Council Houses

[kangoolari]

Need to know this for a novel I'm writing. What exactly are council houses? Do you pay less rent? Also, do you have to pay for water/electricity, or is that included in the rent. Thanks.

[Loosehead]

Local authorities have housing stock and they let them out to tennants based on a set of priorities. Generally families take precident. The basic rent is set at market value then adjusted based on the income of the tennant so an unemployed family will pay nothing but a familiy with a full time highly paid job (for info as this is an unlikely scenario) would pay full rent. Gas electicity council tax are all payable but are again adjusted to take account of circumstances. Since the advent of right to buy local authorities have far less properties to rent than in the past but most authorities are still substantial landlords.

[ursula62]

Loosehead is correct on all apart from the utility bills bit.  

Gas and electricy and water are all paid at the standard rate - since the contracts for supply are with the utility provider not with the local authority. Some council tenants have key meters which allow them to pay for electricity and gas on a pay as you go basis, to help them budget better on a low income, but in actual fact it costs more this way, since the utility supplier recovers the cost of the non standard equipment, and if you pay by month debit from your bank account most suppliers give a discount.

[ursula62]

Forgot to say that internal decoration of council properties is the responsibility of the tenant - although most houses are intially let newly decorated. External decoration is the responsibility of the freeholder, usually the local authority, but some local authorities have sold their freeholds to housing associations recently.