a council house. I work, pay full council tax, pay my rent, my electricity, gas, water, phone, cut my own grass, put out my own bins and do my own shopping.

How am I getting benefits exactly? Only difference between me and someone private renting is the fact I pay the council as my landlord. And go to them for repairs, rather than a landlord.

You have to meet some requirements (and your salary to be below a threshold) to be eligible for a council house as they subsidies your rent.

wannabedamned · 11 May 2010 at 00:19

lol, I think i'll have to read into it as I wasnt aware.

[TW]Fox · 11 May 2010 at 00:20

wannabedamned said:
lol, I think i'll have to read into it as I wasnt aware.

How can you not be aware if you live in one, surely you must have noticed your rent was cheaper than it would have been had you rented from a private landlord

ethan · 11 May 2010 at 00:21

[TW]Fox;16532182 said:
Because it's taxpayer subsidised rent, thats why? I don't quite get the confusion here. It's simply a statement of fact. It's not an anti council house thing!

Yes, and thats a form of benefit as well

I may be at cross purposes here and I have gone and forgotten the significance-if any?

last point was rhetorical.

wannabedamned · 11 May 2010 at 00:22

[TW]Fox;16532196 said:
How can you not be aware if you live in one, surely you must have noticed your rent was cheaper than it would have been had you rented from a private landlord

I had noticed that, I just figured Its a council house and it's going to be cheaper. Never thought about the whys.

i was just happy with a 2 bedroom house for £60 a week

[TW]Fox · 11 May 2010 at 00:27

My point exactly that would be 2-3 times that on the open market

drunkenmaster · 11 May 2010 at 01:00

But then, council houses are often smaller, grottier(not always) and often in bad area's which itself causes cheaper rent.

Either way, just because rents subsidised doesn't mean he hasn't spent money doing the house up or garden.

What if he has bought himself a massive superking bed but the house he gets relocated to only has tiny bedrooms and a superking just doesn't fit, do people really think its awful the council who are choosing to move him, give him a little cash to help make his new place feel like his home.

Aren't we all rather entitled to make where ever we live our home?

So maybe a new bed, maybe a new sofa, maybe replace a few things as most people will brake one/two things in a move. If the new place is a 70's throwback with old shag carpets, its it terrible they give him a little cash to make it feel like his own place and not run down and crap.

TheCrowUk · 11 May 2010 at 01:02

[TW]Fox;16532222 said:
My point exactly that would be 2-3 times that on the open market

Not neceseraly, it depends on the location to a large extent and how greedy a private landlord would be.

I pay £325 a month for a privately rented one bedroom house, and yes the landlord makes a little bit of profit.

For a similar size with one bedroom from the coucil would cost me the same if not more.

So what if the council owns and subsidises a persons residence, if they are paying some part towards the rent its better than those who pay nothing at all and have no interest in getting a job, etc.

Sukh · 11 May 2010 at 01:07

I don't think anyone is begrudging council tenancy here?

I would rather subsidise rent for those who work than hand out packets of cash to those who don't work.

laffs83 · 11 May 2010 at 07:07

SlugForAButt said:
I agree completely!
I can't afford to insulate my house atm, but if I was on benefits I'd have it done for free.
I'm still paying off the thousands of pounds it cost me to have my kitchen done to a reasonable standard, yet I can afford to subsidise other people moving house?
It seems a shameful waste of taxpayers money to "compensate" someone for relocating them into other, presumably better taxpayer subsidised housing.

Shame!

EDIT: And the best part is... HE WANTS MORE!

At which point in my original post did I say I am unemployed and claiming benefits? I live in a council house, but both myself and my partner work full time. Although to be honest whilst I almost took offence at your comments I then think about some of my neighbours and it does not seem fair that I have lived here 7 years and always paid the rent and council tax (approx £25,000 in total) yet they get it for diddly squat, and will receive the same compensation as me.

laffs83 · 11 May 2010 at 07:10

[TW]Fox;16532159 said:
Because the rent is subsidised. I dont really want to get into a full blown debate about it because I'm not sure it matters but council housing is a form of benefit, its part of the welfare state.

I don't personally have any issue with the provision of council housing in this country, infact I think its one of the better uses of the welfare state. But it's still 'benefits'.

If you came around to my house and saw the state that firstly the property itself is in (I have done my best to patch it up), the state the streets are in with litter etc, and my local neighbours, you would think that £245p/m is too much, believe me.

arknor · 11 May 2010 at 07:15

wannabedamned said:
I'm guessing by this statement you're saying...

Council house = Benefit recipient

?

If thats the case then you have no idea of the state of the country.

both my parents worked there whole lifes (my mum had a full and a part time job) they lived in a council house for atleast 15 years paying full whack rent.

if your on benefits you can live wherever you want anyway it doesnt need to be council the goverment will still pay upto *** a month in housing benefit even to a private landlord

atpbx · 11 May 2010 at 07:46

wannabedamned said:
How? I live in a council house. I work, pay full council tax, pay my rent, my electricity, gas, water, phone, cut my own grass, put out my own bins and do my own shopping.

How am I getting benefits exactly? Only difference between me and someone private renting is the fact I pay the council as my landlord. And go to them for repairs, rather than a landlord.

As Fox said, you pay a fraction of what it costs to own and maintain a house when you live in a council house, thats not a slur, its a fact.

When you consider that the only thing that probably goes through your mind when the council come and replace your boiler or roof is the fact its an inconvenience and not the fact you need to find 3 to 5k to have the work done, then thats the difference.

A whole load of council houses down the road I live in have just had new roofs, new boilers, double glazing and insulations, thats nearly 15k of work done, for a a couple of quid (literally) a month increase in rent and people were moaning.
I said to one of them "dont worry, at that rate of repayment it will only take you 250 years to pay the council for the work done"