Spare room changes: 'I won't go quietly'
Discussion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-219490...
Why on earth are my taxes subsidising this bints lifestyle?
Why on earth are my taxes subsidising this bints lifestyle?
User33678888 said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-219490...
Why on earth are my taxes subsidising this bints lifestyle?
It all seems like common sense stuff. Why on earth are my taxes subsidising this bints lifestyle?
One still having kids despite the his inability to house them as he thinks they should be and wanting someone else to pay for it. The other who thinks her 3 bed house should still be payed for by someone else. Both idiots who want something for nothing. probably the same people who don't want any cuts, want a free house and lots of benefits, moan about their tax, if they are paying any.
My grandmother lived in a council house until she died. After the war she lived with my grandad, my dad and my aunt in a small flat while the government built a large council housing estate over the (then also new) road.
It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
blugnu said:
My grandmother lived in a council house until she died. After the war she lived with my grandad, my dad and my aunt in a small flat while the government built a large council housing estate over the (then also new) road.
It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
Was it her house, or was it a council house? It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
TheHeretic said:
blugnu said:
My grandmother lived in a council house until she died. After the war she lived with my grandad, my dad and my aunt in a small flat while the government built a large council housing estate over the (then also new) road.
It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
Was it her house, or was it a council house? It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
This is the real issue - we had a housing stock and we sold it. I used to live in an ex-council house with four bedrooms with just my wife. We did quite well out of it, but probably not as well as the people who bought it off the council. Councils are left with the undesirable properties and all the decent family homes have been sold.
The house I once owned is now rented out. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is to someone on benefits. So instead of the council owning the house and receiving rent, a private landlord makes money out of it - the benefits paid have to fund a profit instead of just providing a home.
blugnu said:
It was her home. The house was owned by the council - she refused to buy it (although obviously she had the right to) as she was happy to rent it so that someone else could use it after she died. Judging by the changes made to the house since she died I think it may have been bought now.
This is the real issue - we had a housing stock and we sold it. I used to live in an ex-council house with four bedrooms with just my wife. We did quite well out of it, but probably not as well as the people who bought it off the council. Councils are left with the undesirable properties and all the decent family homes have been sold.
The house I once owned is now rented out. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is to someone on benefits. So instead of the council owning the house and receiving rent, a private landlord makes money out of it - the benefits paid have to fund a profit instead of just providing a home.
Did she think it would be knocked down after she died if she had bought it?This is the real issue - we had a housing stock and we sold it. I used to live in an ex-council house with four bedrooms with just my wife. We did quite well out of it, but probably not as well as the people who bought it off the council. Councils are left with the undesirable properties and all the decent family homes have been sold.
The house I once owned is now rented out. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is to someone on benefits. So instead of the council owning the house and receiving rent, a private landlord makes money out of it - the benefits paid have to fund a profit instead of just providing a home.
TheHeretic said:
blugnu said:
My grandmother lived in a council house until she died. After the war she lived with my grandad, my dad and my aunt in a small flat while the government built a large council housing estate over the (then also new) road.
It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
Was it her house, or was it a council house? It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
If they were paying the rent, then the new legislation wouldn't have affected them.
If the taxpayer was paying the rent, why should the taxpayer pay extra to provide others the luxury of an extra room, especially when a lot of taxpayers are not in a position to afford that themselves?
blugnu said:
My grandmother lived in a council house until she died. After the war she lived with my grandad, my dad and my aunt in a small flat while the government built a large council housing estate over the (then also new) road.
It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
So the family with 2 kids that currently live in a 2 bed flat will go where exactly?It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
Surely your nan was given a council house in the first place on the basis of need. That need no longer exists and has passed to other people.
blugnu said:
My grandmother lived in a council house until she died. After the war she lived with my grandad, my dad and my aunt in a small flat while the government built a large council housing estate over the (then also new) road.
It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
So the family with 2 kids that currently live in a 2 bed flat will go where exactly?It was a three bedroom house. One for my grandparents, one for my dad, and one for my aunt. They raised their family there, and it was their home.
Obviously the kids grew up and moved out, so it was just my grandparents and two spare rooms. One was done as a 'kids' room for when the grandchildren came to stay, and one was an 'adult' room for when my grandparent's siblings came to stay, as they lived quite a long way away.
And so it came to pass that my grandad died and so, the house that was once home to a family of 4 was now home to one person, my nana, who lived there alone for over 20 years. It was still her home - the home she'd brought her kids up in, the home she had shared with her husband. The home she had cleaned and polished to within an inch of it's life for 50 years.
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
Surely your nan was given a council house in the first place on the basis of need. That need no longer exists and has passed to other people.
Dimbo said:
Did she think it would be knocked down after she died if she had bought it?
No. Being as she had lived through the depression in the 30's and been brought up in a stone house with no water, gas or electricity on the side of a hill in Shropshire, in which her father used to keep the animals at night for warmth she was rather taken with the post-war idea of the state using it's resources to redistribute wealth and provide affordable, comfortable modern homes for those that survived the war to live in - and she was intensely proud of hers. She viewed it as hers, as you would having lived there for over 50 years.So I expect she rather hoped that her home would continue to be used in that manner. Sadly it looks like it has been bought since and so another family home has been lost to the stock that the council has to offer, so the shortages are worse.
It doesn't make sense to me.
blugnu said:
I find it absolutely appalling that this government would be telling my nana that she would have to choose between being unable to afford heating, or moving out of her home of 50 years.
To be fair, if the state contributes fully or in part to someone's rent via housing benefit then they obviously have quite a large say in things.If there is a smaller property available they are well within their rights to encourage people who have more bedrooms than they need to move.
Of course if people don't rely on housing benefit and are paying the market rate for rent themselves, even if it's a council house, they are well within their rights to tell anyone who asks them to move to f-off imo.
Edited by Victor McDade on Wednesday 27th March 15:59
blugnu, I'm not having a go, but the whole point of council housing is to provide housing for those who cannot afford to pay a market rent. It's a subsidy funded by taxpayers. Like any other benefit, it has to be allocated to those most in need. There is a chronic shortage of housing and no shortage of people looking for a subsidised house. For every old lady rattling around in a massive house she can't afford to heat, there is a family with young kids living in a B&B or being put up in private accomodation at vast expense. That is nuts. It would make far more sense for the little old lady to move to smaller or sheltered accomodation and the family to move into the family accomodation. Whilst the old lady may be a bit sad about that, you've no god-given right to stay in the same house if you haven't paid for it. Because we are in a financial crisis and have a nice demographic crisis coming up, with an ageing population being supported by a smaller tax-base, these sorts of compromises have to be made.
The expectation that the Council will buy you a nice house which you have the right to stay in till the end of your days, belongs to 1960s socialism. The world has had to move on. Sorry.
The expectation that the Council will buy you a nice house which you have the right to stay in till the end of your days, belongs to 1960s socialism. The world has had to move on. Sorry.
Bluebarge said:
blugnu, I'm not having a go, but the whole point of council housing is to provide housing for those who cannot afford to pay a market rent. It's a subsidy funded by taxpayers. Like any other benefit, it has to be allocated to those most in need. There is a chronic shortage of housing and no shortage of people looking for a subsidised house. For every old lady rattling around in a massive house she can't afford to heat, there is a family with young kids living in a B&B or being put up in private accomodation at vast expense. That is nuts. It would make far more sense for the little old lady to move to smaller or sheltered accomodation and the family to move into the family accomodation. Whilst the old lady may be a bit sad about that, you've no god-given right to stay in the same house if you haven't paid for it. Because we are in a financial crisis and have a nice demographic crisis coming up, with an ageing population being supported by a smaller tax-base, these sorts of compromises have to be made.
The expectation that the Council will buy you a nice house which you have the right to stay in till the end of your days, belongs to 1960s socialism. The world has had to move on. Sorry.
So why did we sell all the houses?The expectation that the Council will buy you a nice house which you have the right to stay in till the end of your days, belongs to 1960s socialism. The world has had to move on. Sorry.
The council didn't "buy her a house" She rented the house off them. I have no idea what benefits she got - she worked all her life but I don't think she had a private pension, although I think she still got something from my grandad's pension, but not much.
We should never have sold the houses off. All it did was create a shortage of affordable homes whilst making some people rich, creating a huge bubble in the economy which has since burst. I'd rather the state still had affordable homes to offer people, personally.
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