How to find out if a property is ex-council?

The laws regarding buying council housing has all changed,don't think it's as easy now.
No way will you get a 75% discount after 2 years. I get that because i have been a tenant for so many years(20+) & because i live in a block of 8 flats.I would have no intention of buying to sell,i would have done this years ago if that was the case

I do however consider myself very lucky to have a council house ;)
 
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Why wouldnt you consider buying to sell? You could make a mint and buy elsewhere outside of a council area given a mortgage to top up the sale price?

Although i completely dont agree with it, you'd be mad not to do this.
 
Just how detached from normal working class british life are you Jez?

I know all you young kids these days have very right wing opinions on Everything.

Jez, i know its stereotyping but you are just another middle class country kid that in reality has so little life expereiance and think you are a big man in a big new world.

Too many programs on TV about making money from property warped your minds.
 
Jez said:
Why wouldnt you consider buying to sell? You could make a mint and buy elsewhere outside of a council area given a mortgage to top up the sale price?

Although i completely dont agree with it, you'd be mad not to do this.
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I have considered it in the past mate,just seemed to be put aside & forgotten about it.

Don't know if it would be easy to sell though,would need new windows & heating replaced,also have damp in my bathroom & the front of the building is in a right sorry old state :(

You may have fired up my interest again tonight though Jez :D

Rob
 
Efour2 said:
Just how detached from normal working class british life are you Jez?

I know all you young kids these days have very right wing opinions on Everything.

Jez, i know its stereotyping but you are just another middle class country kid that in reality has so little life expereiance and think you are a big man in a big new world.

Too many programs on TV about making money from property warped your minds.
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I completely dont understand where you are coming from here, ive made nothing from property whatsoever, i earn a reasonable salary in a normal job which i got off my own back and top it up with freelance consultancy. Nothing to do with property, i'd very much like to get into it, but as you say that could well be me pipedreaming, it'd only ever be supplamental income anyway.

Rob - do it. You are being handed money on a plate and a chance to leave what sounds like a rather rundown flat. You'll get a buyer.
 
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Efour2 said:
Just how detached from normal working class british life are you Jez?

I know all you young kids these days have very right wing opinions on Everything.
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Telescopi said:
I don't really understand the attitudes coming from some youngsters on this forum - it's like listening to a bunch of tory boys trying to one up each other.
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Ive noticed this here too, I thought it was a North/South divide thing tbh. There's one persistent offender in this respect that Ive noticed, I won't name names but he posts mainly in SC and his parent's are doctors ;)
 
Given the chance to a council house for £58pw i would jump, I am 21 with my second child on the way, i own (with mortgage) a 3 bedroom house in cornwall.
Renting a 2 bedroom house was 600pm (150pw), and I decided to buy rather than rent again with the news another bedroom was needed.
After paying mortgage, council tax, heating, etc, etc, + food, I have little left over for much else each month.

The silver lining is that now, my mortgage is fixed for 5 years, I will progress to higher salaries, and will have a little more left over each month.

The biggest gripe i have isnt that council tenants pay £58 a week, but that any maintanance is included, they get refurbed central heating every x years, etc. Everything I do with my house is out of my pocket, and most of the work I do myself, labouring since 14 I have picked up a lot of skills which make it affordable. Because my partner doesnt work 18 hours a week, i dont get childcare payed for, i dont get free school dinners, nor any of the other benifits i would get.

If there was more cheap housing available, more people would be able to afford to buy houses, with higher divorce rates, and immigration, more houses are needed and prices are so high that many young people simply cant afford to buy. Will our children ever own a house? Or will they forever line their landlords pockets.
But with the benefit of cheap accomodation, it shouldnt be necessary to reap all the extra benefits too.
 
loopstah said:
There are a lot less opportunities for bettering your life when you're poor than when you're from a relatively well off background.
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says who?
I have the same opinion of council housing as Jez, yet i have the great experience of living in council housing for 12 years of my life.

My mother now has a good job as well as a private work in her field and a plenty nice house on a nice estate in Bristol, my brother is a site manager for a national chain and i earn in the 40% tax bracket myself. There is plenty of opportunities out there (and by out there i mean all over the UK).
 
The state of council housing is a complete sham!
If i was jobless single parent or some illegal immigrant id get handed one on a plate (or so the media would like you to think).

Hell its almost tempting to pay my landlord to serve us an eviction notice just to get a council house as theres no cat in hells chance were every going to be able to get a mortgage round these parts. (a 3rd floor one bed flat goes for well over 100k).

If you cant beat them, join them. I guess im just jealous i was born 20yrs to late to enjoy the housing boom


Does anyone know the original reason why council houses were introduced?
 
Jez said:
I live in my own private accomodation, with no handouts, and have never claimed a penny of the government. I contribute every single time i pay income tax and national insurance, and i do not cause drain. The time scale is utterly irrelevent.
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Oh but you do cause a drain. Everyone does to differing amounts. We live in a welfare society so your 3 years of tax would probably cover about 1 term of your schooling at most. Then, obviously there is the NHS which you have no doubt used in your life, and dentists etc.. Who paid for all that ? - not you !

I do however agree that people living in subsidised housing is unfair to the majority but that comes with a welfare society. I want to live in a society where the sick and needy are looked after, but I also don't want people who don't need help to 'sponge' off society. Spongers are partly the fault of the government for not tightening their rules and allowing 'sponging', and partly the fault of the spongers who have no financial morality.
 
Jez said:
Leeching is a term used to describe people sapping resource from others.
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1337_KR3W said:
The biggest gripe i have isnt that council tenants pay £58 a week, but that any maintanance is included
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Remember that the housing provided by the council will have been paid for in full by the council a LONG time ago, so it's not costing the council (hence tax payers) anything to provide these houses. Thus, he's not leeching. By paying the council, he is ADDING to the council's resources, not taking away.

If the council was still paying hundreds of pounds a month to cover contruction costs etc and only charging £58 a week, well that would be the council being stupid - not the tenant's fault. But they're not, the council will own the property outright and charge a fee for people to live there.

If the council pays the equivalent of more than £58 a week in costs, it's costing the council, but that's their decision, not the tenant. If the maintenance etc is below that, the council is benefiting, which in turn will benefit everyone in the area as otherwise their council tax bills would be higher......

Yes maintenance is provided, but the tenant is paying for it as part of their rental costs. Those of us with our own properties pay our own maintenance costs just the same. It's just the cost of living there that is different. Plus remember that people with a mortgage own something outright at the end...people in council housing don't if they don't choose to buy. So after maybe as many as 40 years or whatever, they've got nothing to show for all their hard work (assuming they are employed) and payments....
 
Rob43 said:
WHAT !!! I pay £58 a week for my rent,not including my council tax

Get a grip,you think everyone who is in a council house has no job & people like you who have the right to tar everyone with the same brush :mad: :mad:

Have been paying my rent for over 20 years btw,oh & i'm one of the scum that has the right to buy with a 75% discount ;)
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Its cost me at least £100 a week to rent privately for the last 5 years. Last 1 bed flat I had was £150 a week plus council tax, bills etc.

So you've had a friggin easy life on £58 a week (unless you're taking that out of the dole, in which case you should GET A JOB) edit: you DO have a job

I agree with Jonny

Paying that amount meant I couldn't even afford to travel to work some months and had to increase my debts

Increased debts + no opportunity to save = absolutely no chance of gettinga place of my own until i'm about 40 or suddenly win a load of money
 
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CF93 said:
Yes maintenance is provided, but the tenant is paying for it as part of their rental costs. Those of us with our own properties pay our own maintenance costs just the same. It's just the cost of living there that is different. Plus remember that people with a mortgage own something outright at the end...people in council housing don't if they don't choose to buy. So after maybe as many as 40 years or whatever, they've got nothing to show for all their hard work (assuming they are employed) and payments....
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You seem to assume that a person either rents from the council or owns their home. Neglecting to mention that many people rent in the private sector, and pay through the nose for the privilege. The fact is that council rents should be a lot higher than they are. Council tenants benefit threefold: very cheap rent; all repairs and maintenance done free; and the biggest one of all: very secure tenancy terms. I think council rents should be the same as in the private sector. Any low income or unemployed tenant will get housing benefit anyway so will not lose out.
 
$loth said:
Eh?

The point of council housing is affordable housing, it's not supposed to be the market value, it's for people who can't afford to start a family and spend £500+ a month on rent because they don't earn enough.
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If you can't afford to start a family... Don't. Quite simple.

I can't afford to so I haven't.
 
Daveyboy said:
If you can't afford to start a family... Don't. Quite simple.

I can't afford to so I haven't.
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You can if you get a council house, however you choose not to, so next time you quote me please read the whole post, start a family + a larger rent (you forgot to address that point).
 
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