redrobbie Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 Change ? http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/23/immigration-fears-stoked-politicians-bishop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 Before you are entitled to a large discount on your council house you have paid rent for years and maintained it in good condition. Which is why the system is totally unfair. Until recently I spent most of my life in the private rented sector paying approximately double the council rent for a similar size property while mostly living in places not as well maintained as council homes. But all the rent I paid would not count towards buying somewhere if I could afford to which I could not as I was paying a higher rent and had less money to save towards a deposit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 hence therapy. just dumping them in supervised accommodation because they don't meet the expected norm is no right. were would it stop. Yeah?. Then we'd better stop doing it to our old folk then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercloud Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 Is it not more the norm to rent rather than buy in Europe, is it in the UK that people think or feel they must own your own house . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Howe Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 Is it not more the norm to rent rather than buy in Europe, is it in the UK that people think or feel they must own your own house . Absolutely. I spent two years in Germany and very few people I met owned their own home. Us and the North Americans (USA and Canada) seem to be the only people obsessed with owning. Large companies own the property and if they let their tenants down then they pay the price as people refuse to go to them. They also are heavily regulated and must provide good customer service Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercloud Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 So if the social housing is cheaper in rent than private renting why let potiential people buy some of this affordable housing? Perhaps also by stopping the selling of them later it will seem less attractive to some to try and cheat the system all over the UK to try and obtain some social housing for the wrong reasons, especially some of the newer development housing assoc houses which are modern and have some latest gadgets .I remember watching a docummentary some time ago that showed you how to cheat system then buy the houses when they came avilable and then rent out with people doing this over and over again in London. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speccy Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 Exactly - the system is a scam, brought in by the Tories to buy votes, and this is what pushed us into the illusion that renting was a 'waste of money'. Follow that up with irresponsible lending, unsustainable debt, unaffordable property and a reduction in affordable rentals, and you can see how successful this policy has been for society. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibber Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 But you don't need the responsibility or expense of an unfurnished house to start you off, and hostels can be exactly what folk need, The Staney Hill Hostel was pretty expensive in itself, back in the early 90s at least, not cheap at all relative to less than average wages and hardly a money saving stop gap option before moving on to a council house or whatever. I'd say that for single men looking for somewhere basic to billet, get stoned or drunk and go to work next day on a cooked breakfast it worked fine. For any of the other residents that were there (like couples or those who were trying to sort themselves out a bit) it wasn't tailored for them at all except as emergency accomodation. not least because you can make social contacts there. There was definately an enthusiastic social scene there. The residents did at least get some support and supervision. With the exception of a guy in a hut on call, any more than available to anyone else in the community? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 For any of the other residents that were there (like couples or those who were trying to sort themselves out a bit) it wasn't tailored for them at all except as emergency accomodation. Well, that's what it was supposed to be, wasn't it? Come to that though, what "tailoring" do couples and anyone "sorting themselves out" (whatever that may be) need? It gave them a roof over their head and someplace to eat and wash. Does society (and the taxpayer) really owe anyone more than that, and how is what was available there any much different to what the same folk get now. Bunged in an often inadequately kitted out flat away from everybody and everything at say the Ness or Hillswick, where they loathe being every second they end up spending there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubbernecker Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 This is quite an interesting thread (except for the bit a few pages back where folk started having some kind of family squabble). I've stayed a lot of my life in hostels and caravan sites because they offered cheap no-red-tape accommodation for working (or unemployed) people. For someone who doesn't have kids, pets or heaps of stuff and just wants a place to stay without becoming a Council statistic, they are all you need. Any other accommodation requires deposit, bank account, furniture, references, debt or 'special needs'...all or some of which make a simple need for a bed turn into a complex business. It is worrying that this kind of simple digs is in such short supply now, due to red tape closing down private places, and misguided bleeding-heart ideas about 'stigma' shutting Council ones. Hillswick caravan site was a Godsend to me. Staney Hill Hostel was too expensive as the SIC, being he SIC, had to gold-plate it, but yes there were good supportive staff there for the folk with troubles. All some of us need, for large periods of our life, is a bed, a shower, and a secure corner to keep our stuff. The Council doesn't have enough accommodation - it needs to be renting caravan sites or encouraging others to set them up. And rent rooms in its bigger properties - make them into flat-shares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercloud Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 Wooden chalets maybe better than statics and just as cheap but I understand exactly where your comming from and mayhelp here with particular group of people. The only downside on a larger scale they would need to be kept reasonbly neat ,tidy and landscaped of some description otherwise its just going to look awful dump on Shetland landscape . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mucklejo Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 Changes on the way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMouth Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 If it hasn't already been said, I believe that the largest discount that can be had when buying a council house is £15,000. What people seem to be missing is the fairly obvious ansswer of rent capping in the private sector. Youngsters (and oldsters too) are being told that they can't afford a mortgage, yet they are living in a private sector property paying someone else's 2nd home mortgage. You're welcome to my council place. Just find me somewhere that I can rent on a very long term let in the private sector for a reasonable rent that has a bus link to town within reasonable walking distance. I will even throw in my halogen heater which I use to heat this house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speccy Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 'Preserved right to buy' - I.e. been in the house since before 2002 - you get up to £70,000. Otherwise a cool £15,000. In England they have increased that allowance to £75,000 to win the election, oops sorry I mean to 'stimulate the housing market'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Howe Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 Just to inflame passions again, when I left the Army I could have gone anywhere in the UK, been entitled to a council property and been allowed to buy it under "right to buy" immediately. I am not sure whether this is still the case, but when I left the Army in 1999 I was being paid 24k (in the Army that is) a year.. not too shabby a salary... No one had the nuts to take on my earlier post I notice.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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