Should she at least pay the rent?

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/35qp3sr

Moved to a 2.5 million pound council house rent free for two years, simply because officials decided the refurbishment of a leisure centre next to their home would disturb them.

Although the work was completed in July, they hope to move back in their original council house around Christmas.

Just thought this was appropriate to post taking into account the reported capping of housing benefit, you can't cap what you don't pay.

Racial awareness footnote: This affair would still be disgusting if the tenant happened to be white.

[rov1200]

These cases just illustrate that the people in authority at these local councils belong to the liberal elite. They seem to delight in taking underprivileged people and putting them in properties the rest of us can only dream about. They can do this because they are using council tax money and not their own. Gordon Brown and his government reacted well to these instincts. It is so easy to spend other peoples money and take credit for helping the poor. Lets hope that era is now over!

[B00]

I know its the location itself which is bumping the price up, but the house itself looks bloody 'orrible. Wouldn't give them tuppence for it.

[dotty.]

I assume she has been paying some kind of rent for her tenancy or she would not qualify to live anywhere, her tenancy would lapse. That's wrong if she is livin rent free, it doesn't say of she is in reciept of housin benefit does it?

[dotty.]

Imagine trying to heat that place, bet she's always in the emergency lol

[pastafreak]

I like oldies like that...but it doesn't look like 2.5 million to me.
Thing is-these folk are put into things they'd never dream of...and they don't 'fit' in the neighbourhood-even the milk will cost more in the corner shop.

[tiggerblue10]

It's the fault of the officials that placed her there in the first place. She's just going along with it and been forgotten about. It has only come to light since the benefits system shake-up.

[Gromit]

I suppose, as a sitting tenant, she did not have to vacate her house while the building was refurbished. If she had not moved, then the contractor would not have been able to use her house for 2 years, and they would have had to have rented and erected portakabins.

In the report there seems to be 2 reasons given why she was moved. They wanted to use her house as a site office or because she would be disturbed by the work. The first seems reasonable and the second sounds feeble.

[clokey]

Poor woman how would you like to be moved to a house near criminals

neighboured by homes owned by people such as George Michael

[fredpuli47]

How does the Council come to be owning a £2 million house? Was it requisitioned in the War? They could do a lot of useful things with £2 million, and housing a council tenant at council rents (or no rent) is not one of them. Why don't they sell the property? Is there some law that stops them?