Council tenants on £100K

There will be new powers for local authorities to send tenants who sub-let their council properties at market values to prison.

So council tenants have escaped the laws that bind private tenants where sub-letting goes? No wonder authorities have been fleeced.

But my better half and I sat jaws hanging when the reporter stated that authorities could make tenants earning £100,000 or more to pay higher rents.

I still cannot find the words to voice my disbelief at this lunacy.

How does someone earning £100K persuade any local authority they need council housing?

What on earth has gone wrong?

And then I ask, ‘Where do the original council tenants live when they sub-let their homes?’ Do they all huddle together, the legitimate tenants and the illegitimate ones; do they pay for private rented accommodation or con a separate authority to give them another place to live?

And who rents a council house for private-level rents? I suppose we keep being told housing is short. No wonder.

Have we really been that silly? I can’t believe the rules have been that idiotic. Why shouldn’t council tenants abide by the same laws as private ones? Sometimes the differences in income is marginal.

And have authorities been under the misconception that those needing help are vulnerable in every way? And daft? And more trustworthy than your average working bod? People might need housing but it doesn’t mean all other social rules should be waived, does it?

Isn’t that also a way of preparing people to stand on their own two feet? Familiarise them with how things work for most people?

And although I’ve never been one to throw all those claiming benefit on one unworthy heap, I’m going to be very ‘Sun-reader-ish’ and rant about us taxpayers subsidising this kind of abuse.

We, voters put our trust in those in power to work out sensible laws and guidelines. Pah! My neighbour’s dog could do it better. (One bark, no sub-letting, two barks, yes subletting…?) So I will follow this with interest. Think I’ll join the waiting list. Could turn out to be a good money-earner…

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