General Chat

At last night’s Cabinet meeting (Wednesday, 16 June) a programme to retrofit domestic homes occupied by council tenants was approved.

Each of the homes will receive whole-house retrofits, including insulation and ventilation, low-carbon heating systems, and solar PV panels for on-site energy generation.

The Energiesprong retrofit model guarantees a net-zero energy performance which includes a year-round comfortable temperature of 18-21 degrees centigrade, energy and hot water generation to meet the needs of the households, for up to 30 years
xxxxxxxx, cabinet member for genuinely affordable homes said: “This programme is hugely exciting. We are starting with 68 homes, 44 houses and 24 flats but are already planning for the long-term and surveying a further 5,000 homes to see if they are suitable for retrofitting.
tenants will also receive a new electric cooker as the gas services will be removed as part of the programme of works
the total cost of the programme for the initial 68 homes is £5.52 million, of which 40% is funded from the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and the EU Interreg North-West MUSTBE0 Grant.

feel a council tax rise coming

I was so glad to move to an area with gas so I could get rid of my useless electric cooker. Can’t think how many of those I went through.

At the other end of the spectrum.

My neighbours bought their council house and thought it made them very superior, home owners you know, and have been trying to sell it for over a year.

Currently, they have an offer, pending another survey, which is really not surprising or hopeful.

These houses are absolute crap! They were built by a group of boys who had just left school and had been to Woolworths to get some tools.Really had, Fred knew them.

The little council estate at the bottom of the road I grew up in are valued at over half a million. The estate fairly near where I live now are valued at not quite so much. But I think not all are yet privately owned.

For many reasons I wish we hadn't bought our council house but then hind sight is wonderful don't you think?

Maddie, there was a similar plan for a Winchester estate.
They managed to do about a dozen houses - then gave up!

the cost is huge and apart from the grant home owners will pay for that thro council tax,
i am not a rich pensioner and in some ways regret not chasing a council house many years ago, although some councils are not good at maintaing their properties some are, can i have one of those please :-)

My Mum and Dad were council tenets for many years, when Mum became ill Dad wanted a wet room fitted and was told it couldn't be done, he said it could be done and explained how, he was a builder so knew what he was talking about and it was done..... after a bit of a tussle.

My council transferred their stock to a housing association. They , and, I would assume, councils also, need to keep up the value of their housing stock, so they make use of anything they are offered.

We have double glazing, storage heating, wall insulation and solar panels, not, I feel, to look after us, but to keep their investment good.

That's so true, Sharron.

I had a new kitchen fitted in my previous house about 26 years ago.
They came around last year to see about renewing it - but thought I'd renewed it myself, recently!
I didn't want it changed - the cupboards etc were good quality, I couldn't see the newer ones being as good.

I lived in a tied house for some years. Looking after their housing stock never entered their heads.

I think that sometimes companies with tied housing could not afford them anymore.

We lived in the house my grandfather was born in eighty years before me and I think his eight older siblings may have been born there too. We paid 6/- a week rent, had a well across the road and a bucket lavatory.

After we moved in 1964 to a council house, this one, it sold, a pair of cottages with a door between them, so four bedrooms, for £800.

We lived in tied housing, too.
One was a '50's semi, with 3 bedrooms, and one open fire in the living room for heat.
In the winter, the bathroom and kitchen would freeze - Ice on the inside.

The second one, in the village, was an end of terrace, and had an Aga, and fireplaces in the living room and 2 bedrooms. Unfortunately, snow would come in under the old oak front door, that hadn't been oiled in years, and had shrunk, and cause a snowdrift.
All were sold off by the landowner in the 90's.

I have always felt that the selling of council housing was a wonderful way to keep the lower orders under control, bread and circuses style.

Offer them something they never thought they could afford and they will go into the deepest debt they have ever known to get it, being very careful to keep the job that pays for the dream. No trouble from them and lots of interest for the mortgage lenders.

No more responsibility for repairs either.

When they first started selling Housing off, people were encouraged with the 'It's no more expensive than your rent', but failed to say 'for the first 6 months'.
Many people couldn't afford to pay the mortgage etc and ended up being re-housed by the Council, and their house was sold on.
So, essentially, two Council Houses were lost.

I looked at buying my Council house in Winchester, 20 years ago.
I couldn't afford £350,000!

We bought our council house in the 80s. No regrets despite all fixtures fitting dating back to mid 50s when it was built apart from central heating which had been added in 70s. Our mortgage insurance paid off despite all the adverse info and we even got some spare cash. Paid off mortgage in 90s so that was a blessing. If we were paying council rent now I think would be £80 a week as it is we have money to spend on house - new bathroom soon with large shower. Over the years we've added a porch double glazed windows and a new kitchen

Mr Owl’s stepdad bought the council house Mr Owl and his mum Ann lived in around 1990. The cost of the mortgage was less than the rent. The house was sold in 1994 and they moved to a house a couple of streets over. They have owned their homes ever since and don’t regret buying it. They do however regret not buying Ann’s parents house as it could have made things easier for Ann’s parents. Ann’s dad didn’t want the house bought at the time though.