Council rents in Sheffield - why do they differ

[Retro Queen 1]

9 hours ago, lil-minx92 said:

This highlights the daftness of the right to buy scheme. Council owns flat worth £50k. Sell it to tenant for £25k. Buy it back a few years later at £50k. Spend 10k doing it up. All that public money going into a private individuals pocket.  And you have to pay a higher rent to help cover the loss.

Yes it is daft and annoying. The Council may have spent money doing this flat up to rent again before I moved in but that's what they would do anyway before renting a property and they have just done the same as what they would to any flat, the basics. Its a lovely flat but not Buckingham Palace. They also made mistakes with the decorating, the ceilings weren't good and all the internal doors and skirting boards were brown wood which I had painted over. These were obviously done by the previous owner. The Council told me they had put new doors on, well I don't believe that.

[Retro Queen 1]

I have posted about this before but I've done some looking into since and I am finding it more and more unfair.

 

Just to recap - I moved in May of this year to a one bedroomed flat. I knew the rent would be what it is before I moved, hence it was noted on the website when I put in the bid - fair enough, I thought that all rents on this estate were the same, I wasn't told otherwise.

 

However, it was only after I has signed up for the flat and  moved that I found out other tenants on the estate in the same type of flat as mine are paying at least £10.00 per week less rent than I am. I queried this with the Council and was informed that this is because the person who lived in the flat before me had bought the flat and sold it back to the Council as she could no longer afford the mortgage. This it seems is classed as 'affordable housing' and was brought in by the Government in 2010. Basically it means I am paying more to recover the Council's losses. Hardly fair. Not my fault that the girl who lived here before sold her flat back to the Council. I have been told that I am still classed as a Council tenant therefore I should be paying the same as everyone else.

 

I have discussed this with a Councillor who has looked into this for me but has been told the same as I have, that this is my rent and that's how it is, end of! However, people are still saying its unfair and that I should write to my MP which I am now in the process of doing.

 

Does anyone know of anyone in this situation? Do you know if this extra rent is for a short term period or am I stuck with it long term? Do I have the same rights as a Council tenant, ie right to buy (not that I am considering it), housing benefit if I ever should need it etc. Will my MP have any clout over this?

 

I am really annoyed by the fact that this wasn't explained to me in the first place, so surely this gives me some back up for having it all reviewed?