Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

George Osborne is set to charge full market rent to social housing tenants who earn over £40,000 in London and £30,000 everywhere else .This is a ridiculous idea ,all it will do is encourage people to stay on a lower wage so they keep the lower rent ,exactly what happens with tax credits.He says he wants to end the practice of higher earners benefiting from cheap subsidised rents,my council rent is neither cheap nor subsised it is exactly where the local market says it should be as I suspect most areas will be simply because that is how the LA's and associations set their rent levels ,London possibly being the exception

The other issue is why the hell should a working person receiving no benefits pay more rent that his next door neighbour who is on the dole

http://news.sky.com/story/1513430/cr...-house-tenants

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

The argument is that if you're on that kind of money you should be able to afford to get a mortgage and not be in social housing as it's for those that need it.

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

The people who need it most are those in the earning bracket that Osborne has targeted ,either way saying that social housing is only for those that need it is wrong.Social housing has always been intended for workers who could afford rent but not a mortgage because of lower incomes,it was never intended to house the unemployed .

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

Does this affect you Marty?

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

The problem (in London at least) is house prices. They are far too high, but no government will ever tackle them because it would cause voters to lose a *lot* of money, and would pretty much torpedo the ruling party's chances for several elections.

£40,000 a year is a lot of money, but on a 3 or 4 X salary mortgage (which is still, I believe, the standard) will give you between £120,000 and £160,000 to buy a house. This will (at best) buy you a flat in most of London. Not much use if you have a partner and a couple of kids. A friend of mine was in a bloody good job, earning nearly £50k, yet when it came to buying a house, she could only afford one of the rougher parts of Lewisham (which is already rough), and she could barely afford that if she went to the max her bank would lend her (3X salary). This was several years ago.

Now, you can argue that you can move. You can, but what if you need to get to work? It may not be practical to travel too far. For instance, some of my colleagues are on call in case any of our servers fail. The company may not be able to wait for two hours with a major failure while the techs travel in from some far flung part of the country because they could not afford to live in London. There is also the problems of schooling for the kids. It can be difficult to get school places. Particularly where the Government has cut funding in the local area..

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

I already pay full rent so no,in fact it won't affect anyone already paying full rent .It will affect every working tenant if it is decided to simply raise rents to include the profit component of private landlords which I think is intended ,that will intern affect private tenants as their rents rise

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

Well at least we can't say it's just the non workers that are taking all the cuts for a change.

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

What have house prices got to do with it? Many, if not all, councils wouldn't allow you to apply for council housing and the regular reviews, rather than lifetime entitlement, could exclude you in the future.
Eg My local council.
It would be just lowering the existing income level.

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

This isn't a cut ,it is an increase in social rents targeting those workers who live in social housing ,possibly saving for a mortgage ,the increase in rents will mean less saving towards a mortgage defeating the purpose of the policy.

I bet Osborne tries to include this in his 12 billion benefits cuts

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

A bit like the bedroom tax then.

He should do. it's a benefit cut.

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

there are too many council house tenants with Mercedes/ BMW's /caravans/boats on the drive they aren't poor and should not be in council housing .

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

No nothing like the 'bedroom tax'


how is it a benefits cut ?

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

Agreed. if they've got the money use it.
benefits are not there as a subsidy so you can save your own money.

---------- Post added at 11:22 ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 ----------

The benefit of cheap subsidised rents.

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

Exactly the opposite to the housing strategy of my LA (Newcastle city council)

Quote:

<H3 abp="305">Tenancy Strategy

</H3>

Re: Crackdown on 'rich' council house tenants
 

This, it annoys the hell out of me , the council estate at the back of us have recently all had new roofs with solar panels installed (my roof needs doing and I wouldn't be against having solar panels but can't afford it at present). The amount of the property's with really nice and new BMWs and Mercedes, 2 cars on the drive , obviously earning some serious money. I always thought council houses were there to help people struggling to afford their own property , surely as soon as they have a decent job and earn enough they should go private rental or get themselves on the property ladder ?