How to find out if a property is ex-council?
- Thread starter Noxis
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Daveyboy said:
have you read my posts mate,I HAVE BEEN WORKING FOR THE LAST 23 YEARS !!! I am not on the dole & neither is my wife !! Never have been
I'm not complaining about what i pay,i've already stated ,i think i'm very lucky to have a council house & i pay what they ask me to,if it was the same as the private sector ,i would pay that
It's also already been pointed out,where i live ,you can rent a 3 bedroom house for around £350-400 a month in Fife
I had my council house before i started a family as well,so i did'nt start a family to get housing
Soldato
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dirtydog said:
/moves to Fife
Send's DD a thick skinned jacket. Anywhere above Manchester is too cold
$loth said:
I have read the whole thread
Also, the council estates near me, or areas of council houses are full of scumbag chavs hanging around on the streets and in the stair wells, trying to look hard and causing trouble.
Last time I picked up my cousin who lives in a council house in Orpington, 3 cars outside his had had their windows all smashed out, and often when he goes to the shops 200 yards up the road he gets accosted and has been mugged or beaten there 5 times or more.
Last edited:
Guys ,the only thing i had a problem with was being called a leecher to society 
This was generalising every single hard working council tenant in the country.My mother & father(RIP) were council tenants,who worked hard & never claimed anything
I can see the point about it being unfair,council rent vs private sector rent,but there is nothing i can do about that,i've been in this house for over 20 years
All i can do is go to work,like the rest of you & pay what i'm asked.
There are places/estates here,where buses won't even venture through anymore
This was generalising every single hard working council tenant in the country.My mother & father(RIP) were council tenants,who worked hard & never claimed anything
I can see the point about it being unfair,council rent vs private sector rent,but there is nothing i can do about that,i've been in this house for over 20 years
All i can do is go to work,like the rest of you & pay what i'm asked.
There are places/estates here,where buses won't even venture through anymore
Rob43 said:
Yes, i've edited the post accordingly since reading the last 3 or pages of the thread.
Not a dig at you personally, but there are a lot of people who are constantly complaining about the council properties they're in. I'd be happy with what I got personally if it was that cheap, as you clearly are.
Also, I know things have changed in the last 20 years since Thatcher - I know people now and from years ago that actually planned to have more kids (a girl who had an unwanted pregnancy at 16) to get more handouts and a bigger (better?) council flat.
There's also kids now who stay at school purely to get EMA, with no plan to get a job so they can learn to sponge for 2 years in practice for sponging for the dole and a council property.
Thats what riles me
re: the OP
if you like the area (fully check it out) and it's a decent house, then no there is no downside to buying an ex-council house. the most common downsides are the area, as a rule of thumb the poorer the area the more trouble there will be, to find out if it is one, if it's for sale the estate agents will tell you, and if not, land registry check as already mentioned
re: all the other guff that's been posted
personally i feel that there should be some level of support to people deserving of it, which is anyone in the same situation as rob, if they can work, they work
i dont have the dilusion that everyone in a council house is in the same situation, yes there's a proportion of society who claim JSA/disability benefits when they could be working, and yes i imagine they're the same family's who cause the trouble that make these estates unattractive
if i wanted to i could pay £50 a week for a 2 bed house, but it would be in an area i dont wish to live in, so i dont, i pay £100 a week for a 1 bed flat, the £50pw places are within visible distance of my flat
i could also buy a house for about half of what i'm looking to spend when i buy in the imminent future, but again choose not to
if you like the area (fully check it out) and it's a decent house, then no there is no downside to buying an ex-council house. the most common downsides are the area, as a rule of thumb the poorer the area the more trouble there will be, to find out if it is one, if it's for sale the estate agents will tell you, and if not, land registry check as already mentioned
re: all the other guff that's been posted
personally i feel that there should be some level of support to people deserving of it, which is anyone in the same situation as rob, if they can work, they work
i dont have the dilusion that everyone in a council house is in the same situation, yes there's a proportion of society who claim JSA/disability benefits when they could be working, and yes i imagine they're the same family's who cause the trouble that make these estates unattractive
if i wanted to i could pay £50 a week for a 2 bed house, but it would be in an area i dont wish to live in, so i dont, i pay £100 a week for a 1 bed flat, the £50pw places are within visible distance of my flat
i could also buy a house for about half of what i'm looking to spend when i buy in the imminent future, but again choose not to
Soldato
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Daveyboy said:
Fair enough, I get angry at this too, I think I mentioned earlier in this thread about some girls who already have 2 children, one had her kid before she left school. Though that is the benefit system in place, they won't necessarily get a council house, it could be a private house.
Rob43, I understand where your coming from, my parent's have both worked when they can (by this I mean my mum stopped work when she had me and my brother until we were in school). My dad went on the dole for a short while when the company he worked at went bust, but that was for a short while.
1337_KR3W said:
that's what gets us round my area every council has in the last 10 years has had a new windows/doors/roof/drives/walls/fences/ and in the last two years have had new kitchens/bathroom/central heating/ not to mention being rewired and plastered . they also have been give free insulation and burglar alarms. and what did it cost them noting other than there normal rent.
Some very valid points in this thread,from all sides,i might add. But what's the solution ? Making council rents the same as private sector just won't happen
Years ago,council housing was pretty accessable,now it's not.I can fully understand why the younger generation are annoyed about this.
This is not the fault of the tenants though,remember 95% are ordinary hard working people,same as everyone else
Rob
Years ago,council housing was pretty accessable,now it's not.I can fully understand why the younger generation are annoyed about this.
This is not the fault of the tenants though,remember 95% are ordinary hard working people,same as everyone else
Rob
dirtydog said:
Fair point about private accomodation..yes they pay rent, but not necessarily over the odds - I guess it depends on the situation of the individual as I know some people on VERY good private rents compared to the majority - and that's in Bournemouth, a very expensive area. I was thinking from my own point of view as a homeowner.
Should council rents be higher? Maybe - but it is up to the council and the rest of us just have to live with the decision. As someone already said, it's the price for living in a welfare state.
I think you might have missed the point I made about maintence though - it comes out of the rent the tenants pay. Effectively because the council owns the property outright, the tenant's rent is to cover ongoing costs only, there is no "capital" element to cover the council buying/building the property - all the council has to pay is maintence, hence that is what the tenant is paying for. If homeowners calculated what they spend on maintenance as a weekly amount, what would it come out at? Dunno, never done it myself though! The difference is council tenants pay for maintenace regularly (as do private tenants through maintenance contracts) but homeowners either save up a stash for when it's needed or have to find a lump sum as and when...
As for low or unemployed tenants getting housing benefit....not necessarily the case. My wife is disabled and can't work but isn't entitled to ANY benefits from the government except disability living allowance, which is less than unemployment benefit, because 1 - we're married and 2 - I work more than 28 hours a week. How much I take home each month is irrelevant as far as the benefits go.
We would not be entitled to any benefits if we were renting. I'm talking from experience as we did rent privately until last year.
Very secure tenancy terms - true, I'll give you that. But that doesn't mean private renting has to be worse. I know someone for example who has a guarantee as part of their rental agreement that they are guaranteed the property for a minumum of 5 years each renewal. That's fairly secure, and while it may not be the norm, it just depends. They get on well with their landlord, so brokered the deal. Anyone in the private sector could do that.
wandgrudd said:
Yes but the previous stuff was probably very old and worn out and beyond a reasonable state to be repaired - and probably hadn't been repaired/replaced for 20 years before that, during which time the tenants had been paying for the maintenance as part of their rent but not getting anything done....so all it is is the council shelling out that big pot they've been building up over the years.
dirtydog said:It is very far from the norm99% of private tenants have either a six month or a yearly shorthold tenancy.
FWIW I am a council tenant. I enjoy dirt cheap rents and secure tenancy. But I don't think it is fair.
True, I had a yearly contract...but that's still not to say it can't happen.