Theresa May Mark 2

First of all, I think more social housing should be built and a stop should be put on the sale of council and social housing. But, given that there is a grave shortage of social housing, at the present time I think older people should be incentivised to move out if their accommodation is much bigger than they need. However, I don't think having a spare bedroom should be considered as constituting "under occupation". Also, there has to be an adquate number of smaller homes for older people to move into - which there isn't at present.

I thought it was only external maintenance that was carried out to social housing. My understanding was that internal decoration is the tenant's responsibility - but perhaps it's different for older people? It is also my understanding that although people refer to social housing as being "subsidised", people pay a fair rent, whereas people renting privately are now paying vastly inflated rents. In other European countries, rents are significantly lower and often there are rent controls and long contract periods. If more social housing were built and rent controls introduced on private properties, the Housing Benefit bill could be reduced and, hopefully in time, eradicated.

My feeling is that, in the past, many of the people who moaned about "subsidised" council/social housing were people who were buying their own homes and benefited from tax relief on their mortgage interest. We received it for a while and then it was abolished.

This is the list of 'standard repairs' in my area:

Routine Repairs

The following are regarded as standard repairs and will be responded to in 10 working days:

Minor roof leaks
Underground bursts
Defective flooring
Waste pipes
Minor Gutter and downpipe leaks
Clearance of blocked gutters and downpipes
Garage roofs
Loose sanitary fitting
Water tank/Cylinder insulation
Bath panels
Letter plate
Easing doors and windows
General carpentry repairs
Defective plaster
Flues
Sink units and Kitchen fitments
Descaling of boilers
Repointing chimneys
Existing fences and gates
Galvanised steel shed doors
Fire places
Major roof leaks
Faulty taps
Back boilers
Hot water cylinders
Defective central heating (where parts are available)
Defective immersion heaters
Storage tanks
Cooker panels
Electric switches and lamp-holders
Broken soil drains
Door locks and furniture (renewal or overhaul)
Minor leaks
Communal television aerials
External lighting
Glazing of external doors (communal)
Serious gutter leaks
Garage door and locks
Overflow pipes
Loose doors, windows and fitments

Rights and Responsibilities

Structural Stability

We are responsible for: Roofs, walls, floors and ceilings, window frames, outside doorframes and doors, Chimneys (except sweeping) and most drains, gutters and pipes outside.

You are responsible for: Windows & door glass (including double glazing) if the damage is due to your misuse Clothes lines, posts and rotary driers (unless you share them with others) Keeping gutters and drain gullies clear, unless you are elderly or infirm.

Security

We are responsible for: Faulty door locks, window catches and security devices if we have provided them.

You are responsible for: Lost keys and other locks.

Sanitary fittings

We are responsible for: Sink, basin, toilet, bath or shower (if we have provided them), taps, waste pipes and traps (we may recharge you for any blockages).

You are responsible for: Accidental damage to sink, bath, basin plugs and chains, blockages you have caused and tap washers (unless you are elderly).

Water Services

We are responsible for: Water tanks, cylinders and pipework.

You are responsible for: Washing machine fittings and wastes, including supply valves unless we have provided them.

Gas Installation

We are responsible for: Piping and outlets - appliances we have provided or accepted.

You are responsible for:All fittings and appliances we have not provided.

Electrical Installation

We are responsible for: Wiring and consumer units, switches, lighting and power points and appliances we have provided.

You are responsible for: Appliance plugs, fittings and appliances we have not provided, door bells we have not provided, light bulbs, fluorescent tubes and starters and smoke alarms unless we have provided them.

Solid fuel heating installations

We are responsible for: Fire bricks, grates, frets, firebacks and back boilers.

You are responsible for: Appliances we have not provided and sweeping chimneys.

Decoration

We are responsible for: All outside surfaces previously decorated.

You are responsible for: All surfaces inside and anything we have not installed or is not our property.

Insurance

The Council as a landlord has the appropriate insurance cover on all its houses when dealing with fire, floods, lightning etc.

You are responsible for: Ensuring that you take out adequate insurance cover for your home contents and for accidental damage that may occur to the property for which you are responsible.

Miscellaneous

You are responsible for: The maintenance and on-going costs associated with fixtures and fittings supplied by you or installed by the Council at your request.

Other items inside the property

We are responsible for: Kitchen fitments and worktops we have provided, doors inside and cylinder jackets.

You are responsible for: Door furniture, hinges, locks, catches and bolts on inside doors we have not fitted, glass inside the property, blinds and curtain rails, floor coverings, clothes airers, hat and coat rails and hooks, shelving and minor cracks to the plaster.

Other items outside the property

We are responsible for: Access paths and steps directly to the front and back doors, drainage and boundary walls and fences we have provided.

You are responsible for: All paths other than access paths, patios, garden features, steps, and ornamental walls, dividing garden fences, walls and hedges.

PS. It's many years since I benefited from tax relief on my mortgage and then only for a couple of years before it was abolished.

47.8% of the social housing in my area is under-occupied, of which 39% is occupied by pensioners. There are nearly 1,000 families on the waiting list out of a population of 15,000. Apparently this is quite typical for a market town or rural area.

Of course more social housing needs to be built. However, given the current resources, I don't accept that they shouldn't be allocated more fairly.

PMQ is back - hurrah!
I am not a supporter of JC as most of you know and did not vote for him but I was impressed today by how well he presented his questions and called TM to answer key issues. I would like to think that this will continue with him. A big part of me thinks he has been well schooled over the summer in how to be more assertive on these occasions. If so, he has been an attentive student.
Are we to understand that he has accepted that asking questions based on the electorate's questions was not a winning formula? And that 'the quiet man' approach does not work in our style of politics?

daphne I thought you said "re-decorating" rooms. I don't think electrical, plumbing and structural repairs should be the responsibility of council tenants. I believe private landlords are also meant to be responsible for such repairs but unfortunately many of them are very reluctant to fulfil that responsibility and tenants often feel too intimidated to enforce their rights in case they are booted out at the end of their contracts - most of which are relatively short term these days.

You referred to having a spare bedroom as "under occupation". I don't think having a spare bedroom should merit a definition of "under occupation". I wonder how many Gransnetters have at least one spare bedroom.

Maybe, and many would probably agree that their house is now technically 'under-occupied'.

But they aren't taking up social housing and are probably paying a lot for council tax, heating and maintenance of those homes. No free repairs and redecoration for them!

It's being under occupied in social housing that's the problem, not in owned houses.
It's all wrong that 2 people or even 1person should live in a family home, if there is a smaller place, house or apartment for them to go to.Now, that may be a problem, there aren't enough smaller places, from what I have heard, but if there is somewhere, then they should give up the larger house.

That's why lots of people have been moved away from friends and family support, because there is a smaller place at the other end of the country where nobody is responsible.
Would you like that? Wouldn't happen, would it, because you own your own home, which is why you cannot empathise.

I hate the phrase under occupation. It's so impersonal.
We are talking about people's whole lives, their homes and memories here.

@Eloethan

I checked on my council's website. Pensioners (but not working age tenants) can have one room decorated every two years. They can also have gardening done for a nominal fee.

Having a spare bedroom counts as under-occupation for working age tenants, so why should pensioners be different?

In any case, pensioners will only be charged 'bedroom tax' if they take out a tenancy after April 2016 and it won't start until April 2018. Any new tenancies for pensioners will only allocate one bedroom accommodation, so the stories about people being kicked out of their homes after 50 years are nonsense. These people won't be affected.

I actually found out a lot more. Housing Benefit in its current form is being abolished. I'm still finding out a few more details and I'll post further when I've tied up a few loose ends. All support for housing will in future be linked to the Local Housing Allowance rather than actual rents.

I feel quite strongly about this, because I was born in 1955 and will be one of the first to have had my state pension age delayed until 66. I personally know women born just a few years before me who really don't seem to realise how much better their situation is than those just a few years younger. The Housing Benefit situation is a big part of that, as well as the rules for Working Tax Credit and the more generous income rules for pensioners receiving benefits.

Pensioners shouldn't be different.
What you are accepting is that it's okay to put working age tenants, a couple, into one bedroomed accommodation when there is none available.
50% of those in poverty are working. How does charging them for an extra bedroom help them to get out of poverty?

You don't need to do much research, daphne.
All you need to know about it is on this website.

speye.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/all-social-landlords-to-abandon-all-business-models-due-to-radical-hb-changes/

@dj

So where's the sympathy for owner-occupiers kicked out of their homes by circumstances beyond their control?

I know poverty is relative, but £155.60pw after housing costs is more than many people in this country have.

I checked on my council website. A two bed bungalow costs £84pw. A pensioner in receipt of full Housing Benefit would have to pay £11.76pw (ie 14%) for under-occupation of a two bedroom property. They are still exempt from paying any council tax. Working age recipients have to pay a minimum of 12.5% out of a benefit less than half the amount. In addition, they receive winter fuel allowance, which working age benefit claimants don't receive.

@dj

You're wrong. There's a lot more going on.

speye.wordpress.com/2015/12/22/pensioners-back-door-bedroom-tax-is-tory-policy/

@dj

But there is one bedroom accommodation available. Quite understandably, pensioners in receipt of housing benefit don't want to move into it, because there's no financial advantage. At least there is in my area, because I've just checked the housing list of available property.

Nope, you're wrong and I'm going to post in detail when I'm ready.

Look, the mess this government has made of the benefits system, and is still making, as many people are going to lose more in benefits from next month, is not my fault.
It's definitely the fault of anybody who voted for this government, and approved of what it is doing.

What do you mean by I'm wrong, there's a lot more going on?
Anything about housing benefits, etc., is on his website.
Why is that wrong?

fullfact.org/economy/9-billion-housing-benefit-private-landlords/

Maybe you should be complaining about this, or the fact that not enough houses are being built, or the fact that buy to let is seen as a business.

Tory sleaze again.
About fracking in Lancashire.

tompride.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/tory-minister-sajid-javid-grants-fracking-rights-after-receiving-funds-from-pro-fracking-interests/

I am a pensioner Daphne, I am moving house at the end of the year , I have to move to a one bedroom property, financial benefits has nothing to do with it , a single person is not allowed a property with more than one bedroom, I have been on the waiting list for ages, it will mean when my daughter visits from Lincolnshire she and her husband will have to stay in a hotel, I cannot have overnight guests, if ill I cannot have anyone stay to help. A woman in thus town had lived in her council house fir over forty years, had brought up her three children and worked,she was widowed young, she had won best garden in the annual gardening competition, once she reach old age she had to get out of her home, she chose the river, why do some not accept people in social housing have the same needs as those who own their homes . No they are looked upon as second class citizens .

I could have moved several years ago, forty miles away !

See university opinion is that Cameron is one of the worst PMs ever. Wonder how May will shape up. Not doing very well so far. Still as we are so fond of saying- it's early days - it could get worse.

It could get much worse.... there could be a GE and Corbyn would be PM! Just a joke btw.

This is her high point, whitewave.

yes I am afraid you are right.

Can anyone enlighten me why she was wearing an overall at yesterday's PMQs?