I just rented out my flat - Council bribed me
Discussion
markiii said:
I do and the cost is ridiculous. However the difference is that the parent receives no financial benefit as a result. So no incentive to breed more future benefit scroungers
I think you might be on to something there… 
Although whilst taking away the incentive to breed. You’re not providing an incentive NOT to breed. So why bother with birth-control at all?
Could get expensive for the taxpayer.
LowTread said:
Looked into this a while back as an "i'm sick of working" daydream thing.
You're limited to a certain level of cash (non pension) savings, but for us with 2 kids UC would pay out quite handsomely.
It doesn't take into account things like assets. So you could keep minimal savings to hand, and spunk any surplus on nice cars.
It also doesn't take into account owning your own home. We are mortgage free in a cheap to run house, so outgoings aren't too high. Could probably survive ok on UC and maybe a little part time work.
I don't think you can live like a king, but i do think as a country we've lost touch with what REAL poverty is.
Real poverty isn't about only having a 40" telly, or your kids not having the latest nintendo switch game, or only being able to afford a week abroad on holiday.
Sick of seeing sympathy pieces on the news of people pleading poverty and food banks, yet appearing on the news with new gel nails, freshly done hair, etc, moaning about having to make choices between eating and putting the heating on, yet carrying a spare 4st.
This is all another hangover from the Blair/Brown era. The worst government in history for selling us all down the river for short term political gain. Credit boom. Housing boom. PFI schemes. Non-jobs in public sector. Appointing people to top jobs based on diversity and not skills. The bloating of the welfare state. The explosion of right to buy. Selling off the gold reserves. Raiding pensions. Deregulation of the financial industry. 125% mortgages. Financial crash.
That said, the latest lot are just a continuation of that theme. Any attempt to bring down the welfare state bill is shouted down, like persuading people in council houses with more bedrooms than they need to downsize (seems sensible?), only to be labelled "bedroom tax" and quickly cancelled.
These are all reasons why now we have a situation where a single mum is being thrown money to put a roof over her head.
The lack of responsibility in this country is laughable.
/rant
There. That's better. I'm off to take some Rennie...
I think you'll find that the decline began much sooner than that with saint Maggie when everybody bought their council houses (a noble thing) but then didn't build any more properties to cover social housing. I must apply for 10 properties a month for clients who haven't a hope in hell of getting one, not even on medical grounds. Councils are actively encouraged to put our new friends into band 1 priority and the rest are left to fight for the one of two that are left, usually in the most dire sh@t holes that you wouldn't let your dog live in.You're limited to a certain level of cash (non pension) savings, but for us with 2 kids UC would pay out quite handsomely.
It doesn't take into account things like assets. So you could keep minimal savings to hand, and spunk any surplus on nice cars.
It also doesn't take into account owning your own home. We are mortgage free in a cheap to run house, so outgoings aren't too high. Could probably survive ok on UC and maybe a little part time work.
I don't think you can live like a king, but i do think as a country we've lost touch with what REAL poverty is.
Real poverty isn't about only having a 40" telly, or your kids not having the latest nintendo switch game, or only being able to afford a week abroad on holiday.
Sick of seeing sympathy pieces on the news of people pleading poverty and food banks, yet appearing on the news with new gel nails, freshly done hair, etc, moaning about having to make choices between eating and putting the heating on, yet carrying a spare 4st.
This is all another hangover from the Blair/Brown era. The worst government in history for selling us all down the river for short term political gain. Credit boom. Housing boom. PFI schemes. Non-jobs in public sector. Appointing people to top jobs based on diversity and not skills. The bloating of the welfare state. The explosion of right to buy. Selling off the gold reserves. Raiding pensions. Deregulation of the financial industry. 125% mortgages. Financial crash.
That said, the latest lot are just a continuation of that theme. Any attempt to bring down the welfare state bill is shouted down, like persuading people in council houses with more bedrooms than they need to downsize (seems sensible?), only to be labelled "bedroom tax" and quickly cancelled.
These are all reasons why now we have a situation where a single mum is being thrown money to put a roof over her head.
The lack of responsibility in this country is laughable.
/rant
There. That's better. I'm off to take some Rennie...
Edited by LowTread on Wednesday 19th June 09:39
I also see that we have plenty of the "those on benefits get everything" daily mail readers posting. For a start universal credit is capped at 2 children so those with 9 kids for benefits can crack on, they're not getting any money for them.
For a single person over the age of 25 it's 393.00 a month.
Local housing allowance in most of the country is very low, if you're in private rented accommodation you're knackered basically.
For a couple over 25 it's 617.00 a month.
Universal credit only really pays when you have disabled children as the severely disabled child component is 487.00 a month, I have clients who have a couple of disabled kids so they do ok.
Then we come to the 1940's Germany sanctions, non compliance means no money.
So a couple with no kids with a local housing allowance of 95.00 a week in private rented accommodation where the rent is £600 a month have basically £400 a month for food, gas, electric, partial council tax and toiletries. This is by far the majority not the I know somebody who knows somebody who's sister gets a million pounds a week and goes on 5 cruises a year to the Caribbean.
So if this is the life for you pack in work and join them.
I was working on an IT contract that came to an end about 15 years ago so I decided to take some time off. After a few months I decided to go on benefits as I was entitled, to make my money last a bit longer.
We owned our house with a mortgage and they were happy to pay the interest on the mortgage. I did this for about six months and it was great, we had Merlin passes and we were going to Chessington world of adventures with the children (they were 3 and 4 at the time, we lived up the road) at least once a week.
I was also going to car boot sales on the weekends and buying old Consoles, Lego, DVDs etc. and was making another £100+ a week without trying.
Basically with the benefits and the money I was making selling stuff on eBay I was bringing in the same as I was bringing home in doing a full time job after tax. They even offered me other sorts of benefits such as free school meals and milk vouchers that I just couldn't bring myself to take.
In the end I was so worried that I would never get back into the world of work so took a full time IT job. After I had paid the train fare etc. to get there I was actually no better off that being on benefits.
I can see why people do it, I could have quite easily carried on that lifestyle if I wanted and not really been any worse off as my ex wife wasn't working at the time.
15 years on I look back and think am I the stupid one for working? My ex wife's family have never worked a day in their lives, life was just one big retirement since they left school.
We owned our house with a mortgage and they were happy to pay the interest on the mortgage. I did this for about six months and it was great, we had Merlin passes and we were going to Chessington world of adventures with the children (they were 3 and 4 at the time, we lived up the road) at least once a week.
I was also going to car boot sales on the weekends and buying old Consoles, Lego, DVDs etc. and was making another £100+ a week without trying.
Basically with the benefits and the money I was making selling stuff on eBay I was bringing in the same as I was bringing home in doing a full time job after tax. They even offered me other sorts of benefits such as free school meals and milk vouchers that I just couldn't bring myself to take.
In the end I was so worried that I would never get back into the world of work so took a full time IT job. After I had paid the train fare etc. to get there I was actually no better off that being on benefits.
I can see why people do it, I could have quite easily carried on that lifestyle if I wanted and not really been any worse off as my ex wife wasn't working at the time.
15 years on I look back and think am I the stupid one for working? My ex wife's family have never worked a day in their lives, life was just one big retirement since they left school.
boyse7en said:
No it wouldn't. Two minimum wage jobs working 35 hrs a week, 52 weeks a year would be £41620, which is £3468 per month gross. Out of that you have to take national insurance, income tax and pension contributions. I can't be bothered working it out exactly but take home will be a lot less than £3500.
Most full time jobs are 40 hours. Even taking into account tax it’s as like 3420 quid a month. Stuff is expensive don’t get me wrong. But if you work you can still get by.
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
I was working on an IT contract that came to an end about 15 years ago so I decided to take some time off. After a few months I decided to go on benefits as I was entitled, to make my money last a bit longer.
We owned our house with a mortgage and they were happy to pay the interest on the mortgage. I did this for about six months and it was great, we had Merlin passes and we were going to Chessington world of adventures with the children (they were 3 and 4 at the time, we lived up the road) at least once a week.
I was also going to car boot sales on the weekends and buying old Consoles, Lego, DVDs etc. and was making another £100+ a week without trying.
Basically with the benefits and the money I was making selling stuff on eBay I was bringing in the same as I was bringing home in doing a full time job after tax. They even offered me other sorts of benefits such as free school meals and milk vouchers that I just couldn't bring myself to take.
In the end I was so worried that I would never get back into the world of work so took a full time IT job. After I had paid the train fare etc. to get there I was actually no better off that being on benefits.
I can see why people do it, I could have quite easily carried on that lifestyle if I wanted and not really been any worse off as my ex wife wasn't working at the time.
15 years on I look back and think am I the stupid one for working? My ex wife's family have never worked a day in their lives, life was just one big retirement since they left school.
I think you'll find that the system and it's assessments have changed a lot since 2009.We owned our house with a mortgage and they were happy to pay the interest on the mortgage. I did this for about six months and it was great, we had Merlin passes and we were going to Chessington world of adventures with the children (they were 3 and 4 at the time, we lived up the road) at least once a week.
I was also going to car boot sales on the weekends and buying old Consoles, Lego, DVDs etc. and was making another £100+ a week without trying.
Basically with the benefits and the money I was making selling stuff on eBay I was bringing in the same as I was bringing home in doing a full time job after tax. They even offered me other sorts of benefits such as free school meals and milk vouchers that I just couldn't bring myself to take.
In the end I was so worried that I would never get back into the world of work so took a full time IT job. After I had paid the train fare etc. to get there I was actually no better off that being on benefits.
I can see why people do it, I could have quite easily carried on that lifestyle if I wanted and not really been any worse off as my ex wife wasn't working at the time.
15 years on I look back and think am I the stupid one for working? My ex wife's family have never worked a day in their lives, life was just one big retirement since they left school.
boyse7en said:
No it wouldn't. Two minimum wage jobs working 35 hrs a week, 52 weeks a year would be £41620, which is £3468 per month gross. Out of that you have to take national insurance, income tax and pension contributions. I can't be bothered working it out exactly but take home will be a lot less than £3500.
The idea that if you are on minimum wage that you should choose to only work 35 hours a week is risible.was8v said:
Some of you need to read up on poverty and the effects of it. Sounds like some of you want to see street urchins dressed in rags begging to make you feel better for having a decent income?
We should be proud as a society that we have these safety nets, single parents are supported to "parent" and the children do not have to experience poverty.
Still we are not doing great:
https://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/poverty-facts-an...
But we manage similar to peers:
https://fullfact.org/economy/uks-poverty-rate-arou...
The real issue highlighted here by the OP is the price of property in the UK, and the distorted private rental market and lack of social housing. We wouldn't have to be bunging private landlords cash incentives if we hadn't sold off social housing and not built any more. Its another Tory transfer of wealth from the state to the already wealthy.
A question for you: My daughter's 16 year old friend got pregnant and was boasting to my daughter than when she had the baby the council were giving her a free flat + £1k+ a month tax free spending money.We should be proud as a society that we have these safety nets, single parents are supported to "parent" and the children do not have to experience poverty.
Still we are not doing great:
https://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/poverty-facts-an...
But we manage similar to peers:
https://fullfact.org/economy/uks-poverty-rate-arou...
The real issue highlighted here by the OP is the price of property in the UK, and the distorted private rental market and lack of social housing. We wouldn't have to be bunging private landlords cash incentives if we hadn't sold off social housing and not built any more. Its another Tory transfer of wealth from the state to the already wealthy.
Edited by was8v on Wednesday 19th June 09:51
I appreciate the baby shouldn't be living on the streets but why don't the council simply tell her to stay living with her parents as she was when she got pregnant? Why do the council decide I have to pay for her flat as well as all my own bills? It'd also free up a flat for someone who needs it with no other options?
Hugo Stiglitz said:
Try those buying to airbnb/short term holiday let.
I'm interested in buying in a nice part of Calderdale. Currently there are over 500 airbnbs in that area.
Everything somewhere nice goes up for sale guess who you are competing against to buy those properties?
So ban tourism, yeah? Or build state holiday camps?I'm interested in buying in a nice part of Calderdale. Currently there are over 500 airbnbs in that area.
Everything somewhere nice goes up for sale guess who you are competing against to buy those properties?
CoolHands said:
Is this the jealousy thread? I’m not seeing many posts about being put into emergency housing; moved to temporary accommodation in High Wickham when your child is meant to be joining a school in Brent (real example) etc?
Like all the children of forces members, they move school. Not that bad of a sacrifice for a home being provided.
CoolHands said:
Is this the jealousy thread? I’m not seeing many posts about being put into emergency housing; moved to temporary accommodation in High Wickham when your child is meant to be joining a school in Brent (real example) etc?
What you have is somebody who is not well off blaming other people who are not well off for the reason why they are not well off, which when you think about it is the most absurd idea imaginable, a classic politicians way of deflection.The best analogy I saw to demonstrate this is a cartoon in a newspaper during lockdown. Boris and his mates were sat at a table having a banquet, in the middle of this feast somebody dropped a crumb on the floor and 2 mice scrambled to fight over the crumb to which someone pointed and shouted " look a benefits scrounger ".
So if very rich people get the not so rich to argue and blame each other it takes the gaze away from what they are doing in the background which normally involves dreaming up new ways of fleecing you and I so that they can become even more well off.
This gave rise to the plethora of television programmes such as getting married on benefits, going on holiday on benefits (how dare they), getting working people at the throats off those who aren't.
Edited by Gordon Hill on Wednesday 19th June 22:20
LowTread said:
Landlords like to see themselves as providing a service.
Whereas they are actually taking housing stock away from those that need it, forcing the tax payer to bribe them to allow someone to live in their precious little investment/nestegg.
BTL should be abolished. It should all be professionally managed and regulated housing associations
My grandfather I never saw was a builder and landlord in south London pre WW2. He built whole streets to rent out, funnily enough the first labour government post war decided they’d compulsory purchase the lot for pennies to make the first council houses. Strange they didn’t compulsory purchase any of the landed gentries London estates….Whereas they are actually taking housing stock away from those that need it, forcing the tax payer to bribe them to allow someone to live in their precious little investment/nestegg.
BTL should be abolished. It should all be professionally managed and regulated housing associations
Most know a lot of the wealthy are disgustingly greedy cants but they aren’t the subject of this thread.
Central and local government incompetence play a big part in the problem. State employees tend to be from the lower IQ end of the spectrum and it’s not their money so they don’t care about protecting it from fraudsters. Any average member of society with a basic level of common sense (which excludes the idealist nutters) will know of at least one useless fukk playing a system which is so full of holes and is operated by dunces that it’s like shooting fish in barrel for them.
The system relies on the significant percentage of the population who were brought up with a work ethic and I’ve found the only answer to the injustice is to fund it as little as possible. Anyone on this thread that’s moaning but isn’t using all the tax reliefs/opportunities available to them needs to wake up. The solution is to defund the Government to the extent that they have difficulty operating these mad policies.
Central and local government incompetence play a big part in the problem. State employees tend to be from the lower IQ end of the spectrum and it’s not their money so they don’t care about protecting it from fraudsters. Any average member of society with a basic level of common sense (which excludes the idealist nutters) will know of at least one useless fukk playing a system which is so full of holes and is operated by dunces that it’s like shooting fish in barrel for them.
The system relies on the significant percentage of the population who were brought up with a work ethic and I’ve found the only answer to the injustice is to fund it as little as possible. Anyone on this thread that’s moaning but isn’t using all the tax reliefs/opportunities available to them needs to wake up. The solution is to defund the Government to the extent that they have difficulty operating these mad policies.
LowTread said:
Looked into this a while back as an "i'm sick of working" daydream thing.
You're limited to a certain level of cash (non pension) savings, but for us with 2 kids UC would pay out quite handsomely.
It doesn't take into account things like assets. So you could keep minimal savings to hand, and spunk any surplus on nice cars.
It also doesn't take into account owning your own home. We are mortgage free in a cheap to run house, so outgoings aren't too high. Could probably survive ok on UC and maybe a little part time work.
I don't think you can live like a king, but i do think as a country we've lost touch with what REAL poverty is.
Real poverty isn't about only having a 40" telly, or your kids not having the latest nintendo switch game, or only being able to afford a week abroad on holiday.
Sick of seeing sympathy pieces on the news of people pleading poverty and food banks, yet appearing on the news with new gel nails, freshly done hair, etc, moaning about having to make choices between eating and putting the heating on, yet carrying a spare 4st.
This is all another hangover from the Blair/Brown era. The worst government in history for selling us all down the river for short term political gain. Credit boom. Housing boom. PFI schemes. Non-jobs in public sector. Appointing people to top jobs based on diversity and not skills. The bloating of the welfare state. The explosion of right to buy. Selling off the gold reserves. Raiding pensions. Deregulation of the financial industry. 125% mortgages. Financial crash.
That said, the latest lot are just a continuation of that theme. Any attempt to bring down the welfare state bill is shouted down, like persuading people in council houses with more bedrooms than they need to downsize (seems sensible?), only to be labelled "bedroom tax" and quickly cancelled.
These are all reasons why now we have a situation where a single mum is being thrown money to put a roof over her head.
The lack of responsibility in this country is laughable.
/rant
There. That's better. I'm off to take some Rennie...
Aye, hopefully the Tories will finally get in this time and sort it out.You're limited to a certain level of cash (non pension) savings, but for us with 2 kids UC would pay out quite handsomely.
It doesn't take into account things like assets. So you could keep minimal savings to hand, and spunk any surplus on nice cars.
It also doesn't take into account owning your own home. We are mortgage free in a cheap to run house, so outgoings aren't too high. Could probably survive ok on UC and maybe a little part time work.
I don't think you can live like a king, but i do think as a country we've lost touch with what REAL poverty is.
Real poverty isn't about only having a 40" telly, or your kids not having the latest nintendo switch game, or only being able to afford a week abroad on holiday.
Sick of seeing sympathy pieces on the news of people pleading poverty and food banks, yet appearing on the news with new gel nails, freshly done hair, etc, moaning about having to make choices between eating and putting the heating on, yet carrying a spare 4st.
This is all another hangover from the Blair/Brown era. The worst government in history for selling us all down the river for short term political gain. Credit boom. Housing boom. PFI schemes. Non-jobs in public sector. Appointing people to top jobs based on diversity and not skills. The bloating of the welfare state. The explosion of right to buy. Selling off the gold reserves. Raiding pensions. Deregulation of the financial industry. 125% mortgages. Financial crash.
That said, the latest lot are just a continuation of that theme. Any attempt to bring down the welfare state bill is shouted down, like persuading people in council houses with more bedrooms than they need to downsize (seems sensible?), only to be labelled "bedroom tax" and quickly cancelled.
These are all reasons why now we have a situation where a single mum is being thrown money to put a roof over her head.
The lack of responsibility in this country is laughable.
/rant
There. That's better. I'm off to take some Rennie...
Edited by LowTread on Wednesday 19th June 09:39
CoolHands said:
Is this the jealousy thread? I’m not seeing many posts about being put into emergency housing; moved to temporary accommodation in High Wickham when your child is meant to be joining a school in Brent (real example) etc?
Why would there be? Most people here seem to have waited to have children until they were pretty sure that they could take care of them.ThingsBehindTheSun said:
I was working on an IT contract that came to an end about 15 years ago so I decided to take some time off. After a few months I decided to go on benefits as I was entitled, to make my money last a bit longer.
We owned our house with a mortgage and they were happy to pay the interest on the mortgage. I did this for about six months and it was great, we had Merlin passes and we were going to Chessington world of adventures with the children (they were 3 and 4 at the time, we lived up the road) at least once a week.
I was also going to car boot sales on the weekends and buying old Consoles, Lego, DVDs etc. and was making another £100+ a week without trying.
Basically with the benefits and the money I was making selling stuff on eBay I was bringing in the same as I was bringing home in doing a full time job after tax. They even offered me other sorts of benefits such as free school meals and milk vouchers that I just couldn't bring myself to take.
In the end I was so worried that I would never get back into the world of work so took a full time IT job. After I had paid the train fare etc. to get there I was actually no better off that being on benefits.
I can see why people do it, I could have quite easily carried on that lifestyle if I wanted and not really been any worse off as my ex wife wasn't working at the time.
15 years on I look back and think am I the stupid one for working? My ex wife's family have never worked a day in their lives, life was just one big retirement since they left school.
Absolute madness. We are so fWe owned our house with a mortgage and they were happy to pay the interest on the mortgage. I did this for about six months and it was great, we had Merlin passes and we were going to Chessington world of adventures with the children (they were 3 and 4 at the time, we lived up the road) at least once a week.
I was also going to car boot sales on the weekends and buying old Consoles, Lego, DVDs etc. and was making another £100+ a week without trying.
Basically with the benefits and the money I was making selling stuff on eBay I was bringing in the same as I was bringing home in doing a full time job after tax. They even offered me other sorts of benefits such as free school meals and milk vouchers that I just couldn't bring myself to take.
In the end I was so worried that I would never get back into the world of work so took a full time IT job. After I had paid the train fare etc. to get there I was actually no better off that being on benefits.
I can see why people do it, I could have quite easily carried on that lifestyle if I wanted and not really been any worse off as my ex wife wasn't working at the time.
15 years on I look back and think am I the stupid one for working? My ex wife's family have never worked a day in their lives, life was just one big retirement since they left school.
ked as a country. You did the right thing going back to work (I think) there must be some benefits right? Pension.
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