The Housing Act of 1980 allows council tennants of two or more years to buy their council property at a discounted price, with the discount increasing in rough proportion to the number of years they have been paying rent.

Was this a good idea ?

If you have the money to buy, then yes...but there are some council estates where the real estate aint that great.

And there are certain clauses to the deal as well.

Originally posted by Carmine
If you have the money to buy, then yes...but there are some council estates where the real estate aint that great.

And there are certain clauses to the deal as well.


My concern is that all the good stock gets sold and all the crap gets left behind.

That's the way it goes...can't polish a turd, I'm afraid.

Any idea how you buy your home.

We want to buy ours and invest in its improvement, like the large garden, but don't want to spend loads and then give back our hard work etc back to the council.

The only thing I can find is for compainies who can offer me a morgage and help in applying etc.

How do I find out how much I need to pay for the house.

I don't want to go though these compainies as I want to shop around.

Jubby

Selling off council houses not only reduces the stock of houses available for rental to lower income families, but selling them at such a huge discount means that the rent-paying tenants are subsidising the buyers every step of the way. Yet another legacy of Thatcherism.

Some may say that selling council houses is a good thing because it gives buyers a pride in their homes and therefore they'll make improvements and generally look after the properties better than the rental tenants. That may be true, but only if you like Vera Duckworth-style stone cladding and fake patios.
:D

I know someone who bought their council house when I was about six. They added a hardstanding for the car, a conservatory and a garden pond.

They've had it on the market now for about 12 years.

Originally posted by Carmine
can't polish a turd, I'm afraid.

In some ways I do think it's a good idea. It gives people a chance to own their own homes when they might not otherwise have had that chance. It usually means that people will take more pride in their property thus making the area look nicer.

However I agree that it means for some people who simply can't afford to buy their house, are left with the crap. It's swings and roundabouts really.

Originally posted by jubby
Any idea how you buy your home.

We want to buy ours and invest in its improvement, like the large garden, but don't want to spend loads and then give back our hard work etc back to the council.

The only thing I can find is for compainies who can offer me a morgage and help in applying etc.

How do I find out how much I need to pay for the house.

I don't want to go though these compainies as I want to shop around.

Jubby

Contact the council,they will give you all the info you need.

Your discount period is not just for the period that you have lived in the house,its for the period you have rented fullstop.
It also includes periods renting from Housing Asscociations.

Originally posted by mojoworking
Selling off council houses not only reduces the stock of houses available for rental to lower income families, but selling them at such a huge discount means that the rent-paying tenants are subsidising the buyers every step of the way. Yet another legacy of Thatcherism.

Some may say that selling council houses is a good thing because it gives buyers a pride in their homes and therefore they'll make improvements and generally look after the properties better than the rental tenants. That may be true, but only if you like Vera Duckworth-style stone cladding and fake patios.
:D

No I don't like sone cladding etc.

I have a big garden thats on a incline to get looking nice will need a landscaper to either get it cleared or done for me. £1000's to do. Also want to replace the patio with something child frendly, as it is cracked and my son has had 3 falls already. The council won't replace it with new slabs or anything as "it is the tenants responsibility to take care and maintain the garden areas" quote from the inspector, who took some persauding to move a partly demolished greenhouse becasue of the obvious danger.

I have 4 kids so my house is getting tiny, have been told my kids will be adults and left home before we have enough points to move to a 4 bedroomed. Can't put in a loft conversion unless I own it. Also my two eldest are disabled, so needs some mods that we can't get a grant for, and it we put them in we have to leave them in, or spend money putting it back how we found it. My wife used her medical points to get out of a flat to get a house, when she did this she only had two kids and didn't know me. Was told by the council "should have took into consideration the amount of children you have when you used your points" she totally missed the point that she was single with two kids, no idea she would meet someone get married and have more kids.

I can't afford to buy a normal on the market house that is big enough, so buying my council house is my only option, then this way I can invest in the improvements I need and then if I do move my improvements will increase the value of the property so will get back some of the investment I have put in. (Blood sweat and tears) and not the council and the subsequent tenants.

Jubby

Originally posted by tango2
Contact the council,they will give you all the info you need.

Your discount period is not just for the period that you have lived in the house,its for the period you have rented fullstop.
It also includes periods renting from Housing Asscociations.

Any contact numbers or departments as my local rent office hasn't a clue and there are no leaflets etc available from Howden House reception.

Jubby

Originally posted by mojoworking
Selling off council houses not only reduces the stock of houses available for rental to lower income families, but selling them at such a huge discount means that the rent-paying tenants are subsidising the buyers every step of the way. Yet another legacy of Thatcherism.

Some may say that selling council houses is a good thing because it gives buyers a pride in their homes and therefore they'll make improvements and generally look after the properties better than the rental tenants. That may be true, but only if you like Vera Duckworth-style stone cladding and fake patios.
:D

I fail to see how rent payers will be subsidising the buyers,when the house is purchased its done to offload the property.
The buyer recieves no services from the council,all repairs are to be carried out by the buyer.

So in the end the house wont cost the council a penny to maintain,so there is no cost to pass on to tennants.

Originally posted by tango2
I fail to see how rent payers will be subsidising the buyers,when the house is purchased its done to offload the property.


But surely, by offloading its assets in this way, the council has lost the ongoing revenue it would be getting from the rent of the house in favour of a one-off windfall, which as I understand it, is well below the true value of the property.

Originally posted by mojoworking
But surely, by offloading its assets in this way, the council has lost the ongoing revenue it would be getting from the rent of the house in favour of a one-off windfall, which as I understand it, is well below the true value of the property.

But it does allow that low income family to buy a house.

My unsatnding a morgage is 3 times your salery so mine would be approx £30k you show me a 3 bedroomed house at £30k and I will consider viewing it.

Why should low income working class always have to rent, and the middle class be allowed to buy???

Jubby

As others have said, it takes the decent housing in decent areas "out of circulation", leaving the folk who want/need "social"housing in the decent areas trapped in the "sink" estates.

The whole point of "Social" (that is Cheap, council/ housing assoc'n) housing is that it is there for the folk who cannot afford / do not want to buy a property privately.

A case in point is at crosspool, where a friend of mine lived with her little boy.
Up there, there were just four council houses. Four three-bed houses. Then, bit by bit, the tenants either side of my friend exercised theor right to buy. and "why not?", you might ask.... 60 grands worth of house.... for about fifteen grand.... instead of paying the 70-100 grand that the houses up there can command.. you'd be mad not to... wouldn't you?

Well, three of the four were bought, which meant that there was just the one, my friend's house, that remainesd with the council.

so, if there was just my friend's house left, how on earth does anyone else get the chance to move out into the "leafier Suburbs" ........ they don't have a cat in hell's chance, do they?

The council are not permitted to build new houses with the money they recieve from the sale of the stock. (thank you very much missus Thatcher...) so every sale depletes the amount of stock available. It's unfair.

Another example of folk who are disadvantaged by sales of social housing is closer to home:-

My son and his other half are in a (dilapidated) top-floor council flat, with three babies under four,(almost 4, 2 and 6 mos) and are desperate to get housed elsewhere. Last year, my (then) heavily pregnant D-I-Law had to lug the middle boy *and* shopping *and* prams up four flights of stairs.

At this time she was also bleeding, threatening to lose the third baby, (she had placenta praevia where the placenta is too low down and the risk of haemmorhage was high, threatening her life and the life of the baby) Fortunately the baby was eventually born ok, but it was touch and go!

the latest antics was that some XXXX had set a fire in the communal area of the flats, (Love that person, with the business end of a shotgun! snarl!) which trapped the DIL and our grandbabies on the top floor with no means of escape.

My granddaughter is still coughing, over a month on from the incident, and my baby grandson was hospitalised, on Oxygen, and his little chest is still bad. I hope the person who did this is proud of themselves. (wry smile)

Because there is less and less council stock, there are not enough properties available to get my D-I-L out of that flat, and somewhere safer, with somewhere for the babies to play.

So, this means that three babies are stuck in a top floor flat with no garden to play out in, with elderly neighbours who "don't want the noise and hassle" of a young family living in the same block, moaning that the kids are playing, indoors, and making a racket. they can't win.

Plain Talker

Originally posted by jubby


Why should low income working class always have to rent, and the middle class be allowed to buy???

Jubby

Because of the low income?

Just playing devils advocate here.

Some people might be inclined to think, why carry on having babies if you know you are stuck in a top floor council flat?

Originally posted by Plain Talker
As others have said, it takes the decent housing in decent areas "out of circulation", leaving the folk who want/need "social"housing in the decent areas trapped in the "sink" estates.

The whole point of "Social" (that is Cheap, council/ housing assoc'n) housing is that it is there for the folk who cannot afford / do not want to buy a property privately.

A case in point is at crosspool, where a friend of mine lived with her little boy.
Up there, there were just four council houses. Four three-bed houses. Then, bit by bit, the tenants either side of my friend exercised theor right to buy. and "why not?", you might ask.... 60 grands worth of house.... for about fifteen grand.... instead of paying the 70-100 grand that the houses up there can command.. you'd be mad not to... wouldn't you?

Well, three of the four were bought, which meant that there was just the one, my friend's house, that remainesd with the council.

so, if there was just my friend's house left, how on earth does anyone else get the chance to move out into the "leafier Suburbs" ........ they don't have a cat in hell's chance, do they?

The council are not permitted to build new houses with the money they recieve from the sale of the stock. (thank you very much missus Thatcher...) so every sale depletes the amount of stock available. It's unfair.

Another example of folk who are disadvantaged by sales of social housing is closer to home:-

My son and his other half are in a (dilapidated) top-floor council flat, with three babies under four,(almost 4, 2 and 6 mos) and are desperate to get housed elsewhere. Last year, my (then) heavily pregnant D-I-Law had to lug the middle boy *and* shopping *and* prams up four flights of stairs.

At this time she was also bleeding, threatening to lose the third baby, (she had placenta praevia where the placenta is too low down and the risk of haemmorhage was high, threatening her life and the life of the baby) Fortunately the baby was eventually born ok, but it was touch and go!

the latest antics was that some XXXX had set a fire in the communal area of the flats, (Love that person, with the business end of a shotgun! snarl!) which trapped the DIL and our grandbabies on the top floor with no means of escape.

My granddaughter is still coughing, over a month on from the incident, and my baby grandson was hospitalised, on Oxygen, and his little chest is still bad. I hope the person who did this is proud of themselves. (wry smile)

Because there is less and less council stock, there are not enough properties available to get my D-I-L out of that flat, and somewhere safer, with somewhere for the babies to play.

So, this means that three babies are stuck in a top floor flat with no garden to play out in, with elderly neighbours who "don't want the noise and hassle" of a young family living in the same block, moaning that the kids are playing, indoors, and making a racket. they can't win.

Plain Talker

I feel for you DIL I do, but if she did want to buy a house to get out of the flat I'm sure she couldn't aford it (or she would have done I'm guessing) Also if she goes to her doctor, she may be able to get medical points, so would be able to bid for more houses. I see lots of 3 bedroomed houses come (admittingly mostly flats though) but they all need 40 points. This is why I can't move into a 4 bed roomed house 40 points equal 40 years on the rehousing list. I'd be 70 and won't need a house but a flat which I can get for no points at the moment. When I do need that flat I might not sell, but give my house to my grandkids.

As I've said I want to buy my house becuase I can't afford a "normal" one. As I've said as well you show me a house for £30k I'll have a look.

Jubby,

your situation sounds horrendous, but not unfamiliar, I am afraid (I am diabled myself, had a four year fight to get something adapted appropriate to my needs, wheelchair access etc. I eventually left council went to H'sing Assoc)

you need to contact the medical rehousing service @ the council, and also Sheffield Disability Housing Service, on Andover street. Get both of them on the case, (sdhs, when they act, are very effective, but are darned hard to get hold of, but don't give up, persevere!)

The med rehousing can give you points, to get somewhere more suitable, or, if you are on SDHS list, they can nominate you to council/ Housing Assoc properties with adaptions/ whatever is necessary.

Make a fuss, get your local councillor involved, see a citizens advice bureau on this situation don't take it lying down..

good luck. HTH

Plain Talker

Originally posted by jackthedog
Because of the low income?

xactly thats why buying your council house cheaper is a good idea

Sorry man, got the wrong end of the stick there...

Originally posted by steelblade
Just playing devils advocate here.

Some people might be inclined to think, why carry on having babies if you know you are stuck in a top floor council flat?

well, even the most effective birth control has been known to fail. As it did in my DIL's case. twice.

She'd been asking to be moved since she got the place anyway, as, even with one baby, a top floor hovel is no good, she couldn't turn down the place when given to her as she was housed under homelessness, and you have to take what you're given, no matter how unsuitable.

Plain Talker

Originally posted by Plain Talker
Jubby,

your situation sounds horrendous, but not unfamiliar, I am afraid (I am diabled myself, had a four year fight to get something adapted appropriate to my needs, wheelchair access etc. I eventually left council went to H'sing Assoc)

you need to contact the medical rehousing service @ the council, and also Sheffield Disability Housing Service, on Andover street. Get both of them on the case, (sdhs, when they act, are very effective, but are darned hard to get hold of, but don't give up, persevere!)

The med rehousing can give you points, to get somewhere more suitable, or, if you are on SDHS list, they can nominate you to council/ Housing Assoc properties with adaptions/ whatever is necessary.

Make a fuss, get your local councillor involved, see a citizens advice bureau on this situation don't take it lying down..

good luck. HTH

Plain Talker

Tried all that.

Used the points already like I said b4 she met me....

The back garden is still our responsibilty and no funding is available to relay a patio or replace it we something softer.

I claim what i can, what I don't get I save and pay for it myself. The problem comes when you move you have to do it all again to get the new property adapted. This is why me and the missus have decised to buy. We have to put a lot of money and effot into improving the property, to meet my kids needs, so why should we have to do that just to leave it and then spend it again in house #2. The reason my wife got her points orignaly was to move out of a flat.

Good luck for your DIL.

Originally posted by Plain Talker
well, even the most effective birth control has been known to fail. As it did in my DIL's case. twice.

She'd been asking to be moved since she got the place anyway, as, even with one baby, a top floor hovel is no good, she couldn't turn down the place when given to her as she was housed under homelessness, and you have to take what you're given, no matter how unsuitable.

Plain Talker

I agree there why stop anyway??? It is hard to get rehoused and the council don't help you as well.

Does she get the leaflet from the place oppisite Howden House?? It comes out every Thursday and you bid for the properties. You only have until the following Tuesday to get a bid in. Keep trying with that and she might get lucky.

My problem is when you get 4 beds you don't want to give them up. so not many come up.

Parson X always have a few houses coming up and so do my area mainly Gaunt Road area.

She may have to take a two bedroomed house for now but its better than the flat, yeah?
Are all the kids the same sex? we have 3 boys 1 girl so girl room of own and when the boys grow (smallest boy 10 weeks) up they will have our room the biggest one and we will take theirs. If we do buy our house we are then considering loft conversion to escape when they are teenagers lol.

Originally posted by mojoworking
But surely, by offloading its assets in this way, the council has lost the ongoing revenue it would be getting from the rent of the house in favour of a one-off windfall, which as I understand it, is well below the true value of the property.

I see your point,but you only have to look at some of the stock they have.
The state of repair is so poor,they have been left with no option but to demolish them(this too is lost revenue).
The revenue they do get has to be ploughed back int the property to keep it in good condition.
This is not being done,and the stock they have is slowly falling by the wayside.
The property I currently live in was a council property,it needed £15,000 of work to put it into a decent state (thankfully I didnt pay for the work).

So wouldnt it be better to sell off what they can,instead of demolishing them,after all to knock them down also costs them alot of money.
How is that loss recovered?,higher rents,higher council tax.so the tennants are actually subsidising the demolishon of the these properties.

Originally posted by jubby
I feel for you DIL I do, but if she did want to buy a house to get out of the flat I'm sure she couldn't aford it (or she would have done I'm guessing) Also if she goes to her doctor, she may be able to get medical points, so would be able to bid for more houses. I see lots of 3 bedroomed houses come (admittingly mostly flats though) but they all need 40 points. This is why I can't move into a 4 bed roomed house 40 points equal 40 years on the rehousing list. I'd be 70 and won't need a house but a flat which I can get for no points at the moment. When I do need that flat I might not sell, but give my house to my grandkids.

As I've said I want to buy my house becuase I can't afford a "normal" one. As I've said as well you show me a house for £30k I'll have a look.

With the babies being so young, and because of her own health problems, DIL is, necessarily, dependent on benefits. You tend not to be able to get mortgages when you're on benefits.

She had tried and tried to get the points through the doc and social worker, but it's only now, four years (nearly) on that they have been allocated to her. At long last. (cheers and whistles )

The only problem now, is the wait for a property to come available. Because folk are buying their council housing, they are as rare as hen's teeth.

BTW, you may have misunderstood the way the waiting list works... Unfortunately, you can only accumulate a maximum of fifteen points for your time on the list, according to the council's own book of availability and waiting times. Which fouls stuff up for those who have been on the waiting list for a long time, hoping to accumulate enough points to get somewhere with a long waiting list.

you can get different levels of points, for different types of need, domestic violence, disability, harassment, overcrowding, underoccupation, family support, etc.

As I said in my other post, Jubby, give SDHS a try, they worked for me, and I am so happy here in my adapted little home.

Plain Talker

Originally posted by jubby
I agree there why stop anyway??? It is hard to get rehoused and the council don't help you as well.

Does she get the leaflet from the place oppisite Howden House?? It comes out every Thursday and you bid for the properties. You only have until the following Tuesday to get a bid in. Keep trying with that and she might get lucky.

My problem is when you get 4 beds you don't want to give them up. so not many come up.

Parson X always have a few houses coming up and so do my area mainly Gaunt Road area.

She may have to take a two bedroomed house for now but its better than the flat, yeah?
Are all the kids the same sex? we have 3 boys 1 girl so girl room of own and when the boys grow (smallest boy 10 weeks) up they will have our room the biggest one and we will take theirs. If we do buy our house we are then considering loft conversion to escape when they are teenagers lol.

Jubby,

it honestly doesn't matter that your missus already used up her pioints before you were together. the circumstances have changed, and you can be reassessed.

The criterion is what your needs are *right at this minute* not *what they may have been ten yrs ago* (or whenever)

they have an obligation to do a reassessment on you and your families needs as they stand now. You could take the council to the ombudsman if they fail in their duty to do that. You'd have a good case against them.

If you give it a try, you can only get one of 2 answers, can't you? Nothing ventured.. and all that. And if they turn you down, you've the right of appeal.. (a litle tip:- they often turn folk down, first time around, - like the DSS do- because so many folks get the "knock-back", and accept that first decision as being final....... they don't exercise their right of appeal)

keep at them, like a dog at a bone, don't give up, duck!

Again, good luck :D

Plain Talker

Originally posted by Plain Talker


BTW, you may have misunderstood the way the waiting list works... Unfortunately, you can only accumulate a maximum of fifteen points for your time on the list, according to the council's own book of availability and waiting times. Which fouls stuff up for those who have been on the waiting list for a long time, hoping to accumulate enough points to get somewhere with a long waiting list.

you can get different levels of points, for different types of need, domestic violence, disability, harassment, overcrowding, underoccupation, family support, etc.

As I said in my other post, Jubby, give SDHS a try, they worked for me, and I am so happy here in my adapted little home.

Plain Talker

You can only get points once unless the disabilty worsens. Based on the needs for the kids ( the disabled ones) our house meets there needs. Also if you can only get 15 points why do need 40 for most of the houses?? Again another reason for me being stuck here. I do see you point about propertys not being available if you buy them, but looking at the state of availabilty of 4 bed houses,
I'm stuck here for at least the next 20 years, so that would equals £52,000 (based on a £50 a week rent with no increses in the next 20 years) don't know exactly what our rent is but its near to this. My wife always pays more so that if we have an emergency then we don't go into arrears. Much more than a house would cost to buy, but like someone has said would have to pay for my own maintaince etc. A lot I can't do without owning the house ie the loft conversion. or if I did move I would have to leave or spend money retuning it to its original state. So by buying my house I would be spending a lot more than £52,000 over 20 years. (including the cost of the house)

On a positive note glad to hear your DIL has the points like I said check out the leaflet form town.

Jubby

Originally posted by tango2
So wouldnt it be better to sell off what they can,instead of demolishing them,after all to knock them down also costs them alot of money.
How is that loss recovered?,higher rents,higher council tax.so the tennants are actually subsidising the demolishon of the these properties.

There's a lot of sense in what you say, however the reality is a bit depressing. I have asked the same questions of various councillors concerning demolition vs sale. One of the main reasons why they cannot sell these houses is because of the local businessmen. Whenever a house is refurbished there is a very small window of opportunity available in which to sell it or get a tenant in. Within days, hours in some cases, some entrepreneurial businessman will enter the premises and rip out all the pipes, radiators, boilers, etc and sell them on to less than scrupulous tradesmen who will ask no questions regarding ownership. This, despite regular security inspections and patrols.

Originally posted by jubby
You can only get points once unless the disabilty worsens. Based on the needs for the kids ( the disabled ones) our house meets there needs. Also if you can only get 15 points why do need 40 for most of the houses?? Again another reason for me being stuck here. I do see you point about propertys not being available if you buy them, but looking at the state of availabilty of 4 bed houses,
I'm stuck here for at least the next 20 years, so that would equals £52,000 (based on a £50 a week rent with no increses in the next 20 years) don't know exactly what our rent is but its near to this. My wife always pays more so that if we have an emergency then we don't go into arrears. Much more than a house would cost to buy, but like someone has said would have to pay for my own maintaince etc. A lot I can't do without owning the house ie the loft conversion. or if I did move I would have to leave or spend money retuning it to its original state. So by buying my house I would be spending a lot more than £52,000 over 20 years. (including the cost of the house)

On a positive note glad to hear your DIL has the points like I said check out the leaflet form town.

Jubby

I am sure someone has told you wrong. I am sure that it's change of circumstances within the whole family, not just a worsening of a disability on the part of the person(s) who are disabled.

It's a detrimental effect on your whole family unit, not just the child(ren) who is/are disabled.

If you are becoming overcrowded, it's got to be having an adverse effect on the disabled children, surely? (can't you plead that angle?)

Fight it, duck, don't let them fob you off!

Plain Talker

You could buy a council house for £6000 in the '80s.

Now they fetch £44,000.

Thats why it is sensible to invest in the propert market :)

Originally posted by Skatiechik
Thats why it is sensible to invest in the property market :)


House prices can't keep rising - can they ?

Originally posted by Indigogo
You could buy a council house for £6000 in the '80s.

Now they fetch £44,000.

only 44k?

I saw two identical houses ( identical in the sense of age, facilities, general design, layout and position-in-the terrace) which were being offered in the telegraph supplement FOUR YEARS ago, that's 2 bed, mid terace, typical mid-war Council housing, one at crookes, the robbing git who was selling was asking over 92k for it, another at Totley the rob-dog wanted 88k.These are the same fuffing houses that were going for less than 22-29k elsewhere.

I just could not believe what the mercenary gits were asking for them. Talk about silly money. I wouldn't mind joining the "write your own cheque brigade"!!!

I mean, my mate's house, at crosspool, which was a lovely 3-bed semi with living room, dining room and kitchen with an offshot garage and a utility room, lots of land was only going for 70k at that time. where do they get their ideas from of a price? Fairyland?

Bloomin' rickydoodlous!

Plain talker

ring the townhall jubby and ask for the right to buy office you will get all the info plus forms etc .

Originally posted by George
ring the townhall jubby and ask for the right to buy office you will get all the info plus forms etc .

Thanks everyone:thumbsup: , going into town tomorrow anyway so will ask again at Howden House.

Jubby

Originally posted by Plain Talker


only 44k?




It was in a very undesirable part of Sheffield, where parents let their children roam wild, where people who had no time for education now complain about unemployment, where people allow drugs to go unreported and erode their society.