London Riots (ETA post #23: Brits, please sign the petition to axe rioters' benefits)

[ChrisH]

Chris, I would never, ever, dispute the fact that the vast majority of council house residents are hard-working and decent. I'm a little hurt that you would assume I think otherwise.

I'll grant that my use of 'offered' was wrong. I understand that council house has to be applied for and I sent out the wrong impression - that was a mistake on my part.

Zara, I am sorry that you felt a little hurt, my intention was only to point out that not all council house tenants are the 'poorer residents' you wrote of. Of course there are a portion of such that are at the level of income, or non-income, that require aid in the form of housing benefit but, believe it or not, income is not a huge part of the criteria for obtaining a council house.
In my area they have a points system for allocation of council accommodation, the more points you have the higher the chance of obtaining a home. Even then it depends if there is one vacant that fits your needs, also the waiting lists are very long. You may find the following link about the points system interesting. http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/co...ing/points.htm

I'm right in thinking, though, that one is refused a council house if one has serious behavioural offences? And that anti-social behaviour, it is made clear, results in eviction?

You are right, there is an exclusion policy.

Ineligible for Allocation (Exclusion)
Exclusion from the Housing Register may apply if you (or joint applicant) or a member of the household is guilty of serious unacceptable behaviour at the time of application, for which Housing Services have or could have obtained an Outright Possession Order.

This behaviour can include:
· Rent Arrears outstanding
· Nuisance or annoyance caused by family members
· Conviction for using a property for illegal or immoral purposes
We will check with relevant organisations and people about any unacceptable behaviour. If your application can be accepted onto the Register after this investigation, we will advise you by letter. However, if it is considered that exclusion should apply, we will pass a formal report to the Exclusion Panel, which is made up of Council Officers. We will advise you in writing giving the reason if the Panel decide that you are to be excluded from the Register. You can be excluded from the Housing Register for an indefinite period, but will have the opportunity to ask for a review if behaviour has improved or changed.

Again, yes, eviction can take place for anti-social behaviour. This link contains the information. Tenancy Enforcement You will need to scroll down to the bottom to open in a pdf or other document reader to access it in its entirety.

As for prices, all I can say is that they seem to be considerably lower than average rents in my area. Perhaps indeed that is a reasonable rent for the housing here, and prices are different elsewhere. Personally, I find many rental prices very unreasonable (and I won't even go into how much my London flat sucks out my bank balance every week!).

I wouldn't argue that the rents for council houses are a lot lower than for private property but disagree that they are 'a fraction' as your previous post stated.

All these people, regardless of their place in society, have demonstrated that they do not respect their fellow man, our communities, our police force, and our government, and have gone about their gripes in a most despicable and shameful way. Thus, I believe that none of them are owed anything by the society which they have chosen to spurn.

We have an accord on that.