EU - in or out?

Yes dear, they did, there is no soft touch society here, why do think all the asylum seekers and economic migrants always want to go to the UK. They pass through, France, Belguim and The Netherlands, desperate to get to soft touch UK. A nice free meal ticket, free health care, perhaps even a Council house too.
Yes there are extreme cases in the UK, as I posted on another subject, renting propery here is very different from the UK, with many more checks and rules involved in private renting, there is limited social Housing here, and Commune Housing is only for those in full time employment and means tested. Also tends to be reserved for those in occupations such as nurses, teachers etc.
When you are spouting of about the EU you really should have all your facts.
it is almost automatic here to go down a legal route for invalidity benefit, i saw 5 doctors, before the hearing which i 'won'.

Well done, felice, you won enough to keep you below the poverty line. Bet that made you feel good.
Actually, there aren't that many council houses in the UK anymore. Thatcher sold them all off.
Interesting what you say about rented property in Belgium. A couple who bought a large property portfolio in Kent, mainly, are now selling it off to the highest bidder as they've had enough now property prices are rising again.

Thatcher did not sell them all off. Various governments since hers have all been selling them, and it's still ongoing.

Thatcher started it, and told everybody how good it would be. Then she would not let the councils use the money to replace them which is why we are in the sad situation we are now with housing.

Couldn't Labour have reversed that rule? I wonder why they didn't...

Yes Durhamjen, but at least it enables me to stay near DD and DGs, here, for other reasons she needs her Mum.
when you rent a property here you have to have your ID card, non-Belgians have residence permits as i posted earlier, you go to the local Commune to register the change of address, then the local police come to the house look around to check how many are living there, I have known of them looking in wardrobes to check if there are male, or female clothes there. then you sign the paper and your Domicile is registered, then you can get gas, electricity, telephone, water etc. previous to the inspection the utilities are the responsibilities of your landlord. Don't get me wrong i have had a couple of really shitty landlords, the worst was from Sicily, he seemed to see his tenants as cash cows and came up with the most amazing ways to get money out of us, not me dear, too savvy for that.
Those who work in the EU institutions, Parliament, Shape, Nato Eurocontrol have different agreements, do not pay taxes, or health insurance, or anything into the Social fund, which pays for schools etc, they really do not contribute much to Belguim other than hiking up the cost of housing in the outlying areas of Brussels.
So please everyone remember, Brussels is a city not an institution.

The labour party decreased the discounts and said the right to buy was only available to those who had lived in their council houses for over five years.
The right to buy discount was increased again by Cameron in 2012 to 60% of the house's value. He has also allowed Londoners to have a discount of £100,000.
Over a million council houses were sold by Thatcher in the 1980s, but councils had to use the money to reduce debt, and were not allowed to build more houses. They were also only given half the proceeds of the sales, the rest going to Thatcher's government.
By the time Blair, who was well known as Thatcher's heir, came into power, it was impossible to reverse what she had done.
Can't believe you know so little about housing, Ana.

Can't believe you're so rude, durhamjen.

What's the point of a discussion if everyone knows everything already? I've never felt the need to study the history of the sale of council houses, that's why I asked the question.

www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/07/britains-biggest-buy-to-let-landlords-sell-entire-portfolio

At least you didn't have these as landlords, felice.
If anybody complains to them, they give you notice to quit, and they do not have to have a reason.

Look at your statement before that, Ana. That came across as being rude to me, and as if you knew about housing policy. Do you always have to criticise Labour?

You stated that Thatcher 'sold them all off', which was a misleading statement.

Must you always criticise the Conservatives? (and Blair when you feel like it, of course).

I'll leave you to your private conversation, which seems to have veered from the thread subject somewhat.

If the last post includes me Ana then I am talking from and about experience of living in another EU country, just giving some facts about real life off the small island, note the small this time. After all the original post was about the EU wasn't it????

So discussing rented housing in Belgium and the UK is nothing to do with the EU? Is that what you are saying, Ana?

Interesting to read felice's posts about life on the continent and how the UK is looked on as a soft touch.
To read some other posts you would think that the UK is the most dreadful, uncaring and hard-hearted place in the world to live.
Even the Americans and Australians are feeling sorry for us because of the state of our NHS apparently!
I hadn't realised either of those two countries had such a wonderful NHS and welfare state.

And I always assumed that the rest of the relatively wealthy EU was as beneficent as the UK.

Didn't housing associations take over from where council housing departments left off? Who built all those new houses then?
People who could buy their own homes were thrilled and in the main look after them very well - because they own them.

Oh yes Rosequartz, the Uk is the soft touch alright, I know of someone who went into a civil partnership with a young African man he had known for 8 years, he stayed here for one year, all very cosy, got his family visa to the Uk and off he went, he was shocked at the standard of housing but everything else is just rosy thanks.
Why do you think they are living in squalor at the ferry terminals in France, if they got the benefits and 'rights' in France that they will get in the UK do you think they would be risking their lives to get there???

Of course housing associations took over. They are private companies, and saw the chance to take over. Councils were not allowed by Thatcher to build new houses. Fortunately there are philanthropic housing associations, but they are not the same as councils. They did not have to stick to the same standards of building that councils did. Housing associations did not build as many houses as we needed over the years. That's why there are so many homeless now.

Not the only reason, of course.

When you are spouting of about the EU you really should have all your facts.

I will ask you politely not to speak to me the way you have been doing. I have my opinions of the EU and you have yours but if you continue to speak down to me I will retaliate in a likewise manner.

Ana

Pay no mind to it.

The facts regarding social housing have been posted before but this is the latest I found:

^Between 1997 and 2010, of the 2.61 million homes constructed, only 0.3% were local authority tenure. Mrs Thatcher’s government supervised the building of a similar number of houses (2.63 million), but 18.9% were LA or ‘council’ properties.

To look at it another way, New Labour built an average of 562 council houses per year. And Mrs Thatcher’s Conservatives? 41,343. That said, it’s also true that the number of council houses under construction declined steadily during Mrs Thatcher’s era.^

https://fullfact.org/factchecks/council_house_building_margaret_thatcher_labour_government-29270

Even taking into account the steady decline of council house construction under Thatcher, she'd have to have gone some way to put Labour ahead!

As you have rightly pointed out - Labour hardly turned it around did they ...

You stated that Thatcher 'sold them all off', which was a misleading statement.

With nary a mention of the tenants that jumped at the chance of buying them - I wonder what percentage of socialist council tenants bought their council house

So discussing rented housing in Belgium and the UK is nothing to do with the EU? Is that what you are saying, Ana?

Unless Belgium is having a referendum regarding an in or out decision (which is, after all, what the thread is about), I would say it is inapplicable on this thread. What people in Belgium think, do or say has no bearing whatsoever on what the people of the UK have to take into account when making their descion.

To read some other posts you would think that the UK is the most dreadful, uncaring and hard-hearted place in the world to live.

Pay no mind to it rosequartz, it isn't uncommon to hear ex-pats being derogatory about the UK (having lived amongst some of them for several years, it became expected to hear it - and then disregard it) - one of their favourite expressions is to call it 'Rip-Off Britain' but where do they head when things go pear-shaped ...

Councils were not allowed by Thatcher to build new houses

That isn't true. See previous link.

Having just spotted this thread, I have to say that this is the first time I've come across someone posting a whole series of comments which seem to interest only herself!

It is a fact that neither the Tory government nor the subsequent Labour government allowed councils to spend the revenue from council house sales on the construction of new ones. This doesn't mean that they were not allowed to build new homes, but it seriously restricted the means with which to do it.