Buying and selling council house - fair or not?

[davidjohnbutton]

I would like to canvass members opinions on the following scenario which is a true "story".

1. A mother and son living in a 3 bedroom council house close to where I live. Mother is elderly and is named tenant - she dies. Son is rehoused by council as accommodation too large for him.
2. House allocated to a family who move from Kent - they get house because of supposed ill relative of the mother of this family. The family comprises mother, father, and two sons - daughter later joins them.
3. As soon as they have been in this council house for two years, the new tenant buys it at £43549 which they are legally entitled to do - this price is after a 30% discount - the purchase took place September 2005 and is in the name of the woman only.
4. The house is now up for sale at £110,000 - even after the repayment of the discount - the profit will be approx £45,000
5. The family owned their own house in Kent which they initially let out whilst in their new council house, and which they then subsequently sold the one in Kent to buy another one locally with the funds from the Kent one - so they now have two owned houses (i.e. the one near me and another one locally)

What do you think of this - is it an abuse of the Right to Buy or not? One point for consideration is that there is a huge waiting list for council properties locally, and a demolition area is being held up because there are no houses available to move them into.

I think, personally, that it stinks. The purchaser of the council house is also a council employee part time.

[cmack]

personaly i think it stinks of corruption, a council employee who has two homes should know better. i think that an interesting couple of chapters could be added to this story by visiting the web site of the said authority and clarifying the criterea to be met when housing familys in this authority. an interesting twist could be seeing this story on the front page of the local newspaper.who knows it could even be picked up by the nationals who are more than likely to portray it in much the same light as the storys that run on the government head of the dept. (DCLG). Two Jags? two shags? two houses? anyone else see a recurring theme?
Im not sure if he,s still running this dept now but he was.
the son in the story may feel that hes got a mountanous uphill struggle and it might feel a bit daunting being the little man against an entire council, but all good storys have a david and goliath element.
get digging on this, get as much proof as possible and cause as much of a stink as possible.

[Tweedle Dum]

Personally I'd be more concerned about how much you seem to know about other peoples business. Lol.

[pms]

That stinks big time it reminds me of an asylum seeker in Islington some years ago who abused the stystem buying a 3 bedroomed council house for 50k then selling it for over 150k although they had brought a house in the private sector.No wonder there is a shortage of social housing.

[pms]

Personally I'd be more concerned about how much you seem to know about other peoples business. Lol.

that's not the point it's yours and mine taxes that are subsiding it.

[pippay]

it certainly sounds very "iffy" - especially as they owned another property (or was it two?) that they could have repossessed for their own use.

The MOST, this LA should have done, was put this family into temporary accommodation pending the repossession of their other property. Their tenant would probably have had more need for social housing than they did!! Ill health on its own is not a passport to social housing !!

The criteria for all LA's to rehouse anyone is laid down in statute. All LA's have to abide by that criteria, although the way they implement it is up to them (i.e. when they deem a person to be "street homeless" and how they allocate their properties .. by an ordinary waiting list or by allowing people on the list to "bid" on properties) and it strikes me that either the true facts have either deliberately been hidden from the LA or the LA didn't do their job properly!

Either way, it stinks and in my humble opinion is probably fraud or corruption and is worthy of being brought to the attention of higher authorites if the facts can be proven (e.g. owning their own home)

It rather sickens me to hear stories like this using up very limited social housing stock, when I hear of other people in far more need - take Mole, on this forum as a prime example !!

And yes, it's the responsibility of all of us to "whistleblow" on any type of benefit fraud (and social housing IS a benefit, although some may not see it like that!) - apparently it costs this country over £7million a year in benefit fraud .. think how many doctors, nurses, medical equipment or new homes could be paid for out of that!!

[Worldlife]

It's outrageous that profits like this are being encouraged when people who are unfortunate enough to need long term care have been forced to sell their houses to pay for residential or nursing home treatment.

I recall the outrage caused by a Channel 4 programme showing a family in receipt of substantial care and special care allowances for severly asthmatic children yet smoking in the house and bedrooms.

How is it that the media seem to be able to stimulate public outrage at the total benefits of £30,000 a year enjoyed by that family yet condone ignore swindles like this one?

[pippay]

I totally endorse your view, Worldlife.


It's outrageous that profits like this are being encouraged when people who are unfortunate enough to need long term care have been forced to sell their houses to pay for residential or nursing home treatment.

[justaboutsane]

I think its discraceful.. I am TOTALLY opposed to te reight to buy scheme.. My parents bought their coucnil property about 18 years ago, 10 years ago it was repossessed due to massive interest rates etc, I seem to remember the papers at that time saying repossessions were at their highest ever in the month we lost our home. I feel my parents were sold an impossible dream.. and in the process a house was lost from the system. THe street I grew up in was totally council owned when we moved there in 1980.. now out of 100% houses only about 5 are council owned.. and the same can be said for much of the rest of the estate.

There is also an influx of people moving onto the estate, living there until they can buy then buying up.. staying there for the minimum 3 years and selling up for a massive profit. THis has resulted in local schools having to be closed and merged as they either have no children or send them to schools outside the area as they are too "posh" to send them to the local schools.. I am angry as my primary school has just been closed and merged with another. A school that had excellent sats results excellent ofsted reports yet it was merged with another school that was the opposite.. that came out of special measures because of a technicality! (again council "corruption.. who knows!)

THe right to buy scheme has dwindloed housing stock to such an extent that when I left an abusive partner and moved home I had to borrow money to get a private flat as there was nothing the council could do! .. had a job, family and a reason to leave my council house in the midlands.. yet I was entitled to nothing! .. had I been on drugs a prostitute on probation or my child on the at risk register I would have been housed straighth away!

Sorry.... I better put my soap box away! .. as you can tell .. I hate these schemes with a passsion!

[pms]

I agree 100% with what you've posted and the RTB scheme was one of the most idiotic pieces of legalation that ever went through parliment.Due to this the consequences have resulted in the housing problems we have now.I blame the Tory goverment at the time for this.As Napolean said " England is a nation of shopkeepers" but Mrs T's philosphy was we will make England a nation of homeowners.First of all we will sell off the housing stock and stop the LA from building new homes.What her and her cronies didn't realize was that none of them were any good at mathmatics there has to be an economical balance.2 recessions in ten years homes getting re-pocessed,interest rates going through the roof I could go on and on.I have never agreed with the RTB scheme and many people's perception who have gone down that road is that it is a get rich scheme only to find that in many cases in the 80's and 90's it ended in tears and the way GB's so called economical miracle is going the sign's are that it will happen again.

And congratulations on DJB for his post it's a subject that has not been discussed.

[caroline7758]

If it was anyone with a lesser reputatio than yours, djb, I'd be convinced that this couldn't be the whole story. As it is, it stinks!

[scampicat]

I don't see how someone managed to get a council place if they already had a home of their own. My in-laws got one because both had medical need but they had to sell their own house first.